Black Eyed Peas, an American hip-hop crew from Los Ageles, climbed the international pop hit chart in recent times. Their musical styles include Alternative Rap/Hip-Hop and Jazz Rap/Hip-Hop. The group comprises Apl.de.ap (Allen Pineda), Will.I.Am (William Adams), Taboo (Jaime Gomez), and Fergie (Stacy Ferguson). They signed to Ruthless Records, run by Eazy-E, as Atban Klann but their album didn’t saw light. Perhaps, their positive and peaceful lyrics might not have been a match for Ruthless.
Eazy-E succumbed to AIDS in 1995. After his death, Atban Klann re-organized as the Black Eyed Peas (BEP) and brought a debut, Behind the Front in 1998. Through this, the group and the accompanying live band won great critical acclaim. "Joints and Jams" the hit single from Behind the Front, appeared on the Bulworth soundtrack.
Their second album Bridging the Gap (2000) and breakthrough album, Elephunk, came out in 2003. Elephunk featured a new female vocalist, Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson. She was formerly a cast member of Kids Incorporated as well as a member of teen pop band, Wild Orchid. When Kim Hill left the band during 2000, she replaced him as background singer.
Elephunk’s anti-war anthem "Where is the Love?" became the first major hit almost everywhere. It peaked at #8 on the US Hot 100 for six weeks and #1 in the UK. In UK it became the single of 2003 that was best sold. The album produced subsequently namely, "Shut Up", peaked at # 2 in UK and topped the charts in many other European countries, which included Germany and France. Elephunk reached Top 10 and received gold, platinum and sometimes multi-platinum status in the UK, Germany and many other European markets. However, it couldn’t make it to the US Top 10, and had to be satisfied with the platinum status.
During Black Eyed Peas' sojourn in Asia in 2004, a weekly Filipino Television drama special namely Maalaala Mo Kaya (Will You Remember) featured Apl.de.ap's life story. His is a story of an impoverished childhood. Born in a poor family in Pampanga (Philippines), he dreamt of a better life in the US and sadly bid farewell to his family at the tender age of 14.
"The Apl Song" from their album Elephunk, with the chorus written in Tagalog (Filipino), features the story of Apl.de.ap. The song "Let's Get Retarded" was reshaped as “Let's Get it Started" for an NBA finals worldwide commercial. The theme of the original was partying after getting heavily intoxicated. But the new lyrics was based the ball theme and the spot featured Carlos Santana. The restructured song had a great impact as a single, especially on the iTunes music download service.
Monkey Business, the Black Eyed Peas' fourth album, came out on June 7, 2005. In the U.S, the album's first single, "Don't Phunk With My Heart", peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. In the band’s history, it was the highest peak that has ever happened. The song also went #1 in Australia, #3 in the UK, and #5 in Canada. "Monkey Business," sold over 295,000 copies in its first week. It debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart.
The BEP’s consistent theme of black men and blonde women in their videos attracted the critical comments about its racial fetishes or jungle fever. As if to avoid this, BEP’s more recent videos has gone to feature a wide range of racial groups. There were rumours going around that the BEP might split. But what the BEP themselves confirm is, “we’ll not split but would be just going to work on solo projects”
