Sergio Mendes Feat. Black Eyed Peas

The recording appeared on Timeless in 2006 through Concord. Mendes had brought Mas Que Nada to a broad international audience with Brasil ’66 forty years earlier. The later version therefore connects his own performance history with a new set of collaborators rather than simply borrowing an unrelated old chorus.

will.i.am produced the album and helped bring its Brazilian songbook into contact with hip-hop and contemporary R&B. The Black Eyed Peas contribution gives Mas Que Nada a different vocal energy, while the recurring melody keeps the connection to Mendes’ earlier musical world immediately legible.

The arrangement does not require the Brazilian material to become a decorative introduction before a wholly different track begins. The percussion, melodic responses and new vocal sections stay in conversation. The resulting rhythm can feel modern within the 2006 setting while preserving the swing and collective vocal character associated with the song.

Concord’s later Mendes records continued the interest in international collaborators, but Timeless remains a particularly clear meeting point. Mas Que Nada makes the exchange easy to hear: an established musician revisits a central piece of his catalogue, and the guests bring another set of voices and production habits into the room. The song provides a common ground strong enough to hold all of them.