The Peas pump it up

The Black Eyed Peas won't reveal details of their game plan, except a promise to drop-kick the beat, pile on the grooves and get the crowd's backfield in motion.

Expect a non-stop hip-hop spectacle from this year's headliner for the Super Bowl halftime show Feb. 6 at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas.

"We'll be wilding out!" guarantees Taboo, one-fourth of the L.A. collective that has sold 28 million albums.

Since releasing The E.N.D. 18 months ago (their latest, The Beginning, is now out), the group has dominated charts, radio and stages around the globe. After packing some of the planet's largest stadiums, they consider Super Bowl XLV a career pinnacle.

"I can't explain how big this is for us," says producer/songwriter Will.i.am. "We played the World Cup in South Africa, and that was a zillion people, but the Super Bowl is America. It's a big part of our culture, an unofficial national holiday. This is a giant honor."

Home turf is a better gig, say the Peas, who have attended the past half-dozen Super Bowls.

Will.i.am, Fergie, Taboo and Apl.de.ap (real names William Adams, Stacy Ferguson, Jaime Gomez and Allan Pineda) are eager to join the bowl marquee's starry roster.

Until the late 20th century, Super Bowl entertainment was a fairly square affair, filling the bill with marching bands, Up With People and Disney characters. Its cachet grew in the '90s when Michael Jackson and star-studded salutes to Motown and country took to the field. In the past decade, the halftime show became a platform for such Boomer icons as the Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, The Who and Bruce Springsteen.

Jackson's halftime-show medley in 1993 set the standard, Taboo says. "It amazed me that he was standing still for five minutes while people screamed. I've never seen anyone command the stage like that."

How to top the King of Pop?

"I'm wearing a jet pack," Apl says.

Will.i.am is confident the Peas will triumph with high-energy, funk-fueled party jams.

"At any sporting event, you're going to hear Peas songs — Boom Boom Pow, Let's Get It Started, Pump It," he says. "Last year, we're at the Super Bowl, sitting in the box, and they start playing our music. They point the camera at us, and we're on the jumbo screen. So we lean out and start dancing and performing! I think that's when the NFL thought, 'We have our next performer.' "

Before music hooked him, Will.i.am had gridiron ambitions but was derailed by a concussion. Retired Atlanta Falcons running back Lynn Cain, his uncle, "always dreamed of going to the Super Bowl, and now I get to help him get there," he says.

Fergie, a minority owner of the Miami Dolphins, says the Super Bowl invitation "is a huge deal for me, one of the biggest dreams I've ever had." There's another reason she looks forward to Super Bowl Sunday: "It's the one day a year I get to eat seven-layer dip."

The downside to this high-profile opportunity lies in the possibility that nerves and backstage preparation may detract from full-tilt engagement in the first two quarters.

"We have to figure out how to enjoy the actual game," Will.i.am says. "At least we'll have the second half. I like getting crazy."