Questlove Supreme: Taboo of The Black Eyed Peas

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's Love Supreme is a production of iHeart Brady.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yo. Look at Fante Fanti My man, what up on?

Speaker 3 (00:15):
Brother?

Speaker 4 (00:16):
Good to meet you, man, you could to meet you.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
It's an honor to meet you. Brother. No no, I
mean what you've done. I mean from from slum conversations
with T three to the Daylight conversations. Bro, your name
is synonymous, your clue is synonymous, and I always have
to show my salute from my ultimate respect to the
pioneers like yourself.

Speaker 4 (00:34):
Oh man, that's love, brother, Thank you so much. I
received that.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Man.

Speaker 4 (00:37):
Likewise, thank you for sure.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Bro. You just don't know how much your music means
to all of us man, like you know, us being
sons of Dayla and tribe and just coming from that
cloth groups like yourselves like you Slum Village, you guys.
You guys definitely continues at the time, and I'm proud
of everything that you've done and even transition into this
new medium. It's really dope.

Speaker 4 (01:00):
Thank you so much, man.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
So I guess we just started the episode already.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
Flowers started with flowers.

Speaker 3 (01:07):
We started with flowers.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
I start with humility, brothers, because you guys, you guys
are always giving people flowers. Now it's time for you
to know what you mean to hip hop culture and
to hip hop kids like myself that started as be
boys breakdancers on the block just wanted to put on
for our communities, h you know, our ancestry. Unfortunately, hip
hop was the conduit. You know, breaking was the first

(01:29):
thing I got into. Then I got into graffiti mcm
I met my tribe where I am an apple the
app and we became uh, you know, we became brothers
and became black eyed peas. So when I see folks
like yourself, like a mirror and Fonte who set the
tone for hip hop culture, I always got to give
you your flowers.

Speaker 4 (01:46):
That's love, brother, Thanks, thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
Wow. This is the first time where the guest actually
winds up entering the show. All right, ladies and gentlemen
of the internets, welcome to another exciting episode of course
Live Supreme. I'm your host, quest Love. We have fun
Tickeolo in the house. Brother. How's it going all right?

Speaker 5 (02:05):
Man, I'm cool, just resting and uh yeah, getting ready
for Thursday and Friday of this week. This will it'll
have been passed by the time it's air, But yeah,
we Boston and New York this week, So I'm just
resting getting ready.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
Man, is this a major tour or is this?

Speaker 5 (02:21):
Uh nah, I mean it's not. Well, it's not major
in the sense of it's a lot of dates. We
just did San Diego and Orange County last weekend and
then this week is Boston and New York.

Speaker 4 (02:34):
June we played Roots Picnic and yeah, it's fuck this.
I'm back in the outs like.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
Really, oh yeah, wait, wait, I gotta ask, do you
do you feel like you? You? I know that of
all of us in this on this show that you,
more than anyone, has been extremely like almost it's Fort
Knox level protective of not catching the VID. And you

(03:07):
went out and then you you, you got caught out there.

Speaker 5 (03:11):
I got that my first time leaving the house, my
first run in three years, our first LB run. You
know that we went and we did San Diego in
Orange County and.

Speaker 4 (03:22):
Yeah, I got hit.

Speaker 3 (03:24):
Well now that you got I mean, was it like
for me it was like just having a cold. Was
it that way for you or was it like a
little worried there.

Speaker 5 (03:33):
It was like having a cold, But for me it
was more so it wasn't necessarily just having a cold.
It was just participating in the delusion that this ship
is gone right, and like that's the part that I
just refused to do anymore. Like it's not in terms
of what touring is now, Touring pre COVID and turn
post COVID is just very different. And it's like now,
particularly for artists like us, I mean, where you're pretty

(03:56):
much doing everything like motors don't really do shit no
or so for me, I just looked at from the
standpoint of like, okay, I gotta play promoter, producer, performer,
curator and the fucking CDC.

Speaker 4 (04:10):
Fuck this, dude, No, damn, I'm good, I'm paid Bill.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
I went to get cigarettes again. I went to Australia.
I'm back.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
You went to Australia.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
I was in Australia for a few weeks to put
up a show. Now it's up. Now the show. Uh
it's called and Juliette. You haven't seen it yet, but
you've threatened to a few times. It's on Broadway. Now
it's in Australia.

Speaker 3 (04:33):
Wait, you guys are making it worldwide already.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
Global domination, my friend, Global domination. That's how we do well.

Speaker 3 (04:40):
Dan with the songbook, I would suspect that Anne Juliet
will probably be a five to ten year staple.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
I hope, so that'd be nice for my kids college
tuition and all.

Speaker 3 (04:52):
That's what's up, man, That's what's up, sugar, Steve Esteemed
jazz labelhead. What's going going on?

Speaker 6 (05:01):
How are you? Everything's okay? I we finished three records
this past weekend. For the one of them yours. Yes,
we finished mixing David Mury Ray Angry and Questlova, a
four platter box set that you can look forward to see.

Speaker 3 (05:18):
She ends up making my second jazz offering in my life.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
We're calling the Philadelphi Experiment the first one.

Speaker 3 (05:26):
Yeah, that's the first one, okay, so I don't necessarily
called jazz, but you know this, this one was actually
probably I have more fun doing this one. I think
there's a lot of treats in there. So you're saying
it's a box set that we're.

Speaker 6 (05:39):
Releasing, Yeah, four platters and a seven echine side and
it's going to be coming later this year.

Speaker 3 (05:47):
Have son shiit? I might have to line of news
for that. Have we lost our queen today?

Speaker 6 (05:55):
Yeah, she's on stage doing something something for.

Speaker 3 (05:58):
Jill Oh okay, he came and set us up. That's nice,
ladies and gentlemen. I will say that our distinguished guest
today has checked many a bucket list fulfillment since having
entered our lives some twenty five plus years ago, as

(06:19):
one third or one fourth how you want to look
at it, as a one third member of a legendary,
legendary hip hop outfit, having created over nine studio albums
that have worldwide sales over thirty three million.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
Yo.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
Just looking at the stats made me feel like I'm
not working hard enough. Of ninety seven platinum awards, I
was way too lazy to keep total of the gold awards,
but I stopped counting after one hundred, over twelve major
world tours, over sixty sixty various awards from the MAAS

(06:55):
to BT, Soul Train Awards, Latin Awards for Bill Ward
for even the NAACP Awards, six Grammys, six Grammys, countless
MTV awards. But you know, it's not even about the quantity,
ladies and gentlemen's. It's to me the achievements are cool.
But you know, in this episode, we get to know.

(07:17):
We aim to get to know the person behind the
achievements and get to know them, and you know, many
of us were pretty much a majority of us were
unaware of his of his advocacy work. Now, the thing is,
when I start talking, I feel like I expose myself
when I try to talk sports, Shut up Steve, or comics,

(07:39):
Shut up Steve. Okay, yes, I'm the guy that says
the sports, the comics. But I you know, I'll say
that with you know, having created indigenous characters and it's
sort of expanding the world of Marvel is a wonderful thing,
be it the Red Wolf series or Deadly Neighborhood Spider Man.

(08:02):
He's also an author of a kid's book about identity,
and most importantly, he's been extremely, extremely vocal in his
memoirs and his interviews being an advocate for surviving cancer
and using this platform to connect and encourage others that
share that same experience. And at the end of the day,

(08:24):
you know, I will say that he's just an overall
a shining light and a really cool dude. And please
welcome to QLs MC. Author, political activists, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, producer,
and yes, survivor. Jamie Gomez aka Taboo of the Black

(08:44):
Eyed Peace, Welcome.

Speaker 2 (08:45):
To thank you for a lot. Yo. First of all,
I gotta acknowledge Steve for being a comic head. Steve,
salutes to you brother, the fact that Emir passed it
on to you and said sports comics not my thing.
It's all good, all good at storytelling. So salute to you, Steve.
And then Bill, you had me at two daughters. No, seriously,

(09:09):
when you said I'm a father of two daughters, I
would say my greatest gift is being a husband and
a father, because there's no motives behind that other than love.
And I'm not trying to be Kumbaya a Hallmark card,
but this is real. This is who I am. All
the accolades and all the stuff that's monetary and all

(09:31):
that stuff when you're battling cancer ladies and gentlemen, that
shits so irrelevant. That shit is so irrelevant because you're like, YO,
just give me one more chance to be with my kids,
Let me hug my wife one more time, let me
get on that stage one more time with my crew
so that I can perform and bring healing to people
that need it. So I just wanted to get that

(09:51):
and be transparent and candidate about how much love I
have for life, beyond any music, beyond any career. I'm
enjoying just being able to have opportunities like this to
give my testimony and meet people like you, Bill, and
meet people like you Steve, who you know I've met Emir.
I'm a fan of Fante. I know what they bring
to culture. I love them for what they bring and

(10:13):
who they are as human beings. But to be able
to see the team that brings us all together and
give you your flowers and salute you for what you
make this whole team happen. You guys got to know
that too, So I just wanted to kind of put
that out there. I'm all about that, man. I'm telling you,
humility is freaking key. A lot of people get caught

(10:33):
up in their own ship and I'm not trying to
do that. Brother. I surrendered evil a long time ago.

Speaker 4 (10:38):
And so how old are your daughters? Man?

