Black Eyed Peas – Masters Of The Sun (Album Review)

Once upon a time, Black Eyed Peas were a high-selling musical act that had at least one hit a year. As time passed, they’ve become a bit of a forgotten commodity in the game, which is quite a surprise considering how high they were when they were at their peak. In “MASTERS OF THE SUN,” the band looks to recreate some of their magic, reverting back to a style of music they utilized when they first hit the scene.

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TOP 5

5. YES OR NO

“YES OR NO” might very well be The Black Eyed Pea’s toughest song to-date. It features this rugged instrumental comprised of heavy-hitting knocks and a dark vibe that would put the fear into even Hellboy’s scary ass. On it, the crew and an unidentified female singer give the world an ultimatum when it comes to a myriad of topics such as leading, telling the truth and killing. Though their rhymes are simple, I love the aggression and animation they use to deliver them, as they do their best to turn the world into critical thinkers.

4. BACK 2 HIP HOP

As soon as you press play on this album, The Black Eyed Peas and featured guest Nas made sure they hit you with a track that had serious rapping associated with it. Over a flipped version of the classic Soul II Soul track “Back to Life,” each member in the crew discuss bringing hip hop back to life, insinuating that it has been dead since who knows how long. You get everything from boom-bap rap styles to history lessons from each artist, which ultimately has them sounding like mad scientists that enjoy deciphering beats for a living.

I’m pretty sure Black Eyed Peas are not responsible for bringing hip hop back to life, but I get it.

3. ALL AROUND THE WORLD

“ALL AROUND THE WORLD” is beautiful hip hop music. The song features vintage underground rap stars in Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Posdnuos (of De La Soul). The great thing about the song is that everyone feels in sync with one another, making it legitimately sound like these legendary MC’s were all in a group together at one point of their lives. Aside from that, each artist shows a level of rap production that is outstanding, gifting us with punchlines galore, interesting flows and a bravado that is hard to ignore. In my opinion, this is the type of rap that hip hoppers all over the world will be proud of.

Phife Dawg has to be the coolest n***a I’ve never met in my life. He can literally have my wife he wanted her.

2. DOPENESS

Before everything else, hip hop has always been fun. I feel like the idea of showing off your ability to be both unique and zany excited our pioneers, and they have shifted this way of thinking into the minds of the youth today. In “DOPENESS,” you get to hear some of that fun/zany excitement that comes with making the next hottest record, as each member in the Black Eyed Peas group along with featured guest CL put on a show when it comes to showing off how dope they are. I love the ebullience of the instrumental the peeps rap over, the infectiousness of the hook both Will.I.am and CL were able to gift us with, and most importantly, how everyone involved used everything from goofy noises to the toughest of bars to get their points across. Yes indeed, you guys are dope for this one!

1. BIG LOVE

Black Eyed Peas are also for the culture, people!

There’s three things you should come to expect in your life these days: Death, taxes and a Black Eyed Peas hit record. Their latest one has them channeling their inner Nas, as they rap about politics, the f**ked up mindset of our culture and drug usage. Each rapper in the group spits with the exact urgency the song needs, while ~~Fergie~~ gives the pop fans of the world the perfect hook that they can sulk in. The combination of the two sounds is excellent, and in my opinion, I think this is BEP’s best song in a couple of years.

Ideally, music should make you smile, and this definitely puts one on my face.

SONG BY SONG BREAKDOWN

1. BACK 2 HIP HOP (5/5)

2. YES OR NO (4.5/5)

3. GET READY (4/5)

4. 4 EVER (3.5/5)

5. CONSTANT PT.1 PT. 2 (4/5)

6. DOPENESS (5/5)

7. ALL AROUND THE WORLD (4.5/5)

8. NEW WAVE (4/5)

9. VIBRATIONS (4/5)

10. WINGS (4.5/5)

11. RING THE ALARM PT.1 PT.2 PT3 (4/5)

12. BIG LOVE (5/5)

OVERALL RATING

(B+)

Would you call this effort by Black Eyed Peas an experimental one? Technically, their first major single was “That’s The Joint” — A traditional rap song that had the crew spitting bars very similarly to how they are throughout this project. Whatever the case may be, the music on MASTERS OF THE SUN is refreshing. During the twelve tracks, you get everything from storytelling gems to hip hop tunes that aim to make you feel good in every kind of way. In each song, the crew made sure to combine authentic rap vibes with relevant topics of today. The “Let’s Get Started” musicians also made sure that every song they delivered for us was dynamic enough to keep the youth’s attention, applying twists and turns and implementing different genres into the overall scheme of things. I thought the orchestration of the album was astute, the rapping was flawless, and the topics covered were beyond intriguing.

I didn’t like the features on this project, I loved them! In order for the crew to make MASTERS OF THE SUN feel all the way authentic, the Black Eyed Peas called on legendary underground MC’s from the 80’s and 90’s. What I liked about these particular MC’s was that they were able to maintain their vintage sounds, giving real hip hop fans legitimate flashbacks to the boom bap era of the genre.

My one and only beef with this album was the length of the songs. In my opinion, there is a thin line between abusing the listeners ears and leaving them wanting more; Black Eyed Peas struggled with that here. I thought songs like “WINGS” and “RING THE ALARM” were magical, but began to fizzle towards the end with what I would consider unnecessary extensions. Nonetheless, this beef is very minor (It’s really me just nitpicking)

There’s nothing better than hip hop acts that feel like they have something to prove. When this happens, they usually go back to the drawing board, searching for what it is they either did in the past or do best now; that’s what “MASTERS OF THE SUN” is all about. I felt this love for making music from the group that I haven’t heard in a while, and that energy seeped through the speakers of my earphones easily and often. I haven’t felt this pure and clean after listening to a project in a while; it almost felt like my ears got a long overdue cleansing.