On this day in 2005, Black Eyed Peas released Monkey Business, the group’s fourth studio album and the record that pushed their pop-rap takeover into full saturation. Apple Music lists Monkey Business with a May 25, 2005 release date and identifies it as an Interscope release.
The album arrived after the global breakthrough of Elephunk, but Monkey Business was bigger, louder and more deliberately built for mass rotation. Where Elephunk introduced the Fergie-era Black Eyed Peas to a wider audience through “Where Is the Love?” and “Let’s Get It Started,” Monkey Business leaned fully into the group’s new identity: part hip-hop crew, part pop machine, part club act, part commercial juggernaut.
The sound was intentionally crowded. Apple Music describes the album as a mix of rap, R&B, reggaeton, club music, funk and rock, with “Don’t Phunk With My Heart,” “Disco Club” and “Pump It” carrying the group’s guitar-driven party side. The same album also made room for Jack Johnson on “Gone Going,” Justin Timberlake on “My Style” and apl.de.ap’s Tagalog-led “Bebot.”
Commercially, Monkey Business landed immediately. Universal Music Canada notes that the album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and later went 3x Platinum, while a Billboard report said the album opened with 291,000 first-week sales, then the group’s best opening week.
The singles kept the album in public view for months. “Don’t Phunk With My Heart” became one of the group’s biggest early hits, reaching No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and later winning the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.
Then came “My Humps,” the song that became both unavoidable and deeply polarizing. Billboard lists “My Humps” with a No. 3 Hot 100 peak, and Apple Music calls it an “irritating-yet-undeniable dance hit,” which is a fair summary of how the track lived in 2005: criticized, quoted, danced to, mocked and still blasted everywhere.
That tension is part of why Monkey Business remains interesting. It was not a universally praised album. Metacritic lists it with a 48 Metascore, categorized as “mixed or average reviews,” based on 20 critic reviews. But the divide between critical response and public impact was enormous. The record was built for movement, hooks, brand visibility and repeat exposure, and in that sense, it worked almost too well.
“Don’t Lie” gave the album a smoother pop lane, while “Pump It” turned Dick Dale’s “Misirlou” energy into a stadium-ready Black Eyed Peas track. Universal’s 2025 vinyl reissue notes Monkey Business included “Pump It,” “Don’t Phunk With My Heart,” “My Style,” “Don’t Lie,” “My Humps,” “Bebot” and “Union,” showing how wide the album’s guest-heavy, genre-blending approach really was.
The album also helped cement Fergie as a defining presence in the group. Apple Music singles her out as the album’s breakout star, especially on “My Style” and “My Humps.” That was one of the major shifts of this era: Black Eyed Peas were no longer simply a hip-hop group crossing into pop. By 2005, they were a four-person pop-radio institution with distinct roles, big hooks and a sound engineered for global reach.
Two decades later, Monkey Business feels like one of the clearest documents of mid-2000s mainstream pop: maximal, polished, overexposed, catchy and impossible to separate from radio, video countdowns, award shows, commercials and party playlists. It was messy in the way the era itself was messy, with huge hooks sitting next to questionable lyrics, smart production choices next to shameless ones, and a group that understood exactly how to turn attention into momentum.
Monkey Business did not just keep the Black Eyed Peas on the radio. It made them nearly inescapable.