Imma Be
Encyclopedia
"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. The song can also be heard in the film The Hangover: Part II. However, it does not feature on the official soundtrack.
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". 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". Vibe Magazine said that "Imma Be is the 3008 version of "My Humps
". 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 gimmick
y, should be sticking around for a long time".
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. 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. 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. 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 though 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.
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
debut album, Wilson Phillips
, in 1990–91. "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
. In the UK the single charted at number 55 on the official top 100 singles chart. It has sold 2,999,000 digital copies in the USA to date.
UK & German CD Single
The Black Eyed Peas
The Black Eyed Peas are an American pop group , formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1995. The group includes rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, and Taboo, and singer Fergie. Since the release of their third album Elephunk in 2003, the group has sold an estimated 56 million records worldwide...
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
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. 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
Rock That Body
-Personnel:*Songwriting — William Adams, Allan Pineda, Jaime Gómez, Stacy Ferguson, David Guetta, Mark Knight, Adam Walder, Jean Baptiste, Jamie Munson, Robert Ginyard*Production — David Guetta, will.i.am, Mark Knight, Funkagenda*Keyboards — Mark Night, Adam Walder...
" 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
The Other Guys
The Other Guys is a 2010 American action comedy film directed and co-written by Adam McKay, starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, and featuring Dwayne Johnson, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Keaton, Eva Mendes, Steve Coogan, and Ray Stevenson...
(2010) and was used in the bar scene. The song can also be heard in the film The Hangover: Part II. However, it does not feature on the official soundtrack.
Critical reception
Critical response to the song was generally positive. Eric Henderson from Slant MagazineSlant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
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
Will.i.am
William James Adams, Jr. , better known by his stage name will.i.am and occasionally by his other stage name Zuper Blahq, is an American rapper, musician, songwriter, singer, actor and producer...
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". PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
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". Vibe Magazine said that "Imma Be is the 3008 version of "My Humps
My Humps
"My Humps" is the third single by The Black Eyed Peas from their fourth album, Monkey Business. It samples a section of the song "I Need a Freak" by Sexual Harassment, as well as the 1989 song "Wild Thing" by Tone Lōc and "It's Automatic" by Freestyle. Released in 2005, it reached number three in...
". Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
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 gimmick
Gimmick
In marketing language, a gimmick is a unique or quirky special feature that makes something "stand out" from its contemporaries. However, the special feature is typically thought to be of little relevance or use. Thus, a gimmick is a special feature for the sake of having a special feature...
y, should be sticking around for a long time".
Music video
The video was filmed on January 13, 2010. The clip features Fergie wearing LouboutinChristian Louboutin
Christian Louboutin is a French footwear designer whose father is cabinetmaker Roger Louboutin and homemaker mother Irene. His siblings include three sisters, no brothers. Landscape architect Louis Benech has been his partner since 1997. Louboutin launched his line of high-end women's shoes in...
designer footwear and a black metallic leotard
Leotard
A leotard is a skin-tight one-piece garment that covers the torso but leaves the legs free. It was made famous by the French acrobatic performer Jules Léotard ....
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
Lancaster, California
Lancaster is a charter city in northern Los Angeles County, in the high desert, near the Kern County line. Lancaster currently ranks as the 30th largest city in California, and the 148th largest city in the United States. Lancaster is the principal city within the Antelope Valley...
, California. Filming was interrupted by a sudden sandstorm, however, as the storm passed, filming resumed. The music video, directed by Rich Lee, was shot back to back with the video for "Rock That Body
Rock That Body
-Personnel:*Songwriting — William Adams, Allan Pineda, Jaime Gómez, Stacy Ferguson, David Guetta, Mark Knight, Adam Walder, Jean Baptiste, Jamie Munson, Robert Ginyard*Production — David Guetta, will.i.am, Mark Knight, Funkagenda*Keyboards — Mark Night, Adam Walder...
", the second song on The E.N.D. 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
Vevo
Vevo is a music video website. It is a joint venture among Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Abu Dhabi Media with EMI licensing its content to the group without taking an ownership stake. The service was launched officially on December 8, 2009...
and Dipdive
Dipdive
Dipdive is a social networking website tagged as "a Lifestyle Engine for Music, Arts, Action & More." It is best known for the original source site of the "Yes We Can" music video. The site allows users to upload images, videos, MP3s, Blogs and create playlists. Videos and MP3s are allowed in the...
on February 16, 2010. 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
Hovercar
A hovercar is a transport vehicle appearing in works of fiction. It is used for personal transportation in the same way a modern automobile is employed. You must steer it, like you would a normal vehicle...
. 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 though 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.
Chart performance
Prior to the album's release, "Imma Be" was released as a worldwide promotional single and peaked at number 50 in the US, 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 100Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
for the week ending March 6, 2010 and halted the nine-week run of Kesha
Kesha
Kesha village is a small village nestled in the mountains of Yongshun County, northwestern Hunan province, China, located at latitude 29 05' 50", longitude 109 57' 9". The name is pronounced in Standard Chinese. The official language is Manderin Chinese....
'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
Boom Boom Pow
"Boom Boom Pow" is a song by The Black Eyed Peas released as the lead single from their fifth studio album, The E.N.D. The song uses the auto-tune vocal effect, and blends the genres of Electro-rap, dance-pop, electro hop and hip hop....
" and "I Gotta Feeling
I Gotta Feeling
"I Gotta Feeling" is the second single from The Black Eyed Peas' fifth studio album The E.N.D., produced by the French DJ David Guetta. The song was released on May 21, 2009 and debuted at number two on the Canadian and Billboard Hot 100 on the week of June 27, 2009, behind the group's "Boom Boom...
", 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
Wilson Phillips
-Studio albums:-Compilation albums:-Singles:-Other charted songs:-Awards and nominations:...
debut album, Wilson Phillips
Wilson Phillips
-Studio albums:-Compilation albums:-Singles:-Other charted songs:-Awards and nominations:...
, in 1990–91. "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
52nd Grammy Awards
The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards took place on January 31, 2010, at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Neil Young was honored as the 2010 MusiCares Person of the Year on January 29, two days prior to the Grammy telecast. Only ten of the 109 awards were received during the broadcast...
. In the UK the single charted at number 55 on the official top 100 singles chart. It has sold 2,999,000 digital copies in the USA to date.
Track listing
Digital Download E.P.UK & German CD Single
| Chart (2009–2010) | Peak position |
|---|---|
Year-end charts
| Chart (2010) | Position |
|---|---|
| Canadian Hot 100 | 20 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 20 |
Release history
| Region | Format | Date | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Worldwide | Digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... (Promo) |
May 19, 2009 | Interscope Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that currently operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-History:... , Universal Music Universal Music Group Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations... |
| United States | Airplay Airplay * Airplay is the amount of time a song is played on the radio.It may also refer to:* AirPlay, an audio & video streaming technology from Apple Inc.* Airplay , Foster & Graydon music project from 1980* Citroën C1, Citroën C1 Airplay... – Mainstream radio |
December 15, 2009 | Interscope Records |
| Airplay – Rhythm Crossover radio | January 12, 2010 | Interscope Records | |
| United Kingdom | Digital EP (Remixes) | May 31, 2010 | Interscope Records |
| Germany | CD Single | June 25, 2010 | Interscope Records |