Imma Be

"Imma Be"
Single by The Black Eyed Peas
from the album The E.N.D
A-side "Rock That Body"
Released December 15, 2009
Format CD single, digital download
Recorded 2009
Genre Electro-hop
Length 4:16 (Album version)
3:53 (Radio edit)
Label Interscope
Writer(s) The Black Eyed Peas, Keith Harris, Thomas Brenneck, Michael Deller, Daniel Foder, Jared Tankel
Producer(s) will.i.am, Keith Harris
The Black Eyed Peas singles chronology
"Meet Me Halfway"
(2009)		 "Imma Be"
(2009)		 "Rock That Body"
(2010)
Music sample
The Black Eyed Peas – Imma Be

"Imma Be" is a song performed by the American hip hop group The Black Eyed Peas taken from their fifth studio album The E.N.D. The song's title is a slang expression, meaning "I am going to be" or "I will be" [something or some activity]. Initially released as a promotional single, the song went on to receive a full release as the fourth single in the United States and Canada from the album, the fifth overall, and is the third single from the album to reach number-one on the Billboard Hot 100.

Critical reception to the song was generally positive, with some critics saying that it was a standout track from the album. The video for the song was filmed back-to-back as one collective clip, totaling ten minutes in length with "Rock That Body" which is the fourth international single from the album. The collective montage is titled "Imma Be Rocking That Body". The song was part of the soundtrack of the film The Other Guys (2010) and was used in the bar scene.[1] The song can also be heard in the film The Hangover Part II (2011). However, it does not feature on the official soundtrack.

Music video

The Black Eyed Peas during the first half of "Imma Be Rockin That Body"

The video was filmed on January 13, 2010. The clip features Fergie wearing Louboutin designer footwear and a black metallic leotard and riding a BMW S1000RR supersports motorcycle. Extras were dressed as robots and nomads (like apl.de.ap in "Meet Me Halfway"). It was shot on a desert road in Lancaster, California. Filming was interrupted by a sudden sandstorm, however, as the storm passed, filming resumed.[2] The music video, directed by Rich Lee, was shot back to back with the video for "Rock That Body", the second song on The E.N.D.[3] The two songs were mashed up into a medley, which is titled "Imma Be Rocking That Body". The medley length is 8:15 and the music video in total is 10:21. It premiered on Vevo and Dipdive on February 16, 2010.[4][5] The videos were separated for music channels with the introduction and conclusion removed. The video begins with Fergie waking up on a road in a desert and she notices everything stuck on a loop. She gets up and sings the first verse. She arrives at a bar and finds will.i.am who is stuck on a loop of pouring his drink. She mutes his Beats which makes him stop. He notices that the robot who looped him is following them and they both hide. As the robot looks for them, they both escape in a hovercar. The robot chases them but it runs out of energy. They arrive at a scrapyard where they find apl.de.ap who is also stuck on a loop. Will.i.am taps him and makes him stop. Apl.de.ap brings a good robot to life as they dig through the scrap and find Taboo whose bottom half of his body is missing. Will.i.am and Apl.de.ap carry him as they find a pair of legs walking around the scrapyard and they quickly fix him. As Apl.de.ap raps his verse, the robots dance in the background and they disappear, leaving the evil robot wondering where they went.

Critical reception

Critical response to the song was generally positive. Eric Henderson from Slant Magazine stated that in the song, "halfway through, the pulse gets an upgrade, the tempo hustles up to a strut, the rudimentary synth hits explode into a chunky-funky rush, and before you know it, will.i.am has transformed a deliberately lazy self-parody into a heated club-floor burner. He added: "The dialectic without conversation within "Imma Be" is replayed ad nauseam throughout the album's entire bloated running time".[6] PopMatters gave the song a positive review: "Highlights of the album include "Imma be", which despite the repetition of the title no less than 105 times...takes a really interesting path from hip-hop attitude to club hit to jazz romp that holds up well to repeated listens".[7] Vibe Magazine said that "Imma Be is the 2008 version of "My Humps".[8] Billboard writes that "The group sounds as unabashedly confident as ever here.....A brazen horn section and smooth keyboards cruise along until the song's sudden transition, when the beat switches from a snap music-meets-Neptunes stomp to a funk-house glide, meshing with a seemingly endless vocal loop of "Imma be" to form a pounding, assertive club thumper. Given the success of its predecessors, "Imma Be", while inherently gimmicky, should be sticking around for a long time".[9]

Chart performance

Prior to the album's release, "Imma Be" was released as a worldwide promotional single and peaked at number 50 in the United States, based on downloads alone. It has since been released as the fourth single from that album in the U.S. and became the group's third number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending March 6, 2010 and halted the nine-week run of Kesha's "Tik Tok". It is the group's third number one from The E.N.D. following their first two number ones "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling", as well as their fourth consecutive top ten from the album. With the single reaching number one, The Black Eyed Peas became the first group or duo to place three number ones on the Hot 100 from one album since the Wilson Phillips's debut album, Wilson Phillips, in 1990–91.[10] This placed The Black Eyed Peas adjoined with Usher's 2004 Confessions album to have their singles from the same album to spend the most weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, which currently stands at an unprecedented 28 weeks. "Imma Be" reached the top ten on the Canadian Hot 100 due to a significant increase in digital downloads following a performance of "Imma Be" at the 52nd Grammy Awards.[11] In the UK the single charted at number 55, It has sold 3,000,000 digital copies in the US to date.

