Black Eyed Peas - The E.N.D.

June 9th, 2009 marked the fifth installment in the Black Eyed Peas already illustrious album collection.  I am sure that you have all heard their hit single, "Boom Boom Pow," and if you haven't, then you might possibly be living under a rock (and should look into being accepted into society once again).  The LP features a lot of different stuff from the group, and when I gave the album a listen, I really got this Electronic Funk feel to it.  Kind of something you'd hear at a Bar Mitzvah party, or something like that.  It has these upbeat dance tunes that sort of put you in a trance and make even people who don't like dancing get up on their feet and, "bust a move".  While I was a huge fan of their fifth LP, I also had a lot of problems with it...

One main problem with the album was that it was boring.  All their past albums have had this sort of dance feel with less of an electronic feel to it.  Now don't get me wrong, electronic music is sick, but I don't think that it goes well their style.  This is not to say that I did not enjoy listening to the album.  I think it is great that musicians and musical groups explore different ways of creating music and getting their messages out there.  I mean it relates to what Kanye West did with his 808's & Heartbreak project.  Now it got so many mixed reviews that I couldn't tell you what the general consensus of the LP was.  I know, and I can only speak for myself, that I enjoyed the 808's.  However, when it came to listening to The E.N.D. I began trying to figure out when the end of the LP was actually coming.  I didn't hate it, but at the same time, I didn't love it.  It is great for someone to bust a move to, and to really get their dance/freak on, but other then that, it didn't really fill my musical hunger for Hip-Hop, which is what the Black Eyed Peas (BEP) is known for!

Another lacking aspect of this album was the presence of other musicians outside of the musical group.  I really love when bands throw a guest on their album, and I guess with an album like this, you can't really do that, but it was something I thought could have advanced their new musical style.  Guys like Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Q-Tip, John Legend and a few others come to mind when I think of BEP and their features.  These guys definitely could have helped advance the LP itself, and maybe could have added a little "spice and pizzazz" to the album as a whole.  Not that I am saying listening to Will.I.Am and Fergie do their thing is boring, but I love to hear other peoples works as well!  I have a hard time classifying the genre for this album, seeing as said earlier, it is a primarily Hip-Hop/Electronic/Funk sort of album sound.  I don't know if this is BEP's permanent sound, I mean the sound is not that much different from their past works, but different enough to turn me off from listening to it and giving it a grade in the "A" range.  As it stands right now, the LP is only getting a B- from me, at best a B, but nothing higher then those two grades.  The E.N.D. hit store racks today, and if you are a true Peas fan, then you need to cop this album, whether it be on iTunes, Amazon, or some corener store LP shop!  If you are not a Peas fan, and you dig electronic music, then check this album out (with the deluxe edition tracks), and I think you may fully enjoy the album for its electronic feel.  If you don't fall under those two categories, then I don't think this album is for you (but I have been wrong in the past!)

The E.N.D. Track Listing:

"Boom Boom Pow"
"Rock That Body"
"Meet Me Halfway"
"Imma Be"
"I Gotta Feeling"
"Alive"
"Missing You"
"Ring-a-Ling"
"Party All the Time"
"Out of My Head"
"Electric City"
"Showdown"
"Now Generation"
"One Tribe"
"Rockin to the Beat"

Deluxe Edition Bonus Tracks:

"Where Ya Wanna Go"
"Simple Little Melody (Japanese Bonus Track)"
"Mare (Track 16 on the Standard Edition)"
"Don't Bring Me Down"
"Pump It Harder ("Pump It" Remix)"
"Lets Get Re-Started ("Let's Get Retarded" Remix)"
"Shut the Phunk Up" (Censored Knee Deep Remix of "Shut Up")"
"That's the Joint ("Joints & Jams" Remix)"
"Another Weekend (Feat. Esthero) ("Weekends" Remix)"
"Don't Phunk Around ("Don't Phunk with My Heart" Chicago House Remix)"

Print this post