Elephunk is the third studio album by American group the Black Eyed Peas. It was released on June 24, 2003, by A&M Records, Interscope Records and will.i.am Music Group. Production of the album commenced in August 2001, and would be affected by the September 11 attacks, which both caused anxiety to the group members and inspired the songwriting. During the process, Fergie joined the group as the female vocalist, replacing Kim Hill, who departed the group in 2000. The recording sessions went on to be extended until May 2003, which caused its release to be postponed multiple times.
Elephunk is a hip-hop and pop record incorporating an array of genres, such as R&B, Latin, funk, dancehall, rock and dance. It explores lyrical themes such as relationships, partying and social issues. The album was met with critical polarity upon its release, who praised its individual songs but were divided on the album's variety of genres and lyrical content. The album received six Grammy Award nominations and one win.
The Black Eyed Peas' breakthrough album, it was a sleeper hit, debuting at number 33 on the US Billboard 200 and peaking at number 14 after its 2004 reissue. It was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), selling over three million units in the United States. Internationally, it peaked atop the charts in Australia and Switzerland, reaching the top ten in nearly every other country. One of the best-selling albums of 2004, the album has sold over nine million copies worldwide.
Elephunk produced four singles. "Where Is the Love?" became the group's first top-ten single on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number eight, and reached number one in 15 countries. Its follow-up singles "Shut Up" and "Hey Mama" achieved widespread international success but failed to duplicate the US success of "Where Is the Love?". Regardless, the former topped the charts in 14 countries, while the latter won an MTV Video Music Award. The final single "Let's Get It Started", a censored re-recording of the track "Let's Get Retarded", peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was further promoted globally with the Elephunk Tour (2004).
Background and recording After signing a record deal with Interscope Records, Black Eyed Peas released two critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful studio albums–Behind the Front (1998) and Bridging the Gap (2000). The latter produced the single "Request + Line", featuring Macy Gray, which was their first to enter the US Billboard Hot 100 and numerous international charts, but peaked only at number 63 on the Billboard Hot 100. Following the commercial failures, it was uncertain whether the group would continue recording together. will.i.am met Ron Fair, then-president of A&M Records, when he recruited the group for the Legally Blonde (2001) soundtrack, for which they recorded the song "Magic" featuring Terry Dexter. Fair offered the group to move to A&M, which they accepted. In order to make them more commercially successful, Fair suggested a musical direction change: "I asked them, 'How would you feel about taking a leap and going more into the pop world?' They replied, 'We don't want to lose our credibility or our fanbase.' I said, 'Well, if you don't take a shot at it, it's gonna get worse, because the backpack crowd are the people who will download the records for free.'" The group was initially reluctant; however, after discussions and several songwriting sessions, the idea was pursued. Taboo would later claim if he was going to sell out, he'd "rather be selling out arenas than selling out of my trunk on the corner of my block."
The recording for Elephunk commenced on August 23, 2001, with "Smells Like Funk", which wouldn't be finished until July 2, 2002. Sessions took place at various recording studios across California. Most of the tracks were recorded at The Stewchia in Los Feliz, Los Angeles. Other locations included the Glenwood Studio in Burbank, California and Record Plant in Los Angeles. Music for "Smells Like Funk" was recorded at a house in Bodega Bay, California. "Anxiety" was the sole song recorded at Velvet Tone in Sacramento, California, and was recorded from March 24 until July 23, 2002. The final song recorded for the album was "The Boogie That Be", which was finished on May 11, 2003, only a day prior to "Where Is the Love?" being serviced to radio as the lead single. will.i.am wrote "Don't Knock It", a song "about how everybody got their opinion. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean somebody else ain't going to love it", which ultimately failed to make the final cut, much like the mid-tempo "Thanks" and the Rockwilder-produced "Fire".
September 11 attacks greatly affected the group, both by causing them anxiety and by influencing their songwriting. will.i.am stated in 2018: "On our last day [of recording sessions in San Francisco], as I was packing my equipment, I saw the first plane fly through the World Trade Center. I thought it was a film. The fear of driving back home, y'know going over San Francisco bridge. That 10 minute drive across the bridge felt like an hour." In December, will.i.am created a loop and a guitar part he liked; apl.de.ap and Taboo also heard the track and were able to write similar lyrics over it. Justin Timberlake was introduced to the group by Taboo, and got a chance to hear the track. Impressed with the music, Timberlake helped write and sing the chorus. The production of "Where Is the Love?" was temporarily halted in early 2002 as the band burned out over what will.i.am claimed was September 11 attacks-induced anxiety. Its recording later resumed and finished on March 3, 2003.
