The Lonely Island show some serious swagger on debut album, Incredibad

03/26/09 - 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.

Track three, the hugely popular "Jizz in my Pants," is without a doubt one of the best songs on the album.

Sure the material is less-than-savory and if you consider yourself a hipster, you might not want to watch the music video as you could find that your particular style of dress is the subject of some hilarity. It's also true that a sizeable percentage of men between the ages of 20 and 45 have life-altering issues with being a little too quick on the draw. That being said, smart lyrics, a beat that's heavy on the bass and a music video with some seriously funny faces make the song a hit.

"Who Said We're Wack?" was good. "Jizz in my Pants" was better. But track four revealed the best song on the album. "I'm on a Boat" featuring T-Pain, is without a doubt the best song on Incredibad. As the name would suggest, "I'm on a Boat" is about just that -being on a boat.

In this song, Adam Samberg, Jorma Taccone and T-pain explain what it is like being rich and famous enough to be on their own boat. When you first hear this song, you think it is just another funny, catchy song produced by "SNL." If you're like me, you eventually realize this song is a high quality hip-hop track that took a lot of time and money to create. Even the music video had serious production value.

I honestly don't think it would be a stretch if this song started playing on a popular radio station, and it is that fact I find amazing. Not just this track, but songs like "Santana DVX" and "Dreamgirl" featuring Norah Jones could all be songs that could be popular.

Incredibad made sure previous "SNL" knee-slappers also made the cut, including "Natalie's Rap," the revolutionary "Dick in a Box" featuring Justin Timberlake, and the song some will say started it all, "Lazy Sunday." I was glad to see that the group didn't forget their roots.

Some other notable tracks on the album were "Ras Trent," a song about the white, fake and otherwise lame Rastafarian who makes his presence known at every college quad, and "Like a Boss," a song that juxtaposes a set of hardcore beats and a hook with actions that you wouldn't normally hear in a rap song about being the boss.

One complaint I did have is that a song they produced and released in the middle of last year, "Iran So Far" featuring Adam Levine, wasn't on the album. I can see why they didn't add it, as comedy pertaining to current events doesn't translate well over time, but it was still a bit disappointing. I also didn't like track five on the album because it was a little obnoxious and because it was a skit, it broke up the flow of the album.

The rapping was, OK and some songs were better than others. But truthfully, one doesn't listen to a comedy album to pick up on sick flows, complex rhyme schemes and smooth transitions between bars.