Black Eyed Peas bio

Rarely has a band so completely changed direction — and had such incredible success doing so — as the Black Eyed Peas. The group started out in the mid-Nineties as backpack rappers, hanging with indie hip-hop heroes like Jurassic 5 and De La Soul while slyly deriding mainstream rap and pop as garbage. “Yeah you platinum, but you wack as hell,” snarled rapper-multi-instrumentalist-producer Will.i.am on the early single “Get Original.” Everything changed in 2003, when the band, then consisting of MCs Apl.de.ap, Taboo and Will.i.am, hired singer Stacy “Fergie” Ferguson and made a conscious decision to pursue commercial success. Over the next seven years, they would achieve it in spades, with three platinum albums, 11 Top Twenty Five singles and a reputation as pop’s biggest party-starters.

The original Black Eyed Peas formed out of the ashes of Los Angeles hip-hop collective Atban Klann (A Tribe Beyond a Nation), which included Will.i.am (then known as Will 1X), Aple.de.ap and three other MCs. Signed to Eazy-E’s Ruthless Records, the quintet debuted on Eazy-E’s “Merry Muthafuckkin’ Xmas” in 1992 but were dropped after Eazy-E’s death in 1995. Soon thereafter, Will 1X became Will.i.am and he and Apl.de.ap teamed with Taboo to form Black Eyed Peas.

The Peas’ upbeat 1998 debut album, Behind the Front, featured Macy Gray on “Love Won’t Wait,” and built the trio’s reputation as an antidote to hip-hop’s mainstream thuggery with lines like “We don't use dollars to represent/We just use our inner sense and talent.” It received generally positive reviews, and reached Number 129 on the album chart. The 2000 follow-up, Bridging the Gap, featured a roster of top indie rappers including Mos Def, Wyclef Jean, Les Nubians, DJ Premier, and Jurassic 5’s Chali 2na, and reached Number 67. “Request + Line,” featuring Macy Gray, hit Number 63 on the singles chart.

The band began working on a third LP in 2001, but things didn’t come together until Fergie came on board in 2003. Along with the new, blond singer, the band adopted a more pop-friendly approach, from their fashion sense to their lyrical content. The first single from the band’s 2003 album Elephunk was “Where is the Love?,” a plaintive plea for world peace featuring Justin Timberlake. The single reached Number Eight, pushed Elephunk to Number 14 on the charts, and helped them ltimately sell more than two million copies. Subsequent singles, “Hey Mama” and “Let’s Get It Started” (which is titled “Let’s Get Retarded” on the album version) reached Number 23 and 21 respectively.

After extensive worldwide touring, the band returned with Monkey Business. The band now seemed intent on recording catchy, pop-centric jingles — and the trick worked: the album spawned a series of hit singles, none more ubiquitous than “My Humps,” which reached Number Three and set the stage for Fergie’s solo album The Dutchess. Monkey Business went on to be certified three-times platinum.

The band continued on several successful tours around the world, and proved unmatched in their willingness to team with corporate sponsors, as they did in a series of ads for Dr. Pepper, BlackBerry and a series of web shorts for Snickers.

The Peas’ fifth album, The E.N.D., came out in June 2009. The single “Boom Boom Pow” reached Number One in the U.S. and stayed there for 12 weeks. The second single, “I Gotta Feeling,” reached Number One, pushing “Boom Boom Pow” to the Number Two spot and making the Peas one of very few bands in history to simultaneously hold the top two spots on the singles chart. After “I Gotta Feeling” topped the chart for five consecutive weeks, the Peas had surpassed Boyz II Men’s record for most consecutive weeks with a single atop the chart. The band won three Grammy’s in January 2010, including Best Pop Vocal Album for The E.N.D.