Speaker 2 (10:41):
Well, I have one daughter. Guess what, I have three
boys and one daughter. My daughter was born as a
miracle baby after my doctor said you're not gonna be
able to have any more children because you have stage
two testicular cancer. So the chemotherapy is going to be
so aggressive, intense and it's gonna break down everything that's

(11:01):
good in your body to kill that one thing that's
bad in your body. And so he said, unfortunately, you're
probably not gonna have any more children. So my daughter,
my one and only daughter, jet Juliana, was born as
a miracle baby. And so when you said that, Bill,
I was like, Yo, There's only been one other person
that has inspired me like that, and that was Kobe Bryant.

(11:23):
I had a chance to build my brother Kobe, and
his love and his appreciation for being such an amazing
girl dad was something that sparked me to become a
writer of books and comics and be a storyteller and
really focus on my kids and kids around the world,
bring inclusion, bring a mosaic of cultures that's represented through storytelling,

(11:44):
and do it in a way where it's fun. There's music,
there's art, there's culture, and it's done very genuine and authentic.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
So let me ask you for your life, when was
the paradigm shift in which you had this awakening and
this zest for life.

Speaker 2 (12:03):
For people that remember the earlier work of the Black
Eyed Peas, I was I looked very different back then
because I wasn't taking care of myself. I looked more depleted.
My cheek bone structure was very profound. I had long hair.
I was like weighed like one hundred and ten pounds

(12:24):
because I was using and abusing, and I'm very candid
about it. When I became sobers, when I found that
first moment of clarity for myself, and I only speak
for me, because I was going crazy, bro. I was
living the rock star lifestyle. I went from sleeping on
mom's couch to having my first you know whatever success
with whereas the Love, and that was in two thousand

(12:45):
and three. So from twenty from nineteen ninety five when
we started Black Eyed Peas to two thousand and three,
I was building this like bravado and this energy, you
know hip hop, Grab your crotch all that shit. I'm
an MC, I'm a b boy. I'm gonna battle you.
Yah yah yah yah. Right, your building is bravado. Your
confidence sometimes turns into ego, especially when you're going crazy

(13:08):
with over indulging. And so I started over indulging, started
getting money over indulging, and I wrote a book about it,
another book before I wrote the kids book about identity,
because I wanted to help people that have addiction or
going through addition. And in two thousand and seven, March
twenty seventh, that was the day that I changed my
whole perspective because I wanted to live for my kids.

(13:30):
I was living dangerously, I was living recklessly, and you know,
I had a surrender. That was my first moment of
surrendering because my ego was out of control and it
kept saying You're the shit, nobody could fuck with you,
You're unstoppable, You're part of this mega crew, YadA, YadA, YadA.
But in actuality, I was just a human that was
trying to fill voids with alcoholism and drug use. And

(13:53):
I'm candid about it because I want people to take
inspiration from this, even if they're like, wow, we didn't
know that you were going to that. Well, I never
really publicly talked about it. I actually did the work
and the due diligence and the ways to be able
to get back and to be of service. And so
from that point on, my first step of moment of
clarity was sobriety. So now going on sixteen years of

(14:16):
being removed from that time period, in twenty fourteen, I
get hit with cancer and as man we don't talk
about that shit ever. I ain't gotta get tested. Oh man,
my testicles. You mean to touch my nuts? I ain't
got what do you mean go to the doctor. Now,
I'm gonna go on tour. I got tours. I got
shows to do, right, So that was the mentality. I

(14:39):
got shows to do. So I had this back pain
and my right testicle is hurting, but I was like, ah,
that's cool, it's all right, it's wearing terbit of the road.
And so in twenty fourteen was the year that it
all came crashing down for me and I got diagnosed
with stage two testicular cancer, which it went to my
two lift notes in my spine, and I did have

(15:01):
to go into aggressive chemotherapy six days a week, excuse me,
six hours a day, five days a week, many many long,
strenuous hours of torture and trauma, mental and physical.

Speaker 3 (15:14):
I've only probably really been close to one person that
had to go through testing and that stuff for leukemia.
Shout out to Rich Nichols, who even then, like Rich
was such a hard ass cynic that he didn't want
to burden us with the human side of what it

(15:36):
felt like. But what what does what is the process
of going through that level of chemo where six hours
every day? What is what is the process?

Speaker 2 (15:47):
It's different for every type of cancer. You know, for
the Kids Unit, which is the cancer treatment center for
kids McDonald's Center in Los Angeles, they have different varieties
of chemotherapy that some of them are aggressive, but also
you don't want to you don't want to bring trauma
to the kids so much that it causes permanent damage.

(16:11):
So with me, it was like, I'm going to go
aggressive because I want to be back on stage. So
I opted to do aggressive chemo because it was spreading
at such a rapid rate that if I didn't do
it the way that I did it with five hours
a day, I mean, excuse me, six hours a day,
five days a week, then it would have prolonged the
process and I probably it probably would have went from

(16:32):
my spine, my lungs, and then my brain and I
would have died. And that that was how the doctor
explained it to me.

Speaker 3 (16:38):
How long from the moment that you found that you
had it, how long did it take you to acknowledge it?
And like, all right, let me start treatment.

Speaker 2 (16:50):
From I got checked in on a Thursday. I was
doing chemo on that Monday. So I had surgery Friday
to get my right testicle removed.

Speaker 3 (16:59):
So as you were concerned, you were just like, damn, man,
like my back is killing me. I can't dance like
I used to. Let me go get this fix, and
then that's how you found out you had cancer or.

Speaker 2 (17:09):
Well, it was like I had pain in my back
and it was more about like being able to pick
my kids up more than dancing. Okay, it was something
very innate to my life, Like the dancing thing is
only like an hour or two hours when I'm on stage, right,
I live a daily life of being a father, and
so something as simple as like trying to bend over
to pick on my kid, I had this sharp pain

(17:29):
in my back. So I was like, yo, there's something
wrong with me. I just don't know what it is.
Maybe it's wear and tear of being on tour. Tell
my wife. My wife says, hey, if this continues to
get worse, you need to go to the er. Unfortunately,
at twelve midnight it got worse, so I drove. I
don't know how I did it. I got in my car,
drove to the er, and I went straight into getting

(17:52):
MIRI cat scans CT scans, and by seven am they
told me I was diagnosed with cancer. They didn't tell
me what type of cancer. They just said, we found
a mass which is for centimeters wide four centimeters long
like a tennis ball, and it's in your spine and
it came from your right testicle.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
In your family? Is it hereditary?

Speaker 2 (18:12):
That was the first one, brother.

Speaker 1 (18:13):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (18:16):
So so let me let me just give you guys,
because I know this is a fun show and everybody.

Speaker 3 (18:21):
No no, this is a human no no, no, no,
a human show and there's a human show. Normally I
just start with your creative life, but you went there,
so I want to know this for me.

Speaker 2 (18:30):
So so so I just wanted to give you guys
the ultimate connection to me as a human being, because
I love what you guys do with the show, how
you guys take journeys of like the dark side the light,
the career of triumphs. But this one, for me was
the thing that kind of shape and molded who I
am today as a father, as a husband, as a storyteller,

(18:51):
as a creative because I probably wouldn't have understood being
a voice to indigenous communities if I didn't go through
this trauma. Because after I beat this horrible disease, I
said to myself, what's my higher purpose beyond being an entertainertainer,
beyond doing music? Wait a minute, I think I gotta
go and be of service. So I went to Standing Rock.

(19:13):
Standing Rock was a they say it's a protest, we
call it a protection of sacred land. At that time,
which is any rocks to tribe. They were trying to
build the oil pipeline that would eventually bring oil into
the water drinking water of the tribal community around.

Speaker 3 (19:30):
That you were part of those protesters that I went.

Speaker 2 (19:32):
I went there as Jimmy Gomez, an activist, as a
Native kid that just wanted to stand in solidarity. It
wasn't about Black Eyed Peas. It's just me. I took
my oldest son, Josh, and we were there as Native
activists giving back to the community, trying to just be
of service. And then I figured out how I can
be a voice and really use this huge megaphone that

(19:54):
is Black Eyed Peas to bring more eyeballs and more
visibility to tribal issue, whether we're talking about you know, pipelines,
or we're talking about indigenous peoples be in Los Angeles,
we're talking about the Native Nations March or bringing more
conversation in mainstream media that has an indigenous lens that's
very genuine and authentic and not stereotypical like we've seen

(20:17):
in the past. And so that was kind of like
my AHA moment to be that guy. He's like, Yo,
Black Eyed Peas, Yo, Will's all about technology, Apple's all
about the Philippines. Yo, I'm going to be about this.
I'm going to activate this amazing opportunity to inspire the
youth in tribal communities, in the Latino community because I'm

(20:38):
Mexican as well. Why don't I use this energy that
I've been putting on stage for so many years and
now bring light to the fight against cancer, advocating for
indigenous communities and actually do something to bring light and
hope to the people.

Speaker 3 (20:54):
Yeah. I was going to say that. In doing research
for your story, and you know, having just turned fifty
two two months ago, I suddenly asked myself a question.
I'm like, wait a minute, I think when you turn
fifty you're supposed to start getting tests to see you know,

(21:15):
because I'm one of those people, you know, I have
been living with like stage two lymphedema for about yeah,
like since like ninety eight, like for twenty five years.

Speaker 2 (21:30):
With you about something.

Speaker 3 (21:31):
Yeah, I noticed that.

