<sup>The Black Eyed Peas (BEP) is an American hip hop musical group based in Los Angeles. The group is composed of will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo, and Fergie. Since their album Elephunk in 2003, the group's hip hop/dance pop-oriented style has sold an estimated 20 million albums worldwide and 13 million singles. The group is one of only eleven artists to have ever held the number 1 and 2 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time. Their singles Boom Boom Pow and I Gotta Feeling topped the US charts for 25 consecutive weeks, more than any other artist in history. Before Black Eyed Peas, Will.I.Am and Apl.De.Ap were in a group called The Atban Klann signed to Eazy E's Ruthless Records.
Career
1998–2001: Behind the Front and Bridging the Gap

The pop 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 Jonson) 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.
2008–present: The E.N.D.

The group's fifth studio album, The E.N.D. ("The Energy Never Dies"), was released on June 9, 2009. "Boom Boom Pow" was released on February 22 online and March 30 on iTunes. It became the group's first song to reach #1, where it remained for 12 weeks, on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #1 in Australia, in Canada, and in the UK. The album has a more electro-hop beat rather than the usual hip hop/R&B feeling of their previous albums. The album entered the number one position on the Billboard 200 for the publication's week ending June 27, 2009, selling 304,000 copies during the week ending June 14, 2009.

The first promo single, "Imma Be", was released for download on iTunes on May 19 in the US, entering the Billboard Hot 100 at number 50 on the week ending June 6, 2009.

Group front man will.i.am told Billboard 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."

Band member Taboo told iProng Magazine that The E.N.D. may be the last Black Eyed Peas album released in physical form, in favor of digital-only album releases in the future. "Possibly, this is the last physical CD for any group, let alone a Black Eyed Peas CD. Because four years from now, we don’t know what it could be," he explained. "It's one thing to just have a CD and need to live with that CD, but what if you were able to take those fifteen songs, and then you got ten songs the next month that you couldn’t have on the CD? And then we just keep on giving you new material and keeping it fresh and reinventing the song."

The second promo single "Alive" was released for Download on May 26.

The third promo single "Meet Me Halfway" was released for Download in the US on June 2.

After the release of The E.N.D., the Black Eyed Peas released "I Gotta Feeling", produced by David Guetta, as the second official single from the album. "I Gotta Feeling" climbed to number one on the US iTunes chart replacing "Boom Boom Pow" which dropped to number two. The single charted at number three and then went to number one on the UK Singles Chart. It debuted at number 2 on the Hot 100 behind "Boom Boom Pow" and later surpassed it, taking the number 1 spot. However, the song has drawn some criticism for the use of the words mazel tov and L'Chaim, with Wayne Gladstone of Cracked.com calling it excessively repetitive and "Officially the Worst Song Ever". The Black Eyed Peas joined a very elite group of artists who have held the No.1 and 2 Spot on the Hot 100 simultaneously. Since "Boom Boom Pow" reached the number 1 spot in April, the group has been on top of the chart for more weeks than any other artist.</sup>