The time has finally come. The Lonely Island, AKA The Dudes, AKA Andy Samburg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone, has released their debut album, entitled Incredibad. It not only has your favorite SNL Digital Short songs, like “Lazy Sunday” and “Dick In A Box”, it has original songs… which are just as good as the other songs. Let’s start… shall we?
The album starts with the hard-hitting song “Who Said We’re Wack?”, a song about The Dudes trying to figure out who said they were wack. It feels like a gangster rap song… hard-hitting, catchy, and makes you feel like you want to make a mosh pit… somewhat. The simplistic lyrics actually work to the advantage of the song and it clearly deserved the opening spot. It does end somewhat abruptly, but then it leads to the first song with a guest… which is a recurring theme.
The next song is a stoner-rap song (if that even exists) called “Santana DVX” with guest rapper E-40. It is about how Carlos Santana finally made a champagne and how it is pretty much the greatest drink ever made. When The Dudes are bragging about it, Carlos Santana (E-40) comes to them warning them how it can get them “fucked up.” The beat makes you feel like this is their song all about drugs… except it is about a drink. It is a real fun song and IT NEEDS TO BE LISTENED TO. LET ME TELL YOU WHY: “Santana Champ” is a very recurring theme on this album. You need to listen to this song for it to make sense. This, like many other songs on the album, stops pretty abruptly. Then we begin the driving force behind this album…
…which is the all too well known song “Jizz In My Pants”. It tells the story about how two “British” men meet amazing women that make them… well… I am not even going to explain it. But… just when you think it can’t get any odder, they tell how it doesn’t just happen with women. Yeah… fill in that blank in your head. The beat makes it feel like a dance song and this is, no doubt, one of the best songs on the album. It does kinda get old after a while… but it never fully loses it’s flavor… like Stride Gum!
The next song might just be my personal favorite song on this album, “I’m On A Boat” featuring T-Pain, the man guest starring on all of your favorite rap songs… well… it’s actually either him or Rihanna. Probably because their solo work sucks. JUST SAYING. Well… on the subject of the song… it kinda makes you think of N.W.A… as it makes it humor by a never-ending line of unnecessary swears. It has more of a normal rap beat and kinda feels like the beat for “Live Your Life” by T.I. and Rihanna (What a Coincidence!)… but the lyrics are the gem of this song. This song never fails to make you laugh and is just pure amazing.
Next, we have “Sax Man” featuring Jack Black. It should just be credited to Jack Black as he is the only one who has any lyrical parts in this song. It is actually about a saxophone player and is not innuendo for some thing else. It does show Jack Black’s ability to use his voice as an instrument… but the song itself isn’t really something that you are remember and come back to a lot. It is, to tell you the truth, the first low point of the album.
Then we have the holy grail of all Lonely Island songs… the song that launched Andy Samburg to fame… “Lazy Sunday” featuring Chris Parnell. It tells the story of two friends who are trying to get to a showing of “The Chronicles of Narnia” on Sunday. It does has another meaning if you listen closely… but you can figure that out. It is amusing every time you listen to it… and I first listened to it years ago and it still makes me laugh. It has a more gangster rap beat and it’s references to movies and real New York locations make it feel like a real story. It is pure awesome and nothing can take it’s throne of… ummm… awesomeness. I guess.
Next is the interlude “Normal Guy”. I don’t really care for the interludes… so I won’t really dwell on them.
After that… we have “Boombox” featuring Julian Casablancas, who is the lead singer of the rock band “The Strokes”. It tells the story of a man who changes the world with his boombox… but makes one mistake… a very gross mistake. The beat is kinda like an R & B/Dance beat and it fits the song like puzzle pieces… as do Andy’s rapping and Julian’s singing. Julian actually steals the spotlight and really makes you scratch your head… wondering how this “serious” singer can be so comedic. It is one of the of the best songs on the album… and actually tied with “Dreamgirl” featuring Norah Jones for longest songs on the album… which are the only songs longer then 3 minutes on this album.
We have another interlude called “Shrooms”. Let’s face it… it explains itself.
We then have “Like A Boss”, in which Andy tells a man how his normal day is as the boss of a company. It has a very dominate sample of the song “Like A Boss” by Slim Thug… and it sounds just like an extended version of the chorus, or hook, of that song… which isn’t a bad thing. It starts with normal things, like leading workshops and remembering birthdays… then gets kinda crazy, with him getting sad from being rejected by a co-worker, becoming so sad he calls a sex line and cries deeply, getting drunk… and it gets even crazier. It is actually in my top five songs… even though it is just a laundry list of things and it barely ever rhymes.