Speaker 2 (21:33):
I noticed that about you because I saw the fluctuating
of Europe. Yeah, and for exactly a friend from Afar
seeing you at certain events, I'd be like, yo, you know,
just going through my struggles in my illness. Same thing
that happened with Dave Rest in peace for boy, I
had that same conversation and it was so candid and
it was so on a human level that he inspired

(21:55):
me more than any day I saw track or any
song or any message or any lyrics because we bonded
as brothers. And so you know, I noticed that about you,
and I gotta say, man, like you without even knowing you,
you are one of those warriors that have inspired me too.

Speaker 3 (22:11):
Thank you, man, thank you. You know at the time,
I just ignored it and I never heard the term limpidema.
I'm just like, oh damn, I got fat, Like suddenly,
I gained seventeen pounds overnight, Like how has that happened?
And I didn't realize, like, you know, every day I
have massive swelling and like in different limbs or whatnot,

(22:32):
just every day. It was sort of like a roulette.
Change of a roulette will result of all, right, what's
going to be affected today? Oh, my arm's okay, great.
That's why I asked you, like from the time you
were diagnosed to the time that you immediately went to
get it checked out, Like it took me nine years,
nine years to finally and it's only because a mistake,

(22:55):
like I was changed for a video. My manager saw
me and like, what the fuck happened to your legs, amir?
And then like he rushed me to the hospital. So
you know, and I know I'm at that age now
where every my mental health and my physical health is
like paramount, and so like I took my first and

(23:19):
I had a fear. You know, sometimes ignorance is bliss
sometimes with people, and I had a general fear like
kept putting it off. Okay, when I turned fifty one,
I'm gonna get the testament. Get the testament, dude, my
cancer test and all that stuff. So I definitely knew
that before we started this interview. I didn't want to
have to face you and been like hiding, like damn,

(23:42):
I've been putting this off for two you so I
finally got I did my test like a week and
a half ago, so you know, I'm good, clean bill
of health. But yeah, I just but I do know
that because of our unwillingness to catch it earlier or
that sort of thing, or to even find out, we'd

(24:03):
rather just live and bliss and then it's too late
and your body starts talking to you and then you
have that that pain. So but yeah, I will say that.
In doing research and seeing your story, then I guess
that kind of pushed me over the ledge, like all right, man,
just start doing your test, bro, get this together.

Speaker 2 (24:22):
So well, we need we need more heroes without capes
in our communities that activate just you know, health is wealth, man.
And I learned that the hard way. I'm not a preacher.
I will never preach a health and wellness, but I
will shine light on it and be like, yo, we
need that more hip hop community. I see a lot

(24:43):
of our pioneers that are not taking care of themselves.
I'm like, yo, you know what I'm saying. And I'm
a fan of these pioneers, and some of them just
you know, and it's sad because with a little bit
of prevention, with a little bit of a conversation and
communication which can help bring that light. Like that's something
that you know, I would like to do that for communities,

(25:07):
just like just like what Lance Armstrong did. And I
know the whole scandal was whacking. It just ended up
like bullshit, right, But if I can be that conduit
of hope with my experience so that folks don't have
to go through it and can prevent it, just like
what you said, Amir, You're like, oh, I saw your
story and I'm like, fuck, okay, it's fifty one. Okay,

(25:28):
I'm gonna do it right. Maybe it with a little
nudge that you didn't even expect it. Maybe because you
saw what I went through, you're like, you know what,
all right, let me go get checked.

Speaker 3 (25:36):
Definitely in a nudge. It is the nudge that finally
made me call my doctor and been like all right,
I'm coming in. Let mean you know, so I want
to credit you with that.

Speaker 2 (25:44):
Yeah, man, It's a conversation that I think is healthy
to have. It's holistic. It's a way that we can
we can bring something that that you're trying to support
and nurture. The idea of just wanting to see your
people succeed and not only music or art, but also
in taking care of themselves.

Speaker 3 (26:07):
Now I'm really going to start style. Where were you born?

Speaker 2 (26:11):
I was born in East Los Angeles, Ball Heights, California.

Speaker 3 (26:14):
Okay, yeah, what's your what's you know for you? What's
your memories of of what your childhood was?

Speaker 2 (26:21):
My grandmother, my grandmother was a beautiful Native woman from Jerome, Arizona.
She represented her roots to the to the t. She
was all about being of service, sometimes to her own detriment,
her own health, which taught me a lot about like, hey,
I'm gonna help, but I'm not gonna put my health
before anybody else. She was all about the arts and

(26:43):
music and dancing. It goes hand in hand with our ancestry.
You know, we use dancing as a way of prayer healing.
If you look at it old powout style dancers, a
lot of it is just stories that are being told
through their their style and their expression, and they use
that as a form of healing in prayer and so
growing up, my grandmother kind of still that that dancing

(27:05):
performing mentality at five years old, and I would be
dancing to like, you know, craft work and African Bombarda,
and you know, I got into craft work because of
African Bambada and Soul Solid and force. I started understanding
studying where that whole electronic style came from. And then
after that I saw, you know, when we saw Breaking

(27:27):
and you saw what's his name doing the frigging, so
you're like, yoh, what's that? Oh wait, that's craft work.
Wait a minute. So I started doing a deep dive
into like not just hip hop culture, but also where
it comes from, where that that electronic vibe came from. So,
you know, and and growing up, I started really sharpening
my swords as a B boy breaking being inspired by

(27:50):
breakers like Crazy Legs and the rock Steady Crew from
from New York, but also a lot of dancers from
from the West Coast like Popping Pete, Bugaloo, Shrimp, Jeffrey
Daniels who was part of Schlamar. He was filling it,
you know what I'm saying, Like he was ill with it.
He taught Mike MJ a lot of the stuff. But

(28:11):
also like Leg one, Leg two MC Lights Dancers, Mission
Impossible Special Eds dancers, you know, kid and play to
the scheme team which is Divine Stylers dancers. So brothers
that was Deaf Jeff's dancers. Yeah, the far side, you know,
and I mean the mop tops from a Buddhist stretch

(28:32):
from from New York. Like, I had such an innate
love for for freestyle dance, and then it got into housing.
Once housing came in, I was like, Yo, what's this
Because when I heard the younger brother said, say, girl,
our house you I was like housing. And I started
doing research on like soho and hot hot music, hot music,
hot from Doom Doom Do. I was like, Yo, what's

(28:54):
that style? So I started seeing these different styles Herb
Alpert North on South Street, watching those videos and really
immersing myself in the art fulm a dance. And then
I started studying the great Nicholas Brothers, James Brown, Sammy Davis,
Bob Fosse, all these amazing dancers that came from from

(29:14):
the past, and I started incorporating these styles and wanted
to to bring this this hip hop clash of like
all these unique frequencies of movement. And so that was
my upbringing. Man, That's what I That's what I remember.
This is before me even meeting Will and Apple, before
we even became black Eyed peas. I started a group
called Divine Tribal Brothers, and of course who were sons

(29:37):
of tribe and we loved the Jungle Brothers, So Tribal
Brothers right right, Well, Will and Apple were tribal nation
because Zulu nation and try, you know, try call quest.
So eventually we became a crew and the name of
our crew was Grassroots and we were trying to do
like the Native Tongues in the West Coast because we

(30:00):
were so inspired by the Native tunks.

Speaker 4 (30:02):
Wasn't just your grandmother? Was it mom and dad in
the picture? Like who was it?

Speaker 2 (30:07):
My mom was in the picture, but you know she
was she was born in East La. Very typical mom
from from East La. She she was she didn't see
it like my grandmother saw it. She knew. She's like,
you get on the stage and you give the best
version of yourself and don't ever stop fighting when you're
on that stage. Right, So that b boy mentality, that killer,

(30:27):
that apex predator mentality, battle came from my grandmother's will
and her energy. Like yeah, I love Michael Jordan and
you know, Magic Johnson and all these sports figures and
Bruce Lee. It was a big, huge, inspiration. I love
Kumfort movies, Marsha black Belt Theater, loved Billy Jack. You know,
I love watching those old school eighties movies too. But

(30:49):
my grandmother was my superhero, and that's I think that's
why I kind of really got into storytelling and being
a superhero advocate because my grandmother was my hero.

Speaker 4 (30:58):
Without a kid.

Speaker 3 (30:59):
You mention hot music by Soho. Just found out that
Soho was basically are you are you? You remember Pal Joey? Absolutely?
I did not know so Pal Joey, who was kind
of an engineer for karas One, So I guess around
the time when they're making Sex and Violence. I think

(31:19):
d Nice told me the story that basically all those
patches belonged to d Nice and karas One, like that's
how he made hop music. But Pal Joey was making
like house records on the side, just you know, for
extra cash and whatnot. So wow, and did not know it.

Speaker 2 (31:36):
That's kind of like how we looked at when we
when we started getting that frequency of international ed M
electronic music around the world, whether it was Justice or
the the you know, uh, David Ghetto were traveled the
world and we're like, yo, remember that era of like
Girl a House, Hugh and the technotronic clump up the

(31:57):
gym Ya remember remember so Hot hop me. We started
talking about how we can connect and bring whatever was
happening around the world and bring that same frequency that
Jungle Brothers was doing when they did Grow a House,
but just doing the Black Eyed Peace stuff and utilizing
those inspirations and those sounds and those frequencies that were

(32:19):
electronic that were popping in around the world that in
turn became the Boom Boom Pals and the I Gotta
Feelings and those big records that we did in two
thousand and eight to twenty eleven, and so all we
did was just regurgitate the inspiration that came from Jungle
Brothers and those folks that were transitioning into that.

