Post by ELLIE on Oct 19, 2003 20:32:21 GMT 2
I came across this earlier today.
Pea Phunk
The Black Eyed Peas return with a new album and a fresh face
by Chris Harris - August 7, 2003
Black Eyed Peas: progressive hip hoppers bridging the gap between rap and pop.
It took this scribe three whole days to figure it out, but it was apparent, within seconds, that I'd seen this face -- the one gazing out from the television screen with such latent wantonness -- before, perhaps even hundreds of times before.
It was a slumberous weekend afternoon and the latest video from Los Angeles-based underground hip-hop savants the Black Eyed Peas was being funneled into the living rooms of millions of Americans -- via the omnipotence that is MTV2.
But who was this alluring, curvaceous diva with the come-hither stare? I couldn't figure it out.
In 2003, as the band's fourth and newest Pea, this femme fetale might respond to the stage name Fergie, but back in 1984 -- as a children's television ingenue -- she answered to the name her parents had given her: Stacy Ferguson.
Up until the show's cancellation in 1993, Fergie was on the cast of the beloved Saturday morning tweenie-bopper spectacle known as Kids Incorporated. For those unversed in 1980s pop culture, Kids Incorporated was what would've happened had the 90210 gang been a kids band during the decade of widespread cocaine use and Michael J. Fox-saturated cinema.
The stars of the show sashayed in front of the camera -- wearing oversized, neon-imbued blouses and tight black leggings -- and rocked out on guitars and keyboards with enough dramatic vigor to suggest that they thought the instruments really were plugged in, and that they were, in fact, playing them. The kids covered our not-so-favorite hits from Casey Kasem's Top 40 countdown, and we all tuned in each week to see which songs they'd be putting to a slow, torturous death. It was the absolute height of cheesiness. Fergie, now sporting a more urbanized, bling-sufficient look, says she's not the least bit mortified about her Kids Incorporated past.
" There are people on the Internet who'll make fun of that, but I was just a kid, working hard, and I was behind the microphone when I was 8, getting the experience -- why hate on that?
she says, from a hotel room phone somewhere in Pittsburgh.
People can make fun all they want, but I was really starting on my dream at that age, and a lot of kids don't get a chance to do that -- so I feel very blessed. I'm not embarrassed about it at all. Why should I be? I could be embarrassed about some of the looks I've had over the years -- I've been through some definite phases where I don't know what I was thinking. But who doesn't have that? It's just that mine were a lot more documented. "
Between Kids and the Peas, Fergie spent several years with Wild Orchid -- a teen-oriented dance-pop group that gained a small following in the mid-1990s, but failed to make a commercial impact before its eventual split in 2000 -- and endured an temporary addiction to methamphetamines. All in the past, she says.
" People go through different phases of life, and I have been through a lot of phases, extreme phases, " Fergie explains. " With the Peas, it's like God was opening a path, giving me a chance to do what I want. "
Fergie' s inclusion in the pod provides the Peas -- the band's founding members include rappers Will.I.Am, Taboo and apl.d.ap -- with a sensuous feminine touch. On it s third disc, Elephunk, these progressive hip hoppers once again bridge the gap between rap and pop, thanks to the electric coupling of Fergie's soulful wails with the Peas' infectious hooks, Latin grooves and old-school samples. The Peas reach dazzling new creative heights on this latest release.
Was the transition from mindless pop to alternative hip hop a difficult one for Fergie? Not at all, she claims. She says she's always been a hip hopper at heart. It's gaining the acceptance of longtime Pea fans that's proved troublesome.
"The band 's been together a long time, and change sometimes freaks people out a little bit, " she says. " Sometimes, when you like something, you don't want to see it change, and that's understandable. But it's not something I can control. I just hope fans will open up, and give me a chance.
Article courtesy of: hartfordadvocate.com
Pea Phunk
The Black Eyed Peas return with a new album and a fresh face
by Chris Harris - August 7, 2003
Black Eyed Peas: progressive hip hoppers bridging the gap between rap and pop.
It took this scribe three whole days to figure it out, but it was apparent, within seconds, that I'd seen this face -- the one gazing out from the television screen with such latent wantonness -- before, perhaps even hundreds of times before.
It was a slumberous weekend afternoon and the latest video from Los Angeles-based underground hip-hop savants the Black Eyed Peas was being funneled into the living rooms of millions of Americans -- via the omnipotence that is MTV2.
But who was this alluring, curvaceous diva with the come-hither stare? I couldn't figure it out.
In 2003, as the band's fourth and newest Pea, this femme fetale might respond to the stage name Fergie, but back in 1984 -- as a children's television ingenue -- she answered to the name her parents had given her: Stacy Ferguson.
Up until the show's cancellation in 1993, Fergie was on the cast of the beloved Saturday morning tweenie-bopper spectacle known as Kids Incorporated. For those unversed in 1980s pop culture, Kids Incorporated was what would've happened had the 90210 gang been a kids band during the decade of widespread cocaine use and Michael J. Fox-saturated cinema.
The stars of the show sashayed in front of the camera -- wearing oversized, neon-imbued blouses and tight black leggings -- and rocked out on guitars and keyboards with enough dramatic vigor to suggest that they thought the instruments really were plugged in, and that they were, in fact, playing them. The kids covered our not-so-favorite hits from Casey Kasem's Top 40 countdown, and we all tuned in each week to see which songs they'd be putting to a slow, torturous death. It was the absolute height of cheesiness. Fergie, now sporting a more urbanized, bling-sufficient look, says she's not the least bit mortified about her Kids Incorporated past.
" There are people on the Internet who'll make fun of that, but I was just a kid, working hard, and I was behind the microphone when I was 8, getting the experience -- why hate on that?
she says, from a hotel room phone somewhere in Pittsburgh.
People can make fun all they want, but I was really starting on my dream at that age, and a lot of kids don't get a chance to do that -- so I feel very blessed. I'm not embarrassed about it at all. Why should I be? I could be embarrassed about some of the looks I've had over the years -- I've been through some definite phases where I don't know what I was thinking. But who doesn't have that? It's just that mine were a lot more documented. "
Between Kids and the Peas, Fergie spent several years with Wild Orchid -- a teen-oriented dance-pop group that gained a small following in the mid-1990s, but failed to make a commercial impact before its eventual split in 2000 -- and endured an temporary addiction to methamphetamines. All in the past, she says.
" People go through different phases of life, and I have been through a lot of phases, extreme phases, " Fergie explains. " With the Peas, it's like God was opening a path, giving me a chance to do what I want. "
Fergie' s inclusion in the pod provides the Peas -- the band's founding members include rappers Will.I.Am, Taboo and apl.d.ap -- with a sensuous feminine touch. On it s third disc, Elephunk, these progressive hip hoppers once again bridge the gap between rap and pop, thanks to the electric coupling of Fergie's soulful wails with the Peas' infectious hooks, Latin grooves and old-school samples. The Peas reach dazzling new creative heights on this latest release.
Was the transition from mindless pop to alternative hip hop a difficult one for Fergie? Not at all, she claims. She says she's always been a hip hopper at heart. It's gaining the acceptance of longtime Pea fans that's proved troublesome.
"The band 's been together a long time, and change sometimes freaks people out a little bit, " she says. " Sometimes, when you like something, you don't want to see it change, and that's understandable. But it's not something I can control. I just hope fans will open up, and give me a chance.
Article courtesy of: hartfordadvocate.com
I don't like that at all! 
, but news
