This song is about a woman with a great body and how she uses it to her advantage. It features their female vocalist Fergie in defiant sex-kitten mode, teasing the guys gawking her in the club and threatening to start some drama if they touch it. Will.i.am plays the role of her enabler, asking what she's going to do with those humps of hers. The song stood out for its lyrical inanity, and proved that a good beat can overcome lyrics like "my hump, my hump, my lovely little lumps."
This samples an '80s Techno song called "I Need A Freak" by Sexual Harassment. "I Need A Freak" was written by Cleveland, Ohio DJ Orrin Lynn Tolliver Jr. and recorded by him and his concept band Sexual Harassment at friend James McCants' studio. McCant registered the song with rights management agency BMI and agreed to pay Tolliver 75% of royalties, but later denied this. Despite Tolliver sending McCant a cease and desist letter, he offered the track for sampling, with the Black Eyed Peas among those to use it. In June 2011 Tolliver was awarded damages of over $1.2 million in a court case over the improper sampling of his song.
There's brief moment of sincerity near the end of the song when Will tells Fergie, "Let's spend time not money." He quickly starts singing about mixing her milk with his Cocoa Puffs, however, which is a reference to sex. LL Cool J made a whole song of cereal/sex metaphors - including Cocoa Puffs - on his 1990 song "Milky Cereal."
Originally, Black Eyed Peas' song "Don't Lie" was released as a the first single from
Monkey Business, but it didn't go over well and radio stations started playing this instead. As a result, lots of people downloaded the song and it became a huge hit with minimal promotion.
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Suggestion credit:
Donovan Berry - El Dorado, AR
By our count, the phrase "My Hump(s)" is repeated 34 times.
This won Black Eyed Peas a Grammy in the Best Pop Duo or Group With Vocal category.
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Suggestion credit:
Bertrand - Paris, France
In 2007, Alanis Morissette recorded a
slow, sultry version with a video poking fun at the original. It became a youtube phenomenon, and showcased a humorous side of Alanis. Fergie sent Morissette a butt-shaped cake after being impressed by her interpretation.
Will.i.am originally wrote this breast-themed song for the Pussycat Dolls.
Will.i.am admitted to MTV News that he has grown tired of playing the saucy song at concerts. He said, "Before... it was like, 'We know we gotta play (hit songs) '
Pump It' and '
Let's Get It Started.' We used to do 'Let's Get It Started' at the end, because that was our big finale, which didn't really make sense. And for a while, (we did) 'My Humps' and then it got to the point where we didn't want to play 'My Humps' no more. You know, 'cause 'I met a girl down at the disco' - I just didn't want to say that no more, lyrically. It wasn't like my best lyrically. But it was fun. It wasn't lyrical miracles, but the beat was rocking, so we throw the beat in there and just let the beat linger."
The lyrics to this song were voted as the worst in dance music. In a poll conducted by the UK Global Gathering dance music festival in July 2012, 22% of the voters selected "My Humps." German techno act Scooter took second place at 18% with "Nassaja," where they sing: "It's not a bird, it's not a plane. It must be Dave who's on the train."
Michael Scott used this song as his ringtone in seasons 2 and 3 of The Office.
In 2020, the Poopsie Slime Surprise: Dancing Unicorn toy hit the market. At the press of her belly button, she sings - in a Fergie soundalike voice - "My Poops," clearly based on "My Humps" ("What you gonna do with all that poop..."). Apparently, unicorn poop is magical.
This dancing unicorn also sang "My Poops" in a promotional music video. In 2023, Black Eyed Peas' publisher took legal action against the manufacturer, MGA, the company that brought us Bratz.
The parties involved in the lawsuit reached a settlement in principle, as announced by a federal judge on October 3, 2023. The terms of the settlement are confidential.