Speaker 3 (32:42):
Yeah, electro music, Yeah, electual music.

Speaker 4 (32:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (32:44):
When I talk to anyone from LA that's a dancer,
the first thing they always tell me is that, you know,
it wasn't Vogan. It's called whacking. There's a whacking culture.
Whacking culture whacking like what was I guess from outside
of his standpoint, I mean, I'm a DJ, but I
don't really get many opportunities to do like house parties

(33:08):
like on frequently, maybe like four or five times a
year some club will hire me to do a house
set or whatever. But you know, were you at all
part of the whacking community like those?

Speaker 2 (33:20):
It was a pretty tight niche. We were part of
the freestyle that Adrian Young's you know Adrian Young before
he became a producer. Wait, yeah, before Adrian Young became
a producer with at least Shahid mohamad Yo. This dude
was an incredible dancer, bro Like, he had the dreadlocks.
My man, Adrian Young was one of the illest dancers,
and we all came up together. You know. So shout

(33:41):
out to Adrian Young for his transition into becoming an
amazing cultivist of the culture. He just he's just such
a big inspiration because he did start as a dancer.
He started as a freestyle dancer with us.

Speaker 3 (33:55):
So were you part of the good life community at
all or was that like sort of before we.

Speaker 2 (33:59):
Had our own thing. We had our own thing called
Peace and Justice Center, which Black Eyed Peas spawned out
of it. We also had punpkind Ahead. We used to
come out of there. Not a lot of main artists
came out of there, but we had love and appreciation
for the abstract routes and the fellowships and you know
Medusa and all those folks. Yeah, Medusa. But we weren't

(34:22):
that part of La. We weren't in Lamert Park. We
were in East La Glendale, Sangabo Valley, Los Feeliss Like
that was our world. That was our stomping grounds. And
we were more in the Filipino community because of Apple Apples.
He was the guy that will bring us to the
Hi Filipino parties. So that's kind of where we we
were sharpened our swords and battle other crews.

Speaker 3 (34:44):
My idea of battling really just stems from watching Beech
Street and that sort of thing. But you know, when
you go to a function, like take us back to
nineteen ninety or ninety one, if you're going to a function,
are you going there to flex that? I will dance

(35:05):
out dance to all of you, like how does a
battle start?

Speaker 2 (35:08):
It's more of a spiritual warfare, bro, more than our
bat out dance you. It's more like when you know,
when you see the X Men battleling Scratch Pickles, or
you see the beat junkies battling these other DJs and
they're going there, they're killing. It's the same mentality for
for dancers or b boys or freestyle dancers, like we

(35:30):
are in there as apex predators to see who's got
the illest shit, How dope are you repid? What's the
what's the dopest moves that you're bringing to be able
to show that you're representing your crew. And we, you know,
we watch movies like rac Shop by the mop Tops
and and Wild Style, and you know, we learned from

(35:51):
the greats watching the battles between rock Steady and the
other crews and seeing how they would go into it
and be able to present this beautiful art form that
was ghetto gymnastics that we were do in our backyards practicing,
and then we would bring it to the stage and
it was a performance. Basically, it was like people were
watching us battle and then Will would get on the

(36:12):
mic and battle on the m C tip. He was
a killer. He was a killer on the m seats
on the freestyle tip. And so there was this club
called Ballistics which Bud Bundy aka David Foxtino used to
put out and it was a hip hop club and
basically we would have you know, cruise from Pasadena, from

(36:33):
LA from South Central come to battle at the spot
in Hollywood, and that's where Buckwheat was at. That's where
the Far Side exhibit Robin Thick call of Patton, Leonardo DiCaprio.
We all came to Alyssa, Milano. We all came to
this club and we were all teenagers and black eyed peas.
That's where we met and that's where we started kind

(36:53):
of like conjugating at this club called Ballistics.

Speaker 3 (36:57):
When these battles happened, Like is there a ticular crew
or a person to whom you were like, nah, man,
I'm gonna destroy and when I see him next, or
that sort of thing, like like what's the battle mentality?
To discredit another dancer? Not discredit another dancer, but like,

(37:18):
how does one determine who won a dance battle?

Speaker 2 (37:23):
I think it's more about the cruise, you know, and
and just getting the name up and getting your name
because the crew would give you merit in every city
if you're dominating these battles. It wasn't about money back then,
there was no money. It was like you know when
you watch eight mile, like eminems just battling. There was

(37:43):
no like it's like yo, you're battling for reputation, right,
and then you're battling at that time in the eighty
nine to ninety, it's like, Yo, I might be seen
by somebody that I can probably make this a living,
right because we don't know. We're like we see people
on television, we see people in the movie. He's like, oh, yeah,
I'm a dancer, I'm a b boy. Maybe I can
get a footloose opportunity. Maybe I can be on a

(38:06):
dated letterman, like the way that Crazy Legs was. You
know what I'm saying. So this just as a kid
from the inner cities, You're just like, Yo, this is
my opportunity to express myself. At that time, I wasn't rapping.
I was just break dancing or freestyle dancing. And then
I started elevating my mentality to be able to utilize
performance dancing. And then with the guidance and the strength

(38:32):
and the leadership of Will, I was like, Yo, maybe
I can do this thing too and represent and utilize
this as another weapon production songwriting breaking and like the
way Chris Brown was, you know, Chris Brown had that
same type of philosophy. It's like I could be a
triple threat break it down because he wasn't just a

(38:54):
regular dancer or not just a regular dancer. He's actually
one of my favorites because he's able to do street
dancing and not you know, he can do choreography, but
he can also have his own freestyle bous to.

Speaker 3 (39:06):
What was the point in which you knew or seriously
pursued like, Okay, this is what I want to do
for a living. What was your life into your daily
life into free entertainment, like as far as school or
a job or that sort of thing.

Speaker 2 (39:26):
My first first job was at Disneyland picking up horsemen
after the electrical Parade, which was I was dealing with
a lot of shit back then, ladies and gentlemen that
I was dealing with a lot of shit, But it
taught me being on point as far as like, you know,
being punctual, work, ethic, humility, because I was dealing with

(39:50):
a lot of shit, but also being part of a
corporate structure. And during the day I was I was
working at Disneyland, and at night I was performing with
Will and Apple, which was what was to become Black
Eyed Peas, And so I had a day job to
be able to facilitate my dream at night, just like
what you guys used to do a mirror at the

(40:11):
was it called Leilah's Was that spot?

Speaker 3 (40:13):
What was that spot called the five Spot?

Speaker 2 (40:15):
Yeah? Yeah, yeah, the early years. Yes, So we used
to do that same thing. We used to go to
this Peace and Justice Center and just sharpen uswars do
like a jam or we had a live band and
we would rock out and we would do these performances.
And so even though we weren't getting paid a lot of money,
maybe like one hundred and two hundred bucks, we looked
at it like, oh, this is the start of something.
Maybe we can, you know, continue to grow this art

(40:38):
form and this this vehicle called Black Eyed Peas and
this could become something. So, you know, we're straight out
of high school, man, We're seventeen eighteen year old kids
that that had a dollar in a dream or two
dollars in a dream for gas. And so Disneyland was
my first initial job fulfilling the dream because that was

(41:00):
the way I was able to pay for gas or
meals to get to the studio or to my performance.

Speaker 5 (41:05):
I was gonna had y'all officially become at band clan
at that point, No so Will.

Speaker 2 (41:10):
And Apple got signed at sixteen as an ad Bank clan,
and it was another brother named Mookie that was part
of that trio. Easy actually discovered Will and Apple at
Ballistics the Bud Bundy joint, and so he signed him.
He was like, Yo, I love, I love what you
guys represent. You guys are kind of like the West
Coast version of a Trap cal Quest or Diggable Planets.

(41:32):
You guys are like, you know, you got that whatever
whatever he said, Bohemian rap or whatever, because he didn't
know how to explain it. And so he's like, I'm
gonna do the same thing Diggable and Troy did in
the East Coast. I'm gonna do that for you guys
here in the West Coast. And so unfortunately Easy he
passed away in ninety five, and so that's that was
kind of the moment where Will was like, Yo, we

(41:55):
got to start a new thing. It can't be ad
Bank plan So let's just I don't know, called it
blue Unit. Nah, that's why. Uh let's call it, uh,
let's call it uh Beans of rice why? Nah, it's
just kind of whack. What about uh? What about black
eyed peas peas? What does that represent black eyed peas

(42:16):
is so food we could feed the soul with our music.
Oh shit, okay, black eyed peas and black eyed peas
brings good luck during New Year's we bring good luck
with our music. So we started coming with a cool
ideas about what black eyed peas represented. And plus, there
wasn't a lot of food groups out there other than
the chili.

Speaker 3 (42:35):
Right, Fante, You're kind of a part of this, but you,
you and Pooh don't necessarily do like run DMC Tug
of War style. But you know in the piece there
are various songs in which you guys trade lines and

(42:58):
that sort of thing. Can you describe to me, like
what is the creative process when you are one third
of a unit and you're creating a song, and you know,
of course there's the old all right, you get one verse,
you get one verse, you get one verse, but you
know who decides which verse goes first? He's the first

(43:19):
verse to be heard. Who decides like when you guys
are writing songs and which you are are trading like
tug of War lines, Like walk me through just the
creative process of how you guys develop your lyrics.