Track listing

Digital Download E.P.
No. Title Length
1. "Imma Be" (Wolfgang Gartner Remix) 6:24
2. "Imma Be" (Danger Olympic Remix) 4:31
3. "Imma Be" (Poet Name Life & DJ Ammo Remix) 4:42
4. "Rock That Body" (Skrillex Remix) 5:09
5. "Rock That Body" (Chris Lake Remix) 5:54
6. "Rock That Body" (apl.de.ap and DJ Replay Remix) 5:54
Total length:
 31:21
UK & German CD Single
No. Title Length
1. "Imma Be" (Album version) 4:12
2. "Imma Be" (Wolfgang Gartner Remix) 7:00

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Chart (2009–10) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[12] 7
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[13] 5
Germany (Official German Charts)[14] 49
Hungary (Single Top 40)[15] 4
Poland (Dance Top 50)[16] 50
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[17] 55
UK R&B (Official Charts Company)[18] 21
US Billboard Hot 100[19] 1
US Adult Top 40 (Billboard)[20] 36
US Dance Club Songs (Billboard)[21] 1
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[22] 12
US Mainstream Top 40 (Billboard)[23] 2
US Rhythmic (Billboard)[24] 4

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/Sales
Australia (ARIA)[25] Platinum 70,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[26] Platinum 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[27] 3× Platinum 3,807,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

Year-end charts

Chart (2010) Position
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[28] 53
US Billboard Hot 100[29] 20
US Pop Songs 26
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs 68

Release history

Region Format Date Label
Worldwide Digital download (Promo) May 19, 2009 Interscope, Universal Music
United States Airplay – Mainstream radio December 15, 2009 Interscope Records
Airplay – Rhythm Crossover radio January 12, 2010[30] Interscope Records
United Kingdom[31] Digital EP (Remixes) May 31, 2010 Interscope Records
Germany[32] CD single June 25, 2010 Interscope Records

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Other Guys Soundtrack". IMDB. Retrieved March 10, 2011.
  2. ↑ "Fergie Stuns In Space-Age Body Suit; Sandstorm Delays Video Shoot". 14 January 2010.
  3. ↑ "SHOT: The Black Eyed Peas – Rich Lee, director". videostatic.com. Retrieved January 19, 2010.
  4. ↑ Double video premiere on VEVO on YouTube
  5. ↑ Double video premiere on Dipdive Archived February 19, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ↑ "The Black Eyed Peas: The E.N.D. | Music Review". Slant Magazine. Retrieved December 10, 2009.
  7. ↑ "The Black Eyed Peas: The E.N.D. < Reviews". PopMatters. Retrieved December 10, 2009.
  8. ↑ Tracy Garraud (June 9, 2009). "REVS: The Black Eyed Peas, The E.N.D". Vibe Magazine. Retrieved December 10, 2009.
  9. ↑ Review by Billboard
  10. ↑ "Black Eyed Peas Back On Top Of Hot 100 With 'Imma Be'".
  11. ↑ "February 10, 2010 Billboard Canadian Update" (PDF). Billboard. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
  12. ↑ "Australian-charts.com – The Black Eyed Peas – Imma Be". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved March 13, 2010..
  13. ↑ "The Black Eyed Peas – Chart history" Canadian Hot 100 for The Black Eyed Peas.
  14. ↑ "Musicline.de – The Black Eyed Peas Single-Chartverfolgung" (in German). Media Control Charts. PhonoNet GmbH. Retrieved July 09, 2010..
  15. ↑ "Archívum – Slágerlisták – MAHASZ" (in Hungarian). Single (track) Top 40 lista. Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége.
  16. ↑ "Listy bestsellerów, wyróżnienia :: Związek Producentów Audio-Video". Polish Dance Top 50. Retrieved 2011-12-23.
  17. ↑ "Archive Chart: 2010-06-12" UK Singles Chart.
  18. ↑ "Archive Chart: 2010-06-12" UK R&B Chart.
  19. ↑ "The Black Eyed Peas – Chart history" Billboard Hot 100 for The Black Eyed Peas.
  20. ↑ "The Black Eyed Peas – Chart history" Billboard Adult Pop Songs for The Black Eyed Peas.
  21. ↑ "The Black Eyed Peas – Chart history" Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs for The Black Eyed Peas.
  22. ↑ "The Black Eyed Peas – Chart history" Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs for The Black Eyed Peas.
  23. ↑ "The Black Eyed Peas – Chart history" Billboard Pop Songs for The Black Eyed Peas.
  24. ↑ "The Black Eyed Peas – Chart history" Billboard Rhythmic Songs for The Black Eyed Peas.
  25. ↑ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2010 Singles". Australian Recording Industry Association.
  26. ↑ "Canadian single certifications – The Black Eyed Peas – Imma Be". Music Canada.
  27. ↑ "American single certifications – The Black Eyed Peas – Imma Be". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH
  28. ↑ "Charts Year End: Canadian Hot 100". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
  29. ↑ "2010 Year-End Hot 100 Songs". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2011-02-07.
  30. ↑ "CHR Available For Airplay - Archive".
  31. ↑ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/singlesreviews
  32. ↑ "Imma Be". 25 June 2010 – via Amazon.
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