Black Eyed Peas began recording Elephunk as a trio; original member Kim Hill departed the group in 2000. As a female vocalist was needed for some of the tracks, various singers were brought in to record. Terry Dexter provided backing vocals for "Smells Like Funk", Noelle Scaggs for "Let's Get Retarded" and "Smells Like Funk", and Debi Nova for "Latin Girls". In early 2002, during the recording of "Shut Up", will.i.am once again sought a female vocalist needed for the song. His original choice was Nicole Scherzinger, who was a member of Eden's Crush at the time. He asked Scherzinger's then-fiancé Nick Hexum from 311, who rejected the offer for her. A&R Music Coordinator Dante Santiago asked will.i.am if he could bring his friend Fergie to the session to sing on the song. will.i.am whom met her in 2001 on a radio show where both Black Eyed Peas and Wild Orchid, of which Fergie was a member at the time, performed. She accepted the offer and was soon made a permanent member of Black Eyed Peas, recording the remainder of the album with the group.
Music and lyrics
Elephunk is a Hip-hop and pop album which incorporates an array of genres, such as R&B, Latin, funk, dancehall, rock and dance. It explores lyrical themes such as partying, sex, infatuation and, to a lesser extent, social issues. The album opens with the horn-infused "Southern-fried rapid rap" song "Hands Up". The trumpet-driven "Labor Day (It's a Holiday)" lyrically celebrates an alcohol and sex-filled three-day weekend. "Let's Get Retarded" encourages its listeners to party with lines such as "Lose your mind, this is the time / Y'all can't stand still, twist and bang your spine / Bob your head like epilepsy / Up inside the club or in your Bentley". Its censored version "Let's Get It Started" replaces the terms "retarded" and "epilepsy", and replaces the original track on the 2022 reissue. The dancehall track "Hey Mama" features a male protagonist expressing his attraction to a woman. "Shut Up" details an argument between two lovers leading up to the end of their relationship. The sixth track "Smells Like Funk" describes an odor-filled environment and insinuates cannabis consumption. "Latin Girls" is a guitar riff-laced song incorporating Latin piano and percussion, and lyrically celebrates Hispanic women. Jazz-influenced "Sexy" sees the male protagonist express his love and admiration towards his female love interest prior to having sex with her.
"Fly Away" is a rock-influenced hip-hop track which encourages a former lover to leave, while "The Boogie That Be" is a "vintage early 1980's electro-funk" song. Electric guitar-driven ballad "The Apl Song" features apl.de.ap rapping–partly in Filipino–about a ghetto in the Philippines where he once lived. "Anxiety", featuring Papa Roach, is a rap metal track in which the protagonist seeks "self-control amidst stressful paranoia". Elephunk closes with its lead single "Where Is the Love?", featuring Justin Timberlake. Although initially intended as a vessel to post-September 11 attacks anxiety, the song discusses many issues, including terrorism, US government hypocrisy, racism, gang crime, pollution, war and intolerance, with the call for love in the chorus as the element tying these together. The lines "Overseas, yeah, we try'na stop terrorism / But we still got terrorists here living / In the USA, the big CIA / The Bloods and the Crips and the KKK" suggests those organizations being terrorists as well. It also alludes to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and its casus belli with the lyric "A war's going on but the reason's undercover" in the bridge. will.i.am laid the track's main rhythm over the chord progression, which he claimed to be inspired by human heartbeat: "I was like, 'this song needs a heartbeat.' I just liked the pull and the call of response of the human heart – a beat, a rhythm that we hear everyday subconsciously, without paying attention to it."
Title and artwork will.i.am revealed the title of the Black Eyed Peas' third studio album to be Elephunk on June 11, 2002, explaining: "An elephant ain't the fastest, swiftest animal, but it walks smoothly. It's fat. It's heavy. Thump, thump. You can just picture an elephant's movement. That's the sound of the album. We have a lot of trombones, fat basslines, fat grooves, and nice, thick horn layers and arrangements. Just fat funk."
The album cover for Elephunk was designed by [BLK/MRKT Design Studio, Los Angeles] and uses images of the group members photographed by Markus Klinko. It features each member in a corner and an artwork of an elephant's head in the center against a light blue background. The cover marked the first time the group was credited as The Black Eyed Peas, the name they would retire in 2018, when they removed the prefix. It was also inspired by the cover of Goodie Mob's Still Standing.
Release and promotion Originally set for an October 2002 release, Elephunk was released on June 24, 2003, by A&M Records, Interscope Records and will.i.am Music Group. On June 4, Black Eyed Peas embarked on Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera's The Justified & Stripped Tour as a supporting act, touring North America until September 2. Interspersed with the tour, the group headlined a club tour from May 30 until August 31. They performed "Where Is the Love?" at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards pre-show on August 28. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, they promoted the album by being a supporting act for The Stripped Tour, Aguilera's solo extension of The Justified & Stripped Tour, from October to November, as well as performing "Where Is the Love?" at the 2003 MTV Europe Music Awards and, with "Shut Up", on Top of the Pops on November 28. In the United States, they performed "Where Is the Love?" and "Hey Mama" on Saturday Night Live on January 10, 2004. The group performed "Where Is the Love?" again at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards on February 8, where they received two nominations for the song. Internationally, the group promoted the album by performing at the Big Day Out in Australia and New Zealand from January to February, at the MTV Asia Awards 2004 in Singapore on February 14, at the Sanremo Music Festival 2004 in Italy on March 2, and on the Bravo Super Show in Germany on March 13.