Black Eyed Peas

Promoting positivity and unity as their sound has developed from organic hip-hop to global dance-pop, Black Eyed Peas — consisting of founding members will.i.am, Apl.de.Ap, and Taboo — have remained prominent throughout their incomparable evolution. The Los Angeles-based group began modestly in the late ’90s with inspiration from the likes of De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest. Combining their pop instincts with socially conscious songwriting, they truly achieved flight the next decade with “Where Is the Love?” Their first Top Ten single at home and a number one hit from the U.K. to Australia, the message-oriented anthem began a hot streak continued by Elephunk (2003), Monkey Business (2005), and The E.N.D. (2009), multi-platinum albums featuring some of the decade’s biggest and most boisterous pop hits, including the Grammy-winning batch of “Let’s Get It Started,” “Don’t Phunk with My Heart,” “My Humps,” and “I Gotta Feeling.” Black Eyed Peas took an extended break after The Beginning (2010), their third Top Ten Billboard 200 album, and returned with Masters of the Sun, Vol. 1 (2018), a charged affirmation of their hip-hop roots. Translation (2020) and Elevation (2022), containing crossover Latin hits such as “Ritmo,” “Mamacita,” and “Don’t You Worry,” have continued to broaden the group’s international dancefloor appeal with elements of reggaeton and Afrobeats, and a likewise diverse array of collaborators.
The group’s earliest connections go back to the early ’90s, when high schoolers will.i.am (William James Adams, Jr.) and Apl.de.Ap (Allan Pineda Lindo, Jr.) were part of Tribal Nation, a breakdancing crew. Eventually the pair focused more on music and split off on their own as Atban Klann, their esoteric name an acronym for A Tribe Beyond a Nation. Eazy-E’s Ruthless Records signed the group in 1992, but many in the Ruthless camp were puzzled by the band and the enthusiasm of Eazy-E, who had no problem reconciling his own gangsta style with the affable, peace-minded spirit of Atban. Although an album was recorded, Ruthless shelved it, unsure how to market a group whose style wasn’t dependent on aggressive braggadocio like that of N.W.A.
Eazy-E’s death in 1995 signaled the end of any further deals with Ruthless. Undaunted by the experience, will.i.am and Apl.de.Ap recruited another dancer/MC, Taboo (Jaime Luis Gómez), and reappeared as Black Eyed Peas. BEP began playing shows around their native L.A., impressing hip-hop fans with their mike skills and dazzling them with their footwork as well. In 1998, their debut, Behind the Front, was released on the Interscope label to critical acclaim — not only for the trio of MCs, but also for their live band and backing vocalist Kim Hill. The album was a modest commercial success, peaking at number 129 on the Billboard 200. “Joints & Jam,” one of its three singles, charted in the U.K., reaching number 53. Black Eyed Peas’ 2000-issued sophomore release, Bridging the Gap, was similar in approach and featured guest appearances from De La Soul, Jurassic 5′s Chali 2na, and Macy Gray. “Request Line,” a single that reached number two on Billboard’s rap chart, helped the album perform significantly better than the debut.
A corner was turned soon after the addition of Fergie (Stacy Ann Ferguson). Formerly featured on the television program Kids Incorporated and a member of Wild Orchid — a late-’90s vocal group pitched somewhere between Lisa Stansfield and En Vogue — Fergie replaced Kim Hill and took on an important role with her confident, forthright vocals. Black Eyed Peas’ first album with Fergie, 2003′s Elephunk, stormed the Top 40 with the Justin Timberlake collaboration “Where Is the Love?,” “Hey Mama,” and “Let’s Get It Started.” The first of these, a number eight hit will.i.am had started writing after watching live reports of the September 11 attacks, was even more popular outside the States, topping the pop charts in Canada, England, Germany, and Australia, among other territories. “Let’s Get It Started” took the award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards.
Two years later, the quartet flew farther into the pop stratosphere with Monkey Business. The album went triple-platinum with help from “Don’t Phunk with My Heart” and the more playful “My Humps,” singles that coincidentally peaked at number three and won respective Grammys for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group (at the 48th ceremony) and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal (at the 49th). Fergie released a solo album, Dutchess, in 2006. It was no slouch either, as it racked up three number one singles. The album was executive produced by will.i.am — by that point an in-demand producer for the likes of Kelis, Diddy, John Legend, Ciara, and Nas — who reentered the solo game with the 2007 album Songs About Girls. Technically his third solo project, it followed a pair of adventurous, low-key affairs issued on the BBE label earlier in the decade.
Black Eyed Peas returned from a short hiatus in March 2009 with “Boom Boom Pow,” the first of three number one singles — which, altogether, topped the charts for half of the entire year — that highlighted The E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies), an album released that June. Featuring a distinctly electronic dance sound, The E.N.D. also produced the hit singles “I Gotta Feeling” and “Imma Be” before receiving six Grammy nominations and winning Best Pop Vocal Album. The group quickly resurfaced in 2010 with their sixth LP, The Beginning, a similarly electronic-tinged pop effort that produced hit singles like “The Time (Dirty Bit)” and “Just Can’t Get Enough.” The quartet headlined the Super Bowl half-time show a few months later before taking a longer break.
Black Eyed Peas often worked separately over the next few years. will.i.am continued to produce and release music as a solo artist, and began a long tenure as a coach on The Voice UK (leading to concurrent roles on The Voice Australia and The Voice Kids). Apl.de.Ap became a judge on The Voice of the Philippines. Taboo issued solo singles including “The Fight,” about his successful battle with cancer. Fergie put together Double Dutchess, her second album. During this time, Black Eyed Peas released only an update of “Where Is the Love” — titled “Where’s the Love?” — with help from a children’s choir and dozens of high-profile vocalists and celebrities altogether credited as “the World.” A charity single for will.i.am’s educational non-profit organization i.am.angel, the 2016 release was recorded in response to terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels, the Orlando nightclub shooting, and the police shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.
Minus Fergie and joined by J. Rey Soul — a vocalist signed to Apl.de.Ap’s BMBX label after she competed on The Voice of the Philippines — Black Eyed Peas kept their focus on serious social issues as they reconvened to make what would be their first album in eight years. Developed alongside their Marvel graphic novel of the same title, Masters of the Sun, Vol. 1 was a whole-hearted and rugged return to hip-hop with contributions from the likes of Slick Rick, De La Soul’s Posdnuos, A Tribe Called Quest’s Phife Dawg and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Nas. This would be their final project released on Interscope.
After the 2019 Snoop Dogg collaboration “Be Nice,” a product of the televised songwriting competition Songland, Black Eyed Peas teamed with Piso 21 on “Mami,” an indication of where the group would head as they progressed, heavily influenced by developments in South American and African dance music. Bolstered by a new recording contract with Epic, BEP struck platinum again in 2019 with help from J Balvin on “Ritmo,” which topped Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart. The feat was repeated with “Mamacita,” a gold collaboration with Ozuna. The subsequent “Girl Like Me,” assisted by Shakira, topped the Latin Airplay chart. All three singles appeared on the 2020 album Translation, which entered the Billboard 200 at number 52. BEP maintained the fun-loving energy with Elevation, issued in 2022. They connected again with Shakira for “Don’t You Worry,” co-produced by David Guetta, and followed that single with “Simply the Best,” featuring Anitta and El Alfa, and “Bailar Contigo,” with Daddy Yankee. ~ Andy Kellman