Elephunk

Elephunk is the third studio album by American hip hop group the Black Eyed Peas. It was released on June 20, 2003, by the will.i.am Music Group and A&M Records. Although the album is the group's third album it is also the groups first in many ways; it was the first album to feature R&B singer Fergie and was the first album of the group to be billed as "the Black Eyed Peas".

Elephunk
Studio album by the Black Eyed Peas
Released	June 20, 2003
Recorded	August 23, 2001–May 11, 2003
Studio	Glenwood Place (Burbank)[a] Record Plant[b] The Stewchia (Los Angeles)[c] Velvet Tone (Sacramento)[d] Unnamed location (Bodega Bay)[e]
Genre	Hip hop funk R&B
Length	59:30
Label	A&M Interscope will.i.am
Producer	will.i.am apl.de.ap Ron Fair Poet Named Life
the Black Eyed Peas chronology
Bridging the Gap (2000) Elephunk (2003) Monkey Business (2005)
Singles from Elephunk
"Where Is the Love?" Released: May 12, 2003 "Shut Up" Released: September 8, 2003 "Hey Mama" Released: January 12, 2004 "Let's Get It Started" Released: May 31, 2004

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(66/100)[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Alternative Press
The A.V. Club	(positive)[3]
Blender
Drowned in Sound	(9/10)
Entertainment Weekly	C[4]
Mojo
PopMatters	[5]
Robert Christgau	A-[6]
Rolling Stone	[7]

Track listings

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Hands Up"	Will Adams Allan Pineda Jaime Gomez George Pajon, Jr. Michael Fratantuno Jean Baptiste Billy May	will.i.am	3:35
2.	"Labor Day (It's a Holiday)"	Adams Pineda Thomas van Musser James Brown Phelps Catfish Collins Williams Earl Collins John Griggs Clayton Gunnells Darrel Jamiso Robert McCullough Clyde Stubblefield Frank Clifford Waddy	will.i.am	3:58
3.	"Let's Get Retarded"	Adams Pineda Gomez Terence Yoshiaki Fratantuno George Pajon, Jr.	will.i.am	3:35
4.	"Hey Mama"	Adams Anthony Henry	will.i.am	3:34
5.	"Shut Up"	Adams Gomez J. Curtis George Pajon, Jr.	will.i.am Ron Fair (vocal)	4:56
6.	"Smells Like Funk"	Adams Pineda Fratantuno George Pajon, Jr.	will.i.am	5:04
7.	"Latin Girls"	Adams Pineda Gomez Curtis George Pajon, Jr. Debi Nova	will.i.am	6:17
8.	"Sexy"	Adams Antonio Carlos Jobim Vinicius de Moraes	will.i.am	4:43
9.	"Fly Away"	Stacy Ferguson Adams Ray Brady	will.i.am	3:35
10.	"The Boogie That Be"	Adams John Stephens van Musser	will.i.am	5:12
11.	"The Apl Song"	Adams Pineda	apl.de.ap will.i.am	2:54
12.	"Anxiety" (with Papa Roach)	Adams Pineda Papa Roach	will.i.am	3:38
13.	"Where Is the Love?" (featuring Justin Timberlake) (includes hidden track "Third Eye")	Adams Timberlake Gomez Pineda Printz Board Fratantuno George Pajon, Jr. Curtis	will.i.am Fair	8:29

2004 reissue bonus track[8]
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
13.	"Where Is the Love?" (featuring Justin Timberlake)	Adams Timberlake Gomez Pineda Board Fratantuno Pajon, Jr. Curtis	will.i.am Fair	4:32
14.	"Let's Get It Started" (includes hidden track "Third Eye")	Adams Pineda Gomez Yoshiaki Fratantuno George Pajon, Jr.	will.i.am	7:33

UK bonus tracks[9]
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
13.	"Where Is the Love?" (featuring Justin Timberlake)	Adams Timberlake Gomez Pineda Board Fratantuno Pajon, Jr. Curtis	will.i.am Fair	4:32
14.	"Third Eye"	Adams	will.i.am	3:44
15.	"Rock My Shit"	Adams Jamie Munson Board	will.i.am Poet Named Life	3:52
16.	"What's Goin' Down"	Adams	will.i.am	2:41

Asian special edition (Bonus AVCD)[10]
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Where Is the Love?" (video)
2.	"Shut Up" (video)
3.	"Where Is the Love?" (instrumental)
4.	"Shut Up" (instrumental)
5.	"Sumthin for That Ass" (non-LP version)
6.	"Tell Your Mama Come" (live)

