So I'm nostalgic for the Black Eyed Peas. And some people might find that odd as
their peak was only a decade ago, their singles were definitely overplayed,
overall their music isn't very deep and their future aesthetic is kind of
dated. And though I do love their songs, as surface level as they are, what I miss
most about the 00s and the early 2010s is this hope
for the future that one day we might wear LED clothing and stiff
leather wear. That one day we might all live in
harmony and sing in a multi-racial choir about partying it up. Some may remember
Green Day, Gwen Stefani, or Britney, but I remember the Black Eyed Peas, and I
don't think I'm alone in that. But if I am, please indulge me as I go
through a numbered list of why the Black Eyed Peas are not only
memorable, but were a beacon of hope for the second millennia.
So number one - who are the Black Eyed Peas? The Black Eyed Peas, as they were
from 2003 to 2011, were a hip-hop pop electronic music
group made up of four members. Firstly there was the lead vocalist and
piano player will.i.am. Then vocalist and drummer apl.de.ap.
The vocalist and DJ Taboo. And lastly, the vocalist Fergie. They
really hit their stride after they signed Fergie and released one of their
biggest hits - Where is the love? in 2003. Other hits include My Humps
Michael Scott's "My Humps" ringtone plays
Pump It , Let's get it started, I got a feeling, and Just can't get enough.
Another interesting fact is that all the members were around 28 and 29
once they hit their stride in 2003, which is notably old for the music industry,
especially today where the internet is making singing sensations out of kids
still in high school. Their first two albums Elephunk and Monkey Business
were a mix of hip-hop and pop, which was more mainstream and marketable and this
helped them rise to fame. Before Fergie joined, the group was definitely more
focused on hip-hop and some might see them transitioning to
pop as them "selling out", but i think it's just smart.
Their latter two albums The E.N.D. and The Beginning
were heavily influenced by auto-tune and EDM and I think this is primarily
because will.i.am was part of the 90s
underground rave scene and I think that this is the music that
he was really excited to make. Their transition
from hip hop pop to EDM wasn't really embraced by critics, but it did result in
a really awesome future aesthetic and some really great bops. So number two -
Afrofuturism. So the 1800s had steampunk, the 1960s had
retro futurism, and we had LED clothing and shutter
shades. And though many people find that to be
an unsophisticated and cringy version of the future,
especially now that we're in 2020, I personally love that
aesthetic. And I don't think that kind of vision - that optimistic vision for the
future - would have been possible in the early part of Y2K had Obama not
been elected president and had we not had
this vision of hope on the horizon. The Black Eyed Peas really played into that
with their auto-tune and electronic vibes
and what their idea of the future would hold for us, specifically as humanity, but
more specifically for Black people in the new millennium.
And honestly that was really hard to do, especially
post 9/11, post Hurricane Katrina, with a continuation
of the war in Iraq, and the privatization of the prison system.
And as silly as those outfits from the 2011 Super Bowl were,
they're honestly kind of awesome? I miss the days
when I felt like that could be the future
instead of thinking that humanity is going to go extinct in a hundred years.
The Black Eyed Peas represented an optimistic future after Obama was
elected and will.i.am actually even gave Obama a
shout out during their Super Bowl performance.
In America we need to get things straight.
Obama let's get these kids educated, create jobs
for the country to stay stimulated.
It was encouraging, but also kind of a call out, especially because
this was 2011 in the last year of Obama's first term
and will.i.am basically says that Obama needs to create more jobs and get
kids educated, and I guess he's kind of alluding to the fact that Obama didn't
do enough - which is fair. Nowadays it's no surprise
given the current political climate in 2020
that we're not looking towards the future.
We're looking towards the past to things that happened as little
as 10 years ago. Even in one of the newest Black Eyed Peas music videos
they have that retro Wes Anderson aesthetic going on. And honestly
I think a reason why a lot of people laugh or cringe
at will.i.am's metal hairpiece or robotic dancing is because he's Black
and in past imaginings of the future Black people were not present.
In H.G. Wells's Time Machine Black people were regulated to working underground
and literally turned into monsters. White people ultimately think it's
funny that Black people can imagine themselves in their
future, especially after the white supremacist government has tried to put
an end to Black families and their
reproductive rights for centuries. With retro futuristic shows like Star
Trek Black representation in the future and
in space became a little more mainstream, but even before
Star Trek musician Sun Ra wrote songs about
Afrofuturism in the 50s and 60s, and later
wrote and starred in the 1974 film Space is the Place. Nowadays we have
Janelle Monáe, Chloe x Halle, and John Boyega, and more, but will.i.am, along
with Kanye and Andre 3000, were bold enough at the start of Y2K to
bring Black people into the future and have hope and have fun.
So number three - the Black Eyed Peas influence on music.
Before I go on I just wanted to say that the Black Eyed Peas' lyrics weren't
always deep and their singing wasn't always the best
Fergie singing Boom Boom Pow live at the Super Bowl
But music doesn't have to be deep or catchy for people to like it and just
because something is in the mainstream doesn't automatically mean that it's bad.
