''Monkey Business'' is the fourth studio album by American group

Black Eyed Peas Black Eyed Peas (also known as The Black Eyed Peas) is an American musical group consisting of rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo (rapper), Taboo. The group's line-up during the height of their popularity in the 2000s featured Fergie (singer ...

. It was released on May 25, 2005, by the

will.i.am Music Group will.i.am Music Group is a vanity label founded by music artist will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas. Popular artists that were signed to the label other than will.i.am or Black Eyed Peas include Fergie, Macy Gray, Cheryl, and Sérgio Mendes. Initial ...

and

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

. It was recorded in "two and three-month spurts" throughout 2004 while the group was on tour. The album was

certified Certification is the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of a ...

three times

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

in the U.S. and has sold over 9 million copies worldwide. The

Canadian Recording Industry Association Music Canada (formerly Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA)) is a non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, manufacture, produce, and distribute music in Canada. It ...

has certified ''Monkey Business'' 6× Platinum, with sales of over 600,000 copies. The

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing th ...

(or ARIA) has also certified ''Monkey Business'' 6× Platinum, denoting sales of over 420,000 copies. The album's tracks earned the group four 2006

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

nominations and they also won the Grammy for

Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group The Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group was awarded between 1991 and 2011, alongside the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. Previously a single award was presented for Best Rap Performance. The award was discontin ...

for "Don't Phunk with My Heart". According to

IFPI The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a non-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland and founded in Italy in 19 ...

, over 2 million copies have been sold in Europe. The band promoted the album embarking on two concert tours: the

Monkey Business Tour The Monkey Business Tour was the second concert tour by American hip hop group The Black Eyed Peas Black Eyed Peas (also known as The Black Eyed Peas) is an American musical group consisting of rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo. The gr ...

and the

Black Blue & You Tour Black Eyed Peas (also known as The Black Eyed Peas) is an American musical group consisting of rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo. The group's line-up during the height of their popularity in the 2000s featured Fergie, who replaced Kim H ...

Critical reception

Initial critical response to ''Monkey Business'' was mixed. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 48, based on 20 reviews.

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

gave the album a 3-star honorable mention, saying: "What all pop might be—so much brighter and kinder than it is".

Singles

Don't Phunk with My Heart "Don't Phunk with My Heart" (censored as "Don't Mess with My Heart") is a song recorded by American group the Black Eyed Peas for their fourth studio album '' Monkey Business'' (2005). It was written by band members will.i.am and Fergie with Pri ...

" was the lead single from the Black Eyed Peas' second album since band member Fergie joined the group. The single became the group's first top 5 single, peaking at No. 3 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and their second top 10. *"

Don't Lie "Don't Lie" is a song performed by American recording group the Black Eyed Peas, taken from their fourth studio album, '' Monkey Business'' (2005). It was released as the second single from the album on June 29, 2005, after the successful "Don't ...

" was the album's second single, however it failed to duplicate the success of "Don't Phunk with My Heart", partly due to the rising success of the then-unreleased-single "My Humps". "Don't Lie" did manage to crack the top 20 in the United States, peaking at No. 14 on the Hot 100. *"

My Humps "My Humps" is a song recorded by American group the Black Eyed Peas for their fourth studio album '' Monkey Business'' (2005). It was written and produced by group member will.i.am. Musically, it's a hip hop and dance song structured as a due ...

" was the third single from the album and was released in the summer of 2005. The song was released after it became an unsolicited hit on mainstream radio across the United States. The track, even with lack of promotion, surpassed the highly promoted track "Don't Lie". "My Humps" became one of the biggest songs of 2005, despite an incredible amount of criticism, with some labeling the song "tasteless". *"

Pump It "Pump It" is a song recorded by American group the Black Eyed Peas for their fourth studio album '' Monkey Business'' (2005). It was written by group members will.i.am, apl.de.ap and Fergie, and produced by will.i.am. The song heavily incorpor ...

" was released as the fourth and final single from the album, and was the final song from the album to chart on the Hot 100 Black Eyed Peas performing - 2006 - JD

Track listing

;Notes * signifies a co- producer * signifies an additional producer

Personnel

Credits adapted from ''Monkey Business''

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

: Black Eyed Peas *

will.i.am William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "Will-I-am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is the founding and lead member of the musical group Black Eyed Peas. ...

– conceptual design, producer (tracks 1–2, 4-10, 12–15) (also executive),

audio mixing Audio mixing is the process by which multiple sounds are combined into one or more channels. In the process, a source's volume level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated or enhanced. This practical, aesthetic, ...

