Hate-Alert: A Review of Monkey Business by Entertainment Weekly
Before you assume I am throwing stones without hearing the album first, I'd like to clarify that I've actually heard the album and I still have a bad taste in my mouth...like when I heard "Elephunk". It's nice to see the mainstream media understand what's going on here. Here's a review by Entertainment Weekly...and really, how could you argue? IMO, they were always a step-down, wanna-be version of De La and Tribe, but never had the skill to pull it off. Then they come out with some pop appeal (ala Elephunk) and begin to dominate their cheezy, lame-ass sound...worldwide. Have you been to an event or opening of anything in the last year or so where you haven't heard, "Let's Get It Started"?
Before they were so well known I was able to enjoy a few tracks from Bridging the Gap. Not because of their lack of notoriety, but because it's hard to hate on a DJ Premier beat (BEP Empire) and when Mos Def and De La Soul lace a track with some goodness. They also didn't have a 'Fergie' before...
Anyway, I need to rant and share this with you. I believe this guys touch on the lameness factor of BEP is much better than what I can express.
Oh...and there is a track called "Like That" on Monkey Business that is really good. Too bad BEP isn't the reason why. It has the likes of John Legend, Cee-lo, Talib Kweli and Q-Tip guesting on it and the beat is incredible...other than that? The album is trash.
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EW review: Black eye for Peas
Group's latest release is shamelessly derivative
By Neil Drumming
Entertainment Weekly
Wednesday, June 1, 2005 Posted: 1:55 PM EDT (1755 GMT
(Entertainment Weekly) -- I've come around to viewing the Black Eyed Peas' worldwide success as a comfort -- rather than a sign of the apocalypse.
Sure, their influences have always been too obvious, their lyrics vapid (like the NBA-adopted Uberhit ''Let's Get It Started''), and their recent, shameless grasps at mass appeal transparent (welcome Fergie and her midriff!).
But pop music is often banal and cloying, and pop rap is no different -- look at 50 Cent and Lil Jon, who sell hooks, not substance. And rather than further the notion that violence and nihilism are hip-hop's biggest selling points, the Black Eyed Peas on their fourth album, "Monkey Business," once again declare no, no, no -- rap need not be threatening. In fact, edge has nothing on familiarity.
From their first efforts, the Peas have mercilessly plundered the repertoires of alt-rap pioneers De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest, down to specific cadences and inflections. And they still do.
Though here, aiming to appeal not just to hip-hop fans, they've appropriated more recognizable material. Like a Puffy tune from the pilfering producer's heyday, BEP's ''Pump It'' rides the wave of Dick Dale and His Del-Tones' ''Misirlou''; the glossy, faux-reggae ''Dum Diddley'' desperately meshes refrains from both Musical Youth's ''Pass the Dutchie'' and the Bangles' ''Walk Like an Egyptian''; even Lisa Lisa gets exhumed.
Unfortunately, the tepid voice of Black Eyed Peas crooner Fergie is hardly enough to reinvigorate these chestnuts. It's a testimony to the Peas' current commercial heat that a few high-profile influences appear here, complicit in their own reduction.
Justin Timberlake's been down since ''Where Is the Love?,'' so his turn on the typically Timbaland club rumbler ''My Style'' is no surprise. But Sting and James Brown cameo on trite cuts (''Union'' and ''They Don't Want Music,'' respectively) that borrow liberally from their catalogs without much innovation.
It's less the uninspired guest vox, however, than the four core Peas' idea of verse that makes "Monkey Business" such a bland meringue: a succession of cotton-candy raps about chicks, partying and partying with chicks, broken up by choruses destined to evaporate outside a shindig's perimeter.
And when MCs will.i.am, apl de ap and Taboo get topical, the result is laughable pseudo-profundity, as on ''Union'': ''Understand that we're all the same/So when I count to three, let's change.'' It's probably for the best that the crew traffics mostly in percussive, throwaway stuff like ''If you got boobies, baby, keep 'em on plump.''
Risque? Hardly. The Black Eyed Peas aren't out to offend anyone. They just want to dance happily through the metal detectors and party with rock stars.
EW Grade: C
Before they were so well known I was able to enjoy a few tracks from Bridging the Gap. Not because of their lack of notoriety, but because it's hard to hate on a DJ Premier beat (BEP Empire) and when Mos Def and De La Soul lace a track with some goodness. They also didn't have a 'Fergie' before...
Anyway, I need to rant and share this with you. I believe this guys touch on the lameness factor of BEP is much better than what I can express.
