Black Eyed Peas land at the Verizon Center
It’s certainly on anyone who thought that the Black Eyed Peas were one news statement away from a breakup.
“The fact is that going into doing individual projects, we always knew we’d be supportive of each other,” band member Taboo said. “People speculated the end of the Black Eyed Peas. We were saying what if we came up with The E.N.D. — “Energy Never Dies” — and we laughed at that and said, ‘Wow, that is funny.’ ”
As fans know, “The E.N.D.” is the Grammy Award-winning hip-hop group’s fifth studio album and its first since the 2005 album “Monkey Business.”
The band members — including leader will.i.am, frontwoman Fergie and apl.de.ap — each has had a host of individual projects including acting, music and social activism. Even so, the members never lost sight or inspiration for the band, which formed in the early 1990s, Taboo said.
“Why should we stay together?” Taboo asked rhetorically. “First and foremost, our friendship. This band is bigger than each individual. We love standing on stage with each other … but we’re also best friends. We hung out at the Super Bowl as best friends, not as a group. … We miss that when we’re chasing individual projects.”
That’s true even when the individual projects included working on music with the late Michael Jackson — as did will.i.am — releasing massively successful albums such as Fergie’s; acting and spending time with family, as did Taboo; or working on projects involving music and social activism, as did apl.de.ap.
The individual members have always felt as if they were outcasts, Taboo said. Forming a multiethnic band — which Taboo said is “the gumbo of culture, and we all appreciate each individual culture” — even brought more derision on them as evidenced through tabloid stories, he said.
“We are best friends, and we don’t ever allow the tabs or outside entities to bring us down,” he said. “We are very sarcastic and humorous. That’s why we can make songs like ‘My Humps’ — it’s funny.”
Now the band has ratcheted up the outrage/entertainment factor with a full stage show that mimics the costume changes, high-tech extras and multimedia highlights of performers such as Madonna.
The album and show define what Taboo said is the new era of not just the Black Eyed Peas but culture as we know it. Echoing the news statements from the band, Taboo talked about the changes in culture including the “end” of conventional record stores as well as politics and the election of Barack Obama as president.
“We are striking up controversy with an ‘end’ theme, very tongue-in-cheek,” Taboo said. “So the whole theme of the album and show is going out and having a good time.”
