The Black Eyed Peas

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Apl.de.ap and Fergie in 2005
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles, California, United States
Genre(s)	Hip Hop, Pop, Dance
Years active	1995 – Present
Label(s)	Interscope, A&M
Website	BlackEyedPeas.com
Members
will.i.am apl.de.ap Taboo Fergie

The Black Eyed Peas are a three-time Grammy Award-winning American hip-hop group from Los Angeles, California, who have enjoyed recent worldwide pop success. The group is currently composed of will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo, and Stacy Ann Ferguson. Since their breakout album Elephunk in 2003, they have seen international fame for their Pop / Dance-influenced style of Hip Hop music. The Black Eyed Peas have sold over 20 million albums and singles worldwide.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Origins and early albums 1.2 Elephunk 1.3 Monkey Business 1.4 Fergie's solo album 1.5 2006 tours 1.6 The Peapod Foundation 2 Discography 2.1 Studio albums 2.2 EPs 2.3 Virtual albums 2.4 Singles 2.5 Grammy Award history 3 References 4 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Origins and early albums

The Black Eyed Peas dates back to 1988 when will.i.am (Born: William Adams) and Apl.de.ap (Born: Allan Pineda) began rapping and performing together around Los Angeles. The pair signed to Ruthless Records (run by Eazy-E) after catching the attention of the nephew of Jerry Heller (Eazy-E's manager). Along with another friend of theirs, Dante Santiago, they called their trio Atban Klann. Their debut album, Grass Roots, was never released because Ruthless did not consider the social themes reflected in the group's music to be marketable to their audience.

After Eazy-E died of an AIDS-related illness in 1995, Atban Klann reformed the group as Black Eyed Peas; Adams explained on the front cover of the Monkey Business album, "Black Eyed Peas are food for the soul," hence the name; Adams has cited the Red Hot Chili Peppers as an influence and said he named his band after a food, like them. They replaced their original third member with Taboo (Born: Jaime Gomez). In 1996, they produced and appeared on a song entitled "That's Right" for Brian Austin Green's hip hop album One Stop Carnival. Later, they began using Kim Hill as a steady background singer. Unlike many hip-hop acts, they chose to perform with a live band and adopted a musical and clothing style that differed wildly from the "gangsta rap" sounds of other Los Angeles-based hip-hop acts at the time. Through the mid-'90s, they performed in the local club circuit alongside fellow acts such as Ozomatli and Jurassic 5.

The group were signed to Interscope Records and released their debut, Behind the Front, in 1998 (see 1998 in music). Following this, the group (and their accompanying live band, the Bucky Jonsons) earned critical acclaim. The single from the album was "Joints & Jam", and was featured on the Bulworth soundtrack. Their second album was 2000's Bridging the Gap (see 2000 in music), which featured the single "Request + Line" featuring Macy Gray.

[edit] Elephunk

Their breakout album, Elephunk, was released in 2003. It was the group's first album to feature the vocals of 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 left the band in 2000. Though Hill was a backup vocalist, Fergie is recognized as a member of the group and is widely believed to be responsible for the Black Eyed Peas' commercial success. They were so popular at that time that their song "Hey Mama" was featured on the soundtrack for Garfield (film).

From Elephunk came "Where is the Love?", featuring an uncredited Justin Timberlake, 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 single also had similar results in Australia, staying at #1 for 6 weeks also. The album subsequently spawned "Shut Up", which peaked at #2 in the UK and topped the charts in many other European countries including France and Germany, as well as Australia, holding on to the #1 spot for 3 weeks there. Elephunk won worldwide success and went gold and platinum in the US, UK, Germany and other European markets.

The third single from the album, although significantly restyled from the original Elephunk version, "Hey Mama" hit the Top 10 in the Australia, UK, Germany and other European countries and reached #23 in the US. The song received even more exposure in 2003 when it was featured in the first iPod silhouette TV commercials.

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 as "baluga" (a derogatory word for Negro), before 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, a language of the Philippines, 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 produced an exclusive video of the song whose distribution coincided with their tour of the Philippines 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. ("Getting retarded" was slang for getting drunk or high, but it was considered too potentially offensive for mainstream release.) The song was quite successful on the charts worldwide, peaking at #21 on the US Hot 100, #11 in the UK, and at #2 in Australia. This spot featured Carlos Santana. The revised song had great success as a single, particularly on the iTunes music download service and was also featured on the soundtrack to the cult classic film Harold and Kumar go to Whitecastle. The song earned the group a 2005 Grammy for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group. The Black Eyed Peas were then featured in The Urbz: Sims in the City videogame as characters. They re-recorded "Let's Get it Started" and "Shut Up" as well as other songs in "Simlish", the dialect language used by 'The Sims' characters.

