Summer 2006
Issue 2

The Black Eyed Peas
Monkey Business 2005
Don't Phunk With My Heart

If the Bollywood composer team Kalyanji Anandji were making music today, the bling would be on their side--and possibly even a Grammy or two.

Producers such as Danger Mouse, Madlib, and Automator have tastefully sampled the duo's much-loved '60s and '70s film songs, but others have not been so classy about it. The Black Eyed Peas borrowed from two Kalyanji Anandji songs on "Don't Phunk With My Heart," a track that won a 2005 Grammy. Ready for some deja vu? The intro to that ubiquitous party jam is a sped-up sample of a song from the popular Hindi movie "Don." Maybe the Peas were having a bout of writer's block, so they grabbed a rhythm and melody from the soundtrack to the film "Apradh." Click below for the shocking evidence...

While Kalanji died in 2000, his younger brother Andandji is still around, scratching his head and wondering where his royalties are. According to Mumbai-based newspaper Sunday Mid Day, Andandji has called the Peas' label, A&M, several times. "The label told me that I've been given credit, but is keeping me in the dark about royalties," Anandji says in the newspaper report. "I'm just asked to call back, but no one tells me whether or not the issue will be settled." Kalyanji Anandji are indeed credited in the Peas' "Monkey Business" liner notes for the two samples, but the original recordings are actually owned by Indian label Saregama India Ltd.

The Peas' phunky thievery doesn't end there. The group also snatched lyrics from "I Wonder If I Take You Home," a 1985 hit by Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam, which you can also hear by clicking below. PMH has nothing against sampling or covers, but the Peas copped so many elements on "Don't Phunk"--samples, melody, rhythm, and lyrics--that it seems strange that they won the Grammy for it.

"We fused Lisa Lisa with Bollywood and Miami bass [on "Don't Phunk"]," said Pea Will.i.am in an April 2005 story on MTVnews.com. "So that's a whole new, different sound."

Different? Dunno, Will. It actually sounds pretty familiar.

Intro
Soundtrack for: Don (1978)
Song: Yeh Mera Dil Yaar ka Deewana
Music Directors: Anandji/Kalyanji
Singer: Asha Boshle
Rhythm & Melody
Soundtrack for: APRADH (1978)
Song: Ae Naujawan Sab Kuchh Yahan
Music Directors: Anandji/Kalyanji
Singer: Asha Boshle
Lyrics & Melody
Artist: Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam
Song: I Wonder If I Take You Home
Album: Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam with
Full Force (1985)

The hindi word samachar means NEWS. The phrase "what's the samachar?" which mixes both english and hindi is a slang for "what's going on?", or "what's up?"


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