Will.I.Am announced via Twitter yesterday that the world’s largest computer chip manufacturer, Intel, has named him creative director in a multi-year agreement.

“Its official. I just became the director of creative innovation for Intel. Every beat I make is made with intel. And now were partners,”

will Tweeted.

He will help the company develop smart phones, tablets, and laptops, as well as contribute music to the company.

“It’s imperative that Intel and our innovations are kept in front of the global youth culture that embraces new devices and new forms of communication and entertainment,” said Deborah Conrad, Intel’s head of marketing.

Another effects-driven video from BEP, this time sampling the Dirty Dancing theme.

Black Eyed Peas serve up another on from The Beginning, due Nov. 30th. It ain’t no joke.

The Black Eyed Peas are heading back to The Beginning with variant album covers for Standard and Deluxe versions of their sixth album dropping November 30. The official artwork features 8-bit versions of will.i.am, Fergie, Taboo, and apl.de.ap.

While the title of The E.N.D. was a play on words (standing for “The Energy Never Dies”), the new album’s title, The Beginning, “refers to what is actually happening in the world right now,” says will.i.am. “The Beginning is symbolic of adopting new technologies, such as augmented reality, 3D, and 360 video. It’s also about being experimental and taking songs we’ve liked from the past and playing around with sick, crazy beats.”

The first single from The Beginning, “The Time (Dirty Bit),” will be available from all digital retailers on November 9th. “The song is a celebration of this amazing time in our lives,” says Fergie.

The Beginning will be released as a Standard CD of 12 new tracks, a Deluxe CD with three bonus songs, a full album vinyl, and a combo two-disc set of 20 songs that includes The Beginning and The Best of The E.N.D.

BEP cover “(I Had) The Time Of My Life” from Dirty Dancing. We’re Swayze. Too soon, ya’ll, too soon.

LISTEN: Black Eyed Peas – “The Time (The Dirty Bit)”

The Peas run through a collection of hits, including “Where Is The Love”, “Pump It”, “Meet Me Halfway”, “Boom Boom Pow”, and of course, “I Gotta Feeling”.

Interesting study by the Wall Street Journal touching upon the new music industry business model. Full article here.

David Guetta debuted the “Getting Over You Remix” last night at Winter Music Conference in a big way, bringing out LMFAO and Black Eyed Peas to perform the as of yet unreleased remix live. They also did the requisite performance of “I Gotta Feeling”, also known as the millennial “Don’t Stop Believin’”. The lighting on these performances is insane. This is the last post regarding Black Eyed Peas for the day, unless someone falls. Or dies.

“A lot of people don’t know I write more than rap music,” he continued. “I can write R&B records. I can write hit records — just put it like that. Hopefully I’ll be writing for a few more people in the future.”

We ain’t mad at “Beamer, Benz, Or Bentley”, Banks…..

MTV posts highlights from the Black Eyed Peas show at Madison Square Garden last night, as each Ludacris, LMFAO, Kelly Rowland, and David Guetta made appearances on stage next to the biggest group in hip-pop. [Source: MTV]

There’s some hot, delicious, irony stew brewing at the beginning of this video. “We’re not robots,” cries Fergie!

In perhaps the greatest post-violence interview since Rodney King’s “Can’t We All Just Get Along” speech, teary-eyed scumbag de jour, Perez Hilton speaks from bed, with tissues and emotional chocolate box off camera. Perez explains his side of the story in the recent altercation he had with hardcore gangster rap group, Black Eyed Peas, whose hit singles “(Our Guns Go) Boom Boom Pow” and “I Gotta Feeling (Somebody’s Got To Die)” have been heating up the charts recently. If you aren’t up to speed, apparently at the Much Music Awards in Toronto, Fergie approached Perez asking him why they were being dissed on his website (you mean she really doesn’t know?), which allegedly unfolded into an altercation leading to Perez being punched in the face by BEP’s manager.

Will has calmly offered his side of the story as well, via YouTube, however Perez’s rant rivals that of  Chris Croker’s “Leave Britney Alone” speech, easily taking the cake. Complete with an emotional breakdown at the end, Perez spews out inspirational quotes like “Violence is never the answer! That’s why people die!”, and “I am a human being and no one deserves to be treated that way!” and  “God is looking down on you and shaming you!”. Check the video above for a blow-by-blow account of the situation, as every word uttered by Perez is enunciated perfectly, lending to the severity of the situation. This is the stuff of legend, kids.

Whatever the story really is, will.i.am pretty much just PM Dawn’ed his ass. Congratulations, will, The Black Eyed Peas will now be considered hip-hop from here on out. - DJ Pizzo

So here it is 2009, the musical landscape has changed greatly from even four years ago when they dropped the ultra-commercially successful Monkey Business. So before you get started you have to ask yourself is this going to be the Behind The Front Peas or the Elephunk Peas. One might expect the latter, but The E.N.D. is neither. Will.I.Am and company have reinvented themselves to follow the trend that has already started in popular club music.  Out are the 75 BPM crunk cuts, in are the 128 BPM uptempo electro-tinged dance songs.  This is apparent by the first mega single “Boom Boom Pow”.  Usually Will handles the production on his own, but this time they are looking for a distinct sound, namely that of veteran house music producer David Guetta and Keith Harris, whom helped reinvent “The Girl is Mine” from MJ’s 25th Anniversary Thriller release.  So if you are looking for a hint of sampled soulful hip-hop, it’s not here.  But if you are looking for an album that nearly every song is playable at a party, you have come to the right place.

