Nominally a rap group, in truth Black Eyed Peas call on so many forms of songwriting and production that slotting them into hip-hop is like slotting Prince into R&B -- technically true, but very limiting. Elephunk, the group's third straight winning LP, doesn't have top-notch rapping, but as driven by frontman Will.I.Am, it does possess some of the most boundary-pushing productions in contemporary, (mostly) uncommercial hip-hop -- right up at the level occupied by Common and OutKast. The smart, brassy opening club thump "Hands Up" hits another level with a sly bridge flaunting some heavy metallic slide guitar, while the highly pressurized love jam "Shut Up" features great interplay between Taboo and new member Fergie. Space doesn't allow for description of each track, but suffice to say any Will.I.Am track is going to feature loads of ideas and fresh sounds, not to mention plenty of stylistic change-ups -- from the digital-step ragga of "Hey Mama" (featuring Tippa Irie) to the Latinized, loved-up "Latin Girls." Like a latter-day Digital Underground, Black Eyed Peas know how to get a party track moving, and add a crazy stupid rhyme or two ("bop your head like epilepsy" from the suitably titled "Let's Get Retarded"). ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
Adams, Pineda, Phelps "Catfish" Collins, Clayton Gunnells, Clyde Stubblefield, Darrel Jamison, Frank Clifford Waddy, James Brown, John Griggs, Robert "Chopper" McCullough, Thomas Van Musser, Williams Earl Collins
The melody of The Apl Song is actually based on the "Balita" (which means "news") song by the Filipino folk rock group Asin which gained popularity in the 1970s and presumably one of Apl's favorite band. In fact, the opening verse "Lapit mga kaibigan at makinig kayo, Ako'y may dala-dalang balita galing sa bayan ko..." is the original opening verse of the folk rock song. The parallelism of the content between "Balita" and "The Apl Song" is very strong. "Balita" is a song about torn-out Mindanao, the homeland of all the band members of Asin while "The Apl Song" is about the life story and hardships of Apl in his "homeland", Angeles City in Pampanga, Philippines. Thus, "The Apl Song" stayed true to the original and expanded the concept of tracing, remembering, and paying homage to your homeland.
The video for "The Apl Song" (which reached number one in the Philippines), featured cameo appearances by fellow Filipino AmericansDante Basco, Chad Hugo and Abe Pagtama and is a tribute to the Filipinos who fought for the U.S. in World War II.
"The Elephunk Theme" also features a sample of Ilaiyaraaja's Unakkum Enakkum Aanandham, a Tamil song from the movie Sri Raghavendra,[26] thus marking the beginning of the BEP foray into Indian music, which continued with "Don't Phunk with My Heart".
"Labor Day (It's a Holiday)" samples The JB's "The Grunt" and uncredied sample of De La Soul's "Ego Trippin' (Part 2)"
Flo Rida sampled "Where Is the Love?" for his song "Rewind" on his album R.O.O.T.S.
The UK version of this album is labeled explicit, mainly due to the song "Rock My Shit", which contains multiple uses of profanity, making it the only country to have "Parental Advisory° label on Elephunk.
"Third Eye" samples Scientist's track "De Materialize" from his 1981 album Scientist Meets the Space Invaders.