(track 14),

rap vocals Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

, vocals sung by (All tracks), bass (tracks 1, 4–5, 7, 9-10, 12, 14), drum machine (1, 4–5, 7, 9, 12, 15),

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(15),

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

(1, 7, 12, 14), clavinet keyboard (5, 11), organ (5, 9),

rhodes piano The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, t ...

(8, 11), additional instruments (6) * Fergie - rap vocals, vocals sung by (tracks 1–8, 10–11, 13, 15) *

apl.de.ap Allan Pineda Lindo (born November 28, 1974), known professionally as apl.de.ap (), is a Filipino-American rapper, singer and record producer. He is a founding member of the hip hop group Black Eyed Peas. Early life Allan Pineda Lindo was born ...

- rap vocals, vocals sung by (tracks 1–4, 6–8, 10–12, 14–15), Clavinet keyboard (8), drum machine (8), strings played by (8), producer (8) *

Taboo A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

- rap vocals, vocals sung by (tracks 1–4, 6–8, 11, 13, 15) *Dante Santiago – backing vocals (tracks 8, 10–11, 13, and 16–18), additional lead vocals (7), A&R management coordination Additional Contributors * Marcella Araica - assistant recording engineer,

Pro-Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-product ...

music editing (track 3) *Charlie Baccarat -

electric violin An electric violin is a violin equipped with an electronic output of its sound. The term most properly refers to an instrument intentionally made to be electrified with built-in pickups, usually with a solid body. It can also refer to a violin fi ...

(track 2) *

Printz Board Priese Prince Lamont "Printz" Board (born September 11, 1982) is an American record producer, songwriter, and singer best known for his work with Black Eyed Peas and being a member of the production group Bucky Johnson. In addition, Board has ...

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

strings (tracks 2, 7–8), Mellotron keyboards (13),

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 20 ...

(7, 10), synthesizer (8, 13), bass (8, 10), drums (8), drum machine (13),

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

(9-11, 13),

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

(10), Rhodes piano (10), producer (8, 13) *Ray Brady -

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

(tracks 4, 7) *

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...

- additional lead vocals sung by (track 10) *

Venus Brown Venus Brown (real name Darren Floyd, born in San Diego, California) is the executive producer, owner and CEO of Buddah Brown Entertainment, an artist management music label.The Source Magazine. The Long Haul by Robert Smith III, Page 30. October 20 ...

–

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...

(10), A&R management *Demo Castelleon -

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

(track 3) * Mino Cinelu -

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

(track 15) *Fred Davis –

legal representation In a civil proceeding or criminal prosecution under the common law or under statute, a defendant may raise a defense (or defence) in an effort to avert civil liability or criminal conviction. A defense is put forward by a party to defeat ...

*Dylan "3-D" Dresdow - vocal recording engineer (track 8) *

Ron Fair Ronald Fair is an American A&R executive, record producer, record executive, musical arranger, recording engineer and conductor. In a career that has spanned over 30 years at major record labels he has produced and arranged hits for several ar ...

– executive producer, additional music producer (track 4), string arrangements (2, 9),

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

conducted by (9),

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

(4) *

Shepard Fairey Frank Shepard Fairey (born February 15, 1970) is an American contemporary artist, activist and founder of OBEY Clothing who emerged from the skateboarding scene. In 1989 he designed the " Andre the Giant Has a Posse" (...OBEY...) sticker cam ...

–

album cover An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to either the printed paperboard covers typically used to package sets of and 78-r ...

and

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...

designer *Mike Fratantuono - bass (track 13) *Seth Friedman – A&R management, cover art director,

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

*Brian Gardner – mastering *Serban Ghenea – audio mixing (tracks 5, 10–12, 15) *Dennis Gomez – booklet design *

Cee-Lo Green Thomas DeCarlo Callaway - Burton (born May 30, 1975), known professionally as CeeLo Green (or Cee Lo Green), is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer and actor. He is known for his work in hip hop and R&B, including the Gnarls ...

- additional rap vocals (track 6) * Keith Harris - live drums (track 7), drums (2, 7, 13–14), keyboards (7), Mellotron strings (7), percussion (8) *Tal Herzberg - recording engineer (tracks 1–2, 4, 9), Pro-Tools

music programming Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices and computer software, such as sequencers and workstations or hardware synthesizers, sampler and sequencers, to generate sounds of musical instruments. These mu ...

(2, 4) *Julie Hovsepian –

product manager A product manager (PM) is a professional role that is responsible for the development of products for an organization, known as the practice of product management. Product managers own the product strategy behind a product (physical or digital), ...

