As with their last hit, Elephunk, Black Eyed Peas new disc Monkey Business is a joyful cross-genre journey with musical props to hip-hop, rock, folk, funk, and pop. The reason the Black Eyed Peas have audience appeal that crosses over many styles is because the band members are such obvious fans of diverse music. Nowhere is this more apparent than on Monkey Business’s high-profile guest list. After Justin Timberlake’s contribution to the massive Where Is the Love breakout hit from Elephunk, their inclusion of big names once again was a smart, respectful move on the part of the band as well as their guests. My Style is Timberlake’s BEP foray number two; while the song is funky pop fun, those looking to hear Justin in the forefront are likely to be disappointed, as his vocals are mixed evenly, no sweet soulful solos this time. Other guests of note are Jack Johnson, who cowrote the bling-bashing Gone Going, Sting on Union (sonically inspired by the former Police-man’s Englishman in New York ), while funk legend James Brown contributes to a scorching soul track dubbed They Don’t Want Music. The contribution of female vocalist Fergie--who joined the band partway through their last CD--has raised up considerably on the band’s fourth disc, their second as a quartet. Sassily fronting her way through songs like My Humps, the Hey Mama -esque Dum Diddly and the first single Don’t Phunk With My Heart, Fergie’s melodic contributions make for a record that will likely be heard by wider audiences than ever, making this a truly accessible ‘hip-pop’ CD.



Tracklist:

1. Pump It
2. Don t Phunk With My Heart
3. My Style
4. Don t Lie
5. My Humps
6. Like That
7. Dum Diddly
8. Feel It
9. Gone Going
10. They Don t Want Music
11. Disco Club
12. Bebot
13. Ba Bump
14. Audio Delite At Low Fidelity
15. Union
16. Do What You Want