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 the U.S., becoming The Black Eyed Peas' third top ten single in the U.S. The single also reached number three on the UK Singles Chart, their sixth top ten single on the chart. The song was not initially released as a single; "Don't Lie" was intended to be the lead-off release for the album. The song won the 2007 Grammy Award for "Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal". On an interview with ITV1 show This Morning in the UK, will.i.am claims that he originally wrote the song for the Pussycat Dolls.

Music video
The official music video for "My Humps", directed by Fatima Robinson and Malik Hassan Sayeed, premiered on TRL. It shows Fergie dancing with backup dancers as images of expensive items such as Louis Vuitton purses and jewelry, which is supposed to be the jewelry her men have bought her, appear on the screen. The other members of The Black Eyed Peas — apl.de.ap, Taboo, and will.i.am — sing about how much they spend on Fergie as she sings about her "humps" and "lovely lady lumps". In some vignettes Taboo, Apl.de.ap, and will.i.am are behind women erotically dancing.

The video received the award for "Best Hip-Hop Video" at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards on August 31, 2006.

In popular culture
In Season 3 of the American version of the television show The Office, the song can be heard as Michael Scott's ringtone, replacing "Mambo No. 5", his old one from Season 2. Stephen Colbert was seen singing this song on an episode of The Colbert Report, stating that he used to hate the song until it won a Grammy Award. In the 2007 film Blades of Glory, Will Ferrell's character sings (albeit incorrectly) "My Humps", stating it is the only song he will skate to. When Jon Heder's character wonders what "lady humps" (what Ferrell's character named the song) means, Ferrell's character says, "Nobody knows what it means, but it's provocative..." It was also used in the film Scary Movie 4 when Cindy and Brenda are in the car, Brenda wakes up shouting "My lovely lady lumps!", a reference to a line in the song. Alan (Jon Cryer) was also singing this song in an episode of Two and a Half Men when he was on his treadmill. It is also featured in the Bernie Mac Show episode "My Humps" as Vanessa's friend's favorite song. That same episode Jordan and his friends are trying to get into a Black Eyed Peas concert.

Parodies
The repetitive, simple lyrics of the song have been a satire target, spawning many parodies.

Novelist and composer Jack Heath cited the song and its "objectification of women disguised as empowerment" as his primary inspiration for his 2005 style parody "Don't Stall".

Peaches covered the song in 2006, altering the lyrics humorously and changing the title to "My Dumps".

Alanis Morissette covered the song in 2007, seemingly as an April Fools' Day prank. In contrast to the original "My Humps", Morissette's cover is performed slowly and in the style of a ballad, with only a piano accompanying the vocal. On April 2, a video in which Morissette parodies Fergie's dancing moves in the original "My Humps" music video was added to the website YouTube. By April 3, the video was the most viewed on Technorati, and it was viewed 1.5 million times six days later. The video has been hosted on Morissette's official website. TIME stated that the parody proved that Morissette "under[stands]" irony, in reference to her hit single, "Ironic". On April 15, Fergie confirmed to E! News that she thought that the parody was "hilarious" and "genius". Fergie also said that she sent Alanis a cake in the shape of a "derrière".

American Greetings parodied the song in their Christmas e-card, "Three Wise Camels", in which the camels of the Three Wise Men rap about the gifts awaiting baby Jesus, which are sitting on their humps.

Afroman parodied the song for his album Waiting to Inhale entitled "My Chunk". His lyrics have opposite meaning: he raps about his genitals and receiving money from women because he's a pimp.

Sketch-comedy show MADtv did a parody titled "My Slump" that featured George W. Bush.

Flight of the Conchords did a parody of the sing entitled "Sugarlumps" in the second season episode "The New Cup".

Critical reception
"My Humps" has been the subject of severe criticism by the music press. John Bush, writing for Allmusic, described it as "one of the most embarrassing rap performances of the new millennium", while Bill Lamb, writing for About.com, called it "the musical equivalent of a bad Farrelly Brothers movie". Hua Hsu of Slate said, "It's not Awesomely Bad; it's Horrifically Bad. ... There are bad songs that offend our sensibilities but can still be enjoyed, and then there are the songs that are just really bad—transcendentally bad, objectively bad."

In a poll conducted by Rolling Stone, the song was ranked first in the list of 20 most annoying songs.

Matthew Wilkening of AOL Radio also ranked the song at #80 on the list of the 100 Worst Songs Ever, advising the girls that they should "try to make the song as pretty as the subject" if they want to sing about their "special parts".

Despite the heavy criticism, it became a huge hit, charting at #3 in the United States and staying there for about two months.

In the U.S., "My Humps" reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 becoming their second top 5 on the chart from the album Monkey Business and the third overall. As of June, 2009, "My Humps" has so far sold 2,203,000 downloads in the United States.

Track listings

 * CD maxi
 * 1) "My Humps" (single version)
 * 2) "My Humps" (Lil' Jon remix version)
 * 3) "So Real"
 * 4) "My Humps" (video)


 * iTunes digital download
 * 1) "My Humps" (Lil Jon remix version)


 * 12 inch 33⅓ rpm black vinyl record from A&M Records
 * 1) "My Humps" (radio edit) - 3:44
 * 2) "My Humps" (instrumental) - 4:10 Side B
 * 3) "My Humps" (album version) - 5:26
 * 4) "My Humps" (a cappella) - 4:08