With hip-hop attitude and a touch of the Timberlake, Black Eyed Peas straddle all sorts of musical genres, writes Jim Carroll.
For the last 10 weeks, a single called Where Is The Love? by a hip-hop act called the Black Eyed Peas has been the best-selling single in the land. It has been a massive hit worldwide too, but just can't be bumped from the top spot in Ireland. Maybe it could have something to do with the guest spot from Justin Timberlake or even the hitherto unacknowledged fact that the plain single-buying people of Ireland dig an emotional ol' hip-hop groove, but Where Is The Love? has bested all competition.
On the day that the Black Eyed Peas arrive in Dublin to support Christina Aguilera at the Point, the single is still sitting pretty at number one. So, you are thinking, this is going to be a story about champagne and gold discs, glamour and high fives, parties and players. Not for the first time, you'd be completely wrong.
About 30 minutes before they are due onstage, two Black Eyed Peas shuffle into a small room somewhere in the catacombs of the venue to meet the Irish media with all the enthusiasm of a politician at a tribunal. You can confidently say that neither side in the room are particularly happy right now.
The Peas are cheesed off because they are due onstage really soon and would probably prefer to be sitting in their dressing room doing yoga or writing cupcake recipes rather than answer the same questions they have been facing for the last few months.
Those of us who make up the Irish media contingent on this occasion are also not in the best of moods. As usual, we are tired, grumpy and annoyed, but for once we have reason to be, having spent the last hour-and-a-half hanging around outside the Point, while a woman from the band's record company has tried hopelessly to get us inside the building. Not even to get into the same room as the band, mind, just to get us into the building. To be fair, she did have one major victory, which meant we could shuffle past a gate guarded by a surly security bruiser and then stand gormlessly outside a window.
On the other side of that window, various members of Aguilera's crew and backing band could be seen having their dinner in the catering area. It's Hallowe'en so a few were walking around in masks and costumes. The thin line between farce and stupidity just got thinner.
The Pea called Apl pulls up a stool, shakes hands and stares at the tape-recorder. This is what his life consists of right now: gig, promote, travel, repeat-to-fade. The Peas have been touring with Aguilera and Justin Timberlake in the US and they know their place in this pecking order. They are the support act and are here to make some noise while the audience prepares to scream when the new Michael Jackson or the new Cher come onstage.
Yet Apl knows he has reasons to be cheerful because even this level of success has been a long time coming. He and Will.I.Am hooked up in 1989 in Los Angeles, formed an act called Atbam Klan and signed a deal with one-time NWA rapper Eazy-E's Ruthless Records. "We were 17 years-of-age and they gave us $10,000 and we thought we were made," Apl chuckles.
When Eazy-E died in 1995, the label died with him. The duo were joined by Taboo, a name-change ensued and the Peas began to pop. Signed by Interscope big cheese Jimmy Iovine, two albums followed (Behind The Front and Bridging The Gap) before this year's Elephunk provided them with chart lift-off.
"Everything that has happened this year has surprised us," Apl says. "I regard it as a reward because we've been doing this for a while so the recognition feels good. Now, it's a job we relish and something we're looking to take further. But it hasn't sunk in yet. I suppose it will when the money arrives. I'm always asking that question: 'Am I rich yet?'" This particular pay-day will be due largely to Where Is The Love?. The way Apl tells it, outside influences had a huge part to play when it came to writing the song. "We had set up in a house in California and had written a whole bunch of tunes and then 9/11 happened and suddenly, all the songs that we'd written were pointless in our eyes. Emotionally and mentally things were all fucked up because of 9/11, so we threw all those songs away. We went on tour two days after 9/11 because we thought it would be a good idea to go out and perform for people and keep their mind off their anxieties.
"The track came out of all that. People can relate to what we're saying because it's a song with a message. All those things we mention in Where is the Love? that are going on in the world trigger a lot of emotions. I don't think I'll ever tire of it. Every time I see the video on TV, I still get surprised - 'hey, that's our song'."
If that single hadn't come along, Apl is adamant that the Peas would still be in the game.
"Before any of this happened, we used to practice every day in our apartment," he points out. "What we're blessed with is that we enjoy hard work. We just wanted to be popular like these other kids. When you're in the business and you're learning the ropes, you get business-minded and that gives you energy to keep on moving." They've taken the lead from mentors like Eazy-E and Interscope boss Jimmy Iovine. "All the people we've met coming up like Eazy-E have influenced us.
"People say he was a gangster and that he earned money from various dirty deeds and he used that money to start a record label. Now, some people might think he shouldn't be applauded but to me, he put in a lot of hard work and focused on creating something which helped people like us. Jimmy Iovine really believes in the Black Eyed Peas and he understands that it's a slow build for us. He understands that we're a touring band and that we tour and perform and build a fanbase so we're blessed to have him in our corner." An agitated member of the band's crew appears, taps Apl on the shoulder and points at his watch. It must be showtime.
After Dublin, the Peas are all over Europe on tour with Aguilera before joining the Justin Timberlake convoy for more European appointments. Indeed, Apl says as a parting shot as he heads stagewards, they're back in Dublin with Timberlake in December.
Potential interviewers are advised to wrap up warmly.
Elephunk is out now on Interscope/ Universal