Elephunk

Not to be confused with Elefunk.
Elephunk
Studio album by The Black Eyed Peas
Released June 24, 2003
Recorded 2002–2003
Genre Hip hop, R&B[1]
Length 59:29
Label A&M, will.i.am, Interscope
Producer apl.de.ap, will.i.am, Ron Fair
The Black Eyed Peas chronology
Bridging the Gap
(2000)		 Elephunk
(2003)		 Monkey Business
(2005)
Alternative cover
Asian Special Edition artwork
Singles from Elephunk
  1. "Where Is the Love?"
    Released: June 16, 2003
  2. "Shut Up"
    Released: November 4, 2003
  3. "Hey Mama"
    Released: January 12, 2004
  4. "Let's Get It Started"
    Released: June 22, 2004

Elephunk is the third studio album by American hip hop group The Black Eyed Peas, released on June 24, 2003. The album charted at number 14 on the American Billboard 200 albums chart and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, and has gone on to sell more than 9 million copies worldwide, with 3.2 million in the United States alone.[2] The album was produced by Ron Fair and band member will.i.am, and was the first to feature current member Fergie and their first as "The Black Eyed Peas". Four singles were released from Elephunk, including "Where Is the Love?", which topped the singles charts of over ten countries.

Recording

Development of the album began on November 2, 2001 and was released just under two years later in 2003. At the time of development, only will.i.am, apl.de.ap and Taboo were to feature on the album. During the production of "Shut Up" (the second single released from the album), they realized that a female vocal would work well with the song. Originally, Nicole Scherzinger (lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls) was approached to make a guest appearance on the record. She was forced to decline because she already was signed to a contract with Eden's Crush. Danté Santiago then introduced Fergie to Will who was impressed with her vocal talents. She immediately formed a bond with the band and became a permanent member of the Peas and her photo was printed onto the album cover. Nine out of the fourteen tracks were composed by lyricist Robbie Fisher, who has been working closely with the band since the beginning stages of the album.

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Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic (66/100)[3]
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 4/5 stars[1]
Alternative Press 4/5 stars[3]
The A.V. Club (positive)[4]
Blender 2/5 stars[3]
Drowned in Sound (9/10)[5]
Entertainment Weekly C[6]
Mojo 1/5 stars[3]
PopMatters 9/10 stars[7][3]
Robert Christgau A-[8]
Rolling Stone 2/5 stars[9]

John Bush from Allmusic said that Elephunk "possesses some of the most boundary-pushing productions in contemporary, (mostly) uncommercial hip-hop" and gave the album a 4/5 star rating.[1][10] Chris Nettleton from Drowned in Sound complimented the album saying: "This record is full of first rate rapping, first rate tunes, first rate instrumentation. Look on the surface, and you've got an album full of memorable songs, hooks that lodge in your mind... but look in depth, and it's quality from the top down."[5] In his consumer guide for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau commented that the group "remain unbelievable, but in pop that's just one more aesthetic nuance", and stated, "In which the unbelievably dull El Lay alt-rappers fabricate the brightest actual pop album of 2003."[8]Entertainment Weekly had more of a negative view on the record: "They try dancehall ('Hey Mama'), salsa ('Latin Girls'), even nu-metal ('Anxiety' with Papa Roach), but the biggest offense for a once smart-sounding rap collective is 'Where Is the Love?', the horrifyingly trite single. It's enough to make longtime fans wonder, 'Where are the Peas?'" The album received a C grade.[6] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 66, based on 15 reviews indicating generally positive reviews.[3]

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Commercial response

In the United States, Elephunk reached number 14 on the Billboard Top 200 and is their first album to chart in the top 15. It gained even more commercial success in the UK Album Charts where it reached number 3. It has sold over 1.6 million copies in the UK and 8.5 million copies worldwide.[11] The singles "Where Is The Love?" and "Shut Up" reached number 1. "Hey Mama" has been used for several advertisements including advertisements for Apple and iTunes. "Let's Get It Started" also received universal acclaim in the media section where a cover version of the song appears in the film Hot Tub Time Machine.[12] After the success of Elephunk, the Peas were approached by EA games to feature some of their music on the 2004 game The Urbz. They remixed some of the tracks on Elephunk and translated it into Simlish and created new tracks for the game. They also feature in the game as playable characters.[13]

