When it comes to bending your original vision for the purpose of achieving commercial success, none have managed to alienate and bury their past better than the Black Eyed Peas. Telling anyone who hopped on board after the success of their third LP, Elephunk, that their first two albums Behind The Front and Bridging The Gap were drenched in backpack alternative Hip Hop may not resonate. The fact that will.i.am and apl.de.ap were once signed to Eazy-E’s Ruthless Records might even seem downright inconceivable to some of their legacy haters.
While they may not have found massive success until they added Fergie into the fold on 2003’s Elephunk, a quenched thirst for fame seems to have allowed the original trio to relish in their out-of-sight-out-of-mind status with their more fickle fanbase picked up during their later space-EDM-pixel-sunglasses-mohawk iteration, and return to their roots with Masters Of The Sun Vol. 1.
The 11-song LP is a callback to that jazzy, early version of themselves, with some gentle blending of their later sound, without ever veering too far off the path to break the vibe.
The most endearing element has to be that this album is clearly aimed at satisfying their day one (pre-Elephunk) fans, without pandering to younger listeners with baseless, forced collaborations. Instead, names like Nas, who appears on the theme song of their resurrection “Back 2 Hip Hop,” and the late Phife, Posdnuos, and Ali Shaheed Mohammed on “All Around The World,” find the trio effortlessly creating timeless vibes.
Then there are Easter eggs for real heads; the “My Philosophy” scratch on “Pick A Side,” the interpolated Suzanne Vega chorus by Nicole Scherzinger and reworked “Nobody Beats The Biz” sample on “Wings,” and even the subtle use of Slick Rick in the standout track “Constant Pt. 1&2” tastefully show their age and dedication the culture.
They do show their age shamelessly at points, like on “Dopeness,” where they overdo the “we’re dope” shtick a little. In fact, some of the rhymes feel quite loose and overly simplistic at points during this LP; there are bars to be found, they’re just not consistently clever or noteworthy.
Altough this album may not be overly deep or profound, it manages to deliver a solid nostalgic aura without getting lost in the aesthetic sauce. By the time you get to “Big Love,” which feels like this LP’s “Where Is The Love?,” we’re left to understand that the gap Fergie left behind is now heartily filled with some of the soul they sacrificed in exchange for success.
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Album of the year.
Mos def!! Album of the year. Classic.
Indeed album of the year !!!! This is what hiphop needed….makin’ it fun and insightful again.
This is one of VERY few albums I would buy on CD in 2018 (remember 1998?!). This, Saba, Sylvan, this is The Realest hip hop. I was so deeply needed it!
Thanks BEP!
To early to give it 5, but definitely it is between 4.8-5.0.
Great album
I just listen through this album. And it’s great!
Good for the Peas. Bringing it back to where they belong. Will. I. Am. is an enigma and should never be discounted.
You see him vs. Thes One in the Soundclash beat battle?? That was some HIP HOP FIRE.
First song cheered up what had been an empty depression from them jumping into music with ferrgy. Glad you guys are back with the vibe for that original tribe.
Im honestly surprised how good this album is. Fun from the very start till the very end. cant skip any track
I don’t know who all these clowns that have been paid off by BEP are but this album is just… ok. I am rating it lower and boycotting it because why should we give a pass to these clowns who turned their back on hip hop and jumped back on again all of a sudden when hip hop is the number 1 music genre. You think us real hip hop heads have forgiven Will i am the clown that easy? He told the younger artists to sell out and also said albums were dead. He’s done more damage to hip hop than anyone in the game.
Shut up. Artists experiment and branch out all of the time. You wanna boycott them because of that? Do you but it’s your loss. This is a solid album that reminds me of the vintage Peas in some instances.
Word!
Even if they might bring Pac back to life, they will be clowns. They sold their souls and made the wackest pop shit ever. And there is no problem with pop music, cuz there are a lot of great pop artists even in the mainstream. The problem is BEP made pop on the lowest level, for the dumbest people and now they act like they were hiphop. It was not an experimental way of making art but it was an easy way to make money while they were backstabbing the genre. Fuck em all.
Amen!
Man that was well said there stuff was soul-less and terrible but went Platinum. Most people are sheep and most people like bad music. For me you can add Eminem to this list but people still worship his corny ass product.
Welcome back BEP…the album is dope!
Dope comeback album by BEP. More like a 3.5, but I’ll bump it up to a 4.
One of the best albums this year, along with KOD and DROGAS WAVE.
Masters of the sun needs to be heard.
Love this album it’s refreshing to hear them on their old sound again. HIP HOP is on the way back people! I love it!
I Love this album, start to end, I think it is one of the best albums this year, with tracks that stand out such as it’s opening track Back 2 Hiphop feat. Nas, with the loud, and ominous horns at the start, transitioning to a, jazzy, old school 90’s hip hop type beat, and another song like Vibration pt.1 pt.2, which start off with a very melodic, jazzy piano, on top with a boom bap beat, and bars that flow out so smoothly, then turning into a Darker toned, modern hip hop type beat, where the flows get a bit more aggressive, with an infectious chorus for part 2, and DOPENESS with the funky guitar riff in the background, with Will.I.AM’s first verse, and that infectious “im so dope” chorus at the start. This album has a very strong Tribe Called Quest vibe to it, all while being its own original thing, which is why im giving this a 5/5
People will boycott this saying Will.i.Am is a traitor to hip hop, but will still support R. Kelly under the excuse that they can separate the person from the music smh. This was a very solid album.
Loved the Black eyed Peas early work! This has that vibe!