I just have to say, that the Black Eyed Peas used to be good. They used to make well-written/well-constructed hip hop music. Now, not so much. “The E.N.D.” (The Energy Never Dies) is their latest CD, which, from every song I have heard, is a disgrace to the hip hop industry.
Don’t get me wrong, “I Gotta Feeling” and “Boom Boom Pow” are both extremely catchy (and maybe that's the goal??), but are they any good? No. Not at all.
Both songs utilize the auto-tune effect, which completely takes the singing aspect out of, well singing. “Boom Boom Pow” is especially bad, having not only horrible lyrics and the auto-tune mess, but having absolutely no background sound other than the muted bass and occasional snare drum.
And now, they recently released another single/video called “Imma Be”. I did not think that it could get any worse. But it did. Not only is “Imma Be” essentially another “Boom Boom Pow”, with even more auto-tune and repetition, but in their music video for it, they debate over a fake machine that has itself sing (rap/talk … whatever you want to say they do on their tracks now) for them so they don’t have to do any singing anymore. Fergie even makes a comment, “It takes the soul out of it,” while Will.I.Am counters with “you can’t say your futuristic and be scared of the future.” Well, interesting, considering, the group’s latest album has absolutely no soul in it whatsoever, and the auto-tune effect makes it so they barely have to sing anyway.
I know more people use the auto-tune than just the Peas, but it’s just really irritating to me for them to do it. Listen to Elephunk, their first album with Fergie. “Hands Up”, “Where is the Love”, “Hey Mama”, and of course “Let’s Get It Started” all sound a lot more well-crafted than anything on “The E.N.D.” I haven’t even mentioned their songs before Fergie, such as “Joints & Jam” and “Call/Request”, which are some of the best they have ever written.
Maybe the energy never dies, but the soul does.
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ReplyDeleteI've never heard "Joints & Jams" or "Call/Request", but I would have to mostly agree with you Adam. Although the lack of singing and the mundane lyrics are apparent in the new songs off "The E.N.D." album, I will admit to liking the "I Gotta Feeling" song. However, you are right when you say that their songs require no talent to sing (or rap, or say, whatever). I am hesitant to offer up the possibility that perhaps they might be moving towards this style because Fergie might be losing her touch. I MEANNNNN did you watch the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show? She couldn't sing any better than I can (which isn't great). But why wouldn’t they just get rid of her and make their own music, you ask? Probably because besides Will.I.am, the average person couldn’t name another member of that group. She is the reason why they made it to the top and she is the only factor keeping them together. So even if they continue to make bad music (which is ironic with the title of this album… “The E.N.D.” even though it stands for the energy never dies) I believe I will probably be able to find at least one song that I like.
ReplyDeleteI don't think anyone would disagree with Adam when saying the Black Eyed Peas are no longer a respectable hip hop group. But an argument that could be made is that they are a highly successful pop group. Before the E.N.D. was released, I read an interview in which the Black Eyed Peas explained that the purpose of the album was for people to forget about the recession, forget about the problems going on in the world around us, and just to have fun. And when such tunes like "I Gotta Feeling" and "Rock that Body" come on, they do exactly that. They may not be going down in hip hop history with Notorious BIG and Jay-Z (anti auto-tune), but they may go down in pop history, with the likes of Britney Spears and Lady GaGa. I have a friend that recently blogged about the "best pregame songs" and noted that songs from Lady GaGa's Fame Monster and The Black Eyed Peas' E.N.D. will probably be playing at weddings and bat mitzvahs for years to come.
ReplyDeleteThe Baltimore Sun recently reviewed the group live in concert, and explained it as nothing but a good time, "The Black Eyed Peas can get a crowd moving when they want to, and there were moments when they shook the nearly sold-out Verizon Center last night... The last song of the night, the party anthem "I've Got a Feeling," got the place jumping. Sirens wailed and confetti cannons shot a bazillion brightly colored bits of paper into the air. It was a fitting way to cap a night of eye-popping excess." Their tour was so popular that just last week you could have watched it from your local movie theater. The Black Eyed Peas were performing live in LA, and theaters across the country were displaying in live on their large screens, and charging $20 a seat.
In conclusion, it is true that the BEPs will not go down in history has revolutionizing the hip hop industry. But they will be seen as a group that has the ability to make the "base booming bout to make your body feel numb, pulsate your body penetrate your skeleton" (lyrics from Dum Diddly). They make catchy songs that with a good beat. And if you take them for what they are, they're pretty enjoyable.
I recently researched the growing phenomenon of Auto-tune and all though it has been in use for many years, mainstream use of it now is slightly depressing and annoying. Like my previous posters I have to agree that the quality of the Black Eyed Peas albums are decreasing while increasing electronically modified sounds. There is a value in their new songs, which do create good beats and rhythms , but I doubt I am alone in saying, "Where has the love gone?" It seems as though some of the realness and authenticity of their songs is missing as you stop hearing their actual voices and in place hear a metallic and electric sounding alternative. Their old lyrics used to speak to me about keeping strong in tough times now they make me want to dance and go crazy, one isn't better than the other, I just think some of their older fans will miss the realness of the older music. With more and more artists using auto-tune, this old authenticity is phased out and replaced with an electronically mixed and altered version. I'm not saying I don't appreciate this new formula, but I hope that a few artists will forgo the software and record real sounding music with genuine emotion in their voices as opposed to computer generated sounds.
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