"Pump It" is a song recorded by American groupthe Black Eyed Peas for their fourth studio albumMonkey Business (2005). It was written by group memberswill.i.am,apl.de.ap andFergie, along with frequent songwriting collaborator Thomas van Musser, and produced by will.i.am. The song heavily incorporates music fromDick Dale's 1962surf version of "Misirlou", known for being featured in the 1994Quentin Tarantino filmPulp Fiction, hence crediting Nicholas Roubanis as a co-writer. It was released as the fourth and final single fromMonkey Business on January 16, 2006, byA&M Records andInterscope Records.
"Pump It" became the Black Eyed Peas' fourth consecutive top-20 single on the USBillboard Hot 100, peaking at number 18, while reaching the top ten in 13 countries worldwide. The song was remixed for the deluxe edition of the group's fifth studio albumThe E.N.D. (2009), titled "Pump It Harder".
"I was in Brazil doing some CD," The Black Eyed Peas memberwill.i.am recalls. "I came across this compilation [disk] and I thought it was one thing but it turned out to be something else. The Dick Dale songMiserlou [sic] was on it. At first, I was angry this isn't what I wanted to buy," he laughs. "But then, really, that song is hot. I said, 'We should do a song like this.' I jump-started the computer and made some beats on the train. Then we had to fly to Tokyo and I tightened up the beat on the plane. Then I recorded vocals in this park in Tokyo, and that's how we recorded the song 'Pump It'."[1]
The music video for "Pump It" was filmed in November 2005, inLos Angeles, California,[2] and features The Black Eyed Peas competing and fighting with a gang of unidentified people in a parking garage. The video features a modifiedHonda Civic Hybrid customized with metallic paint with Black Eyed Peas graphics; the vehicle was later given away in sweepstakes during the 2006Honda Civic Tour.[3] Some of the vehicle actual driving in the parking lot was CGI, since actually driving in the manner portrayed in the clip was too dangerous and costly for a music video production. Further CGI was required during the soccer ball (clearly visible at 2:07 in the official video) kicking scene in the middle of the video. To enhance the fighting scenes some cord pullingstunts were required.
Before the single was officially released, the song peaked at number 82 on theBillboard Hot 100 in June 2005. This was mainly based ondigital download strength due to exposure in the Best Buy ads. After its official airplay release, it peaked at number 18 in March 2006. The single was released to stores in the United States on February 14, 2006, and in the United Kingdom on March 13, 2006.
This single, compared to otherMonkey Business singles' performance on US charts, is the lowest ranking single from the album.
The song reached higher spots on charts in other countries. In New Zealand, "Pump It" debuted at number 19 on March 13, 2006. It jumped to number 2 the following week, where it peaked. It became their 4th consecutive top 5 hit from "Monkey Business" in this country, after "Don't Phunk With My Heart" and "My Humps" reached number 1, and "Don't Lie" peaking at number 5. Also, it is their 9th consecutive top 10 hit, after all of their singles from "Elephunk" reached the top 10, (including #1's "Where Is The Love?" and "Shut Up!", and earlier single "Request + Line", which peaked at number 10. Amazingly, this expanded to 11 top 10 hits for the band with the release of the 3 consecutive top 3 singles "Boom Boom Pow" (#2), " I Gotta Feeling" (#1) and "Meet Me Halfway" (#3) from the future album "The E.N.D". The streak broke when next single "Rock That Body" only managed to peak at number 16. They then had another 3 consecutive top 10 hits with "The Time (Dirty Bit)" (another #1 hit in the country), "Just Can't Get Enough" (#4), and "Don't Stop The Party" (#9) from the 2010 albumThe Beginning. In Australia, the song peaked at number 6. The song was also popular in the United Kingdom, becoming their 8th hit single there. "Pump It" peaked at number 3 on theUK Singles Chart - only 5 sales behind the #2 song that week "It's Chico Time",[4] matching the chart success of previous single "My Humps". It was the first song ever to make the UK Top 40 on sales of downloads alone.
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
