Genres: Hip-Hop, Club/Dance, Alternative Rap, Pop-Rap Active: 90's, 2000's Formed: 1995 in Los Angeles, CA
Justin Timberlake, Missy Elliott, Common, John Forté, Will Smith, Kanye West, Lauryn Hill, Timbaland, Wyclef Jean, The Roots, The Fugees, Digable Planets, Pras, Lifesavas, The Neptunes, Flipmode Squad, God Made Me Funky, Blackalicious, Busta Rhymes
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Positive messages and breakdancing are integral parts of hip-hop culture, but by 1990 those elements had been temporarily eclipsed by the tough gangsta image and bleak but compelling lyrics of West Coast groups like N.W.A. However, despite sharing a zip code, Black Eyed Peas' vision goes beyond the cracked-sidewalk vignettes and sampled gunfire of Los Angeles' gangsta style. The socially conscious group's earliest connections go back to high school, when will.i.am and apl.de.ap were part of Tribal Nation, a breakdancing crew. Eventually the pair focused more on music -- hip-hop, specifically -- and split off into their own as Atban Klann, their esoteric name an acronym for A Tribe Beyond a Nation.
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Release: 2006
Label: AM, A&M, Interscope
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Release: February 14, 2006
Label: Interscope, Polydor, Universal International
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