Elephunk

06/13/2003 7:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Dan Leroy

Artists frequently get grief from critics for not digging deeper than silly love (or lust) songs. Sometimes, though, the best advice comes from Clint Eastwood: "A man's got to know his limitations." Take hip-hop's Black Eyed Peas, for instance. The musical attributes of the group's first two albums were often overshadowed by comparisons to more thoughtful L.A. lyricists like Jurassic 5 and Dilated Peoples. For number three, will.i.am, apl.de.ap and Taboo (plus new female vocalist Fergie) have decided to simply "Get Retarded," and it's a brilliant move. The focus of these silly, horny songs stays strictly on the Elephunk, and the infectious genre-hopping--rocking it up with Papa Roach one minute on "Anxiety," cooling out with samba king Sergio Mendes on "Sexy" the next--makes nearly every track sound like a great summer single. Even when the Peas do try to get deep, on the gorgeously harmonized "Where Is The Love," they wisely draft Justin Timberlake to sugar the pill. Like Dirty Harry said...