Black Eyed Peas are an American hip hop 4 piece from Los Angeles, and trace their roots back to 1988 when current members will.i.am (born William James Adams Jr. in 1975) and apl.de.ap (born Allan Pineda in 1974) began rapping and performing together around L.A. The pair signed to Ruthless Records, run by Eazy-E (having caught the attention of the nephew of Jerry Heller, Eazy-E's manager), and called their group "Atban Klann", however 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 (the album has since been released on the internet). After Eazy-E's death in 1995, they changed their name to Black Eyed Peas - will.i.am explained on the front cover of "Monkey Business" that "Black Eyed Peas are food for the soul", hence the name. Taboo (born Jaime Gomez) joined the group in 1996, and they produced and appeared on a song entitled "That's Right" for Brian Austin Green's hip-hop album "One Stop Carnival". Throughout the mid 90's they performed on the local L.A. club circuit alongside fellow acts such as Ozomatli and Jurassic 5 and began to use Kim Hill as a steady background singer.

The group were signed to Interscope Records and released their debut, "Behind the Front", in 1998, and second album, "Bridging the Gap", in 2000. However, their third album, 2003's "Elephunk", was the one that really announced the Peas' arrival, and was also the first album to feature the vocals of Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson, a replacement for Hill who left the band in 2000. From "Elephunk" came "Where is the Love?", the Peas' first major hit (a single featuring Justin Timberlake), which peaked number 8 on the US Hot 100, and topped the charts practically everywhere else, including 6 weeks at number 1 in both the UK (where it became the biggest selling single of 2003) and Australia. Second single "Shut Up" reached number 2 in the UK and topped the charts in France, Germany and Australia. "Elephunk" went Gold and Platinum in the US, UK, Germany, and other European markets. Third single "Hey Mama" continued to ride the wave of success, despite being significantly restyled from the original "Elephunk" version, and hit the top 10 in the UK, Australia and Germany, and reached number 23 in the US "Let's Get Retarded" was restyled as "Let's Get It Started" for an NBA Finals worldwide commercial, and was successful on the charts worldwide, reaching number 21 on the US Hot 100, number 11 in the UK, and number 2 in Australia. It also earned the group a 2005 Grammy for "Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group".

Fourth LP, "Monkey Business", released June 2005, continued where "Elephunk" had left off, with first single "Don't Phunk with My Heart" a hit in the US (number 3 on the U.S. Hot 100, representing their highest Hot 100 position at the time), number 3 in the UK, number 5 in Canada, number 1 in Australia, and earning them another Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. "Don't Lie" the second single from the album, reached number 14 on the US Hot 100, and number 6 in both the UK and Australia. "My Humps", a third song from "Monkey Business", reached number 3 on the U.S. Hot 100 despite being mocked for its poor lyrical content. Unsurprisingly, after the success of it's singles, "Monkey Business" as an album debuted at number 2 on the US Billboard 200 albums chart, selling over 295,000 copies in its first week, and was later certified triple platinum by the RIAA.

In December 2005, the Peas' cover of John Lennon's "Power to the People" was released by Amnesty International as part of the Make Some Noise campaign to celebrate human rights. The song was later released on the 2007 John Lennon tribute album "Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur".

The Black Eyed Peas have sold over 27 million albums and singles worldwide.