Black Eyed Peas ShoutBox

History
Will.i.am (born 1975 William James Adams Jr.) and Apl.de.ap (born 1974 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 Mookie Mook, & DJ Motiv8, they called their group 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 AIDS in 1995, the group changed their name to Black Eyed Peas; Will.i.am explained on the front cover of the Monkey Business album that "The Black Eyed Peas are food for the soul", hence the name. Will.i.am has cited the Red Hot Chili Peppers as an influence, and said he named his band after food, like them. Taboo (born Jaime Gomez) joined the group. 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. Kim worked on a solo project with Interscope Records. In 2000 Kim Hill left the band. It is often thought that she was replaced by Fergie (Stacy Ferguson), who joined the group in 2003. However, Fergie was just to be featured in one song, but later Will decided to offer her a position of being in the band. 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 other Los Angeles-based hip-hop acts at the time. Through the mid-90s, the group performed in the local club circuit alongside artists such as Ozomatli and Jurassic 5.

The group was signed to Interscope Records and released their debut Behind the Front in 1998. The album won the Peas (and their accompanying live band, the Bucky Jonsons) critical acclaim. It featured the single "Joints & Jams", which was included on the soundtrack of the Academy Award-nominated film Bulworth. Their second album, Bridging the Gap, was released in 2000; it featured the single "Request + Line" featuring Macy Gray.


1998—2003: Beginnings and early works

Behind The Front Album coverThe first notable album released by the Black Eyed Peas was Behind the Front in 1998, making it their first to be release in North America. The album featured the first lineup of the Black Eyed Peas, which included Will.i.am (William James Jr. Addams), Apl.de.Ap (Allen Pineda) and Taboo (Jaime Gomez). The album contains 16 tracks and sold 980,000 copies worldwide. The album spawned several singles for the group, including "Fallin' Up," "Joints & Jam," "What it is," "Karma," "¿Que Dices?," and "Head Bobs".

The group went back into the studio after the release of Behind The Front and recorded their second studio album. Titled Bridging the Gap album cover, their follow-up album was released in 2000, which spawned the single "Request Line", featuring Macy Gray. The album, having chart better than their previous one, sold 1.2 million copies worldwide, along with their four promotional singles, "BEP Empire," "Weekends," "Get Original," and "Request Line."


2003—2008: Mainstream breakthrough and success
Their third album Elephunk was released in 2003 and eventually became the group's breakout album in the mainstream. Adding to the new lineup was also singer Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson, who replaced the background singer Kim Hill, who left the band in 2000.

The first single from Elephunk was the song "Where is the Love?", a single featuring Justin Timberlake which became Black Eyed Peas' first major hit, peaking at #8 on the U.S. Hot 100. It charted better outside of the U.S., topping several music charts, 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 as well. 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 re-styled from the original Elephunk version, "Hey Mama" hit the top 10 in Australia, the UK, Germany and other European countries and reached #23 in the U.S. Their fourth and final single off from Elephunk, "Let's Get Retarded" (featuring Carlos Santana) was restyled as "Let's Get It Started" for an NBA Finals worldwide commercial, where it peaked at #21 on the U.S. Hot 100, #11 in the UK, and at #2 in Australia. On the CD, it is listed as a bonus track, and is before the other bonus track "Third Eye." 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 stoner road trip comedy Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. The song earned the group a 2005 Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. Black Eyed Peas were then featured in the video game The Urbz: Sims in the City 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. This revised version was also used in the ads for the iMac G5, with will.i.am and Fergie singing about the computer.

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 ("Would You Remember"), which explained his childhood with his poor family in Pampanga, Philippines. ("The Apl Song", with the chorus written in Tagalog, a language of the Philippines, from their album Elephunk, also tells his story.) It was at this time that apl.de.ap formed the Filipino Songwriters and Artist Group (FSAG) with Leli, a songwriter also from Pampanga, Philippines, who had developed her writing craft in Compton in the early eighties.

The Black Eyed Peas signing autographs before a concert at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania.The group went back into the studio after the success of Elephunk and recorded several songs for their next album. Titled Monkey Business, their fourth album was released on June 7, 2005. Much of the pre-production writing was performed on the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus while on Black Eyed Peas/N*E*R*D tour of 2004. Although fully recognize as a hip-hop album, Monkey Business also featured some acoustic guitar playing from Jack Johnson in the single "Gone Going."

The album's first single, "Don't Phunk with My Heart," was a hit in the U.S., reaching number three on the U.S. Hot 100. The song reached the highest peak yet of their career (in the U.S.) 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. Due to several controversy over the words, several radio played an alternative version, "Don't Mess with My Heart." "Don't Lie," the second single from the album, saw success on the U.S. Hot 100, reaching #14, although becoming somewhat more successful in the UK and Australia, reaching a peak of #6 in both countries. Their third single was the controversial "My Humps". Despite its controversies, it achieved commercial success in the U.S. and fairly substantial radio play despite the sexually suggestive lyrics, reaching number three on the U.S. Hot 100. However, many mocked the song for its poor lyrical content; John Bush, writing for Allmusic, described it as "one of the most embarrassing rap performances of the new millennium."[1] Despite this, the album Monkey Business debuted at number two on the U.S. 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 commercially-released single from the album was "Pump It," which borrows much of its sound from "Misirlou", specifically Dick Dale's version.

In September 2005, 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 play list 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. The group as well was invited to perform at the half-time show at the Canadian Football League's 93rd Grey Cup in Vancouver, British Columbia.

On December 10, 2005, the 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 song was later released on the 2007 John Lennon tribute album, Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur. The same day, 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. The following year the group 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, member will.i.am also began his solo career in earnest by producing and collaborating with a variety of musicians, among them Sergio Mendes, Carlos Santana, Too Short, Kelis, John Legend, Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake, and Nas. Another member, Fergie also went on to release her solo album. Due to their two members going on to due solo activities, Black Eyed Peas went on hiatus.


2009—present: The E.N.D. (The Energy Never Dies)
The group's fifth studio album, The END ("The Energy Never Dies"), will be released on May 12, 2009, according to a US Magazine article about the marriage of Fergie to Josh Duhamel. The first clip of a demo was leaked on December 9, 2008, with the name of "Imma Be", and is 1:18 long. will.i.am and Taboo are the only ones heard in the song. On January 16, a new unfinished demo of a song called "Rockin' Tha Beatz" leaked; this snippet includes the voices of Will.I.Am, Fergie and Taboo. The songs were illegally stolen and posted by Real Crystal Crew.

Group leader will.i.am told Billboard.com that "The E.N.D." stands for "The Energy Never Dies," which describes his model for a project that will be living and frequently updated throughout its designated cycle. "It's a diary ... of music that at any given time, depending on the inspiration, you can add to it," the artist/producer/songwriter explains."I'm trying to break away from the concept of an album. What is an album when you put 12 songs on iTunes and people can pick at it like scabs? That's not an album. There is no album anymore." He describes the music as "a lot of dance stuff, real melodic, electronic, soulful. We call it, like, electric static funk, something like that." There are currently no guest features planned for the album except for Gwen Stefani.

Discography

Studio Albums
1998: Behind the Front
2000: Bridging the Gap
2003: Elephunk
2005: Monkey Business
2009: The E.N.D. (The Energy Never Dies)

Compilations
2005: Black Eyed Peas - iTunes Originals
2006: Renegotiations: The Remixes
2006: iTunes Essentials

DVDs
2004: Behind the Bridge to Elephunk
2006: Bring in the Noise, Bring in the Phunk
2006: Live from Sydney to Vegas

Tours
2004: Elephunk Tour
2006: Honda Civic Tour
2006: Monkey Business World Tour
2007: Black Blue & You World Tour
2009: The Energy Never Dies Tour

2004: Elephunk Tour
In 2004, The Black Eyed Peas embarked on the Elephunk Tour, hitting multiple continents and countries such as Europe and South America.


2006: Honda Civic Tour
In March 2006, Black Eyed Peas hit the road again as the featured headliner for the 6th Annual Honda Civic Tour[2] 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.


Monkey Business World Tour
In autumn 2005, The Black Eyed Peas set off to tour with Gwen Stefani, as supporting act. In December 2005, they embarked on the "European Tour", which toured multiple countries in Europe.

European & Asian Legs: The European leg which opened in Tel Aviv, Israel, continued to Ireland, United Kingdom, Italy and Germany. After heading to Europe and Asia, they toured the US again, and South America.

Black Eyed Peas have starred in a series of web shorts for Snickers called Instant Def, appearing as a group of hip-hop superheroes.

On December 31, 2006, Black Eyed Peas performed at the their last stop on the Monkey Business tour, at Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for more than 1 million people, being their biggest concert ever.


2007: Black Blue & You World Tour
Black Eyed Peas performed at the UK leg of Live Earth on July 7, 2007 at Wembley Stadium, London. will.i.am also performed a new song, "Help Us Out", at the event, which is now on his album, Songs About Girls, as "S.O.S. (Mother Nature)".

Black Eyed Peas headlined the main Ocean Stage at the Summer Sonic Festival in Tokyo, Japan on August 11, and Osaka, Japan on August 12, 2007. The act comprised of the band performing their hits, as well as Fergie singing solo tracks from The Dutchess. Will.i.am also sang songs from his upcoming album.

In 2007, Black Eyed Peas embarked on the Black Blue & You World Tour, visiting over 20 countries, including Macau, Sweden, Poland, Romania, Hungary, South Africa, South Korea, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Israel, Singapore, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Australia, Nigeria, Mexico, Thailand, Venezuela, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Argentina, Philippines, El Salvador and Brazil. This tour was presented by Pepsi, in conjunction with the new 'Pepsi More' advertising campaign, featuring Black Eyed Peas. In fact, "More" was a promotional single made just for the new Pepsi spot.

The Peapod Foundation: A free Sunday concert in May in South Africa with 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.


2009: The Energy Never Dies Tour
Future Tour: In an interview to Billboard, as it was confirmed thatThe BEP will hit the road in May or June of 2009, and the singer Fergie Will.i.am says: "Our show has to be fuckin' and ridiculous this time. Together, mostramo us a monster. "So I'll hold it for that, and we will follow its lead and really knock them out."