orange crush  | Today's T-Shirt Fix  |   don't make the rocks cry

Jun 07, 05 | 3:14 pm

black eyed peas



black eyed peas t-shirt

buy this t-shirt


I love the BlackEyedPeas.

What a better day to review a Black Eyed Peas t-shirt than on the day they drop their 4th album, Monkey Business.

Since 1998, the Black Eyed Peas have been delivering original lyrics, hot beats, and that funky BEP style.

My brother first introduced me to BEP way back in the day. He always seemed to be trying to drop some musical knowledge on me. Exposing me to different musical styles from INXS, Buena Vista Social Club to the Black Eyed Peas. I owe my interest in such a wide variety of musical genres to my bro.

Prior to the past couple of years, the Black Eyed Peas were one of those hidden gems of the hip hop world. Partly because they didn't exactly fit into the hip hop pigeon hole.

The Be Free track from the Behind the Front album was part disco, part funk, part rap. They had dance tracks like Request + Line and Rap Song on the Bridging the Gap album. On their most commercially popular album, Elephunk, they had latin tracks (Latin Girls), songs in Tagalog (The Apl Song), and even rock tracks (Anxiety).

I remember when I first popped the Elephunk CD in my car's CD player. It was one of the first albums I had purchased in a loooong time that I actually liked from the first track to the last track.

As I write this review, I'm listening to the new Monkey Business album I got from iTunes. The journey of the Black Eyed Peas from hip hop obscurity to main stream moguls reminds me how the group Outkast took a very similar journey. If you heard them over 10 years ago on the southernplayalisticcadillacmusic album, you would have never known they would grow into the group they are today.

It's nice to see unique artists grow. Some people seem to think that when a band becomes popular, they are no longer "cool" or they've sold out somehow. I tend to think just the opposite. Those bands put in a lot of hard work to get to where they could make a good living doing what they love to do, and reach as many people as possible. They deserve all the fame they can get.

It's like when your wife gets a "bad" dye job. You know you can see her roots, but she still looks DAMN good :)

Today I picked up a couple of cool t-shirts from the official Black Eyed Peas online store. A cool, chocolate colored tee with raised print and a nice navy t-shirt with the BEP logo.

If you're a fan of the Black Eyed Peas, or if you just love music like I do, you should check out their t-shirts (and CD -- it's hot).


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