Pages tagged “Black-Eyed Peas”

Elle MacPherson, Kristin Davis, Bono, Queen Rania al Abdullah of Jordan, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, economist Jeffrey Sachs and musician Angelique Kidjo convened outside the UN on Thursday. They participated in a call-to-action style event, promoting the In My Name program, which has pledged to cut global poverty in half by the year 2015.

photo by Danny Clinch

Paste has tried hard not to turn our magazine or website into a platform for our own various political opinions.  We recognize that people look to us for cultural guidance but generally think there are better places to find political commentary than a music magazine. For the sake of full disclosure, I'll be voting for Obama/Biden, but beyond that, I'll just refer you to The Economist. But music at the conventions is fair game, and it's hard not to note that last week in Denver featured pro-Obama concerts from Death Cab For Cutie, Stevie Wonder, Nada Surf, Black Eyed Peas, Cold War Kids, Jenny Lewis, Kanye West and Alejandro Escovedo, who blogged for us from the Democratic National Convention. And the Republicans have, well, John Rich, Gretchen Wilson and Rachael Lampa.

Sometimes it seems like every actor wants to be a musician and every musician an actor. In this week's newsworthy chronicles of the latter category, two members of the Black Eyed Peas are headed to Hollywood in a couple of big-budget features.

will.i.am is starring as John Wraith (alias Wraith... or Kestrel), a mutant with the ability of teleportation and a fetish for explosives, in the upcoming film X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Wraith is part of the Weapon X program that was involved with Wolverine in the X-Men universe. This is will.i.am's feature debut, though he previously appeared on the show Cane. In the end, Wraith is eventually gutted, yes, gutted, by his partner Sabertooth for failing at a mission. Whether or not this grisly end will occur in the film is unknown.

Also making his way onto the silver screen will be Taboo. He'll play a lead role in the upcoming Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, which seems to be a retelling rather than a remake of the old Street Fighter film. Although Taboo's specific role is unknown, speculation has it that he's up for Ryu, Ken or Guile. How the film's plot will be presented is also still murky, as not only did the original film kind of mess with the game's story, but the story itself is pretty much a mess on its own. The film also may be canned if the upcoming Street Fighter 4 tanks, so this news may not end up coming to pass.

Related links:
Paste: Black Eyed Peas - Monkey Business
IMDB: X-Men Origins: Wolverine
IMDB: Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li

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According to The Black Eyed Peas’ fourth album, Monkey Business means a well-rounded woman and a lot of booty shaking. “Whatchya gonna do with all that junk inside that trunk?” frontman, will.i.am, asks on “My Humps.” Fergie, the sultry songstress addition from the last album discusses her “lovely lady lumps” with an alliterative style you can’t help but dig. And then it’s to the dance floor for some boy-vs.-girl back-and-forth as the 14 tracks progress.

Monkey Business was made to live in clubs that throb. The constant tête à tête is undeniably and increasingly danceable, even for diehard hip-hop purists who resent the over-hooked and poppified form of universally successful 2003 crossover album, Elephunk. Keeping it jumpin’ with a first single called “Don’t Phunk With My Heart” and a guest appearance by funkmaster James Brown, the Peas are still unclassifiable with even more well-arranged, multi-genre infusion. Catchy is good.