Speaker 2 (43:32):
Yeah, I would say the best way to describe the
most recent exchange of even shared contributions is this album
called Masters in the Sun, which we put out in
twenty eighteen, which is probably about that love that record, Yes,
thank you Brother, which is our best work. It's not

(43:52):
a pop record, it's a strictly Black Eyed Peas is
showing you what we still are capable of doing as
hip hop kids. As MC's we got to work with
our freaking one of our mentors, Lallo Shipperd doing all
these tres. So that being said, you know, we were
just in the studio just viben, like jumping around and

(44:14):
just acting like we were seventeen again. And that's what
the piece is like. It's a friendship. You know. We've
had different iterations of as you mentioned earlier about like
is it a third, is it a fourth? You know,
shout out to all the ladies that have been part
of our journey. But at the end of the day,
like Black Eyed Peas is myself where I am an
apple and it's always been that, and so what you

(44:37):
see on stage is us jumping around having a good time,
just you know, not taking ourselves too seriously, not to
dayl out soul, not to daylight because they said the
same thing that inspired us. So we just we do that.
We are in the studio and we're building and we
say a couple of words. I don't like that line.
Maybe we've changed that line. All right, app what do

(44:57):
you got? Apple? Say something? And then we just start
exchange and then you have your traditional like you know,
tab what you got? You? I got this first? Okay,
you go first? All right, well we got this. So
there's no recipe. It's just we're scientists in there. We
we tap into a frequency that we want to display
on every song and it comes out magical because we

(45:20):
know our formula. We know how to maneuver on stage
and in the studio as a trio.

Speaker 5 (45:25):
You spoke about briefly about the ladies that y'all worked
with over the years.

Speaker 4 (45:29):
I want to ask you specifically about Kim Hill.

Speaker 5 (45:31):
I really love her, Like, what memories do you have
of working with her during that time of.

Speaker 2 (45:36):
First of all, I just want to acknowledge all the
ladies that have worked with us, and Kim Hill set
the tone. You know, She's been such an amazing piece
of our history. And for those folks that don't know,
she's an amazing designer as well. She has some pieces. Yeah,
DJ She's a great mom and she's just she's all

(45:58):
around amazing. So she just set the tone for us
because she was older than us at the time when
we're when we started Black Eyed Peas, so she was
kind of like an older sister figure to us, and
she kept us online when we're on tour. You know,
we're like teenagers. She was in her early twenties and
we were like, you know, still kind of goofy and

(46:18):
messing around, and she'd be like, Yo, guys, we gotta
we gotta show them arow or whatever. But it was
cool because we looked at her as like an older
sister and she always showed love. She was always inspirational,
and you know, to this day, I'll hit her up
on Instagram and we just we have a mutual respect
for each other. So so I'm glad you said that, man,

(46:39):
because she contributed a lot to the first two albums
behind the front and bridging the gap, and you know,
she's just she's amazing and I'm proud of everything she's
doing now. So salute to Kim Hill.

Speaker 3 (46:52):
He walked us through the process of what led to
the deal with Interscope from the time that you got
form the group to getting that deal, Like, what was
the process?

Speaker 2 (47:06):
A lot of a lot of shows, man, a lot
of shows, A lot of no's, Black eyed peas, You're
not tangible enough. There's already a slum village, there's already roots,
there's already a Fuji's What makes you thinks you're gonna
sell records?

Speaker 3 (47:20):
I feir.

Speaker 2 (47:28):
Man, it was. We dealt with a lot of no's.
It's not tangible enough. I don't hear any uh, you know,
who are the black eyed peas? What are the black
eyed peas? Like? You know what? You got a ninja
and a black guy in a Filipino like, what are
you guys? You know? So it's just not understanding what
what we were going to contribute to the world. And

(47:49):
we always had an international mindset because Apple came from
the Philippines, so we knew wanted to make music for
the world. And even if domestic didn't understand what we
were trying to do with our music, because we were
inspired by you know, Georgie Benjor and Sergio Mendez and
Brazil sixty six and all these amazing Brazilian artists and

(48:09):
We loved the samples. We loved those ideas of being
able to go to Brazil one day and being able
to tour Europe and making a stamp in Europe, just
like the way Jimmy Hendrix did, the way that the
Doors did, the way that you guys did at a
jazz cafe. You know, it was just that that idea
of always wanted to go international, and so you know,

(48:30):
it was it was a journey man. It was a
journey of belief, of doubling down on ourselves when people
were doubting us, and we just we just continued tucking
on and fortuneen Jimmy Ivy and saw the genius and
what was to become Black Eyed Peas. And the thing
that he said to us is we were going through
a bidding war. It was poly Anthony and Sony Rest
in Peace at five fifty, and it was also Tom

(48:54):
Wally at Oarner Brothers and then at Jimmy Ivy and
so so Jimmy's like, you know, you can make records here,
no matter how many records you sell. You can have
a career here with me. You can get a million
dollars from Sony, But who knows what they're gonna do
as far as you're touring, you guys are a touring band.

(49:16):
If you guys are about the money, you can go
to Son. But if you're about a career and have
longevity and belief, come here. So you know, fortunately we chose,
we chose right, and Jimmy was kind of like the
He was the godfather that led us on that path.

Speaker 3 (49:32):
Whenever an artist puts the big hit at the very
end of the album, then I always feel like, Okay,
maybe they didn't believe in the product or whatever. And
I know that when behind the front bridging the gap,
not behind it. Yeah, so you know, there was a

(49:54):
second where it's like, okay, you guys get in traction
on on TRL and this is about to happen. You
guys have out to do it. Could you describe what
the feeling is like when it's it's kind of a
close but no cigar moment, and then you have to
make a decision on what your your surviving is going

(50:16):
to be sink or swim? Like, did you walk through
that period?

Speaker 2 (50:20):
That's when we knew the internet was real?

Speaker 3 (50:24):
Oh shit, Okay, this is when.

Speaker 2 (50:26):
We found out the Internet existed and it I mean
it swallowed ourselves. It was this thing called Nabster.

Speaker 3 (50:35):
Okay, we had all the.

Speaker 2 (50:37):
Promo marketing, all the looks you can have. We were
on tour, on a college invasion tour with Daylight and
White Left and I believe it was Bismarquis, and we
would go to these like little after parties and they
were playing Bridging the Gap. We're like, yo. Will gets
all mad. It's like, tap, did you did you bring

(50:57):
bring the record? Because the record wasn't out yet? Did
you bring the record here? I was like, no, what
are you talking about? He's like, who's playing the fucking record?
So it was a girl She's like, I love your
new albums, and Will was like, what do you mean
our new album it's not even out. He's like, yeah,
it's out, it's out on Napster. He's like, what the
fuck is Napster. It's like, what's Napster? She's like, Napster's

(51:19):
like the new pirting shit, like you can get all
these like new albums. So we basically found out that
our album had been pirated and been freaking downloaded for free,
and so the momentum was like, oh shit, we did
all this promo. We did. We were on tour, TRL

(51:39):
picked up the song, but we only sold we sold
less than behind the front because people are now going
to Napster, so they got they get it for free
instead of buying the record, buying the CD. So then
we said, yo, we got to go into creating the
next record. So that's when we went into creating the
Elephant album. This is two thousand and one.

Speaker 3 (52:00):
Right, So how are decisions made as far as who
to work with, who to bring, like what producer to
work with, what members to let in the group? Where
all those things, like how are you guys just around
this point in the early aughts in terms of communication,

(52:20):
It's like.

Speaker 2 (52:21):
We're all going through our own individual issues. And I
remember at being away from from the studio a lot.
So it's me and Will heavy in the studio on elephone.
And at that time, nine eleven happened, so we were
recording Bodega Bay. Nine eleven happens. We're supposed to go

(52:41):
on tour in September twelve. We go on tour September twelve,
and we travel around the US and we see all
this divide, all this, you know, all this hatred towards
Middle Eastern people, and so we were like, yo, we
kept asking the question, No, where's the love within humanity?

(53:02):
So we would go to these different spots asking the
same question, where's the love within humanity? Where's the love? Okay,
that's that's kind of dope. There's something there with this
topic where's the love? So we started creating where's the love?
The record the song, and we recorded these records where's

(53:22):
the Love? Let's get it started. We recorded Hey Mama,
all these joints off at elephone, and I remember we
played it for Ron Fair and he said, I don't
hear a single? What I don't hear a single? So
are exacts? Are like, we don't hear a single on elephone?
So we're like, we gotta double down. If this is

(53:44):
our last record, what are we gonna do? So at
that time, we had been dealing with a girl that
Will had been working with named Stacy, and she was
working on a solo project and she had been singing
like you know when you have a girl in the studio,
she's singing the girl parts that we will roll yeah,
so so referencing stuff. But it actually sounded good and

(54:04):
we kept it on there and her voice was something
that we gravitated to. She was dope. She had had
her own group prior to us having her in the studio.
She was a teenage or like a kid star, and
so we're like, yo, this maybe there's some magic here.
So we kept on the records and then we're like, yo,

(54:28):
are we gonna put put her in the group? Like, yo,
we we've had all these different females. It's not anything new.
We've never you know, it's it's not that we've not
had a female, because we have. We had Kim Hill,
Macy Gray, Stero, Don Beckman, Noel Skaggs, all these females
have worked with us, DeBie Nova. But now there was

(54:50):
going to be a female that might not fit the
mold because he's coming from a group that was more
of like a pop group. So we just said, fuck it,
let's go, let's let's make this happen. Let's just bring
in the crew, let's take her on tour. We took
her on tour. People hated it. They were like, oh man,
what's this. This ain't black eyed Peas. I'm not feeling this.

