The Beginning (Black Eyed Peas album)

***The Beginning*** is the sixth studio album by American hip hop group the Black Eyed Peas. The album was released on November 26, 2010 by Interscope. The album was titled to be a prequel to the groups fifth album _The E.N.D._ (2009). It is the groups last album to feature Fergie as she left in 2017 to focus on her solo career.

## Track listings

- Notes
- <sup></sup> signifies a co-producer
- "The Time (Dirty Bit)" interpolates "(I've Had) The Time of My Life," originally performed by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes in the 1987 film _Dirty Dancing_.
- "Light Up the Night" contains a sample of "Children's Story" by Slick Rick.
- "Fashion Beats" contains a sample of "My Forbidden Lover" by Chic.
- "Love You Long Time" contains a sample of "Give It Up" by KC and the Sunshine Band.

## Personnel

Credits for _The Beginning_ adapted from Allmusic.

- **Stacy Ferguson – vocals, composer**
- **William Adams – vocals, art direction, bass, composer, drum programming, engineer, executive producer, Fender Rhodes, logo design, Moog bass, producer, synthesizer**
- **DJ Ammo – drum programming, Moog bass, producer, synthesizer**
- **Michelle Bishop – violin**
- **Davis Barnett – viola**
- **Larry Gold – conductor, string arrangements**
- **Jaime Gomez (Taboo)– vocals, composer**
- **David Guetta – composer, drum programming, producer, synthesizer**
- **Keith Harris – composer, Fender Rhodes, grand piano, piano, synthesizer**
- **Alain Whyte – guitar**
- **Josh Lopez – guitar**
- **Caleb Speir – bass**
- **Giorgio Tuinfort – composer, drum programming, producer, synthesizer**
- **Ghislaine Fleischmann – violin**
- **Ruth Frazier – viola**
- **Olga Konopelsky – violin**
- **Tom Kraines – cello**
- **Emma Kummrow – violin**
- **Tamae Lee – violin**
- **Erica Miller – violin**
- **Charles Parker – violin**
- **Gregory Teperman – violin**
- **Jennie Lorenzo – cello**
- **Deborah Mannis - Gardner – sample clearance**
- **Allan Pineda – vocals, composer**
- Joshua Alvarez – composer
- Eddie Axley – logo design
- Jean Baptiste – composer
- Chris Bellman – mastering
- Jennifer Bowling – marketing coordinator
- John DeNicola – composer
- Dennis Dennehy – publicity
- William Derella – management
- Dylan Dresdow – mixing
- Bernard Edwards – composer
- Julie Frost – composer
- Free School – producer
- Sylvia Gordon – composer
- Julie Hovsepian – product manager

- Tomoko Itoki – marketing
- Neil Jacobson – A&R
- Rodney Jerkins – composer
- Thomas Brown – composer
- Justin Franks (DJ Frank E) – producer
- Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins – producer
- Andy Kalyvas – mastering assistant
- Damien Leroy – composer
- Jonathan Levine – booking
- Donald Markowitz – composer
- Michael McHenry – composer
- Polo Molina – management
- Huan Nghiem – art direction
- Padraic 'Padlock' Kerin – engineer, production coordination
- Franke Previte – composer
- Brenda Reynoso – publicity
- Nile Rodgers – composer
- Dante Santiago – A&R
- Stephen Shadowen – composer
- James Durkin – recording assistant
- Pasha Shapiro – art direction
- Hillary Siskind – publicity
- David Sonenberg – management
- Anthony Taglianetti – mixing assistant
- Scott Thomas – booking
- Andrew Van Meter – producer
- Jorge Velasco – mixing assistant
- Ricky Walters – composer
- Ernst Weber – art direction
- Ianthe Zevos – creation

### Weekly charts

|scope="col"|Chart (2010–11)|scope="col"|Peak position|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|8||||
|7||||
|6||||
|2||||
|1||||
|2||||
|18||||
|34||||
|1||||
|2||||
|7||||
|style="text-align:center;"|34|||
|13||||
|25||||
|10||||
|2||||
|12||||
|13||||
|17||||
|58||||
|3||||
|8||||
|1||||
|6||||

### Year-end charts

|Chart (2010)|Rank||
| --- | --- | --- |
|Australian Albums Chart|style="text-align:center;"|42|
|German Albums Chart|style="text-align:center;"|52|
|Mexican Albums Chart|style="text-align:center;"|29|
|Australian Albums Chart|style="text-align:center;"|57|
|Austrian Albums Chart|style="text-align:center;"|45|
|Canadian Albums Chart|style="text-align:center;"|4|
|German Albums Chart|style="text-align:center;"|52|
|Mexican Albums Chart|style="text-align:center;"|12|
|Swiss Albums Chart|style="text-align:center;"|18|
|US _Billboard_ 200|style="text-align:center;"|27|

### Certifications

|Country|Certifications||
| --- | --- | --- |
|Australia|style="text-align:center;"|Platinum|
|Belgium|style="text-align:center;"|Platinum|
|Brazil|style="text-align:center;"|Gold|
|Europe|style="text-align:center;"|Platinum|
|France|style="text-align:center;"|**Diamond**|
|Germany|style="text-align:center;"|Platinum|
|Ireland|style="text-align:center;"|Platinum|
|Italy|style="text-align:center;"|Gold|
|Japan|style="text-align:center;"|Gold|
|Mexico|style="text-align:center;"|Platinum|
|Switzerland|style="text-align:center;"|Platinum|
|United Kingdom|style="text-align:center;"|Platinum|

## Release history

|scope="col"|Region|scope="col"|Date|scope="col"|Label|scope="col"|Edition|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="4"|November 26, 2010|rowspan="4"|Universal Music|rowspan="2"||||
||Deluxe|||||||
|rowspan="3"|November 29, 2010|rowspan="2"|Polydor|rowspan="7"||||
||Universal Music|||||||
|rowspan="4"|November 30, 2010|rowspan="4"|Interscope|||||
|rowspan="2"|December 1, 2010|rowspan="3"|Universal Music|rowspan="3"||||
|December 3, 2010||||||||

## Infobox (album)

- **name**: The Beginning
- **type**: studio
- **artist**: the Black Eyed Peas
- **border**: yes
- **recorded**: 2010
- **label**: Interscope Records, Interscope
- **prev title**: The E.N.D
- **prev year**: 2009
- **next title**: Masters of the Sun Vol. 1
- **next year**: 2018