Pump It

Infobox Single
Name = Pump It


Artist = The Black Eyed Peas
from Album = Monkey Business
Released = May 2006
Format = Digital download
Recorded = 2004
Genre = Hip hop
Length = 3:35
Label = A&M, Interscope
Writer = will.i.am
apl.de.ap
Taboo
Fergie
Nicholas Roubanis
Producer = will.i.am
Last single = "My Humps" (2005)
This single = "Pump It" (2006)
Next single = "Like That" (2006)
Misc = Audiosample
Upper caption = Audio sample
Audio file = PumpItSample.ogg

"Pump It" is a song by The Black Eyed Peas that heavily incorporates music from the Dick Dale version of the song "Misirlou" (known by many for being featured on the Quentin Tarantino movie "Pulp Fiction"). "Misirlou" is a popular folk song of Greek origin, and its original writer is unknown, but Nicholas Roubanis, who accredited himself as writer in a jazz version he recorded, was given writing credit on "Pump It." It was released as the fourth single, and possibly the last, from The Black Eyed Peas's 2005 album "Monkey Business". The song was also featured in commercial spots for Best Buy in 2005 and "Big Momma's House 2", "Cars" and Pepsi in 2006, as well as the main music during the pre-game of Edmonton Oilers home games during their 2006 playoff run. Dick Dale has been known to attempt to sing the chorus when playing "Misirlou" live. There is a remix by Travis Barker.

Origins

"I was in Brazil doing some CD shopping," Black Eyed Peas member "Will.I.Am" recalls. I came across this compilation [disk] and I thought it was one thing but it turned out to be something else. The Dick Dale song "Misirlou", was on it. At first I was angry this isn't what I wanted to buy," he laughs. "But then, really, that song is hot. I said, 'we should do a song like this.' I jump-started the computer and made some beats on the train. Then we had to fly to Tokyo and I tightened up the beat on the plane. Then I recorded vocals in this park in Tokyo. And that's how we recorded the song, 'Pump It'." [http://umusic.ca/blackeyedpeas/]

Chart performance

Before the single was officially released, the song peaked at #82 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 2005. This was mainly based on digital download strength due to exposure in the Best Buy ads. After its official airplay release, it peaked at #18 in March 2006. The single was released to stores in the US on February 14, 2006 and in the UK on March 13, 2006. This single, compared to other singles from Monkey Business, has been relatively weak on the US Charts, being the lowest ranking single from the album. One probable factor of this is that it was released after The Pussycat Dolls single "Beep" was released, which has vocals from Will.I.Am, or that My Humps was still in rotation and on the charts when it was released.

The song performed better in other countries. In Australia, the song peaked at #6. The song wasalso popular in the UK, becoming their 8th hit single there. "Pump It" peaked at #3 on the UK singles chart, matching the chart success of previous single "My Humps".

Music video

The video premiered on February 2, 2006 on MTV's TRL, Canada's Much Music, and AOL Music. It was directed by Francis Lawrence. It starts with a girl from what appears to be a rival gang saying, "I thought you said the Black Eyed Peas were gonna be here...". The song then starts, and the Black Eyed Peas arrive in their new car, which is a modified Honda Civic Hybrid that has the same color scheme as the cover of Monkey Business. The car can be seen at their [http://www.blackeyedpeas.com website] , and their Honda Civic Tour. The video features martial arts creative forms star [http://www.steve-terada.com Steve Terada] , break dancing, and some form of telekinesis in an underground parking lot setting. It also referenced the "Burly Brawl" scene from "The Matrix Reloaded" and it appears that the BEP have superhuman powers, Will.I Am seems to possess Speed and Super Strength, as he takes out some of a rival gang with a black bowling ball(he seems to be able to use his super strength to make it bounce of walls), Apl.de.apl seems to defy gravity, running on the gangs chests,Fergie appears to knock people to the other side of the room without touching them at all. Taboo doesn't seem to be doing anything. The video could also be viewed as a spin-off of the video for Beat It by Michael Jackson.

The US Navy carrier group, VAW-116 became "semi-famous" in 2006 for its remake of the "Pump It." The video originated as a project on board ship to fight off boredom and to boost morale, and now has over 1,000,000 hits on Youtube. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqaWdkdFb3Y]

The PSP game Lumines II features the music video for Pump It. Also, a short clip of the video is shown in the video for Glamorous by Fergie.

The song is featured in the PlayStation 2 game Singstar R&B.

The chorus is also used in Little Man, a film starring the Wayans brothers. This song was featured in a College Roadtrip commercial.

This song is used in Garfield 2. when Garfield and the animals make a lasagna.

There is also a Spanish version of the song which is released on Spain and the Philippines as a B-Side of the original version.

Charts

References