Oh...and there is a track called "Like That" on Monkey Business that is really good. Too bad BEP isn't the reason why. It has the likes of John Legend, Cee-lo, Talib Kweli and Q-Tip guesting on it and the beat is incredible...other than that? The album is trash.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EW review: Black eye for Peas
Group's latest release is shamelessly derivative
By Neil Drumming
Entertainment Weekly
Wednesday, June 1, 2005 Posted: 1:55 PM EDT (1755 GMT
(Entertainment Weekly) -- I've come around to viewing the Black Eyed Peas' worldwide success as a comfort -- rather than a sign of the apocalypse.
Sure, their influences have always been too obvious, their lyrics vapid (like the NBA-adopted Uberhit ''Let's Get It Started''), and their recent, shameless grasps at mass appeal transparent (welcome Fergie and her midriff!).
But pop music is often banal and cloying, and pop rap is no different -- look at 50 Cent and Lil Jon, who sell hooks, not substance. And rather than further the notion that violence and nihilism are hip-hop's biggest selling points, the Black Eyed Peas on their fourth album, "Monkey Business," once again declare no, no, no -- rap need not be threatening. In fact, edge has nothing on familiarity.
From their first efforts, the Peas have mercilessly plundered the repertoires of alt-rap pioneers De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest, down to specific cadences and inflections. And they still do.
Though here, aiming to appeal not just to hip-hop fans, they've appropriated more recognizable material. Like a Puffy tune from the pilfering producer's heyday, BEP's ''Pump It'' rides the wave of Dick Dale and His Del-Tones' ''Misirlou''; the glossy, faux-reggae ''Dum Diddley'' desperately meshes refrains from both Musical Youth's ''Pass the Dutchie'' and the Bangles' ''Walk Like an Egyptian''; even Lisa Lisa gets exhumed.
Unfortunately, the tepid voice of Black Eyed Peas crooner Fergie is hardly enough to reinvigorate these chestnuts. It's a testimony to the Peas' current commercial heat that a few high-profile influences appear here, complicit in their own reduction.
Justin Timberlake's been down since ''Where Is the Love?,'' so his turn on the typically Timbaland club rumbler ''My Style'' is no surprise. But Sting and James Brown cameo on trite cuts (''Union'' and ''They Don't Want Music,'' respectively) that borrow liberally from their catalogs without much innovation.
It's less the uninspired guest vox, however, than the four core Peas' idea of verse that makes "Monkey Business" such a bland meringue: a succession of cotton-candy raps about chicks, partying and partying with chicks, broken up by choruses destined to evaporate outside a shindig's perimeter.
And when MCs will.i.am, apl de ap and Taboo get topical, the result is laughable pseudo-profundity, as on ''Union'': ''Understand that we're all the same/So when I count to three, let's change.'' It's probably for the best that the crew traffics mostly in percussive, throwaway stuff like ''If you got boobies, baby, keep 'em on plump.''
Risque? Hardly. The Black Eyed Peas aren't out to offend anyone. They just want to dance happily through the metal detectors and party with rock stars.
EW Grade: C
posted by Pauly @ 2:25 p.m.
16 Comments:
At 3:04 p.m.,
Pauly said…
Hahaha...
I just realized that he called them, "chestnuts".
At 1:33 a.m.,
Gloria said…
What a fantastic quote that sums up most of the pop music from 1999-2005:
"they borrow liberally from catalogs without much innovation"
That's pretty much les poops. Or, the shit as we might know it.
At 8:52 a.m.,
Pauly said…
"Fergie is hardly enough to reinvigorate these chestnuts."
But seriously, he called them 'chestnuts'.
HA haha ha...
(whew)
Oh goodness...I'll always think of that when I see them now.
At 1:29 p.m.,
What Sarah Said said…
Yeah but you know, so fucking what. People don't always listen to music in order to uncover some deep and meaningful truths in the lyrics. Sometimes you just want to listen to "Let's Get Retarded" and let your mind go blank.
At 1:42 p.m.,
Pauly said…
That's true...minus the part about listening to "Let's Get Retarded" (personally). The absence of "meaningful truths in the lyrics" are not the reasons that I don't like their music. I listen to many other mind-blanking-inducing music that does that serves that purpose much better than BEP. I find the kind of music that I listen to in order to 'blank my mind' doesn't leave these annoying and intense visuals of long fingernails scratching on a chalkboard. It's a personal distaste for the music, the image, the lyrics, the cheesy-ness, and the lack of talent.
You seem offended.
At 1:51 p.m.,
Anonymous said…
SHUT UP! Black Eyed Peas are better than anything else they play on the radio!
At 2:03 p.m.,
Pauly said…
Hmmm...are they really? What's with the anonymity?
