Angrier young men

LA hip-hop outfit Black Eyed Peas make a return visit and tell STEPHEN JEWELL they are punching in a different division these days.

If you search the internet for Black Eyed Peas you may discover recipes for sausage jambalaya and smothered chicken, but look closer and you'll stumble upon the hip-hop trio of the same name.

While they share a similar musical sensibility with the American South's finest hip-hop export Outkast, Black Eyed Peas - Will "will.i.am" Adams, Allen "apl.de.ap" Pineda and rapper Taboo - hail from the capital of gangster rap, East LA.

"We're more similar to Outkast because music from the South tends to not reflect what Outkast is about, and we're a group from LA and we make music that doesn't sound like music from LA," says Adams, who speaks to me from Los Angeles on his crackly cellphone "in between beating my friend's ass at some video games".

According to Adams, Black Eyed Peas is "the name of soul-food from the South. We're not from the South but we make music from the South, down there music is from the heart."

Adams, an African-American, first hooked up with the Philippines-born Pineda after the latter emigrated to the US in 1989. "We were just good friends, we knew each other in high school."

As Atban Klann, Adams and Pineda were signed to Easy E's Ruthless Records, but after the former NWA member died in 1995, the pair found themselves homeless after their label's demise. Black Eyed Peas emerged from the ashes of Atban Klann with Adams and Pineda adding rapper Taboo to their ranks. The trio released their debut album Behind The Front in 1998, which was followed in 2000 by their sophomore effort, Bridging The Gap. A third album, tentatively titled Elephunk, is due this year and Adams is looking forward to debuting some of the new material when Black Eyed Peas play Auckland on Friday.

"I liked the way Bridging The Gap was received in New Zealand more than how it did in America," says Adams. "We're coming down to New Zealand and Australia because we're doing well there. We want to test the new album. It's a bit heavier than Bridging The Gap. The production is better. The feeling that we've got is angrier. Not angry in the sense that we hate people, but in the sense that it's a harder sound."

While Bridging The Gap featured many of Black Eyed Peas' famous friends - including Macy Gray, De La Soul and Mos Def - Elephunk will be a less star-studded affair.

"It's all about us on this one," says Adams. "Bridging The Gap was about us bridging the gap between all sorts of artists from hip-hop to r'n'b to stuff that's coming out of the French hip-hop scene."

Black Eyed Peas will be accompanied in Auckland by a four-piece band, and Adams promises a performance "that will induce cardiac arrests". He is looking forward to playing in smaller surroundings this time after Black Eyed Peas made their New Zealand debut on the Essential Stage at the 2001 Big Day Out.

"I like big places but you can't beat small, intimate places," says Adams, who is also hoping all three members of Black Eyed Peas will grace the stage this time. Pineda's Big Day Out appearance was curtailed at Auckland Airport, where he was refused entry after he was found with a small amount of cannabis.

"I don't think he's going to be have any problems this time around. They're probably going to be anticipating our arrival [at the airport] and thinking that he'll do it again.

"But you should have seen how sad apl.de.ap was when we met up with him again in Australia after we played New Zealand. He missed out big time."

* Black Eyed Peas play at the St James, Friday, April 5