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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.
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History
After Eazy-E died of AIDS in 1995
(see 1995 in music), 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 of
the US Hot 100. However, there was substantial edits to parts of "Hey Mama" for
the radio, single and video versions, including the line "we drop bombs like we
in the Middle East".
The Black Eyed Peas publicly backed
John Kerry's presidential campaign in 2004, and performed (along with James
Taylor, Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow and others) at Kerry's election night rally in
Boston.
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, 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, 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 BEP's 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, especially
popular on the iTunes music download service.
The Black Eyed Peas' 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 BEP's career. The song is also at #3 in
the UK, and #5 in Canada, and #1 in Australia.
"Monkey Business," Black Eyed Peas'
4th 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 blond women in Black Eyed Peas videos, raising
the question of racial fetishes or jungle fever.
Discography
Albums
Behind the Front (1998) #129 US
(WW: 350,000)
Bridging the Gap (2000) #67 US (WW:
450,000)
Elephunk (2003) #14 US (2x
Platinum), #3 UK. #1 AU (4x Platinum) (WW: 7,000,000),
Monkey Business (2005) #2
(Platinum) US, #4 UK, #1 AU (Platinum), #1 CAN (WW: 1,050,000)
US Sales: 3.5 million WW Sales: 8.9
million
Singles
From Behind the Front:
1998: "Joints and Jam"
1998: "Fallin' Up"
1998: "Que Dices"
From Bridging the Gap:
2000: "BEP Empire"
2000: "Weekends" (feat. Esthero)
2000: "Get Original"
2001: "Request + Line" (feat. Macy
Gray) - #63 US, #31 UK, #21 AU
From Elephunk:
2003: "Where is the Love" (feat.
Justin Timberlake) - #8 US (Gold), #1 CAN (4 weeks), #1 UK (6 weeks), #1 AU (6
weeks)
2003: "Shut Up"- #2 UK, #1 AU (3
weeks)
2004: "Hey Mama" - #23 US (Gold),
#2 CAN, #6 UK, #4 AU
2004: "Let's Get It Started"
(edited/radio version of "Let's Get Retarded") - #21 US (Gold), #1 CAN (1 week),
#11 UK, #2 AU
From Monkey Business:
2005: "Don't Phunk With My Heart"
(a.k.a. "Don't Mess With My Heart") - #3 US (Gold), #1 CAN (3 weeks), #3 UK, #1
AU (3 weeks)
2005: "Pump It" - #82 US
2005: "Don't Lie" - #81 US, #26 CAN
2005: "Like That" - rumored next
single
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URL of Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_eyed_peas
Date Article Copied:
August 7, 2005
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