Black Eyed Peas “Rock That Body” Predicted Today’s AI Driven World

Matthew Willar

News Editor

More than a decade since artificial intelligence became a driving force in the music industry, the pop music group Black Eyed Peas may have predicted what has become a reality today. In their 2010 music video titled “Imma Be Rocking That Body,” robots, fictional technology, and a text-to-music machine that can recreate a singer’s voice were present. Now in 2025, all of what seemed to be a false reality has inserted itself as the new norm in our world.

The frontman of Black Eyed Peas, will.i.am, has long been invested in the technology industry. He founded his company, FYI.ai, in 2022, which is an app that utilizes AI as a creative co-pilot. According to the app’s description, FYI.ai can “draft stories, song lyrics, product descriptions, marketing copy, or any written content.” Ironically, the same concept was used in the 2010 Black Eyed Peas video, with a machine generating rap lyrics.

In the video, will.i.am shows the machine to his fellow bandmates, explaining how it can reproduce vocal recordings from sampled inputs. Fergie becomes frustrated and says to will.i.am that it takes the soul out of the music recording process and adds that, “We are not robots.” Bandmate apl.de.ap asks, “So that means I don’t have to rap anymore…in the studio?” which will.i.am confirms, saying, “This is the future.”

In an interview with Billboard this summer, will.i.am furthered the conversation on how the video predicted the age we are in today, saying, “In 2009, there was no large language models, there was no diffusion models. The concept of like a machine singing, producing, that was not the norm or thought process. And now that ‘Rock That Body’ is trending, the time where AI is booming, and that video predicts it, it’s kind of wild.”

It wasn’t just this music video where the group showcased AI elements–it is also seen on the album cover for their 2009 album, The E.N.D. In a video explaining the album, will.i.am said, “This is AI. This is a configuration of all of our attributes, my face, ap’s [apl.de.ap] face, Taboo’s face, Fergie’s face, to create this persona. This was like the AI persona avatar that narrated the whole entire record.”

As AI is now an ever-present part of our everyday lives, Black Eyed Peas’ presentation of machine control and blurred reality predicted the cultural anxieties of AI that accompany its place in today’s era.