"I Was in the Black Eyed Peas. Then I Quit"

December 25, 2019 11:03 PM

The BEP before Fergie

In the mid-1990s, the singer and songwriter Kim Hill met a young rapper who suggested they start making music. That rapper’s name was will.i.am, and his group was a rising Los Angeles underground hip-hop crew called The Black Eyed Peas. The rest is history — or is it?

Hill found herself at a crossroads in 2000 and decided to quit the group and find her own voice, only to look on as The Black Eyed Peas reached global stardom with earworms like “I Gotta Feeling.” Having missed out on what every performer dreams of, does Hill regret her decision?

posted by jj's.mama (11 comments total)

Thank you for posting this. I really enjoyed watching it. I saw BEP open for U2 on their 360 tour and being in a crowd of 90K+ people all jumping up and down together to I Gotta Feeling is one of the most ridiculous experiences I will probably ever have.

I had bought some back catalog BEP but wasn't familiar with this story. It's a bit of a Pete Best thing, sort of. Her relating her phone call to Will felt like a wonderful generosity of spirit. I'm always happy to see friends happy, and it seems like she's the same way.

Thank you!
posted by hippybear at 11:24 PM on December 25, 2019

I love the whole 'Almost Famous' series where this is from, they reliably leave me a little teary. This one is no different, and what seems to strike me is the generosity of spirit.

The other two that I've seen so far and especially liked:
I Was Poised to be the First Black Astronaut

We're Britain's First Female Rock Band
posted by cendawanita at 12:17 AM on December 26, 2019 [4 favorites]

On the plus side, she didn't record My Humps.
posted by Literaryhero at 3:30 AM on December 26, 2019 [37 favorites]

That was really great.
posted by COD at 5:01 AM on December 26, 2019

The key was when Kim Hill resisted the sell-out demands while others in the band told her: You don't have to go back to East L.A. It's easy to forget how a lot of people even now go in to music because its a way out of poverty: a story as old as Elvis and The Beatles. That both Hill and the rest of the band respected each others' decisions was really impressive. It almost makes me forgive some of the awful music the B.E.P. put out later in their career (along with a number of commercial bangers, it must be admitted), but the important thing is everyone seems happy with the decisions they made. The lack of hard feelings Hill elicits in this video is downright surreal to me, at least in this day and age, and more power to her for it.
posted by spoobnooble II: electric bugaboo at 7:48 AM on December 26, 2019 [11 favorites]

Amazing. Her perspective on this is intense. Loved the ending so much. Her son is beautiful. Cassius Hill on drums.
posted by amanda at 8:11 AM on December 26, 2019

This was very moving. It went in a much different direction than I anticipated. I find her attitude inspiring, the way she made a decision that made absolute sense for her (it sounds like she had a wonderful mother who instilled great values and self-confidence), but without an ounce of resentment. A lot us (speaking mostly for myself here) could benefit from her ability to take joy in others success.
posted by The Gooch at 9:36 AM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]

I absolutely loved The Black Eyed Peas in the Kim Hill era. I was one of those fans in the LA underground scene around the time they blew up. I was angry with them for a long time about that—like she says at the beginning, I thought “they kicked out the black girl, hired a white girl, and sold out,” and as a fan I felt really betrayed. It felt like selling out went against everything they had once stood for.

Many years later, a couple of things changed my perspective. The first was finding out that just before they blew up apl.de.ap was effectively homeless and living by couch surfing at friend’s places. That put context on their decision to go mainstream. The second was when the Wall Street Journal titled them The Most Corporate Band in America. That made me realize that they’re arguably the biggest sell outs of all time and I figured, hey, if you’re gonna sell out, you might as go as big as you can.

Loved this doc. Thanks for posting it! I will note, however, that Hill is wrong in saying that the BEP’s conscious-style hip hop was “kinda the last of it.” The LA underground scene alone is going strong, with artists like Oddisee, Blu & Exile, and the (recently retired) People Under the Stairs keeping the movement alive with solid releases for the last 20 years.
posted by joedan at 11:06 AM on December 26, 2019 [13 favorites]

It surprises me that Hill seems to think so highly of will.i.am, because, from my not-really-a-fan perspective, it seems like he's not... great at acknowledging the contributions of female group members (e.g. that thing where he called Fergie a 'featured female,' then listed a bunch of singers that had worked with BEP (a list, by the way, that didn't include Hill)).
posted by box at 12:03 PM on December 26, 2019

Thanks, that was a great video. I wish I had a friend like Kim Hill. She's inspiring in many, many ways.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 8:17 PM on December 27, 2019

One of my first lighting jobs back in the mid 90s was running lights in the BET Soundstage Club in Orlando. Before I started, I didn't know anything about hip hop. Once I was in, I was incredibly intimidated by the misogyny that was everywhere in most of the music/videos at that time. BEP's to me, were a very welcome break. I could enjoy my job when they were being played. Outcast, Missy, Macy Gray, Common, The Roots and Mary J. Blige were good too. But I completely understand why Kim Hill didn't trust the direction she saw things going. Dignity and self respect are priceless.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 6:22 AM on December 28, 2019 [3 favorites]