*Ted Howard - recording engineer (track 6) *

Tippa Irie Tippa Irie (born Anthony Henry, 1965, London, England) is a British reggae singer and DJ from Brixton, South London. He first came to prominence in the early 1980s as an MC on the South London reggae soundsystem Saxon Studio International. He fir ...

- background vocals (track 7) * Jack Johnson - guitar played by, additional vocals sung by (track 9) *Mike Jurkovac – cover art director *

Manu Katche Manu may refer to: Geography *Manú Province, a province of Peru, in the Madre de Dios Region **Manú National Park, Peru ** Manú River, in southeastern Peru *Manu River (Tripura), which originates in India and flows into Bangladesh * Manu Temp ...

- sampled drums (track 15) *

Kenny Kirkland Kenneth David Kirkland (September 28, 1955 – November 12, 1998) was an American pianist and keyboardist. Biography Early life Born in Brooklyn, New York, United States, Kirkland was six when he first sat down at a piano keyboard. After years ...

- sampled keyboards (track 15) *

Talib Kweli Talib Kweli Greene (; born October 3, 1975) is an American rapper. He earned recognition early on through his collaboration with fellow Brooklyn rapper Mos Def in 1997, when they formed the group Black Star. Kweli's musical career continued with ...

- additional rap vocals (track 6) *Sarah Larkin – business manager *

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and record producer. He began his musical career by working behind the scenes, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Ever ...

- additional vocals sung by (track 6) *Melvin "Chaos" Lewis - recording engineer (track 11), bass, drum machine (11) *Jimmy Limon - bass, Clavinet keyboard, organ, drum machine, percussion, guitar (track 12) *Lor-e – stylist *

Branford Marsalis Branford Marsalis (born August 26, 1960) is an American saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed inst ...

- sampled

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a higher-register variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument invented in the 1840s. The soprano is the third-smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists (from smallest to largest) of the soprillo, sop ...

(track 15) *Edward Martinez – booklet

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

and

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

*Tony Maserati - audio mixing (tracks 3, 7–8, 13) *Michael Matthews - guitar (track 11) *Polo Molina – manager *Osinachi Nwaneri - recording engineer (track 6) *Tim "Izo" Orindgreff -

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

(tracks 9-11, 13),

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

(13) * George Pajon Jr. - guitar (tracks 1–4, 8, 10, 13) *Jack Joseph Puig - audio mixing (track 9) * Q-Tip - rap vocals (track 6) *

Kevin Rudolf Kevin Winston Rudolf (born February 17, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, rapper, and multi-instrumentalist from New York City, New York. He is best known for his 2008 single " Let It Rock". Early life Kevin Winston Rudo ...

- guitar (track 3) *Justin Siegel – A&R management coordination *Madeleine Smith – music clearance *

David Sonenberg David Alan Sonenberg is an American music manager, and the founder of the music management company DAS Communications. He is the producer of the Oscar-winning film ''When We Were Kings'' (1997). Early life and education Born and raised in New ...

– manager *Mike "Spike" Stent - audio mixing (tracks 1–2, 4) * Sting - additional vocals sung by (track 15), sampled bass (15) *Robert "Mousey" Thompson - bass, Clavinet keyboard, drums, drum machine, organ (track 10) *

Justin Timberlake Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He is one of the world's best-selling music artists, with sales of over 88 million records. Timberlake is the recipient of numerous awards and ac ...

- additional vocals sung by (track 3) *

Timbaland Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1972), known professionally as Timbaland, is an American record producer, rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. He has received widespread acclaim for his innovative production work and distinc ...

- additional rap vocals (track 3), all other instruments (3) *Neil Tucker - recording engineer (tracks 2, 8, 10–11, 13) *Andrew Van Meter – production manager *Jason Villaroman - recording engineer (tracks 1, 3–5, 7, 12, 14–15) *Jeff Watkins - saxophone (track 10) * Albert Watson – photographer *Ethan Willoughby - recording engineer, audio mixing (track 6) *Damon Woods - guitar (track 10) *Florencio Zavala –

and

designer *Mike Rotch – Fergie's graphic layout – director

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

* *
The Black Eyed Peas official site

PortalBEP.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monkey Business (Album) 2005 albums A&M Records albums Interscope Geffen A&M Records albums Albums produced by Danja (record producer) Albums produced by Timbaland Albums produced by will.i.am Black Eyed Peas albums Juno Award for International Album of the Year albums