Then, the dance-ish song “We Like Sportz” comes on. It acts as a sequel to the song “Just 2 Guyz”, which sadly didn’t make the album… but it’s video is on the DVD. It talks about how Guy 1 and Guy 2 are real men for loving sports, drinking whiskey, and smoking cigars. It is one of those songs that make you laugh just because it is so freaking awkward. How they rap in this makes them sound like just two regular guys that happened to break out in song. The beat sounds like it should be at a party and fits in this odd way that doesn’t fit… if that makes any sense.
The message “The following song is brought to you by Chex Mix.” really doesn’t seem like it has any importance at the beginning of the song “Dreamgirl” featuring Norah Jones… but it does… trust me. It is a song where The Dudes explain their dream girls… which really makes you question what attracts them to woman. It has Norah Jones singing the chorus and a real short verse… then the subject of the song changes completely… but stays with the same R&B beat… and it really makes you think why they did that. The change of the subject is like thinking of the sky and then you start thinking about the letter z. It doesn’t make any sense! It ultimately feels a bit long and it somewhat forgettable. It isn’t one of the best songs on the album… but isn’t one of the worst.
JA! The word that starts our next song “Ras Trent”. It talks about a college student who changes his religion to Rastafarianism. He talks about how his normal day is… and you can tell the whole time he doesn’t fit… as he stereotypically says you need to have own a copy of “Cool Runnings”. I am not mad about it… I am just saying. The song is one of those songs that you don’t really like at first… but after a few listenings… it grows on you. I personally watching the video more then listening to the song… as the video has a special part which they had to remove from the song… as it doesn’t make any sense if you don’t have the visual. Luckily… the video is on the included DVD.
The famous beginning words of “Hey girl, I got something real important to give you…” start the almighty love ballad “Dick In A Box” featuring Justin Timberlake. If you are thinking what I think you are thinking… then your thinking is correct… this is pretty much the best song on the album. I don’t care how many times you listen to this song… it NEVER gets old. The lyrics are as amazing as pure gold and the beat is a homage to 90’s R&B love ballads. It is just flat-out amasome. (Amasome = Amazing + Awesome.) I want you guys to sing this song to a girl and tell me what happens. Just try it.
We then have “The Old Saloon” interlude. This is actually the only interlude that is actually worth listening to every time it comes up. There is hundreds of things going on at one time and real fun to listen to.
“These days… a lot of cats are outta line…” are the opening words for the next song, “Punch You In The Jeans”. The beat is very reminiscent of 90’s rap songs… calm and just makes you chill out. The lyrics are all about punching jeans… no joke. It is actually better then it sounds… but… like “Ras Trent”, it has to grow on you. But it grows on you fast… but it does still have to grow on you. It is a good chill out song and it is place strategically on the album track list… as after “The Old Saloon”, you do need to calm down.
The next song is another song from an SNL Digital Short, “Space Olympics”. It has a sci-fi beat and feels real… well… space-ish and sci-fi-ish. (Yes… I do realize that almost says fish.) The lyrics talk about… ummmm… the Space Olympics. It starts very hopefully… but… like “Like A Boss”, it goes downhill fast. I know you are sick of me saying this… but this is another song that has to grow on you… and it takes a while to do that. It hasn’t fully grown on me yet… but I feel that even when it does grow on me… I still will think that this far from the best song on the album.
You need to turn off your mind for this next song… and forget all previous knowledge about actress Natalie Portman… as the song “Natalie’s Rap” with Natalie Portman and Chris Parnell will completely change how you think of her. It is the most gangster song on the album and feels like it was if you mixed the gangster of N.W.A. with a female rapper. It is oddly amusing… and is almost better when it is censored… as the level of swearing is up there with “I’m On A Boat”. It is a great penultimate song.
Now… the wait is over… we finally get to figure out why the hell the album is called Incredibad! The song “Incredibad” explains more how “The Lonely Island” got their older name… as they used to be called “Incredibad”, but it still explains it somewhat. It has, in my opinion, the best beat from any song on this album. I was immediately attracted to the song from the beat. The lyrics talk about how when The Dudes were 13, they were hanging out and ended up meeting an alien. The alien came to their planet asking for help, as the alien’s race has a mutated strain in their DNA helix. You may be asking the same thing Andy asked, “But we are just 13 man, what can we do?”… and you might not want to know. I won’t spoil it… so just listen to it. Trust me… you will never be able to guess what they have to do.
Overall: 4/5. Yes… this album is the best comedy album I have ever heard and one of the best overall albums I have heard. It, sadly, is weighed down by most of the songs being too short. They may of done that to make you want more and that you would get more with the next song… but it didn’t really work like that. It is a bit weighed down also by the interludes and a few of the songs… but overall… this is an awesome album. And when you can get a 19 track CD that comes with a DVD for $13… you take that chance.