[edit] Monkey Business

Their next album, Monkey Business, was released on June 7, 2005. Much of the pre-production writing was performed on the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus while on the Black Eyed Peas/N.E.R.D. tour of 2004. The album's first single, "Don't Phunk with My Heart", was a hit in the U.S., reaching number three on the Billboard Hot 100. The song reached the highest peak yet of their career and earned them another Grammy for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group. The song also reached three in the UK, and five in Canada, and stayed at number one for three weeks in Australia. (Some radio stations, skittish about complaints of obscenity, play an alternative version, "Don't Mess with My Heart".) "Don't Lie", the second single from the album, saw success on the US Hot 100, reaching #14, although becoming somewhat more successful in the UK and Australia, reaching a peak of #6 in both countries. "My Humps", another song from the album, immediately achieved commercial success in the U.S. and fairly substantial radio play despite the sexually suggestive lyrics; also reaching number three on the Billboard Hot 100. However, many mocked the song for its poor lyrical content; for example, John Bush, writing for All Music Guide, described it as "one of the most embarrassing rap performances of the new millennium".^[1] Despite this, the album Monkey Business itself debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart, selling over 295,000 copies in its first week and was later certified triple platinum by the RIAA. Their next and last single from the album was "Pump It", which featured a fast beat. It was world renowed as "the most pimpin song eva" at the Freakshow Awards in 2003 and it also received continuous radio play for a few weeks, but soon died off. The song is based around an extensive sample of Dick Dale's early 60's surf guitar classic "Misirlou" (originally a Greek folk song), which is also popularly known as one of the songs featured during the opening credits of the film Pulp Fiction. As well as being a hip-hop album, Monkey Business also features some acoustic guitar playing from Jack Johnson in the single, "Gone Going".

In September 2005, The Black Eyed Peas released an iTunes Originals 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.

On November 27, 2005, The Black Eyed Peas performed at the half-time show at the Canadian Football League's 93rd Grey Cup in Vancouver, British Columbia.

On December 10, 2005, a Peas cover of the John Lennon classic "Power to the People", which was mostly recorded on the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, was released by Amnesty International as part of the Make Some Noise campaign to celebrate human rights. The same day, The Black Eyed Peas performed their version live on the UK television program The Record of the Year together with John Legend and Mary J. Blige.

Black Eyed Peas established the Pea Pod Foundation to help suffering children around the world. The foundation is administered through the Entertainment Industry Foundation. On February 6, 2006, at a concert in Hollywood, California to benefit the foundation, the band was joined by Sergio Mendes, Justin Timberlake, Erykah Badu, John Legend, and other stars.

On March 21, 2006, The Black Eyed Peas released a remix album, entitled "Renegotiations: The Remixes" to iTunes. It features remixed versions of Ba Bump, My Style, Feel It, Disco Club, They Don't Want Music, Audio Delite at Low Fidelity, and the standard version and video of Like That. The following week it was released on CD without the music video. Participants on the EP included DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Erick Sermon, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and Large Professor.

Already having produced the bulk of the Peas' albums, will.i.am has begun his solo career in earnest by producing and collaborating with a variety of musicians, among them Sergio Mendes, Carlos Santana, Too Short, John Legend, Nelly Furtado and Nas.

[edit] Fergie's solo album

On September 19, 2006, Fergie released her debut solo album, The Dutchess, on which she collaborated with will.i.am on selected tracks like "Fergalicious" and the whole group on the album-closer "Get Your Hands Up". She is still planning on recording and touring with the band. The album debuted at number three in the United States. Fergie as a solo artist has had 3 top ten singles within the past 6 months- this is equal to the number of top ten singles the Black Eyed Peas have had the past six years. With two singles (London Bridge)and (Glamorous) reaching number one on the Billboard top 100-.Her second song (Fergalicious) peaked at #2.The highest number reached by the BEP is number 3.

[edit] 2006 tours

In April 2006, The Black Eyed Peas hit the road again as the featured headliner for the 6th annual Honda Civic Tour [1] with supporting bands Flipsyde and The Pussycat Dolls. They again brought the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus on the tour with them to craft new songs for Fergie's solo debut album. The Black Eyed Peas also had their first European tour in which they performed in front of audiences in Ireland, Britain, Israel, Italy & Germany.

On July 31, 2006 the Black Eyed Peas spent their time during their final tour stop in Bangkok, Thailand.

Currently, The Black Eyed Peas are touring Canada. Recently, The Black Eyed Peas have starred in a series of web shorts for Snickers called Instant Def. In these shorts they star as a group of hip-hop superheroes.

The Black Eyed Peas hit Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where they performed live in a free show along the city's beaches. Millions of people attended the festivities and fire works at the beach and stayed for the band's show that started close after midnight.

The Black Eyed Peas have been confirmed as one of the bands playing in the Live Earth concerts on July 7th 2007. They have also agreed to write a song for the event. Live Earth is a series of pop and rock concerts planned for July 7, 2007 to bring about action to confront global climate changeand launch an ongoing global movement under the name Save Our Selves (SOS). An announcement was made on February 15, 2007 by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and other celebrity activists. The concert series is modeled after the 1985 Live Aid concerts and 2005's Live 8, which was produced by SOS founder Kevin Wall.