So these last two albums of the Black Eyed Peas' golden era The E.N.D. and
The Beginning I think really influenced the music to come
in the later half of the 2010s, which is the music we have now - dj's collaborating
with solo female acts who have unique voices.
I think that this is best exemplified with their 2011 single Just can't get
enough, which stars Fergie and her very
high-pitched auto-tuned voice mixed with EDM beats. And maybe the Black
Eyed Peas didn't influence any of this, but their last two albums
were produced by David Guetta and they did spawn
a lot of knock-off groups that would later die out and give way to the music
we have today. Coincidence, I think not! So number four - the Black-Eyed Peas
knock-offs. There were many knock-off groups, but the two most notable ones
were LMFAO, which will.i.am was affiliated with,
and Far East Movement, which will.i.am was not affiliated with.
Both groups were weird and kind of terrible,
but for their own reasons. Firstly, LMFAO is like what even? Redfoo was dancing for
teens with an elephant trunk on his d*ck, and I
guess Skyblu was just kind of there? Fun fact, Redfoo is Skyblu's
uncle and both are related to Berry Gordy.
Redfoo is his son and Skyblue is his grandson.
It is kind of funny however, that their first album was called Party Rocking and
their second album was called Sorry for Party Rocking, and then they
just disappeared. Far East Movement, in my opinion, was even
worse because they were culturally appropriating
Black people - specifically will.i.am and the Black Eyed Peas.
It was not good. So number five - Are the Black Eyed Peas problematic?
One thing I really like about the Black Eyed Peas, that I didn't notice much as a
kid, is that their group is extremely racially diverse.
Apl.de.ap is half filipino and Taboo is Mexican and has Shoshone indigenous
heritage, even though everybody thought he was
Asian. And fergie is just an exotic white woman -
at least that's how she was marketed. But as far as i know they didn't dip their
toes into appropriation territory that much. They had other scandals,
particularly Let's get it started in here's original
name, and the fact that will.i.am's verse in
Where is the love doesn't really hold up today. Even when
he performed it at One Love Manchester to support Ariana Grande he kind of just
raced through it.
So number 6
my favorite Black Eyed Peas song is problematic.
The best Black Eyed Peas song, in my opinion,
is Just can't get enough. Just what an amazing song. I love the auto tuning in
it, specifically when Taboo says "Mr. Roboto".
It's just the best. I also don't mind Fergie's very very high pitched auto
tuning. I think overall it's just a very fun
song. However, they do continue this trend of romanticizing Japan
and also harmfully exotifying it as other.
Both this music video for Just can't get enough and Shawn Mendes 2018 music video
for Lost in Japan take heavily from Sophia Coppola's movie
from 2003, Lost in Translation. The film uses Japan
as a backdrop for two white people's self-discovery journeys they use
Japanese people and customs and lack of English knowledge
to berate and exotify them. However, I don't take issue with Just can't get
enough because unlike Shawn Mendes's video they barely
show any Japanese people and they don't use the smallness of
Japanese things to mock or make fun of them.
Unfortunately, Just can't get enough does have this
horrible line that goes "love you long time" and obviously that
line is extremely offensive. But if you do want to listen
to an Asian American rendition of this song that takes out that offensive line,
listen to Arden Cho and company's cover, which is linked down below.
So number seven, where are they now? So the Black Eyed Peas are still together
and they are still making music. Fergie left the group
in 2018 and the group released their album Masters of the Sun
without her. The album was more hip-hop centered
and did feature a new female vocalist J. Rey Soul,
who is part Filipino and was actually born in Hong Kong. Their newest album
actually came out this year just a few months ago and
again it's starring J. Rey Soul. J. Rey Soul is a welcome
addition to the group, as well as an excellent vocalist. Their
new singles are definitely different as the Black Eyed Peas seem to be
pushed to the side for their featuring acts like Ozuna or J. Balvin,
and some of the Black Eyed Peas members don't even get a solo, or if they do
it's very short or rushed. The album definitely has
a Latin flair, which I think is interesting and cool,
and honestly it's just very nice that they're still making music and still
getting millions of views. And actually they are nominated for two
vmas this year, one for best collaboration and one for
best Latin video, so if you can, please go vote for them. So
the conclusion - I hope one day we do get to wear cool
clothes with lights on them and sing in harmony
with all races and creeds and ethnicities, but we have a lot of work to
do before then. As much as we wanted that bright future
to come easy, we know that it won't, and the only way
to get justice and peace is through revolution, but that doesn't
mean that you're a bad person for wanting to escape once in a while to
2010 and do karaoke with your friends to I
got a feeling. One day we will have that future, we just have to keep fighting for
it. So that's the end of the video. Please
let me know down in the comments below what you thought of the Black Eyed Peas
and what you were doing in 2010. And just so you know
next week's video will be about racism in Brazil against Black people,
so if you want to see that video please like, comment,
share this video, and subscribe of course to my channel, and ring the bell. I
post new videos here every Friday so I'll see you all next
week, thank you so much for watching bye :)