In August 2003, I was enjoying my first weekend at college and there was a concert to welcome the students. The lineup was Guster and a band I'd never heard of but would be hearing lots of over the next 7 years - The Black Eyed Peas. They were fresh off the MTV Music Video Awards pre-show and the memory that sticks out in my head is will.i.am directing all of his frustrations at the fact that we were a shitty crowd at one really tall kid in the front who was just sort of standing there staring at the stage. During a freestyle where he was at a drum kit, Will.i.am kept coming up with lines telling this concert goer that he needed to "smoke a joint". He seemed upset at this kid's unwillingness to "get retarded". I always wondered if that kid did indeed "smoke a joint" or "get retarded", but mainly I just walked out of the show thinking "that made me feel weird inside" (In all fairness to the BEP, we were a pretty shitty crowd).
Turns out, making people say "that made me feel weird inside" made the Black Eyed Peas a lot of money in the 00s, and one of their primary mediums was the music video. Today we're watching the pièce de résistance of Black Eyed Peas music videos, "My Humps" from 2005.
The song "My Humps" is a prime example of creating a track about something dirty (b00bs) and doing so in a way that every bar and bat mitzvah DJ needs to have a copy of your song at arms length. This tradition goes all the way back to Sir Mix Alot's "Baby Got Back", which has been getting 14 year old girls and 80 year old grandmas out on the dance floor to sing about Sir Mix Alot's "anaconda" for years. (Insider Tip: his "anaconda" is his penis.) People listened to it because they liked the song, and people listened to it because they secretly liked the song and put it on "as a joke", which is a great way to get more people to listen.
When "My Humps" was released, people were understandably intrigued, and I bet more than one listener said something along the lines of "if the song is this crazy, the video will be totally nuts!". But directors Fatima Robinson and Malik Sayeed threw everyone a curve ball for this one, making a pop video that I don't think anyone was expecting.
Instead of complex sets, "My Humps" is mostly shot in front of a gray wall. Instead of bright colors, "My Humps" shys away from any warm colors, using a palate of muted tones, purples, and blues. While we've got hot pants thrown in there, one of the most recognizable outfits Fergie has on is a pencil skirt and a red jacket - something that would be acceptable attire at most offices. In short, it has a lot of unexpected elements.
"My Humps" is a really high-profile video that took a lot of left turns in its conception, and it paid off. It became a popular and often-parodied video, and even won the 2006 MVA for Best Hip Hop Music Video.
I'll leave you with Alanis Morissette's cover. It says something about the video that she felt the need to parody it as well. Why did she feel the need to do this? Who knows. It's the mystery that is "My Humps".
