Picking out which of the Black Eyed Peas’ singles qualifies as the worst is extraordinarily difficult, since they were bad in so many different ways that there will always be endless debate about which criteria to use. Do you go with their stupidest song from a lyrical perspective (probably “My Humps”)? Or their most unlistenable and abrasive (“Rock That Body” and “The Time (Dirty Bit)” being the two primary contenders)? There can be no right answer until the qualifications in question are agreed on, which doesn’t seem likely to happen any time soon, but if you want to go with the “Most Annoying” category, “Imma Be” is certainly the most viable contender. There were times when the Black Eyed Peas actually made decently catchy music to set their idiotic lyrics to, but this is not one of those times. The chorus was another song riding the trend of shortcutting ear-catching choruses by simply repeatedly a single verbal fragment over and over, a trend that dates back to the early 2000s (e.g. “Hustlin’”), but really became popular during a two-and-a-half year period following Bangladesh’ production on “A Milli”. Attached to this mind-melting musical laziness is a typical Black Eyed Peas lyric mixing Glam Rap clichés with bad jokes, the high point of unintended comedy being the line “Imma be a bank/I’ll be loanin’ out semen”. This probably isn’t the Black Eyed Peas’ all-around worst song, even if you discount Will.i.am’s solo career, but it is the most musically annoying of their major hits, and while it still can’t match “My Humps” for sheer stupidity or “Rock That Body” for unpleasant noises, the fact that we’re having this discussion in the first place says very questionable things about the Black Eyed Peas as a music outfit.
Verdict: Bad.