(55:13):
So they were hate, Like yo, it just turned like
it turned negative because we have this new girl in
the group Fergie, and so we put out Where's the Love?
And it smashes Oh. Before that, we actually I went
to a club in La called Josephs and I met
this kid who was a part of this boy band

(55:35):
and he's a dancer, and so he's transitioning from like
this boy band to becoming a solo artist. I'm like, yo, man,
if you have talent, I don't care where you're coming from. Bro, Like,
if you got talent, let's go, let's work. He's like, yeah,
I'm working with Pharrell. I got this new project that
I'm doing. I'm transitioning from this group to now doing

(55:56):
my solo thing. I was like, Yo, you think you
can sing a hook on this record? We have right now?
Is Where's the Love? The Love? The Love?

Speaker 4 (56:03):
That was it?

Speaker 2 (56:04):
I said, can you give me something like mercy mercy
me or like What's going on by Marvin Gaye? He says,
all right, cool, give me a minute. He goes creates
whatever he's gonna create. He calls me like, tab I
got it. He sings it over the phone. People killing,
people dying, children hurt, and you hear them crying. I'm like, yo,
what the what?

Speaker 3 (56:25):
Yo?

Speaker 2 (56:26):
I gotta call Will. I call Will. I tell him, Yo,
Will I got the hook? You're like, you got the hook? No,
I got the person to sing the hook from. Where's
the Love? He's like, who I said, justin Timberlake? He's
like justin Timberlake? The Backstreet boy he's he's not a
Backstreet boy, he's part of in Sync. He's in Sync.

(56:49):
He's like, that's even fucking worse. Tab Why are we
gonna have that guy sing on our hook? But I
saw what he brought. I didn't care what his past
or where he was coming from. It's like, if the
song is great, I don't care who's singing it. Let's go.
So he comes in and he records it, and the
left the rest is magic. We put it out, creates

(57:12):
this huge, huge, amazing frequency around the world. It becomes
our first number one record, and Ron Fairs puts strings
on it, and that was his connection to it. I
always knew it was.

Speaker 4 (57:24):
To be a hit.

Speaker 3 (57:25):
Little buddy, when this song finally takes off, what was
the first paradigm shift that occurred in your life? I
guess you can only have one time to have that
experience in which you instantly see the shift of first
we were a niche, underground group and suddenly we might

(57:47):
be the establishment, So what what is happening?

Speaker 1 (57:50):
Like?

Speaker 3 (57:51):
What's the feeling like? What happens?

Speaker 2 (57:53):
I love that you said that because I was so
proud of you transitioning into Late Night Fellon because it
was dope to see you guys like you know, and
that umbrella sparked you to be able to be in
the space of the oscars and have to people, to
be acting and all the great things that you guys
have been doing. So that being said, I think for

(58:16):
us because I'm I love comedy man, I'm a big
big I love comedy and humor. When we were on
parody on Saturday Night Live, yeah.

Speaker 3 (58:25):
I was gonna say, how did that feel to be?

Speaker 2 (58:28):
Yo? We made it boy from East to La that
just loves hip hop culture and yes it was tongue
in cheek. It was funny. It's like they're making fun
of the black eyed Peas, but they're mentioning the black
eye ps.

Speaker 3 (58:42):
Yeah, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (58:45):
My brother Apple came from Philippines not knowing a word
of English because hip hop taught him how to speak English.
Do you write a dictionary? Learned how to rap and
became a freaking huge international superstar from the.

Speaker 4 (58:59):
Film pop y'all are pop culture references like that.

Speaker 2 (59:02):
So I'm like, yo, you gotta own it. Who else
but us? I mean, we get ship if it's there,
own it. And if people hate all good Oh you
guys shell outs. Yeah, we're selling out stadiums around the world.

Speaker 3 (59:16):
Yeah. You know. My manager used to tease Tarika and
I about like he would always say, well, you guys
are salty because you never got your what he calls
your Bentley moment and his short His short Bentley moment
was sort of a shorthand for like whatever it is
the life that rappers think that rappers should be going through.

(59:40):
We should be walking in slow motion. We should be
you know, pouring champagne all over women and whatever whatever
hype William's slow motion kind of life. That Yeah, like
that experience.

Speaker 2 (59:53):
So you like this bill. For me, it was getting
custody my son. Being able to pay twenty thousand dollars
to get full custody of my son Josh. I was like, Yo,
that's worth more than than any gold chain, than any
Bentley because now I'm able to raise my son on

(01:00:15):
my playing ground the way that I want to raise it.
And so that was something that always bothered me because
I was a teenage parent and honestly, I didn't know
what parenting was. Bro Like, I was a little kid
having a kid. So when the where's the love moment happened,
that was when financially I was able to actually provide

(01:00:36):
a stable home for my son. Right although I had
help for my mom because I was still young, I
was a twenty one to twenty two, at least I
have some form of stability financially to be able to
take my son away from the way he was being
brought up, to be able to get him now a
home the way I was brought up. And so that
was like for me, that was a moment beyond any

(01:00:58):
Bentley moment or or any gold chain or you know.
And I bought a house, yeah, but it was like
taking care of Josh was like yo, I made it.
And it was because of that ways of love money
that brought me this opportunity to be a dad.

Speaker 4 (01:01:12):
How old were you when you had Josh?

Speaker 2 (01:01:13):
You said you were seventeen. I actually walked. I walked
my graduation with a son, bro Like, I was like
only it was crazy dude, and it was like, yeah, Okay,
this guy's not gonna make it. He's got a kid
at seventeen. But it also it gave me the fire
to be able to not give up on my dreams
and my aspirations even though I was a teen parent
and I'm not in any way form a fashion don't

(01:01:36):
e teen parents parenting, but I am saying like it
put a fire in my ass and it just like
that was like a Okay, now I got to come
to grips to be able to give my son a
better opportunity of life because I know that that's my motivation.

Speaker 3 (01:01:56):
Of all those records, I would probably say that maybe
Monkey Business was probably the hardest to create because it's
like how do you keep the momentum up? Then that
becomes bigger, So I don't even want to go to
the to the E n D. But going into monkey Business,
what was the pressure?

Speaker 2 (01:02:16):
Like, I mean, bro, like we uh we went in
there and actually tried to make hits elephant wasn't trying
to make his We're just making records like yo, what's
popping over there? Ship? What's what's what's uh? What's Timberland? Doing,
What's what's Pharrell doing? What's this person doing? Like it
was all over the place being students and like how

(01:02:39):
do we compete? And so records like Don't Lie, which
is my least favorite record, even though it was a smash.
I don't like performing it's just then we had Don't
Funk with My Heart, which is cool because we studied
Bollywood and we liked that frequency and we loved Leasa
Lisa and Code Jam love that record. I wonder if

(01:03:00):
I take yeah so that record and it was like, oh, okay,
this kind of sounds like weekends from Uh from from
Uh Bridging the Gap, which we sampled Debbie Dabb look
got weekends because here we come, and so there was
like a formula happening. And then we sampled dig Dale,

(01:03:22):
Misery Loot.

Speaker 7 (01:03:23):
For Pump It, and then Will did my humps and
then we finished it off with with the James Brown Joint,
which is my favorite.

Speaker 3 (01:03:33):
Yeah, talk about that session. I spun the ship out
that record when I was jealous, man, how did that happen?

Speaker 2 (01:03:42):
We were at the mojo.

Speaker 3 (01:03:44):
They don't want music, they don't want music.

Speaker 2 (01:03:46):
Yes, Boom that was our first Boom Boom song, and
mister Brown, as he liked to be referred to, mister Brown.
We met him at the Mobile Awards in London and
we're like, mister Brown, we're working on a new record
with huge fans. You know, b boys, we love what
you've done with you know, your work, blah blah blah,

(01:04:07):
giving them flowers. Well, I don't have to work with anybody,
but something says that I need to work with the
Black Eyed Peas yo yo.

Speaker 1 (01:04:20):
Also, James Brown impressions.

Speaker 2 (01:04:24):
It's it's it's trying, but but he says, Okay, I'm
gonna show up to the studio. We're recording at uh
Metropolis in London, Paramount No Metropolis Studios. He comes, he
has his whole entourage. Bro, when I tell you this
dude is a mega superstar. He walked in with the

(01:04:45):
lady that combs his hair. So he's sitting down Brown.
They bring out a mirror. The lady sits down, combs
his hair, and then he's like, okay, I'm ready. I
don't ready. So we're like okay, cool. So so so
our band. They go in there, they start doing their thing.

(01:05:07):
He's like no, no, no, everybody out. He brings his horn
players so his horn players are leading the dance. That's
that his horn players are leading the dance. We're like, oh, yo,
just let him do his thing. So like, what kind
of style can we bring to what James Brown's bringing
mister Brown's bringing? What about like that Greg nice and

(01:05:28):
that that nice smooth joint Yo Disney Gless. He plays
the sad like Max. So that's that's the frequency that
we tapped into for the rap part that Will is
doing with James Brown. And I just remember, like after
the session were breaking bread. He's sitting at the table
and he's talking to us and somebody comes over and

(01:05:48):
starts cutting his food. Like his meat is his steak.
He has someone to cut his steak, he has someone
to brush his hair, and then he goes like this,
so he comes and wipes his mouth.

