Spring Break
The Lonely Island show some serious swagger on debut album, Incredibad
Nat Tingley
Issue date: 6/13/09 Section: Entertainment
Summer 2009 - Like most things in the entertainment industry, albums intended to make people laugh are, as a rule, pretty hit or miss. One either thinks the CD is the funniest thing they have ever heard, or just a very shiny, round piece of unfunny garbage. Fortunately for the entertainment industry, and for those of us who appreciate clever jokes in musical form, Feb. 10 yielded Incredibad, the first release by The Lonely Island.
Who is The Lonely Island? The truth is that you already know the group, but through some creative marketing, you just didn't realize it. The Lonely Island consists of three members: Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone and front man Andy Samberg, all of "Saturday Night Live" fame. Though the aforementioned figures make up the group's core, the album also enlists the help of "SNL" star Chris Parnell, Vallejo, California-based rapper E-40, T-Pain and even actress Natalie Portman.
As far as musical comedy albums go, Incredibad is definitely a horse of a different color. There are no songs about religious holidays, no skits about tollbooth hijinks and no high-pitched covers of Coolio songs augmented by an accordion. TLI produced an album with original beats, smart lyrics and all the laughs "SNL" is famous for delivering.
The album also seems a bit more poignant than the comedy albums of the past. Incredibad is categorized, not only as a comedy album, but also as a hip-hop album. Except for one sketch and a song called "Sax Man" featuring Jack Black, hip-hop dominates the CD.
The album starts off with a song called "Who Said We're Wack?" which is, one of the high points on the album. It's a simple song that basically just repeats variations of "Who said we're wack." What I find particularly amusing about this song is that it is essentially devoted to poking fun at artists (specifically rap artists) who get all worked up when some other celebrity speaks poorly about them.
Samberg and his crew portray a group of overly sensitive rappers responding to a rumor that someone said they were wack, making many of the serious "beefs" we see in the industry quite laughable.
Who is The Lonely Island? The truth is that you already know the group, but through some creative marketing, you just didn't realize it. The Lonely Island consists of three members: Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone and front man Andy Samberg, all of "Saturday Night Live" fame. Though the aforementioned figures make up the group's core, the album also enlists the help of "SNL" star Chris Parnell, Vallejo, California-based rapper E-40, T-Pain and even actress Natalie Portman.
As far as musical comedy albums go, Incredibad is definitely a horse of a different color. There are no songs about religious holidays, no skits about tollbooth hijinks and no high-pitched covers of Coolio songs augmented by an accordion. TLI produced an album with original beats, smart lyrics and all the laughs "SNL" is famous for delivering.
The album also seems a bit more poignant than the comedy albums of the past. Incredibad is categorized, not only as a comedy album, but also as a hip-hop album. Except for one sketch and a song called "Sax Man" featuring Jack Black, hip-hop dominates the CD.
The album starts off with a song called "Who Said We're Wack?" which is, one of the high points on the album. It's a simple song that basically just repeats variations of "Who said we're wack." What I find particularly amusing about this song is that it is essentially devoted to poking fun at artists (specifically rap artists) who get all worked up when some other celebrity speaks poorly about them.
Samberg and his crew portray a group of overly sensitive rappers responding to a rumor that someone said they were wack, making many of the serious "beefs" we see in the industry quite laughable.
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