The Black Eyed Peas' credibility, a mainstay in the genre since 1998's Behind the Front, died on Sunday, in a spinning class at the 24-Hour Fitness by my house. It was eleven-years-old.

The credibility, once as strong as any hip-hop group's, has been in poor health since 2003, when Fergie showed up. It had suffered a number of setbacks since then, including injuries caused by the release of 2004's "Where is the Love" and 2005's "Let's Get it Started." It was hospitalized earlier this year after Will.I.Am's showed up in an overwrought Pepsi campaign.

The Black Eyed Peas' credibility finally succumbed at 9:42 a.m. Sunday, when the instructor in my spinning class played "I've Gotta Feeling" and "Boom Boom Pow" back to back in an attempt to help me and several middle-aged women climb a make-believe hill.

The Black Eyed Peas' credibility is survived by Behind the Front, Bridging the Gap, and that cool Obama YouTube video. The credibility will be memorialized on my way to work tomorrow morning, when I commute to the sounds of "Fallin' Up" and "Movement."

Also killed in the same spinning class were the credibility of Kanye West, my tolerance for Madonna's electronica phase, and both of my lungs.