The Wack Album is the third studio album by American comedy hip hop group The Lonely Island. Recorded in Los Angeles and New York City with producers including TODAY, DJ Nu-Mark and Asa Taccone, it was released on June 7, 2013 by Republic Records. The album reached number ten on the US Billboard 200 and topped the Comedy Albums and Rap Albums charts. "3-Way (The Golden Rule)", "YOLO", "Spring Break Anthem", "I Fucked My Aunt", "Diaper Money", "Semicolon", "Go Kindergarten" and "Spell It Out" were released as singles.
As with previous albums by The Lonely Island, The Wack Album features a range of guest artists, including rappers Kendrick Lamar and Too Short, singers Lady Gaga and Adam Levine, Billie Joe Armstrong and former collaborators Justin Timberlake and T-Pain. The album was sold with a bonus DVD, featuring music videos for "YOLO", "Diaper Money", "We Need Love", "3-Way (The Golden Rule)", "Spell It Out" and "Spring Break Anthem", as well as the one-hundredth SNL Digital Short, featuring a range of guest artists including Justin Bieber, Usher and Will Ferrell.
The Wack Album was a commercial success, although generally charted lower than its predecessor, 2011's Turtleneck & Chain. The album was praised for its comedic lyrics and for the group members' performances, but received some criticism due to an alleged shortage of original ideas. The single "YOLO" performed well on several singles charts.
Recording and production
The majority of recording for The Wack Album was conducted by The Lonely Island at Speakeasy Studios in Los Angeles, California, with additional sessions for "Dramatic Intro" and "YOLO" taking place at Downtown Music Studios in New York City, New York. The album was mixed by Jason Goldstein at Downtown Music and West Hollywood, California's Westlake Recording Studios, before Brian "Big Bass" Gardner mastered the record at Bernie Grundman Mastering, also in West Hollywood. Producers featured on the album include duo TODAY ("Go Kindergarten" and "I Fucked My Aunt"), DJ Nu-Mark ("Spell It Out" and "I Don't Give a Honk") and Asa Taccone ("You've Got the Look" and "3-Way (The Golden Rule)").
The Wack Album also features a number of samples – "Dumb Girl" by Run–D.M.C. on "Go Kindergarten", "Whirring" by The Joy Formidable on "YOLO", "Gloaming" by Ludovic Decosne on "Spell It Out", "The Bells" by James Brown on "I Don't Give a Honk", "Utai 1: Making of Cyborg" by Kenji Kawai on "The Compliments", and "Universal Love" by Woods Empire on "Perfect Saturday".
Speaking about producing the single "YOLO", Needlz revealed that the song was initially intended to feature Katy Perry, and that Adam Levine and Kendrick Lamar were only added to the record approximately "a week and a half" before its debut on Saturday Night Live.
Promotion and release
Following the release of their second album Turtleneck & Chain in May 2011, The Lonely Island released "3-Way (The Golden Rule)", featuring Justin Timberlake and Lady Gaga, as the final SNL Digital Short of Saturday Night Live season 36. The song is the third part of the series including "Dick in a Box" and "Motherlover", and the video stars Patricia Clarkson and Susan Sarandon. Over 18 months later, "YOLO" was released as the second single from the upcoming album, after being debuted on January 26, 2013's Saturday Night Live by featured artist Adam Levine. The song reached number 60 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Wack Album officially announced later during Saturday Night Live season 38, with a scheduled release of June in place. Shortly after the announcement, the group also detailed a promotional video series called "Wack Wednesdays", in which a new song from the album was to be released on Wednesday every week up until the album's release. The first song released as part of the series was "Spring Break Anthem", the video for which features an introductory segment in which actor Zach Galifianakis hosts a fictional talk show with guest James Franco. This was followed by "I Fucked My Aunt", featuring T-Pain; "Diaper Money"; "Semicolon", featuring Solange; "Go Kindergarten", featuring Robyn; and "Spell It Out".