Black Eyed Peas
Despite the fact, that the American hip-hop band «Black Eyed Peas» began its activity way back in 1988, this fairly talented quartet has achieved true popularity only in recent years. Perhaps this can be explained by the widespread interest to such directions as hip-hop and rhythm and blues, or maybe the band members were finally rewarded on merit, and many years of work were not in vain.
Besides, we should not forget that in the late 80's and early 90's today well-known musicians were still teenagers, irrespective of how energetic, active and talented they were. Their first album, recorded on the “Ruthless” label, never saw the light of day, as it didn’t match the company’s traditional format.
It was not until 1998, after the 10 years since the foundation of the group, when «Black Eyed Peas» finally released their debut album «Behind the Front» consisting of 16 tracks. Critics received this work, recorded under the patronage of Interscope Records, quite favourably. Despite the fact that this LP did not bring any special achievements to the band members, it was still a good incentive for their further work.
In 2000, «Black Eyed Peas» recorded their second album, titled «Bridging the Gap». One of the album’s singles - a song called «Request + Line» - was recorded with the direct involvement of hip-hop scene diva Macy Gray. The only thing that prevented the large sales of this album was the pirate activity, due to which everyone who listened to it would do so without promoting their idols in the Billboard charts.
Nevertheless, justice prevailed, and «Black Eyed Peas» were featured in the Billboard charts several times, however it all happened much later, when their name was already known far beyond the United States. This was made possible largely due to such works as «Elephunk», many singles out of which have become real hits, such as «Let's Get It Started», «Where Is the Love?», «Hey Mama», etc. A year later after the album’s release in 2003, the band went on a tour of the Eurasian continent in order to publicize and support the «Elephunk» sales.
In 2005 «Monkey Business» was released, followed by another album containing mainly remixes... And, finally, in 2009 was «Black Eyed Peas»’s breakthrough to the heights of the international fame with the album «The E.N.D». One by one, the singles «I Gotta Feeling» and «Boom Boom Pow» topped the Billboard’s “hot hundred” for six months in a row, and the British and Australian charts were conquered by song «Meet Me Halfway», which happened to be in the top positions in both countries. This was the band’s first and only album certified multi-platinum.
The year 2010 was marked by the Grammy awards in three categories at once - “Best Pop Album”, “Best Pop Vocal” and the music video for the song «Boom Boom Pow» received the honorary title of “Best Video”. The band continued their activity, and in the same year of 2010 they released another album - «The Beginning». At present, the band's popularity has not decreased. On the contrary, the many millions of fans are eagerly anticipating the new songs, videos and concert tours.
