EW review: Black eye for Peas
Group's latest release is shamelessly derivative
By Neil Drumming
Entertainment Weekly
(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
'Face the Truth,' Stephen Malkmus
Reviewed by Greg Kot
Stephen Malkmus, the brainiac guitar maestro who fronted '90s indie rockers Pavement, usually lets his songs shrug their way under listeners' skin. But "Face the Truth," his third and most ambitious solo album, has a couple of (casually) immediate moments, such as the sigh-inducing melody of ''Post-Paint Boy.''
Elsewhere, things get a bit messy: aroused synthesizers, carefree drum machines, a stray string arrangement and at least one Ted Nugent-worthy guitar solo (''No More Shoes'').
It's weird, yes, but in a good way.
EW Grade: B+
'Separation Sunday,' The Hold Steady
Reviewed by Mikael Wood
Craig Finn, the bespectacled singer-guitarist who leads this captivating NYC band, makes music in the grunge tradition -- but far more ambitious and clever than you might expect.
On "Separation Sunday," the Hold Steady's second album, Finn spins wordy yarns about shady characters heading for trouble (or retreating from it), tossing off his smart-aleck lyrics with a sexy swagger that belies his nerdiness.
Factor in the roaring keyboard-enriched arrangements, and you've got a group that grooves like the E. 13th Street Band -- bar rock for the smart set.
EW Grade: B+
More from Entertainment Weekly: EW Music
Click Here to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly
