Black Eyed Peas - Rhymes’n’beats on a new high

It felt like there was no escaping the Black Eyed Peas during the last year and the proof is ‘Where is The Love’ being the best-selling UK single of 2003, with 625 thousand happy owners. The song featured Justin Timberlake but that wasn’t the only reason, although it helped it a fair bit, to also become the longest running Number One of the year. The CD ‘Elephunk’ has also been around the Top 10 ever since its release five months ago.

And, they’ve reinvented themselves as a live force. BEP show is not only MCs Will.I.Am, Apl.de.Ap and Taboo pacing back’n’forth and gesticulating to a DAT. Fortified by the soulful voice of new recruit Fergie, the foursome and their band are as likely to bust into ‘Pass the Courvoisier’ or Snoop’s ‘Beautiful’ as they are the Latin funk of ‘Sexy’ or their follow-up hit ‘Shut Up’. Then add break-dancing to the mix. The phrase ‘electric boogaloo‘ ain’t lost on the Peas.

If you were to imagine antithesis to gangsta-rap or, for that matter, Eminem, you wouldn’t go wrong by thinking BEP. The rap crew from Los Angeles offer another picture of American reality that doesn’t preach on politics, guns and bitches and yet their beatz’n’rhymes are as valid. Will.I.Am, Apl.de.Ap, Taboo and Fergie have suddenly found themselves swimming along the gilded banks of popularity

“It is well appreciated and long in coming. We’ve worked hard and long for our success and I feel it is well earned. But, you don’t realise that success brings more work, more demands on your time… And, what we thought was busy in the past, it’s nothing compared to the amount of work we have lined up now. Not that I’m complaining, mind you.”

Neither there’s stopping them. Will.I.Am’s been hosting his own show on MTV2, and the former fashion design student’s also launched his own clothing line.

Ongoing Go-Go

The crew initially got together when mates Will.I.Am and Apl.de.Ap met Taboo in a break-dancing circle at LA Ballistics club. Despite being closer to De La Soul than N.W.A., in 1992 they were signed to Eazy E’s Ruthless label. When Eazy died of AIDS complications, the Peas enlisted singer Kim Hill, and moved to Interscope. By 2000’s ‘Bridging the Gap’, they were stressing spiritual positivity and musical eclecticism, as well as roping in A-list guests like Macy Gray and Wyclef. The BEP’s spirit got tad lost in the process, relationships crumbled and Hill left…

The outfit hooked up with Timberlake one night, and he agreed to sing on ‘Where Is The Love’, the damn catchy response to 9-11. Fergie jumped on for the bumping break-up song ‘Shut Up’. The gloom lifted, and drawing on their diverse heritages, the Peas’ ‘Elephunk’ turned into a party nobody wants to leave. It may also be the first album to sample both James Brown’s backup band and Peruvian siren Yma Sumac.

Marked improvement on ‘Bridging The Gap’ Will reckons, that was short on perfection: “I think we made a couple of mistakes, not in recording it but in the politics behind recording of the album. I feel we could have done something different in that aspect. Other than that, everything was great.”

When pressed for some more specifics Will is willing only to say, “If I say more the politics will come back to haunt me,” with a smile. “There was none of it on this album…”

The things appear to have certainly changed since Fergie joined?

“Oh, yeah, from the first day. We went out clubbing! We celebrated Fergie being in the group by clubbing for a year and a half, that’s all we did. It was therapeutic, too, because we were going through a whole bunch of personal issues about the ugliness within ourselves. Sometimes, to get over those things, we have to go out and see the beauty outwards.”

Conscious suite

The Black Eyed Peas’ albums are equipped with cool dozes of jazz and reggae, calypso and general Latino, R&B and pop. It still raises issues but it is the other side of the coin known as the Eminem’s controversy.

“He is good, he is a good lyricist,” Will adjudges, “but he has nothing to do with us. Whether or not I agree with his lyrics is another thing. He is a poet but I don’t think he is reflecting American reality; well, it is true but only as much as one aspect of what goes on in American society because we also represent what goes on in the society. Eminem’s world might exist for only one small percentage of Americans.”

“He is one large mirror, doing what art should be doing. He sees what’s going on around him and projects it enlarged to make a point. What people forget is that he is an artist commenting on the wrongs of society. He is no more dangerous for children than the cartoons.”

There are fewer guests on the current album; ‘Bridging The Gap’ hosted De La Soul, Les Nubian, Mos Def, Wyclef and DJ Premier (of Gang Starr). The band’s first single from that disc, ‘Request Line’, featured the returnee guest, the inimitable Macy Gray, whose appearance on the BEP’s debut album, ‘Behind The Front’ (1998), amounted to giving her a recording break.

“She originally came in because our session singer,” Will.I.Am remembers, “didn’t turn up. It was long before she had a deal, she was still a student at the University (Of Southern California). We’ve been close ever since and she was in constant touch before signing her contract. Yeah, she is great, she is a family.”

[We all are a brotherhood of Earthlings - Sci-fi/hippy Ed.]

Tour dates:

18 February - Academy, Birmingham
19 February - Apollo, Manchester
20 February - Academy, Glasgow
03 March - Brixton Academy, London