The Black Eyed Peas dates back to 1988 when will.i.am (Born: William Adams) and Apl.de.ap (Born: Allan Pineda) began rapping and performing together around Los Angeles. The pair signed to Ruthless Records (run by Eazy-E) after catching the attention of the nephew of Jerry Heller (Eazy-E's manager). Along with another friend of theirs, Dante Santiago, they called their trio Atban Klann. Their debut album, Grass Roots, was never released because Ruthless did not consider the social themes reflected in the group's music to be marketable to their audience.

After Eazy-E died of an AIDS-related illness in 1995, Atban Klann reformed the group as Black Eyed Peas; Adams explained on the front cover of the Monkey Business album, "Black Eyed Peas are food for the soul," hence the name; Adams has cited the Red Hot Chili Peppers as an influence and said he named his band after a food, like them. They replaced their original third member with Taboo (Born: Jaime Gomez). In 1996, they produced and appeared on a song entitled "That's Right" for Brian Austin Green's hip hop album One Stop Carnival. Later, they began using Kim Hill as a steady background singer. Unlike many hip-hop acts, they chose to perform with a live band and adopted a musical and clothing style that differed wildly from the "gangsta rap" sounds of other Los Angeles-based hip-hop acts at the time. Through the mid-'90s, they performed in the local club circuit alongside fellow acts such as Ozomatli and Jurassic 5.

Their breakout album, Elephunk, was released in 2003. It was the group's first album to feature the vocals of Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson, previously a cast member of Kids Incorporated and a member of teen pop band Wild Orchid. She is the replacement of background singer Kim Hill, who left the band in 2000. Though Hill was a backup vocalist, Fergie is recognized as a member of the group and is widely believed to be responsible for the Black Eyed Peas' commercial success.

From Elephunk came "Where is the Love?", featuring an uncredited Justin Timberlake, which became their first major hit, peaking at #8 on the US Hot 100, but topping the charts practically everywhere else, including six weeks at #1 in the UK where it became the biggest-selling single of 2003. The single also had similar results in Australia, staying at #1 for 6 weeks also. The album subsequently spawned "Shut Up", which peaked at #2 in the UK and topped the charts in many other European countries including France and Germany, as well as Australia, holding on to the #1 spot for 3 weeks there. Elephunk won worldwide success and went gold and platinum in the US, UK, Germany and other European markets.