Speaker 3 (01:06:06):
I was like, wait a minute, hey, Steve, that's like
one of my favorite tracks of me too.

Speaker 2 (01:06:17):
Thank you. I mean that record just came so natural.
And the fact that we got tipped to start the song,
you know, it's he said something really special when we
were on the road. It was with him, Dave Chappelle.
He said, well, black Eyed Peas, we want you guys
to carry the baton of what we started and take
it international and all the stuff that you guys are
doing international, you guys are representing the essence of the

(01:06:39):
native tongue. So that was very important. That was around
that time, the monkey Business era. But during that time
we also got to tour with amazing rock groups. Can
I just tell you about the rocky.

Speaker 3 (01:06:52):
Yeah, I want to know what tour life was like
at this point in your life.

Speaker 2 (01:06:56):
I mean, we're touring with with with I mean seven Dust, uh,
no doubt, when Stefani lit Blink one eighty two, it
was just Dope Metallica. We were just toying with all
these amazing rock groups because those are the type of

(01:07:16):
festivals we were doing, and we're the only hip hop
group part of that that journey. So we learned how
to perform in front of the audiences that weren't necessarily
hip hop audiences, and so our pellet kind of expanded,
and that's why we had, you know, we worked with
Travis Barker, and we worked with popa Roach and all
these these rock groups so that we could learn how

(01:07:37):
to bring that frequency as well and just be students
of the game and learn how to perform in front
of these audiences that you know, you better be just
doing something other than just playing instruments or just rapping,
because they're gonna they're gonna tell you, they're gonna throw
stuff at you, they're gonna flip you off. So we
were learning how stage died, we're learning how to do
mosh pits all that stuff around Europe and and and

(01:08:00):
feeing us that we can bring that same rock energy
with with the Black Eyed Peas essence.

Speaker 3 (01:08:06):
Oh, this is a question I always wanted to know. Okay,
So for the longest I'll say that basically, before the
Internet kind of colonized the world and had us all
thinking like at the same time, whereas before you go
to different territories and this section of town didn't get
what New York has or that sort of thing. But

(01:08:27):
there was a moment where I remember, uh, when you
guys first came out. Uh, you guys went to Australia
and you did Big Day out right.

Speaker 2 (01:08:40):
Yes, loved it.

Speaker 3 (01:08:41):
And I remember, uh Jurassic five telling me, you know,
we we've yet to go to Australia. They're like, yo, dog,
you got to come to Australia. Man, Like we play
stadiums over there, and I was like Jurassic five playing
the stadium. It's like no, dog, Like you don't get it.
Like the artists that are club artists in the United

(01:09:04):
States when they go to Australia, they're like mega And
he was like, yeah, man, Ben Harper plays stadiums and
it was like yoyo, Black Eyed Peas can set out
a stadium. I was like black the Black Eyed Peas
just opened for me last week to sound the stadium.
I literally I was like my mind was blown. But

(01:09:24):
for you, what was the feeling to get and and yes,
to put in context, like Australia is just different. You know,
they're not really controlled by like corporate radio the way
that it is over here with clear channel and you
know that sort of thing where playlists are determined, like
still DJ's played whole music over there, like a person

(01:09:47):
like Eric Abadu can still find space on pop radio
along with whoever is like Hitten and pop and that
sort of thing. Like they've always been balanced that way.
So as a result, a lot of the music that
we like, that's thee in underground music gets the same
platform that something mainstream is. But for you, like what

(01:10:08):
was the feeling in breaking breaking that ceiling and finally,
you know, getting to a point where I'm certain that
you know where Michael Jackson's like, hey, I'm a big
fan of you guys, and like what was that feeling?
Like like who are the people that you're meeting and
those sort of things.

Speaker 2 (01:10:26):
So, so being able to travel to Australia, you're seeing
all these actors and actresses and kind of like the
the experience of the Oscars world. That's the transition of
going from like the music world to now meeting actors, actresses, directors.
That's actually where we met James Cameron. And so you're

(01:10:48):
meeting all these people and you're getting this after effect
of like yo, I didn't know they liked the music, right,
We're just we're just kind of like nomads, just traveling
and you don't feel the effects of the impact that
you're having because you're just doing You're just being you
and you're just creating music. So we were we were
just embracing the beauty that was Australia and is Australia

(01:11:12):
because they supported us before any before anyone actually gave
us that then Flowers, it was Australia and New Zealand.
Let me show you something. Yes, this is my first
plaque bridging back to New Zealand. This is the first
plaque that actually got gold. Wow. So that being said,

(01:11:33):
in New Zealand and Australia, they had love for us
before any any domestics, so especially on our first earlier
work with Behind the Front of Bridge the Gap, so
you know, it just it just affirmed everything that we
had been doing. We had been working towards being able
to tour the world and be international and just bring
that energy. And I would say Australia was probably the

(01:11:57):
place where we spent most time because we did the
big day out for months right and every year we
did it up until that point when they stopped doing it.

Speaker 3 (01:12:06):
Okay, So I have a theory about mega songs. Every
mega song that I've ever known from Louis Louis to
shout to Tequila, like mega song songs that will never die.
The story always starts the same where it's like we
created that in like twenty minutes, Like we didn't really

(01:12:27):
put calculated thought in it. You're co creator of a
mega song like long after Life Ends or whatever. Like
I seriously doubt that I got a feeling will ever
go away or not be played at any function, be

(01:12:47):
it wedding, celebration, barbarments. Yeah, the amount of times I've
had to spend it as a DJ. What was the
process in making that song?

Speaker 2 (01:12:59):
I just remember we'll talking about what's that song we're building,
what's that song that plays at every freaking sporting events, wedding,
the earth Winding Fire song, And I'm like, September, Yeah,
we need something like that in that space where it's
like everywhere, it's playing everywhere. Yo. We need something like say,
celebrate good time, come on, yeah, we do. We need

(01:13:24):
we need something that's like gonna live sporting events, colleges. Yo,
We're gonna make a college anthem. Yo. College. Oh shit,
let's make a college anthem. And it's the first time
that we had ever created a song where all of
us are singing at the same time. We had never
done before because every single song, like you said earlier, Amir,

(01:13:46):
we have each one has a verse or you know,
you have like a bridge or something. But in this song,
we strategically said, we want the energy of this song
to feel like one right. So I remember David Gheta
sent the track to Will he's like, oh, I have
this remix for the Love is Gone. Right now that

(01:14:10):
the love is gone, remember that song? So this is
the remix track to that song.

Speaker 3 (01:14:16):
Okay, he didn't use it.

Speaker 2 (01:14:18):
Oh really, yeah, he didn't use it. He's like, you
guys can use it. So we used that track and
Will came up with that chorus, and then we all
came to the studio and we started jumping around. Like
I said, when we started jumping around, that's when you
know it's something. The first time we performed it, it

(01:14:38):
was a disaster. Who performed at the Tangle It was horrible.

Speaker 3 (01:14:42):
Where was it?

Speaker 2 (01:14:43):
Wango Tangle Kiss Fama Ryan Seacrest, It was like I
want to say it was. It was in in Anaheim.
We performed it and people are likeive, no, We're like discouraged.

Speaker 3 (01:14:59):
No.

Speaker 2 (01:14:59):
It's like, oh, this might not be the one. Maybe
it's this other Boom Boom Pal song. There was a
knockout punch Boomoom Pal came first, right right, That was
at number one for like twelve weeks. Yeah, so we're like, yo,
how do we outdo Boom Boom Pow? Because that was like, bro,
we already we're already at number one twelve weeks and

(01:15:22):
then we came with it. I got a filling and
then it just knocked it out and it just stayed
on the charts. And then we're doing all the award shows,
all the the uh you know, all the sporting events.
We did the Super Bowl, we did the World Cup.
That song is blowing up everywhere. And then it just
let us know that something that we thought was gonna

(01:15:44):
be a college anthem became an anthem that the national Yeah,
it's an anthem forever. So you know, No, we didn't
do it in twenty seconds or twenty minutes or five minutes.
It was done. It was It was a nice process. Yes,
it was quick, but the idea that we wanted to
present to the world was something that was very unison
and very connected as one. And that's why that representation

(01:16:08):
of us doing the lyrics together is a synonymous for
that song, how it brings everyone together.

Speaker 3 (01:16:18):
When you're having this level of success. And again, like
the question was like, can you guys, I'll do Elephunk okay,
can you guys, I'll do monkey business? Okay? Can you
I'll do the end? At any point? And you know,
I know that you went through this in your memoir,
But what was the point where like this wasn't fun anymore?

(01:16:45):
Or it has it ever been a time where it's
just like, was there ever a be careful for what
you ask or wish for a moment for you?

Speaker 2 (01:16:54):
Right? For me? Will an App. I'm only speaking for
us because you know, I can't say anything of the
ladies that journeyed with us because maybe they have the
same experience. But I love being on that stage with
my brothers, bro, Like that's like our livelihood. When we're
on stage. We're seventeen year old kids that just love

(01:17:17):
performing and love you know, creating music and performing for
the world. So there's never a moment, there's never a
moment other than that moment when we took a break.
That shit was bullshit, bro, That's like suicide. That eight
year break. That a year break from twenty eleven to
twenty nineteen when we put out Reepmore with j Balbin,

(01:17:39):
when Sylvia Rone signed us from Interscope to Sony, and
then we had success with Sylvia Ron and reinvented ourselves
as a trio, which that's how we started. But that
time period of being away for eight years, yes, I
got cancer in twenty fourteen. But man, we were very
lucky to come out of that, that your hiatus, because

(01:18:03):
usually groups are gone for eight years. They're gone. There's
no way you could come back. Do we come back
at a filling level? No?

