Elephunk [PA] - Black Eyed Peas > Reviews > hands up indeed

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
Value for Money

Advantages:	brilliant songs, diverse album
Disadvantages:	some of the songs have been overplayed

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

As the most prominent of their 3 albums, this is the first one Ive had the pleasure of listening to all the way through. I didnt even buy it, my parents did, I just happended to turn it on by mistake when I was home.

When it was playing in my kitchen I didnt even realize it was a black eyed peas album. Thinking it was something on the radio I made sure I could hear who it was. Compared to the flagship track 'Where is the Love?', this title track is an entirely different sound. The rap style is far faster, the bass line far heavier and the female vocals arnt so prominent. It is quite blatently a hip hop track, but features a rather nifty rocky guitar riff which rather than sounding out of place adds a little something extra to an already brilliant song. This track sets a precedent for the whole album, entitled 'hands up' it does seem to have that effect, so much so, rather than waiting for the next song, I ended up skipping backwards and playing it about 10 times louder.

Another song that makes tingles go up my back is the 3rd track, controversially titled 'Lets get Retarded', but begins with the line 'in this context theres no disrespect'. Its much like the first track in the bass line and the style of rap, but the chorus is a little longer and there are many repeated bits. This is the first track that we really get a taste of the scope of Fergie's vocal talents, even though its only the start of the song, its still an impressive delivery of a fantasic voice.
We are treated to more in the track 'shut up', which although the song really gets on my nerves, displays her voice in a brilliant way, much like 'where is the love', showing that not just power ballads and Christina Aquilera songs can use really powerful female vocals. She is featured heavily in 'Fly Away' and occasionally in most of the other songs. Seen as she isnt even part of the group, she definitly adds something to the sound, and as far as I can deduce, is a contributing factor to the sucess of this album. I was really suprised by the way her voice fitted in so well into what is predominantly a hip hop album.

However, if you listen fully to the album, this may be based on the genre of hip hop, but there are so many different sounds along the way. Each song seems to have a different direction, and a different purpose with latin, rock, even drum and bass influences incorporated. There are some that will calm you down such as 'The Apl Song' and 'Sexy', some that will get you ready for a night out, 'Hands up', 'Lets get Retarded', 'Hey mama', and many others that are brilliant for general listening to. The one song that stands out for me on all levels is 'Where is the Love?'. Not only is it an amazing hip hop track with respect to the DJing involved and the music that goes with it, but the lyrics are what make it the song it is. I personally have never connected with the 'Gangsta' hip hop genre, admittedly the music is amazing, but the constant references to pimps, hos, drugs and violence are what stop me listening to it. I think its a change in todays chart to have a song that is written by a hip hop group, presented in rap, by a voice that could quite easily be present on a Gangsta track, which promotes love and peace and is able to bring to light things that a lot of other artists wont touch on for fear of provoking reactions in the record buying public that may affect their sales. I get the feeling that the song has touched most people in the same way it affects me each time I hear it.

The album gets heavier towards the end though, including a collaberation with Papa Roach which utterly blew me away. Being a rock girl that has moved into hip hop, this is possibly one of my favourite collaberations ever. 'Anxiety' is in complete contrast to the rest of the album, and some people may not feel it suits it, but its a show of the diversity of the group (as if the rest of the album hadnt done that). An exceptionally angry song, that more or less ends the album for me, I often cant get past it long enough to listen to the last two tracks. The next song, 'Rock my Shit' however is also a fairly heavy song, still definitly hip hop, but reminiscent of the Outkast and RATM collaberation on BOB. The guitar, heavy bass and shouty lyrics work beautifully.

Overall, I love most of the songs, one or two get on my nerves, but they couldnt have chosen a better song to launch this album with. The album as a whole shows how they have progressed from the first two, and the addition of Fergie is the 'x' factor than has catapulted them to worldwide success. The different directions taken in the album make it one of the most diverse but connected albums I have heard in a long while, and indicates the perfectness of the band lineup both in vocal styles and the way they each present something personal to the song, but bounce off each other to make each track memorable. In amongst this years fair share of pop idols and other manufactured crap, this album shines out and proves to those left despairing that decent music still exists.