"Imma Be" is a song performed by the American hip hop group The Black Eyed Peas taken from their fifth studio album The E.N.D. The song's title is a slang expression, meaning "I am going to be" or "I will be" [something or some activity]. Initially released as a promotional single, the song went on to receive a full release as the fourth single in the United States and Canada from the album, the fifth overall, and is the third single from the album to reach number-one on the Billboard Hot 100. Critical reception to the song was generally positive, with some critics saying that it was a standout track from the album. The video for the song was filmed back-to-back as one collective clip, totaling ten minutes in length with "Rock That Body" which is the fourth international single from the album. The collective montage is titled "Imma Be Rocking That Body". The song was part of the soundtrack of the film The Other Guys (2010) and was used in the bar scene.^[1] The song can also be heard in the film The Hangover: Part II. However, it does not feature on the official soundtrack.

Critical reception[link]

Critical response to the song was generally positive. Eric Henderson from Slant Magazine stated that in the song, "halfway through, the pulse gets an upgrade, the tempo hustles up to a strut, the rudimentary synth hits explode into a chunky-funky rush, and before you know it, will.i.am has transformed a deliberately lazy self-parody into a heated club-floor burner. He added: "The dialectic without conversation within "Imma Be" is replayed ad nauseam throughout the album's entire bloated running time".^[2] PopMatters gave the song a positive review: "Highlights of the album include "Imma be", which despite the repetition of the title no less than 105 times...takes a really interesting path from hip-hop attitude to club hit to jazz romp that holds up well to repeated listens".^[3] Vibe Magazine said that "Imma Be is the 3008 version of "My Humps".^[4] Billboard writes that "The group sounds as unabashedly confident as ever here.....A brazen horn section and smooth keyboards cruise along until the song's sudden transition, when the beat switches from a snap music-meets-Neptunes stomp to a funk-house glide, meshing with a seemingly endless vocal loop of "Imma be" to form a pounding, assertive club thumper. Given the success of its predecessors, "Imma Be", while inherently gimmicky, should be sticking around for a long time".^[5]

Music video[link]

The video was filmed on January 13, 2010. The clip features Fergie wearing Louboutin designer footwear and a black metallic leotard and riding a BMW S1000RR supersports motorcycle.^{[citation needed]} Extras were dressed as robots and nomads (like apl.de.ap in "Meet Me Halfway"). It was shot on a desert road in Lancaster, California. Filming was interrupted by a sudden sandstorm, however, as the storm passed, filming resumed.^[6] The music video, directed by Rich Lee, was shot back to back with the video for "Rock That Body", the second song on The E.N.D.^[7] The two songs were mashed up into a medley, which is titled "Imma Be Rocking That Body". The medley length is 8:15 and the music video in total is 10:21. It premiered on Vevo and Dipdive on February 16, 2010.^[8][9] The videos were separated for music channels with the introduction and conclusion removed. The video begins with Fergie waking up on a road in a desert and she notices everything stuck on a loop. She gets up and sings the first verse. She arrives at a bar and finds will.i.am who is stuck on a loop of pouring his drink. She mutes his Beats which makes him stop. He notices that the robot who looped him is following them and they both hide. As the robot looks for them, they both escape in a hovercar. The robot chases them but it runs out of energy. They arrive at a scrapyard where they find Apl.de.ap who is also stuck on a loop. Will.i.am taps him and makes him stop. Apl.de.ap brings a good robot to life as they dig though the scrap and find Taboo whose bottom half of his body is missing. Will.i.am and Apl.de.ap carry him as they find a pair of legs walking around the scrapyard and they quickly fix him. As Apl.de.ap raps his verse, the robots dance in the background and they disappear, leaving the evil robot wondering where they went.