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Track listing

No. Title Writer(s) Producer(s) Length
1. "Hands Up"   Will Adams, Allan Pineda, Jaime Gomez, George Pajon, Jr., Michael Fratantuno, Jean Baptiste, Billy May will.i.am 3:35
2. "Labor Day (It's a Holiday)"   Adams, Pineda, Thomas van Musser, James Brown, Phelps Catfish Collins, Williams Earl Collins, John Griggs, Clayton Gunnells, Darrel Jamison, Robert McCullough, Clyde Stubblefield, Frank Clifford Waddy will.i.am 3:58
3. "Let's Get Retarded"   Adams, Pineda, Gomez, Terence Yoshiaki, Fratantuno, Pajon, Jr. will.i.am 3:35
4. "Hey Mama"   Adams, Anthony Henry will.i.am 3:34
5. "Shut Up"   Adams, Gomez, Pajon, Jr. will.i.am, Ron Fair (vocal) 4:56
6. "Smells Like Funk"   Adams, Pineda, Fratantuno, Pajon, Jr. will.i.am 5:04
7. "Latin Girls"   Adams, Pineda, Gomez, Pajon, Jr., Debi Nova will.i.am 6:17
8. "Sexy"   Adams, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes will.i.am 4:43
9. "Fly Away"   Stacy Ferguson, Adams, Ray Brady will.i.am 3:35
10. "The Boogie That Be"   Adams, John Stephens, van Musser will.i.am 5:12
11. "The Apl Song"   Adams, Pineda apl.de.ap, will.i.am 2:54
12. "Anxiety" (with Papa Roach) Adams, Pineda, Papa Roach will.i.am 3:38
13. "Where Is the Love" (with Justin Timberlake) Adams, Timberlake, Gomez, Pineda, Printz Board, Fratantuno, Pajon Jr. will.i.am, Fair 4:46
14. "Let's Get It Started (Spike Mix)" (2004 US Re-release bonus track, contains hidden track "Third Eye") Adams, Pineda, Gomez, Terrence Yoshiaki, Frantantuno, Pajon, Jr. will.i.am 7:32
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Personnel

The Black Eyed Peas
  • will.i.am – vocals on all tracks except 11; backing vocals on track 11; Moog synthesizers on tracks 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 13; drum programming on tracks 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10; clavinet on tracks 12 and 13; drums and piano on track 2; Wurlitzer electric piano on track 4; synthesizer on track 10; executive production; production; engineering on tracks 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 12 and 14; mixing on tracks 10 and 14
  • apl.de.ap – vocals on tracks 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 11, 12 and 13; drum programming and production on track 11
  • Fergie – vocals on all tracks except 6, 7 and 12
  • Taboo – vocals on tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 13,[ guitar]
Main session musicians
  • George Pajon Jr. – guitar on tracks 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13 and 15
  • J. Curtis – guitar on tracks 5, 7, 11 and 13
  • Mike Fratantuno – bass on tracks 1, 2, 3, 6, 13, 14 and 15; guitarrón on track 7; double bass and acoustic guitar on track 13
  • Dante Santiago – backing vocals on tracks 1, 3, 4, 6 and 10; vocals on track 7
Other contributors
  • Printz Board – horns on track 2; trumpet on track 7; Moog synthesizer and clavinet on track 13
  • Tim Orindgreff – horns on track 2; saxophone and flute on track 7
  • Terence Yoshiaki – drums on tracks 3 and 7
  • Noelle Scaggs – backing vocals on tracks 3 and 6
  • Tippa Irie – vocals on track 4
  • Ray Brady – guitar on tracks 5 and 9
  • Terry Dexter – backing vocals on track 6
  • Travis Barker - drums on track 15
  • Davey Chegwidden – percussion on track 7
  • Chuck Prada – percussion on tracks 7 and 14
  • Debi Nova – vocals on track 7
  • Sérgio Mendes – piano on track 8
Main production personnel
  • Ron Fair – executive production; production on track 13; additional vocal production on track 5; piano on track 7
  • Dylan Dresdow – engineering on tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13 and 15; additional vocal engineering on track 3
  • Christine Sirois – engineering assistance on tracks 1, 5, 6, 7 and 13
  • Tony Maserati – mixing on all tracks except 10 and 12
  • Brian "Big Bass" Gardner – mastering
Additional production personnel
  • Tal Herzberg – additional engineering on tracks 5 and 13
  • Jun Ishizeki – engineering on track 10
  • Jason Villaroman – engineering on track 11
  • Chris Lord-Alge – mixing on track 12

The album is considered a victim of the Loudness war, with the worst possible ranking in the Hall of CD Clipping Shame, as 1 minute 19 seconds of the CD's audio has been destroyed by clipping.[15]

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Charts and certifications

Chart (2005/2006) Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart 1[16]
Austrian Albums Chart 3[17]
Canada Top 50 2[18]
Danish Albums Chart 3[19]
Dutch Albums Chart 5[20]
Germany Top 100 6[18]
Finnish Albums Chart 3[21]
French Top 150 2[22]
Italian Top 75 6[18]
New Zealand Albums Chart 2[23]
Norwegian Albums Chart 2[24]
Spanish Albums Chart 10[25]
Swedish Albums Chart 5[26]
Swiss Albums Chart 1[27]
U.S Billboard 200 14[28]
UK Top 75 3[18]
Year End Chart (2006) Peak
position
Spanish Albums Chart 47[18]
Countries Certification Sales
Argentina Gold[29] 50,000
Australia 4x Platinum[30] 280,000
Brazil Diamond[18] 500,000
Finland Gold[31] 23,541
France 4x Platinum[32] 413,000
Germany Platinum[33] 200,000
Indonesia Gold[34] 45,000
Japan Gold[35] 100,000
Canada 7x Platinum[36] 700,000
Europe 2x Platinum[18] 2,000,000
Mexico Platinum[37] 100,000
Spain Platinum[38] 100,000
Switzerland Platinum[39] 40,000
Sweden Gold[40] 30,000
U.S. Billboard 200 2x Platinum[41] 3,190,000[42]
UK 6x Platinum[43] 1,800,000
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References

