The party is still raging for the Black Eyed Peas after close to a year since "Boom Boom Pow," the first single of their Grammy-winning CD, The E.N.D., hit the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart (that's the main chart, people!). It was oh so glamorous to attend their sold-out gig with Ludacris, David Guetta and LFMAO at NYC's Madison Square Garden on Feb. 24, when Fergie announced to the roaring crowd that their fourth single (and my personal fave), "Imma Be," likewise just took the top slot as their second, the ubiquitous Target jingle "I Gotta Feeling," also did all summer long.
Having known the fellas since before Fergie became a permanent member, I'm thrilled with how far they've come — and continue to soar. I remember the days when the then-trio of Will.I.Am, Taboo and Apl.De.Ap were performing at small gigs around L.A. with pals such as Macy Gray and, even then, they were constantly hustling to come up with new projects and ideas that would propel them to mainstream success. After adding the Fergalicious flavor to the track "Where Is the Love?" and keeping it from there, things just kept exploding into the stratosphere and now they are truly the headliners they always should have been. What makes their success even sweeter is the group remains as humble and innovative as the day I first met them.
For the few of you that haven't seen it, The E.N.D. World Tour is an orgasmic, futuristic bash full of unstoppable hits, high-energy fun and some killer solo interludes that included Will.I.Am's amazing freestyling of fan-texted messages and a killer DJ set of mashups that fused together everything from "Sweet Child O' Mine" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit," Taboo riding a giant TRON motorcycle over the crowd, Apl's backflips and breakdancing moves and Fergie's sexy vocal chops on her smash, "Big Girls Don't Cry." Truthfully, it did get a little hokey at times and they could have used more of their own hits but the fun flowed heavy the entire time.
To check out when the Peas will hit your town, visit their Web site.
–By Ian Drew for UsMagazine.com. To read more of Ian's blog, click here.
