Positive messages and breakdancing are integral parts of hip-hop culture, but by 1990 those elements had been temporarily eclipsed by the tough gangsta image and bleak but compelling lyrics of West Coast groups like N.W.A. However, despite sharing a zip code, Black Eyed Peas' vision goes beyond the cracked-sidewalk vignettes and sampled gunfire of Los Angeles' gangsta style. The socially conscious group's earliest connections go back to high school, when will.i.am and apl.de.ap were part of Tribal Nation, a breakdancing crew. ...full biography