The concerts will be broadcast on television (NBC in the U.S., BBC in Europe and also stations from each continent), radio, and on the internet via media sponsor MSN. Organizers have stated a goal of reaching an audience of 2 billion

• "Monkey Business Tour- 2006"
• "Elephunk Tour- 2004"

[edit] The Peapod Foundation

A Free Sunday concert in May in South Africa with The Black Eyed Peas launched the Peapod Foundation. All tickets were previously handed out to the public through an SMS campaign and ticket giveaways to ensure that people who wouldn't ordinarily have a chance to afford the concert could see the band perform.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Studio albums

Album cover	Album information
	Behind the Front Released: 1998 Chart Positions: #129 U.S. RIAA Certification: N/A Worldwide Sales: Over 200,000 worldwide Singles:
	Bridging the Gap Released: 2000 Chart Positions: #67 U.S., #37 AUS[2] RIAA Certification: N/A Worldwide Sales: Over 300,000 worldwide Singles
	Elephunk Released: 2003 Chart Positions: #14 U.S.; #3 UK; #1 AU RIAA Certification: 2x Platinum[3] CRIA Certification: 7x Platinum[4] Worldwide Sales: 6.7 million [2]
	Monkey Business Released: 2005 Chart Positions: #2 U.S.; #4 UK; #1 CAN; #1 AU RIAA Certification: 3x Platinum[5] CRIA Certification: 6x Platinum[6] Worldwide Sales: 9.3 million [3]
	Roots to Fruits Releasing: Fall 2007 Chart Positions: RIAA Certification: N/A Worldwide Sales: Singles:

[edit] EPs

• Renegotiations: The Remixes (April 4, 2006)

[edit] Virtual albums

• iTunes Originals – The Black Eyed Peas (September 10, 2005)

[edit] Singles

Year	Song	U.S. Hot 100	U.S. Pop	U.S. R&B/ Hip-Hop	U.S. Rap	UK	FR	AUS	IND	IL	WW	Album
1998	"Fallin' Up"	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Behind the Front
1998	"Joints & Jam"	-	-	-	-	53	-	-	-	-	-	Behind the Front
1998	"Karma"	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Behind the Front
1998	"Que Dices?"	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Behind the Front
1998	"Head Bobs"	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Behind the Front
2001	"BEP Empire"	-	-	-	44	-	-	-	-	-	-	Bridging the Gap
2000	"Weekends" (featuring Esthero)	-	-	-	73	-	-	-	-	-	-	Bridging the Gap
2001	"Request + Line" (featuring Macy Gray)	63	-	51	2	31	-	21	-	-	-	Bridging the Gap
2001	"Get Original"	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Bridging the Gap
2001	"BEP Empire" (311 Remix)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2003	"Where Is the Love?" (featuring Justin Timberlake)	8	-	82	19	1	-	1	1	1	1	Elephunk
2003	"Shut Up"	-	-	-	-	2	1	1	4	3	2	Elephunk
2004	"Hey Mama"	23	-	-	-	6	18	4	7	14	9	Elephunk
2004	"Let's Get It Started"	21	-	-	-	11	7	6	7	5	5	Elephunk
2004	"The APL Song"	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Elephunk
2005	"Don't Phunk with My Heart"	3	2	-	22	3	7	1	1	1	1	Monkey Business
2005	"Don't Lie"	14	9	-	-	6	7	6	1	4	1	Monkey Business
2005	"My Humps"	3	2	57	10	3	11	1	1	3	2	Monkey Business
2006	"Pump It"	18	12	-	-	3	11	6	1	5	6	Monkey Business
2006	"Gone Going"	-	79	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Monkey Business

[edit] Grammy Award history

Category	Genre	Song	Year	Result
Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group	Rap	"My Humps"	2007	Won
Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group	Rap	"Don't Phunk With My Heart"	2006	Won
Best Rap Song	Rap	"Don't Phunk with My Heart"	2006	Nominated
Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group	Pop	"Don't Lie"	2006	Nominated
Best Pop Collaboration w/ vocals	Pop	"Gone Going"	2006	Nominated
Best Rap Song	Rap	"Let's Get It Started"	2005	Nominated
Record of the Year	General	"Let's Get It Started"	2005	Nominated
Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group	Rap	"Let's Get It Started"	2005	Won
Record of the Year	General	"Where Is the Love?"	2004	Nominated
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration	Rap	"Where Is the Love?"	2004	Nominated

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:yfu06ja47180 Allmusic.com
2. ^ http://www.mariah-charts.com/chartdata/PBlackEyedPeas.htm Mariahcharts.com
3. ^ http://www.riaa.com/gp/database RIAA.com
4. ^ http://cria.ca/gold/1205_g.php CRIA.com
5. ^ http://www.riaa.com RIAA.com
6. ^ http://cria.ca/gold/0306_g.php CRIA.com

[edit] External links

• The Official Black Eyed Peas website
• Pea Pod Foundation website

Preceded by The Tragically Hip

Grey Cup Halftime Show 2005

Succeeded by Nelly Furtado