The Elephunk album arrived with Shepard Fairey art on the cover, a deep blue that will.i.am still calls beautiful, and a lineup that almost did not exist the way it does. The 2003 record gave the Black Eyed Peas their first commercial smashes, but the story of how it got made is messier, warmer, and stranger than any of its singles suggest. At the center of it is one phone call, one club circuit, and a songwriter named Stacy who had not yet become Fergie.
The Jimmy Iovine intervention nobody planned
Will.i.am was producing a demo for Stacy Ferguson and trying to get her signed to Pharrell’s Star Trak label. He had a meeting with Pharrell at Record Plant when Interscope chairman Jimmy Iovine stepped in and reframed everything. ‘Will, I’ve seen this before with Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac,’ Iovine told him. ‘I produced Fleetwood Mac. This works. Trust me!’ Iovine’s pitch was simple: stop trying to sign her elsewhere and put her in the group. Will.i.am went back to apl.de.ap and Taboo with the idea. Their first question was not about music. It was about logistics. ‘Is she gonna do interviews?’ Taboo recalled. ‘Because the dynamics.’ They knew her already from her time with Wild Orchid, and the group had always collaborated with women on records, including Kim Hill, Macy Gray, and Esthero. The real question was how the internal chemistry would shift. It shifted on a dance floor. Through all of 2002, except Wednesdays and Fridays, the group went out clubbing together and started to gel. Those nights also turned into networking: it was during that same stretch that Taboo connected with Justin Timberlake.
A freestyle in San Diego and a reluctant Justin Timberlake
Taboo was the one who pushed for Timberlake on ‘Where Is the Love?’ Will.i.am’s first instinct was skepticism. ‘Do you hear my lyrics, bro? We’re talking about CIA being terrorists and stuff. Justin Timberlake?!’ But Taboo had been dancing and battling with Timberlake at A&D, and the bond was already there. Timberlake came to the studio at a moment will.i.am described as being ‘lost in the Heartbreak Sauce,’ and when he opened up and sang, will.i.am’s skepticism dissolved instantly. The song became one of the album’s four singles alongside ‘Hey Mama,’ ‘Shut Up,’ and ‘Let’s Get It Started,’ which was written in San Diego during a soundcheck while the group was freestyling backstage before opening for James Brown. It later became an anthem for the NBA Finals and spread across football, basketball, baseball, and soccer events worldwide.
Fitting Fergie onto an album that was already complete required careful surgery. She took a verse on ‘Hey Mama,’ sang the chorus on ‘Shut Up,’ handled chorus and adlibs on ‘Labor Day,’ carried ‘Fly Away’ as her own solo track, a song will.i.am pulled directly from her original demo, and added layers to ‘Hands Up,’ ‘Third Eye,’ ‘Anxiety,’ and the intro and adlibs of ‘Let’s Get It Started.’ The group also brought in guitarist George Pajon Jr., Noelle Scaggs (later of Fitz and the Tantrums) on ‘Let’s Get It Started,’ and Debi Nova on ‘Latin Girls.’
Terry Graves, one Tuesday night, and the rest of the year still open
Among the contributors listed is Terry Graves, named by will.i.am alongside a core group whose Tuesday and Thursday availability shaped when the work actually got done.
Will.i.am put the legacy plainly: ‘This record really changed our lives.’ He acknowledged that Bridging the Gap had hits too, pointing specifically to ‘Weekends’ as a record that simply came out at the wrong time. Elephunk landed differently. The Shepard Fairey cover is still on the wall, the blue still that particular shade, and the soundcheck where ‘Let’s Get It Started’ was born is still, by all accounts, the greatest accidental writing session the group ever had.
