Musical Analysis On The Black Eyed Peas

The quartet of the Black Eyed Peas, which are currently apl.de.ap, Fergie, Taboo, and will.i.am, are an inspirational and very musically inclined group that have an amazing way of displaying emotion and feeling in their music. Their unique style used to create music makes people from all over the world from Australia to America enthralled by them. According to their official website, BEP(BlackEyedPeas).com, the seven and a half million albums sold worldwide, the four Grammy nominations, the Grammy award, and the unforgettable performance on the 2005 broadcast on the Awards show that their musical talents are idolized by the public. The group's powerful lyrics and the selection of melodies and tempos during their songs give the Black Eyed Peas' music a very motivating and intense tone.

But their road to success was far from being easy. In the 1990s, the guys of the group, apl.de.ap, Taboo, and will.i.am, were first in the band/break dancing crew called Tribal Nation. They focused more on hip-hop then anything else. Then they met Eazy-E who was the owner of Eazy-E'z Ruthless Records, who later on signed them 1992. Tribal Nation made an astonishing album, but the company shelved it because they were unsure how to market a group whose style was not dependent on violent braggadocio, like the other popular, hip-hop artists and bands during the time. To make things worse, Eazy-E passed away in 1995, and the band was on their own. But they later reappeared as the Black Eyed Peas in 1998 and began playing shows around Los Angeles, impressing hip-hop fans with their mike skills and stunning them with their break dancing as well. Later that year, they released an album called Behind the Front with a new vocalist Kim Hill with guest appearances from the hip-hop band, Jurassic 5's, Chali 2na, De La Soul, and Macy Gray (Kergan n. pag.).

They began to define their own style of music and the public seemed to recognize the value of their unique approach of music. Then in the year of 2000, they released yet another album called Bridging the Gap. Their success was mounting higher then ever before. Then in 2003, the group made another album, Elephunk, which featured a new member to the group, Fergie, who replaced their vocalist Kim Hill. This album became their biggest one yet, storming the Top 40 with three singles ("Where Is the Love?," "Hey Mama," and "Let's Get It Started"). Two years later, the band had their latest album released, Monkey Business which is on the Top 40 today (Kergan n. pag.).

The Black Eyed Peas seemed to have one thing that seemed to be obscure about their genre of music though. Since they changed from their hip-hop, break dancing style, they have been classified as an Alternative, an Alternative Rap, a Club/Dance, a Hip-Hop, a Pop, a Pop-Rap, an R&B and a Rock band (Bush n. pag.). This is because of the group's varied music and vocals in every song, which makes it confusing to determine what type of music they are. Most people consider it Pop, some thinks it is Rock. But in my opinion, they are their own genre of music. It is amazing how they can pull this off in this time of Hip-Hop and R&B and be well-known for their diversity in music. But their vocal talents and unique ways of creating music makes them my utmost, favorite band because they express themselves in a different way like no other artist nor artists have before.

In their newest CD, Monkey Business, it shows their matchless type of music very well. In the album, most of the song's lyrics are about relationships or strong emotions you feel when you're cheerful, gloomy, or irate. I feel I can relate to the music because they vividly describe