The Black Eyed Peas are an American hip-hop (musical styles: pop-rap and alternative hip-hop) group from Los Angeles, California, who have enjoyed worldwide pop success. The group is currently composed of will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo, and Fergie. Since their breakout album Elephunk in 2003, they have seen international fame for their Pop / Dance-influenced style of Hip Hop music. The Black Eyed Peas have sold over 20 million albums and singles worldwide.

The Black Eyed Peas dates back to 1988 when will.i.am (Born: William Adams) and Apl.de.ap (Born: Allan Pineda) began rapping and performing together around Los Angeles. The pair signed to Ruthless Records (run by Eazy-E) after catching the attention of the nephew of Jerry Heller (Eazy-E's manager). Along with another friend of theirs, Dante Santiago, they called their trio Atban Klann. Their debut album, Grass Roots, was never released because Ruthless did not consider the social themes reflected in the group's music to be marketable to their audience.

After Eazy-E died of an AIDS related illness in 1995, Atban Klann reformed the group as Black Eyed Peas; Adams explained on the front cover of the Monkey Business album, "Black Eyed Peas are food for the soul," hence the name; Adams has cited the Red Hot Chili Peppers as an influence and said he named his band after a food, like them. They replaced their original third member with Taboo (Born: Jaime Gomez). In 1996, they produced and appeared on a song entitled "That's Right" for Brian Austin Green's hip hop album One Stop Carnival. Later, they began using Kim Hill as a steady background singer. Unlike many hip-hop acts, they chose to perform with a live band and adopted a musical and clothing style that differed wildly from the "gangsta rap" sounds of other Los Angeles-based hip-hop acts at the time. Through the mid-'90s, they performed in the local club circuit alongside fellow acts such as Ozomatli and Jurassic 5.

The group were signed to Interscope Records and released their debut, Behind the Front, in 1998 (see 1998 in music). Following this, the group (and their accompanying live band, the Bucky Jonsons) earned critical acclaim. The single from the album was "Joints & Jam", and was featured on the Bulworth soundtrack. Their second album was 2000's Bridging the Gap (see 2000 in music), which featured the single "Request + Line" featuring Macy Gray.

In April 2006, The Black Eyed Peas hit the road again as the featured headliner for the 6th annual Honda Civic Tour with supporting bands Flipsyde and The Pussycat Dolls. They again brought the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus on the tour with them to craft new songs for Fergie's solo debut album. The Black Eyed Peas also had their first European tour in which they performed in front of audiences in Ireland, Britain, Italy & Germany.

On July 31, 2006 during their Bangkok, Thailand and final tour stop in Asia, The Black Eyed Peas dedicated "Where Is the Love?" to the only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient in the world, Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma.

Currently, The Black Eyed Peas are touring Canada. Recently, The Black Eyed Peas have starred in a series of web shorts for Snickers called Instant Def. In these shorts they star as a group of hip-hop superheroes.

Black Eyed Peas hit the city of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, where they performed live in a free show along the city's beaches. Millions of people attended the festivities and fire works at the beach and stayed for the band's show that started close after midnight.