Black Eyed Peas are an American hip-hop (musical styles Alternative Rap/Hip-Hop and Jazz Rap/Hip-Hop) crew from Los Angeles, who have lately enjoyed massive international pop success. As Atban Klann, they signed to Ruthless Records (run by Eazy-E), but their album was never released because the positive and peaceful lyrics were too unusual for Ruthless. The group is composed of will.i.am, Apl.de.ap, Taboo, and Fergie.
Black Eyed Peas: History
After Eazy-E died of AIDS in 1995, Atban Klann reformed as the Black Eyed Peas and released a debut, Behind the Front (1998, 1998 in music) that earned the group (and their accompanying live band) critical acclaim. The hit single off of Behind the Front, "Joints and Jams", was featured on the Bulworth soundtrack. Their second album was 2000's Bridging the Gap (2000 in music). Their breakthrough album, Elephunk, was released in 2003, featuring a new female vocalist, Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson previously a cast member of Kids Incorporated and a member of teen pop band Wild Orchid. She is the replacement of background singer Kim Hill, who departed the band during 2000.
From Elephunk came the anti-war anthem "Where is the Love?", which became their first major hit, peaking at #8 on the US Hot 100, but topping the charts practically everywhere else, including six weeks at #1 in the UK where it became the biggest-selling single of 2003. The album subsequently spawned "Shut Up", which peaked at UK #2 (despite being referred to by one reviewer as "the single most vacuous, pointless, vile and generally loathsome song in a generation") and topped the charts in many other European countries including France and Germany. Indeed the band have enjoyed greater mainstream success in Europe than in the US with Elephunk going Top 10, gold and (sometimes multi-)platinum in the UK, Germany and many other European markets, yet ultimately failing to break the US Top 10, although it did go platinum there. The third single from the album, "Hey Mama" hit the Top 10 in the UK, Germany and several other European countries, and reached the Top 30.
During Black Eyed Peas' concert tour in Asia in 2004, Apl.de.ap's life story was featured in a weekly Filipino TV drama special called Maalaala Mo Kaya (Will You Remember), which explained his childhood with his poor family in Pampanga, Philippines, back then when he was teased "baluga" (a derogatory word for Negro), before sadly parting with them to live a better life in the US at the age of 14. "The Apl Song", with the chorus written in Tagalog (Filipino), from their album Elephunk, tells the story of Apl.de.ap. The Tagalog lyrics and backing melody were based on the song "Balita", an original composition of the 1970s Filipino folk rock group Asin. The group eventually produced an exclusive video of the song in the Philippines while touring the country as part of their album promotion.
The Black Eyed Peas' song "Let's Get Retarded" was restyled as "Let's Get it Started" for an NBA Finals worldwide commercial. New lyrics gave the tune a basketball theme, as opposed to the original's theme dealing with getting heavily intoxicated and partying and the spot featured Carlos Santana. The revised song had great success as a single, particularly on the iTunes music download service.
Their next album, Monkey Business, was released on June 7, 2005. The album's first single, "Don't Phunk With My Heart", was a major hit in the US peaking at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. This is the highest peak yet of their career. The song is also at #3 in the UK, and #5 in Canada, and #1 in Australia. (Some radio stations skittish about complaints of obscenity, play an alternate version, "Don't Mess With My Heart."]
"Monkey Business," Black Eyed Peas' fourth album debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart, selling over 295,000 copies in its first week.
Some commentators have noted the consistent theme of black men and blonde women in Black Eyed Peas videos, raising the question of racial fetishes or jungle fever. Whether or not it has been a conscious decision, more recent videos have featured a wider range of racial groups.
There is rumour on the splitting of the band. They believe that each of their members have their own talents and not just as a band by itself. Even though they may or may not split, they still might feature each other in their own albums.
There was also a rumour that the Black Eyed Peas are not splitting up, and are just going to work on solo projects. This was also confirmed by the group themselves.
In September 2005, they released an iTunes Essentials playlist of their greatest hits, as well as some that were re-recorded especially for purchase through iTunes. The playlist includes popular songs such as Don't Lie, Shut Up and a new version of Where is the Love? It also has small stories containing info and commentary about the songs and how the group first met.
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