The album starts with a monologue, which almost acts a disclaimer of what to expect. Here, it is stated that nothing stays the same, and everything is changes: therefore, welcome to The E.N.D. The main issue with this is the Peas are jumping on a train that has already left the station.  If this album would have dropped in ’06, they might have been ahead of the curve, but instead this looked at more as jumping on the bandwagon. But enough of the diatribe let’s get to the music.

The album starts remarkably strong with every girl’s favorite “I’m so 2008 you’re so 2000 and late” banger “Boom Boom Pow” which segues into arguably the album’s best track “Rock Your Body”, produced by David Guetta, which samples Rob Base’s “It Takes Two”.  If this isn’t a single, the A&R on this project is deaf.  Flipping it up from high energy dance is “Meet Me Halfway”, where Will.I.Am dumbs down lyrically more than he ever has, but the Fergie hook sounds like Belinda Carlisle and will be total radio fodder.  “Imma Be” is a more uptempo “A Milli”, while “I Got a Feeling” is Guetta’s “Love is Gone (Part 2)”.  It sounds like a crazy Will.I.Am bite, but gets a pass because it is also produced by David Guetta.

The album continues with the autotuned “Alive”, then the booty call ode “Ring-A-Ling”, where Will poignantly raps “my phone goes ring-a-ling, a-ling, ling/ring-a-ling, a ling, ling/hello hello hello hello/the girls want ding-a-ling, a-ling, ling/ding-a-ling, a-ling, ling”. “Party All The Time”, “Out of My Head” and “Electric City” all follow the same formula: dance and party without a care in the world.  “Showdown” is the lone apl.de.ap production credit, and actually one of the album’s strongest tracks. “Now Generation” is an attempt at indie rock, however comes off more like “My Sharona”, while “Rockin to The Beat” sounds like it should have been on Chromeo’s album. Not a bad thing, but once again….just a bandwagon jump two years too late.

As stated, there is nothing lyrical about The E.N.D., if anything it’s the E.N.D. of Black Eyed Peas giving a rat’s ass about hip-hop music. All in the Peas have created an album strictly for the clubs and the radio.  With some truly good songs and many forgettable uptempo fillers, The E.N.D. falls well short of a classic album. We applaud the attempt of stepping out of the box, but merely jumping on the bandwagon and exposing the brain dead public to what deejays, remixers, and club promoters have known for nearly three years isn’t innovative, it’s just recycled.

    The group’s latest offering, Monkey Business, should solidify their status among TRL’s elite with infectious beats that will have the biggest BEP detractors tapping their feet.  will.i.am does the majority of the beats, producing 11 of the 15 tracks, providing the album with a consistency rarely seen on album’s today.  On “Audio Delite At Low Fidelity”, he does his best Prince Paul impression (circa 1991) with dark drum patterns coupled with high pitched flutes, which works surprisingly well. He also equips Fergie with booming drums for her “solo” as she looks to fill Gwen Stefani’s void in the clubs on the less than inspiring “My Humps”.  The album is dominated by will’s sound, and he is able to make diverse yet similar beats to keep the fluidity.

    One notable exception comes from Timbaland, who produces “My Style”, featuring Justin Timberlake, with signature drums and style (pun intended), which fits seamlessly with will’s sound.  Dante Santiago, James Brown and Sting make guest appearances as well as Q-Tip, Cee-Lo, John Legend, and Talib Kweli on the posse cut, “Like That”.  Unfortunately will.i.am’s
tribute to A Tribe Called Quest  seems contrived with lines like “Can I kick It?/Yup really far though/From El Segundo to Toronto” and “But I wasn’t that cute when I didn’t have the loot/ And I don’t smoke herbs but I’m still real nice with the verbs/So FUCK (hey!) what you heard” tarnishing the gleam from the guests.

    Overall the lyrics from the BEP members are mediocre at best.  The group’s second single, “I Lied”, is full of uninspiring lyrics such as will rapping, “I admit I have been a little immature/ “Phunked” with your heart like I was the predator/ In my book of lies I was the editor and the author/ I forged my signature”.  The BEP are not going to be confused with great lyricists like Rakim, Jay-Z or even Canibus, but they should not be conjuring up memories of Blinky Blink in a Rug Rats car either.  Eventually the simplicity of their lyrics catches up with them and the album becomes nauseating cliched (I was predicting the next line before I heard it).

    Fame and fortune come with a price and the Black Eyed Peas have been sacrificing some of their creativity to reach new heights of popularity.  However unlike many other “pop” groups, The BEP follow Bono’s blueprint and try to stand for something.  On the Sting assisted anti-war song, “One For All”, will  rhetorically asks “Do you really think Mohammed has a problem with Jehova?”, and the group’s sentiments are genuine through out the song.  While they are no longer considered the next De La or Tribe, the BEP are much better alternatives than N’ Sync or Britanny Spears to hear on the radio.