As many University students already know, MTV's Campus Invasion Tour is coming to town Oct. 5, bringing with it three amazing hip-hop performers. While most students are familiar with the tour's heavy hitters, De La Soul and Wyclef, they may not be acquainted with the hip-hop heads of Black Eyed Peas. With the release of their second LP "Bridging the Gaps" and their frequent and much-praised live shows, these MC-musicians are poised to blow up the stage when they come to town.
The L.A.-based trio of rappers - Will.i.am, Apl.de.ap and Taboo - has been putting out quality progressive hip-hop for the past few years. They scored a hit with their debut album "Behind the Front" in the song "Joints and Jams," and have gathered an even greater following with their energetic live shows, where the Peas break out on their own respective instruments. With "Bridging the Gaps," they push their style of fusing musical influences and genres further.
The lyrics of "BEP Empire," the first single from the album, say they're "bridging the gaps from rap to calypso." These seemingly disparate musical elements are not the only ones the Peas try to mix into the album. They touch everything from lounge jazz to reggae and afro-beat to, yes, calypso with varying results.
Songs like "Lil' Lil'" and "Bridging the Gaps" find the group deftly handling jazz guitar licks, while songs like "BEP Empire" (produced by DJ Premier) and "Cali to New York" (featuring tour mates De La Soul) have more traditional hip-hop beats that are apt to meet with approval from mainstream as well as "alternative" hip-hop heads.
Some songs have a pop influence, such as "Rap Song" (featuring tour headliner Wyclef) and "Request Line" (featuring Macy Gray). Perhaps they were a result of the collaborators on these two songs - artists whose crossover fusion of hip-hop and pop helped them achieve enormous success. But the Peas should be wary of the crossover - a sure-fire credibility killer at this point in their career.
This is not to imply that the Peas have a whole lot of "street-cred" to begin with. Despite what they might feel about themselves, they are an "alternative" hip-hop group. And while unorthodoxy in hip-hop is certainly important and good, I believe it was progressive rapper Mos Def who said he didn't want to be called "alternative" hip-hop because, as Lauryn Hill put it, "alternative usually means no skills." While this group does not deserve such harsh criticism, it is indisputable that their emphasis lies on building grooves and melodies, not on rhyming technique.
However, this album makes me excited to see them in person at the University. It also seems, with collaboration with Mos Def, De La Soul, Jurassic 5 and Les Nubians, Black Eyed Peas have nearly formed a new syndicate of progressive hip-hop much like the Native Tongues Posse that De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest were a part of in the early '90s. This can only lead to more quality hip-hop in the future and cooperation amongst like-minded MCs.
As an album, "Bridging the Gaps," finds the Black Eyed Peas stretching in many musical and stylistic directions. At points, their adventurousness pays off and at others it seems they are spreading themselves a little thin. But certain gems like "Weekends" and the hidden track remix of "BEP Empire" (which, believe it or not, improves on the DJ Premier mix) hint at the type of energy and innovation students can expect to see on-stage. It seems that even though the Peas are not "heavy hitters" now, they may be "bridging the gap" to stardom and recognition very soon.
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