  1. ^ a b c Bush, John. "Elephunk - Black Eyed Peas". Allmusic. 
  2. ^ "Week Ending Aug. 29, 2010: Life's Ups & Downs – Chart Watch". New.music.yahoo.com. September 1, 2010. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Critic Reviews for Elephunk". Metacritic. 
  4. ^ Rabin, Nathan (July 14, 2003). "Black Eyed Peas: Elephunk". The A.V. Club. 
  5. ^ a b Nettleton, Chris (May 10, 2004). "Black Eyed Peas - Elephunk". Drowned in Sound. 
  6. ^ a b Serpick, Evan (June 27, 2003). "Elephunk Review". Entertainment Weekly. 
  7. ^ Sawyer, Terry (July 18, 2003). "Black Eyed Peas: Elephunk". PopMatters. 
  8. ^ a b Christgau, Robert (January 27, 2004). "Parts of the Elephunk". The Village Voice. 
  9. ^ Hardy, Ernest (June 18, 2003). "Elephunk". Rolling Stone. 
  10. ^ "Elephunk - Black Eyed Peas". Billboard. 
  11. ^ "Amazon Elephunk Information". 
  12. ^ "Hot Tub Time Machine Interview". 
  13. ^ "Black Eyed Peas To Feature In The Urbz: Sims In The City". 
  14. ^ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Elephunk-Explicit-Lyrics-Black-Eyed/dp/B0000ATU53/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1290902151&sr=8-1
  15. ^ "CD Hall of Clipping Shame". Retrieved 9 April 2013. 
  16. ^ Steffen Hung. "Australian Albums Chart". Australian-charts.com. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
  17. ^ Steffen Hung. "Austrian Album Charts". Austriancharts.at. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
  18. ^ a b c d e f g "Chart Data: Black Eyed Peas". Mariah-charts.com. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
  19. ^ Steffen Hung. "Danish Albums Chart". Danishcharts.com. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
  20. ^ Steffen Hung. "Dutch Albums Chart". Dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
  21. ^ Steffen Hung. "Finnish Albums Chart". Finnishcharts.com. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
  22. ^ Steffen Hung. "French Top 50". Lescharts.com. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
  23. ^ Steffen Hung. "New Zealand Albums Chart". Charts.org.nz. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
  24. ^ Steffen Hung. "Norwegian Albums Charts". Norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
  25. ^ promusicae. "Spanish Albums Chart". promusicae. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
  26. ^ Steffen Hung. "Swedish Albums Chart". Swedishcharts.com. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
  27. ^ Steffen Hung. "Swiss Albums Chart". Hitparade.ch. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
  28. ^ U.S. Billboard 200[dead link]
  29. ^ "Argentine Sales and Certification". Capif.org.ar. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
  30. ^ "Australian Sales and Certification". Aria.com.au. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
  31. ^ http://www.ifpi.fi/tilastot/kplista.html?action=vapaa&tyyppi=ulko&haku=artisti&julkaisuntyyppi=albumi&teksti=black+eyed+peas
  32. ^ "French Sales and Certification". Fanofmusic.free.fr. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
  33. ^ German Sales and Certification[dead link]
  34. ^ "Indonesian Sales and Certification". Indonesianalbum.blog.com. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
  35. ^ Japanese Sales and Certification(in Japanese)
  36. ^ "Canadian Sales and Certification". Cria.ca. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
  37. ^ "Mexican Sales and Certification". Amprofon.com.mx. August 14, 2003. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
  38. ^ PROMUSICAE. "Spanish 2004 Sales". PROMUSICAE. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
  39. ^ Steffen Hung. "Swiss Sales and Certification". Hitparade.ch. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
  40. ^ "Swedish Sales and Certification (Week 15, April 9, 2004)". Hitlistan.se. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
  41. ^ "U.S. Billboard 200 Sales and Certification". Riaa.com. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
  42. ^ Grein, Paul (September 1, 2010). "Chart Watch Extra: Life's Up's & Down's". Yahoo!. Retrieved September 2, 2010. 
  43. ^ www.musicweek.com
Preceded by
One Determined Heart by Paulini		 Australian ARIA Albums Chart number-one album
August 23–29, 2004		 Succeeded by
Classified by Bond
The Black Eyed Peas
  • Kim Hill
  • Dante Santiago
  • DJ Motiv8
  • Mookie Mook
Studio albums and singles
Grass Roots
  • "Puddles of H20"
Behind the Front
Bridging the Gap
Elephunk
Monkey Business
The E.N.D
The Beginning
Promotional singles
Featured singles
Compilation albums
Video albums
Tours
Related articles
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Last modified on 17 May 2013, at 22:15