Chart performance[link]

Prior to the album's release, "Imma Be" was released as a worldwide promotional single and peaked at number 50 in the US, based on downloads alone. It has since been released as the fourth single from that album in the U.S. and became the group's third number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending March 6, 2010 and halted the nine-week run of Kesha's "Tik Tok". It is the group's third number one from The E.N.D. following their first two number ones "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling", as well as their fourth consecutive top ten from the album. With the single reaching number one, The Black Eyed Peas became the first group or duo to place three number ones on the Hot 100 from one album since the Wilson Phillips debut album, Wilson Phillips, in 1990–91.^[10] "Imma Be" reached the top ten on the Canadian Hot 100 due to a significant increase in digital downloads following a performance of "Imma Be" at the 52nd Grammy Awards.^[11] In the UK the single charted at number 55 on the official top 100 singles chart. It has sold 2,999,000 digital copies in the USA to date.^[12]

Track listing[link]

Digital Download E.P.

UK & German CD Single

Charts[link]

Year-end charts[link]

Release history[link]

See also[link]

• List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 2010 (U.S.)

• IMMA

References[link]

32. IMMA

Joey Youngman, better known by his stage name Wolfgang Gartner, is a Grammy-nominated American house music producer and DJ. Much of his music prior to 2010 was released through his own record label, Kindergarten,^[1] but he signed with Ultra Records in 2010 and Ministry of Sound in the UK in 2011.^[2]

Background[link]

Youngman created the Wolfgang Gartner name in late 2008 after establishing a moderately successful name as a Deep House DJ. Not wanting to be criticized for such an abrupt departure in style, Youngman created the name anonymously. Gartner's identity was revealed officially in July 2008.^[3] Youngman took the name from the coach of the Cal Poly Mustangs men's soccer team.^[4] The Wolfgang Gartner logo was created in 2010 by New York graffiti artist Eric Haze who created logos for the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy and EPMD.

Gartner hosted the first episode of MTV's dance music show "Clubland" which aired on September 22, 2011. ^[5] A portion of the episode was filmed at his home in Los Angeles, where he gave a tour of his studio and introduced music videos.

Music[link]

A total of eight of Gartner's songs have held the #1 position on the Beatport Top 10 Chart.^[6] His single "Wolfgang's 5th Symphony" was the highest selling song on Beatport.com in 2009. Gartner received a Grammy nomination for his remix of Andy Caldwell's "Funk Nasty" in the Best Remixed Recording (Non Classical) Category in 2010.

On September 20, 2011 Gartner released his first full length album Weekend in America. The album featured vocal cameos from Omarion, Jim Jones & Cam'ron, will.i.am and Eve. It peaked at #2 in iTunes' dance chart and #1 in Beatport's album chart. Gartner also collaborated with Deadmau5 on "Animal Rights" and with Skrillex on "The Devil's Den." These collaborations were released on Deadmau5's 4x4=12 album and Skrillex's Bangarang, respectively.

Gartner's music has been featured in a number of video games including the racing game Midnight Club: Los Angeles ("Squares" and "Montezuma"), snowboarding game Stoked ("Circles"), and as downloadable content for Activision's DJ Hero ("Wolfgang's 5th Symphony"). His music has also been featured in the TV shows Teen Wolf ("Illmerica") and The Secret Circle ("Get Em"), and in the movie Limitless ("Hook Shot").

Gartner was nominated for four International Dance Music Awards in January 2011, including Best Electro/Tech House Track, Best Progressive Track, Best Breakthrough DJ and Best Breakthrough Artist.^[7] That same month Gartner announced a new video for the single Illmerica.^[8] Forever, a collaboration with will.i.am, was released on April 12, 2011. The music video received regular rotation on MTV UK, MuchMusic (Canada), and AMtv in the USA. The single received virtually no commercial radio airplay in America, while reaching A-List rotation on BBC Radio 1 in the UK.

