Will.i.am & Taboo Discuss The Roots Of Their New Single 'East LA' & More

will.i.am and Taboo are reviving a timeless classic and leaning into their Spanish roots for their brand-new single.

On Wednesday, July 23, the Black Eyed Peas members stopped by The Breakfast Club to talk about their latest song "East LA." The song flips Carlos Santana and The Product G&B's 1999 hit "Maria, Maria" into a Latin-rap fusion that plenty of fans, including Jess Hilarious, have quickly embraced. In the interview, will and Taboo thanked Santana for clearing the sample and explained the inspiration behind it.

"It's been sampled a bunch, but there's a part in the song where he says 'Maria, Maria feel in love in East LA," will explains.

"So I just wanted to highlight that part of the song, and shout out the community that's being hit pretty hard by the ICE raids," he continued. "What's beautiful about that is I also got a text from Wyclef saying — he's a producer of the song — like 'Yo let me get a clip of the video so I can post that' So that meant a lot. But what's going on in our communities is pretty harsh. I'm all for making sure our borders are safe but it's justy inhumane to go after anyone who looks Latin."

"At the end of the day, it was about uniting and bringing East LA together and standing in solidarity with those folks that are crying out for help and justice," Taboo added. "For me as a native Mexican from L.A., it means a lot to be able to not only give back to the community in a sense of championing the idea of solidarity and oneness, but also to be able to rap in Spanish or Spanglish, like, that was dope for us."

The music video for the song dropped last week. In it, the duo raps their song with a group of Latinos who dance to the track and protest the ongoing raids by ICE. Will.i.am closes out the video by offering a message of support for immigrants who are being affected by the inhumane system that's cracking down on illegal immigration.

Watch will.i.am and Taboo talk about their new song and other topics below.