At 3:50 p.m.,
What Sarah Said said…
All I'm saying is that one's listening choices shouldn't be used as a reflection of whether they posses "the cool". People make their own cool, and musical preference is just that: preference. Some people are either less or more exposed to certain sounds and genres, and that shapes their musical likes and dislikes as well. In my iTunes, wedged between tracks from obscure indie bands and foreign electronica artists sits Britney Spears' "Toxic", Mario's "Let me love you", and various other such "crap"-deemed selections. Personally, I can't stomach heavy metal and that "someone's grabbing my balls" screech of some 80s rock vocalists. My best guy friend likes the traditional 96X playlist; I don't deem him a lesser person because of it. I think it just irritates me how people cross the line between expressing personal preference and bashing other people's preferences. It's okay to say "I don't like the Black Eyed Peas", but since when is it okay to say "Johnny is retarded because he likes the Black Eyed Peas" ?
At 4:07 p.m.,
What Sarah Said said…
One can also debate your "lack of talent" statement. Correct me if I'm wrong, but artists have to have *some*, at least a certain level of "talent", to be signed and sell. Now, I can go ahead and say that I hate most AC/DC, and therefore, they have no talent. And everyone who likes AC/DC has terrible taste in music and is probably a mullet-loving rock-star wannabe who wears spandex and looks like the lead singer of "The Darkness". But how does that make sense? How does hating someone's else's choices of music make me in any way the authority on music, and superior to my peers who don't like Pavement as much as I do and who think that all hip hop is "retarded-ass rap"?
At 11:14 a.m.,
bingofuel said…
Perhaps Pauly should have used the phrase "lack of originality."
The record industry, frankly, doesn't sign people based on talent; they sign people (generally) based on whether or not they think an artist's music will generate sales for them.
I don't tend to hate other people for their music choices, but I do expect intelligent self-proclaimed music-lovers to be able to explain why they like something. Even if they say, "It's catchy," that's usually enough for me... But I'm secretly judging you all behind your backs.
At 11:53 a.m.,
Pauly said…
"Lack of originality" may have been a more diplomatic term, but really, who's kidding who?
I actually meant "lacking talent". I understand that an artist needs to have a certain amount of talent to achieve any sort of status in the entertainment industry. I wasn't saying they had NO talent, just lacked it. Recognition is key in terms of what people enjoy, music-wise.
Thomas was right, the industry signs artists based upon the idea they will move units. BEP was worked-over...made-over...so they would be able to do that. From my limited understanding (although much researched), it's likely they received the 'treatment' from all sorts of different behind-the-scenes people. People who create this image and make sure they are staying on track with this image in order for them to sell. People are not concerned with musical talent. Vanilla Ice lacked talent, but he still sold a shitload of albums, along with his image.
BEP gained success the way most groups will gain success. Proper marketing and constant exposure ensure an audience. People enjoy things they can recognize, whether or not they enjoy music at all. Most people don't like things they don't understand, and it's hard not to understand what they are conveying.
BEP has originality. But it's a cheesy and lame. It's also too fabricated.
Oh...and they lack talent.
ZING!
At 11:58 a.m.,
Pauly said…
...and he called them 'chestnuts'!
At 12:23 p.m.,
bingofuel said…
I'm not sure I understand what is so hilarious about the chestnuts reference, since, according to Merriam-Webster, a chestnut is:
6b : something (as a musical piece or a saying) repeated to the point of staleness.
You've been told.
At 12:40 p.m.,
Pauly said…
But...isn't that funny?
Huh?
Chestnuts.
Ha ha...he....hmmm...
Just think of all the things a chestnut is:
1. a) Any of several deciduous trees of the genus Castanea native to northern temperate regions, having alternate simple toothed leaves, and nuts that are enclosed in a prickly husk.
b) The often edible nut of any of these trees.
c) The wood of any of these trees.
2. Any of several other plants, such as the horse chestnut.
3. A moderate to deep reddish brown.
4. A reddish-brown horse.
5. A small hard callus on the inner surface of a horse's foreleg.
6. An old, frequently repeated joke, story, or song.
--
Either way that you look at it, I just think it's a witty and perfect way to look at them. I see them as a bunch of 'simple toothed leaves and nuts in a prickly husk'. I also see them as small horses...'cause Fergie looks like a horse, or someone who stretches her face back as much as possible. I also see them as a callus on a horses' forleg, as well as the obvious old, frequently repeated joke, song, and story.
It works so well!
Can't you see that? Man. That's just comedy.
And no, I wasn't told. I was 'blog commented' by you and I would enjoy it if you 'told' me, 'cause then we could finally hang out one of these days. =`)
At 3:35 p.m.,
What Sarah Said said…
I'm pretty sure that in the context of the article, the author was referring to a chestnut as a "reddish brown horse".
It doesn't make sense otherwise.
Would it be just as funny if he called them hazelnuts or pistachios? Or almonds?
He he....pistachio. Now *that's* comedy.
At 5:54 p.m.,
Pauly said…
Sure it would.
An old, frequently repeated joke, song or story is a perfect example of why he called them a chestnut.
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