Speaker 3 (01:18:10):
How has that conversation happened? Are you guys actively communicating
with each other and saying like, hey, need a break,
need to have some me time, Well reconvene.

Speaker 2 (01:18:23):
No, it was it was. It wasn't a choice that
me and Will and Apple had the I'm just being
honest with you, guys, that's the reality. We would have
kept going. We're at the height of our career. Why stop?
But I get it, you know, not all of us
wanted to continue. And so that being said, when it
came back to coming back to wanting to do music again,

(01:18:46):
this is after I battled cancer. I reached out to Will,
I reached out to Apple, I reached out to Ferg.
I said, yo, I'm ready. I need I need this
to red like I need I need my healing performing
Black Eyed Peas. We need to do it again. Will
and Apple were like, let's go. And that's what it is. Me,

(01:19:06):
Will and Apple are going. And that's how it's going
to be. And fortunately at that time Apple the app
met a singer from the Philippines named Ja Ray soul Right,
and she was a young artist that inspired him to
be able to bring her to the US and give
her an opportunity to be able to to you know,
to journey with the Black Eyed Peas and just be

(01:19:28):
part of this amazing new I guess you can save
this new lease on life because, like I said, we
were on Interscope and then we got dropped, and then
we got picked up by Silvia Rohan.

Speaker 3 (01:19:39):
Explain to me the process of getting dropped by Interscope
when you're literally one of their biggest money makers.

Speaker 2 (01:19:45):
Well, Jimmy was gone, bro, Like Jimmy was now beats World.
He's like, I don't have anything to do with So
who took over? John Janet and Steve Berman Berman?

Speaker 3 (01:19:56):
Oh damn, Okay, I believe Burman is the cat if
you remember the Dre Day video, Yeah, when he's playing
the role with Jerry Heller. I didn't realize, like, wow,
Berman took over in Scope. Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:20:11):
Yeah, So we put out Master of the Sun and
they're like, this ain't it. This is not what we
want from Black Eyed Peas and so the album was
great but not today. So in their eyes it was
a failure. It wasn't what they expected. And so they're like,
you know what, we're going to part ways. I think

(01:20:31):
we've exhausted all the energy the years. Thank you for
all your contribution, but we're not going to renew the contract.
So me, Will and Apple were like, yo, what what
are we going to do? And like Will always does,
Will's like, don't worry about it, guys, We're going to
figure it out. So I trust him since I was seventeen,
he's always been the don't worry about it, guys. We're

(01:20:55):
going to figure it out. And that energy was like, yeah,
we are going to figure it out. It's all good.
We got songs, we got you know, relationships. So we
had this song called Retmo that we recorded with Jay
Bowin right, So I remember Zeke from from Sony comes
to the studio and he hears it and he's like, yo,

(01:21:15):
I'm working on this this soundtrack. Would love this song
to be part of the soundtrack, and so Will was like, yeah,
but we want this for us, like we want this
to be a Black Eyed Pea joint off of our
new project. He's like, well, what label are you on.
He's like, We're not on the label. So he leaves
the studio called Sylvia Rome. Sylvie Roon shows up to

(01:21:35):
the studio. Will plays the record for her and she's like, great,
I love this record. Let's put it on the Bad
Boys three soundtrack with Martin Lawrence and Will Smith before
the slap and so he does that. Zeke is like, Yo,
this is this is the future of Black Eyed Peas,
this whole Latin afrobeat fusion whatever you guys are doing

(01:21:57):
this with this frequency. It's international and it's popping right now.
We're gonna sign black Eyed Peace soon to epic. So
we get signed. We we create this album, which was Translation,
which we put out during the pandemic. We still put
out a record. We had songs like bro Like Me
with Shaquita, We had Mamasita Withosuno via the Loco with

(01:22:19):
Nikki Jam and Tiga. So all these records just represented
where we were at in that state of our career
and how we were inspired by these Latin affrobeat rhythms
that were happening around the world, and so that was
kind of our nod to that. And then We created
another record which we put out called Elevation, and that
one featured Don't You Worry with Shaquita and David Ghetta,

(01:22:42):
and then we did a record with Anita from Brazil
and Alalfa and the next record we're dropping is with
Daddy Yankee.

Speaker 3 (01:22:49):
After having done it all, like, what is what is
left for you as far as like in terms of
what you would like to achieve with the group.

Speaker 2 (01:22:58):
With the group Docus series, be able to make the
Black Eyed Peas movie, whatever that means, do it in
a way where it's like stranger things fantasy, kind.

Speaker 3 (01:23:09):
Of to be a scripted series like that. I don't
think it's a movie, it's a it's a series.

Speaker 2 (01:23:14):
Like the Beatles did a docu series, like the Beatles
did a Yellow Submarine, where it's kind of like mystic magical,
you know, something like that, whereas you can add fantasy
because we're big sci fi guys. We love stranger things
and just that whole creativity of creating stuff that's not
just a typical like oh, these are hip hop kids,

(01:23:36):
and then they became popular around the world. It's like,
now we want to tell all these amazing stories like
cancer survivor and tech guy. He's the he calls himself
the Black iron Man because he's all about tech. And
then you got this kid from the Philippines who was
a farmer that didn't speak English and came to America.
First person he met was where I am. So all
these crazy stories. It's a little bit sensation wise, and

(01:23:58):
it's it's entertaining and and and still appealing to the eye.

Speaker 3 (01:24:03):
I see, I see, well, man, dude, this is definitely
worth the wait, and for you know, this is like
our first in depth conversation with each other.

Speaker 1 (01:24:14):
Man.

Speaker 3 (01:24:14):
So I'm really glad that we got this. Wait, Steve,
you're about to say something.

Speaker 6 (01:24:18):
No, I was about to come wipe wipe something off
your mouth.

Speaker 2 (01:24:24):
That's there. I just want to do a little, a
little promo real quick on something that me. So I
invested in this company called a Kid's Book, about which
you already I sent it to you. The first book
that I wrote is called the Kid's Book about Identity.
And then we have a whole series of other books, like,

(01:24:46):
you know, a kid's book about mindfulness, its book about addiction,
book about anxiety, and it's all about having uncomfortable conversations
with kids because a lot of times parents tiptoe around
these conversations, and so we said, no, why don't we

(01:25:06):
have these these books where we actually unlock those and
make it a comfortable conversation out of something that's very
uncomfortable to some families. And so, you know, it's just
it's something that I invested in because I want to
be able to give back. Just like I'm telling you, dude,
Kobe really inspired me being with Kobe, being around him

(01:25:26):
and seeing how he went from being a basketball player
to actually being you know, winning an oscar, just like
you writing books, almost creating an animation studio for inspired
by his daughter.

Speaker 1 (01:25:41):
So this is just so, what's the name of the
book series.

Speaker 2 (01:25:46):
A kid's book about?

Speaker 6 (01:25:48):
And where do we find that online?

Speaker 2 (01:25:50):
We get that on Amazon's Kids book About dot com.
And basically it's all these different writers out there kids
that are doing the forward so that they that you
empower the kids to really be part of this journey
along with the books that I'm writing for Marvel. Being
an author is very important to me because then I'm

(01:26:12):
able to inspire just like we did with lyrics, Like
now I'm putting that same energy in that same approach
to writing. Eventually, wanted to do my own script and
create the first Native American feature film that will live
in that same Marvel space that Black Panther lives. So
that's my goal, and I'm doing my due diligence. I'm
putting in the groundwork and putting in my ten thousand

(01:26:35):
hours to be able to transition from music into being
a creator and a screenwriter and eventually one day on
wood are directed.

Speaker 4 (01:26:45):
Film Make it Up.

Speaker 3 (01:26:48):
I mean, you lived a life in which you know
you may moves with no trepidation and you know you
put your foot forward, so that's definitely going to happen.

Speaker 2 (01:26:57):
Yeah, brother, I appreciate that. And again, uh fante, thank
you man, thank you for the inspiration. I hope you
feel better. Oh yeah, I want to say Tarique and
Pharaoh Munch my two favorite ms of all time, of
all time.

Speaker 8 (01:27:12):
I shall relate that to and And honestly, we didn't
we didn't touch on daylight, bro, And that was something
very important because when you text me about about Dave
and that that piece you guys put together, everybody put together,
that was beautiful, man, So.

Speaker 3 (01:27:25):
Well, thank you for being a part of that.

Speaker 7 (01:27:27):
Man.

Speaker 2 (01:27:27):
Yeah, I want to dedicate this one to Dave bro
and his impact that he had on all of us
and what Daylight means to us. And now with their
music being on all streaming platforms, I'm proud of Postinus
and Mace and Dave.

Speaker 3 (01:27:41):
I'm still listening to music like like It just came
out yesterday. Well on behalf of the QLs crew, on
Behaving laya cousin, Jake, Telo, Steve and Unpaid Bill came
home from a cigarette. Thank you, Taboo, thank you for
joining us and this is us Love. We will see
you on the next go around, of course, Love Supreme,

(01:28:03):
all right, see you. What's Love Supreme is the production
of iHeart Free. For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit

(01:28:29):
the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
to your favorite child

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Laiya St. Clair

Questlove

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