DJ Career[link]

Gartner has performed at a number of music festivals including Coachella 2010, Electric Daisy Carnival 2010 and 2011, Ultra Music Festival 2010, 2011, and 2012, Parklife (Australia) 2011, Creamfields (UK) 2011 and tours extensively around the world. In 2010, Gartner debuted as a featured guest on BBC Radio 1's Essential Mix series, hosted by DJ/producer Pete Tong.^[9] He is ranked #7 in the "America's Best DJ" poll and #56 in the "DJ Mag Top 100" poll.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

2011[link]

• Weekend in America

Singles & EPs[link]

2007[link]

• Shapes EP

2008[link]

• Candy EP
• Play Dub
• Hot For Teacher EP
• Killer / Flam Mode
• Montezuma / Frenetica
• Bounce / Get It
• Emergency
• Hook Shot
• Flashback (feat. MC Flipside)

2009[link]

• Montezuma – Remixes
• Yin / Yang (with Francis Preve)
• Push & Rise
• Wolfgang's 5th Symphony / Grey Agenda
• Fire Power / Latin Fever

2010[link]

• Undertaker
• Conscindo (with Mark Knight)
• Animal Rights (with Deadmau5) (UK chart peak: #72)^[10]
• Illmerica (UK chart peak: #158)^[11]
• Space Junk

2011[link]

• Forever (feat. will.i.am) (UK Chart Peak #43)
• Hell Yeah! (with Mark Knight)
• Ménage à Trois
• The Devil's Den (with Skrillex)
• Still My Baby (feat. Omarion)

2012[link]

• There and Back
• We Own The Night (With Tiësto feat. Luciana)
• Redline
• Flexx

Remixes[link]

2008[link]

• Cold Act Ill (Wolfgang Gartner's Monster Mix, and Club Mix) – Classixx
• Helium (Wolfgang Gartner Remix) – Bass Kleph & Anthony Paul
• Funk Nasty (Wolfgang Gartner Remix) – Andy Caldwell
• Cruel World (Wolfgang Gartner Kindergarten Slam Mix) – Ron Reeser & Dan Saenz
• Me & Myself (Wolfgang Gartner Remix) – Ben DJ (feat. Sushy)
• Play (Wolfgang Gartner Remix, and Dub) – Jin Sonic & Dive

2009[link]

• Heartbreaker (Wolfgang Gartner Remix) – MSTRKRFT (feat. John Legend)
• I Will Be Here (Wolfgang Gartner Remix) – Tiësto & Sneaky Sound System
• Cruelty (Wolfgang Gartner Remix) – Alaric
• 3 (Wolfgang Gartner Remix) – Britney Spears
• Morning After Dark (Wolfgang Gartner Remix) – Timbaland (feat. Nelly Furtado & SoShy)
• Imma Be (Wolfgang Gartner Club Mix) – The Black Eyed Peas

2010[link]

• Blame It On The Girls (Wolfgang Gartner Remix, and Dub) – Mika

2012[link]

• Paddling Out (Wolfgang Gartner Remix) – Miike Snow
• Sorry For Party Rocking (Wolfgang Gartner Remix) – LMFAO

References[link]

1. ^ Kindergarten – CD's and Vinyl @ Discogs.
2. ^ Rimmington, Stephen. (2011-05-27) Wolfgang Gartner signed to Ministry of Sound? (Update: Yes) | Nothin' Gonna Change. Nothingonnachange.com. Retrieved on 2011-11-30.
3. ^ Wolfgang Gartner – Bio, CD's and Vinyl at Discogs.
4. ^ Holbrook, Natalie. (2011-11-03) Constant Gartner | Vegas Seven. Weeklyseven.com. Retrieved on 2011-11-30.
5. ^ http://www.mtv.com/videos/calvin-harris/676133/bounce.jhtml#id=1671000
6. ^ Wolfgang Gartner | AM Only.
7. ^ List of IDMA Nominations.
8. ^ "Illmerica" Video.
9. ^ Essential Mix Playlist.
10. ^ [singlechart|UK|72|artist=Deadmau5|song=Animal Rights|date=2010-10-02]
11. ^ CHART: CLUK Update 16.07.2011 (wk27)

External links[link]

• Wolfgang Gartner on Facebook
• Wolfgang Gartner on Twitter