Best Music Writing 2011 by Alex Ross Daphne Carr

Author:Alex Ross, Daphne Carr
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Published: 2011-11-09T16:00:00+00:00

WHOEVER CRACKS DANCE MUSIC WINS

On paper, the Black Eyed Peas sound like the worst band you can imagine: one brainy leader, one break dancer/martial artist, one Filipino MC who learned English at age 14 and one rock chick/ex-meth addict. Like a true visionary, Will flipped these deficits into a global-domination scheme. “I go to Brazil, they think I’m Brazilian,” he says. “I go to Panama, they think I’m Panamanian, because I speak Spanish.” In Sweden? “They like Fergie. We’ll put her in front. South America? Taboo, you get in the front, be Latin! Southeast Asia? Apl, go! Speak Filipino!”

In 2008, Will.i.am found the final key to claiming a global audience. He was in Australia shooting a co-starring role as the teleporting mutant John Wraith in X-Men Origins: Wolverine when he had one of those everything-you-know-is-wrong insights: After asking some friends to bring him to a hip-hop club, he was told, “‘Ip-’op’s daid, mate. Electrow.” He returned to the States possessed. “I came back hollering, ‘Dance music, Jimmy [Io-vine], dance music! Whoever cracks dance music wins.’”

Will approached The E.N.D. less as an album than as a DJ set—and even hired the French superstar DJ David Guetta himself to produce the second single, “I Gotta Feeling.” “The only reason I see to make an album is to occupy an hour with a mood,” Will says. “If I’m a doctor and you say, ‘I just want to dance,’ I prescribe this.” Hence, 15 midtempo, upbeat tracks, light on gray matter and heavy on good vibes. Of critics who impugn their simplicity, the Peas say that such people aren’t using The E.N.D. as directed: “It’s meant as escapism,” says Fergie. “We specifically wanted people to forget about their money problems, losing their jobs, their homes.”

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