France bonus tracks[11]
No.	Title	Length
15.	"Hands Up" (Live from the House of Blues, Chicago)	5:07
16.	"Fly Away" (Live from the House of Blues, Chicago)	3:09

German bonus track
No.	Title	Length
15.	"The Elephunk Theme"	5:05

Personnel

The Black Eyed Peas

• will.i.am – vocals on all tracks except 11; backing vocals on track 11; Moog synthesizers on tracks 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 13; drum programming on tracks 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10; clavinet on tracks 12 and 13; drums and piano on track 2; Wurlitzer electric piano on track 4; synthesizer on track 10; executive production; production; engineering on tracks 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 12 and 14; mixing on tracks 10 and 14
• apl.de.ap – vocals on tracks 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 11, 12 and 13; drum programming and production on track 11
• Fergie – vocals on all tracks except 6, 7 and 12
• Taboo – vocals on tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 13; guitar

Main session musicians

• George Pajon, Jr. – guitar on tracks 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13 and 15
• J. Curtis – guitar on tracks 5, 7, 11 and 13
• Mike Fratantuno – bass on tracks 1, 2, 3, 6, 13, 14 and 15; guitarrón on track 7; double bass and acoustic guitar on track 13
• Dante Santiago – backing vocals on tracks 1, 3, 4, 6 and 10; vocals on track 7

Other contributors

Printz Board – horns on track 2; trumpet on track 7; Moog synthesizer and clavinet on track 13 Tim Orindgreff – horns on track 2; saxophone and flute on track 7 Terence Yoshiaki – drums on tracks 3 and 7 Noelle Scaggs – backing vocals on tracks 3 and 6 Tippa Irie – vocals on track 4

Ray Brady – guitar on tracks 5 and 9 Terry Dexter – backing vocals on track 6 Travis Barker - drums on track 15 Davey Chegwidden – percussion on track 7 Chuck Prada – percussion on tracks 7 and 14 Debi Nova – vocals on track 7 Sérgio Mendes – piano on track 8

John Legend – vocals on track 10 Jacoby Shaddix – vocals on track 12 Tobin Esperance – bass on track 12 Jerry Horton – guitar on track 12 David Buckner – drums on track 12 Justin Timberlake – vocals on track 13

Main production personnel Ron Fair – executive production; production on track 13; additional vocal production on track 5; piano on track 7 Dylan Dresdow – engineering on tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13 and 15; additional vocal engineering on track 3 Christine Sirois – engineering assistance on tracks 1, 5, 6, 7 and 13 Tony Maserati – mixing on all tracks except 10 and 12 Brian "Big Bass" Gardner – mastering

Additional production personnel Tal Herzberg – additional engineering on tracks 5 and 13 Jun Ishizeki – engineering on track 10 Jason Villaroman – engineering on track 11 Chris Lord-Alge – mixing on track 12

The album is considered a victim of the Loudness war, with the worst possible ranking in the Hall of CD Clipping Shame, as 1 minute 19 seconds of the CD's audio has been destroyed by clipping.^[12]

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts Chart (2003) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[13] 1 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[14] 3 Canadian Albums (Jam!)[15] 2 Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[16] 3 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[17] 5 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[18] 3 French Albums (SNEP)[19] 2 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[15] 6 Italian Albums (FIMI)[20] 6 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[21] 2 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[22] 2 Polish Albums (ZPAV)[23] 41 Portuguese Albums (AFP)[24] 3 Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[25] 10 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[26] 5 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[27] 1 UK Albums (OCC)[28] 3 US Billboard 200[29] 14 Year-end charts Chart (2003) Position Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[15] 47

Certifications Countries Certification Sales Argentina Gold[30] 50,000 Australia 4× Platinum[31] 280,000 Brazil Diamond[15] 500,000 Canada 7× Platinum[32] 700,000 Finland Gold[33] 23,541 France 4× Platinum[34] 413,000 Germany Platinum[35] 200,000 Indonesia Gold[36] 45,000 Japan Gold[37] 100,000 Canada 7× Platinum[38] 700,000 Europe 2× Platinum[15] 2,000,000 Mexico Platinum[39] 100,000 Spain Platinum[40] 100,000 Switzerland Platinum[41] 40,000 Sweden Gold[42] 30,000 UK 5× Platinum[43] 1,500,000 US 2× Platinum[44] 3,190,000[45]

Release history

Country	Date	Edition	Label
Canada[46]	June 24, 2003	Standard	Universal
Germany[47]	July 1, 2003
United Kingdom[9]	August 7, 2003		Polydor
United States[8]	May 26, 2004	Re-issue	A&M