Taboo

Black Eyed Peas co-founder Taboo sits down with Questlove Supreme to discuss his journey from B-Boy to children's book author. This conversation includes some powerful testimony from Tab as a cancer survivor and his advocacy for Indigenous people. Taboo's passion for Hip-Hop is palpable as he retraces BEP's journey from the LA underground to superstars paying homage to records that made them dance.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
West Love Supreme is a production of iHeart Brady. Yeah,
look at Fonte team, my man, what what up? Fonte? Brother?
Good to meet you, man, good to meet you. It's
an honor to meet you. Brother. No, no, I mean

(00:21):
what you've done. I mean from from the Slum conversations
with T three to the Daylight conversations. Bro, your name
is synonymous, You're clue as synonymous, and I always have
to show my salute, my ultimate respect to pioneers like yourself.
Oh man, that's love, brother, Thank you so much. I
received that. Man. Likewise, thank you for sure. Bro. You
just don't know how much your music means to all

(00:42):
of us man, like you know, um us being sons
of Daylight Tribe and just coming from that cloth groups
like yourselves like you Slum Village, you guys. You guys
definitely continues with the gone and I'm proud of you
everything that you've done, even transition into this new medium.
It's really dope. Thank you so much. Man. So I
guess we just started the episode already. We started with flowers.

(01:08):
I started 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 two hip hop kids like myself that started as
b boys breakdancers on the block, wanted to put on
for our communities, uh you know, our ancestry. Unfortunately, hip
hop was the conduit. You know, breaking was the first

(01:28):
thing I got into. Then I got into graffiti, m seeing,
I met my tribe where I am an apple the
app and we became uh you know, he became brothers
and became black eyed peas. So when I see folks
like yourself, like a mirror and fante who set the
tone for hip hop culture, I always got to give
you the flowers. That's love, brother, than thank you. Wow.
This is the first time where the guests actually winds

(01:50):
up entering the show. Ladies and gentlemen of the internets,
welcome to another exciting episode of Question lest Supreme. I'm
your host, Question Love. We have Fine Tikolo in the house. Brother.
How's it going all right? Man? I'm cool, just resting
and uh yeah, getting ready for Thursday and Friday of

(02:11):
this week. This will it'll have been passed by time
this air, but yeah, we Boston in New York this week,
So I'm just resting getting ready. Man, is this a
major tour or is this? Uh No, 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 in Orange County
last weekend, and then this week it's uh Boston in

(02:33):
New York. Um June we play Roots Picnic and yeah,
it's fuck this. I'm back in the house like really,
oh yeah, do you 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,

(02:56):
more than anyone, has been extremely like almost it's Fort
Knox level protective of not catching the VID. And you
went out and then you you you, you got caught
out there. I called that my first time leaving the house,
my first run and three years my first it'll be run.

(03:18):
You know that We went and we did San Diego
in Orange County and yeah, I got hit. 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?
Of Um, 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

(03:41):
this shit 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, it's just very different, and it's
like now, particularly for artists like us, I mean, where
you're pretty much doing everything like motors don't really do
shit no or so for me, I just looked at

(04:02):
from the standpoint of'm like, okay, I gotta play promoter, producer, performer,
curator and the fucking CDC. Fuck this, dude, No, damn,
I'm good, I'm paid. Bill. I went to get cigarettes again.
I went to Australia. I'm back. You went to Australia.

(04:22):
I was in Australia for a few weeks to put
up a show. Now it's up. Now show. Uh it's
called and Juliet. You haven't seen it yet, but you've
threatened to a few times. It's on Broadway. Now it's
in Australia. Wait, you guys are making it worldwide already.
Global domination, my friend, blob domination. That's how we do it. Well, Dan,
with the songbook, I would suspect that and Juliet will

(04:44):
probably be a five to ten years staple. I hope.
So that'd be nice for my kids college tuition and all.
That's what's up, man, That's what's up? U Sugar, Steve Esteemed? Uh,
jazz label head? What what's going and all? How are you? Um?
Everything's okay? I We finished three records this past weekend,

(05:08):
one of them yours. Yes, we finished mixing David Murray,
Ray Angry and Questla, a four platter box set that
you can look forward to. She ends up making my
second jazz offering in my life. Are we calling the
Philadelphia Experiment the first one? Yeah, that's the first one, okay,
so I don't necessarily called jazz, but you know this

(05:31):
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 releasing, Yeah,
four platters and a seven engine side and it's gonna
be coming later this year. Son, shit, I might have
to do a news for that. Uh. Have we lost

(05:53):
our queen today? Yeah, she's on stage doing something something
for Jill. 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

(06:14):
entered our lives some twenty five plus years ago, as
one third or one fourth how you want to look
at it, as one third member of legendary, legendary hip
hop outfit, having created over nine studio albums that have
worldwide sales over a thirty three million yo. Just looking
at the stats made me feel like I'm not working

(06:37):
hard enough. Ninety seven Platinum Awards. I was way too
lazy to keep total of the gold awards, but I
stopped counting after one hundred, over a twelve major world tours,
over sixty sixty various awards from the AMAS to BTS,
Soul Train Awards, Latin Awards for bill Board, for even

(07:01):
the En double ACP Awards, six Grammys, six Grammys, countless
MTV awards. But you know, it's not even about the quantity,
ladies and gentleman's. It's to me. The achievements are cool.
But you know, in this episode, we get to know,
We aim to get to know the person behind the
achievements and get to know them. And you know, many

(07:25):
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 exposed myself
when I try to talk sports, Shut up Steve, or comics,
shut up Steve. Okay, yes, I'm the guy that says
the sports, the comics, but I you know, I will

(07:46):
say that with uh, 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
the Deadly Neighborhood spider Man. He's also an author of
a kid's book about identity, and most importantly, he's been extremely,

(08:09):
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, you know, I will say
that he's just an overall a signing light and a
really cool dude. And please welcome to QLs MC. Author,

(08:33):
political activists, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, producer, and yes, survivor.
Jamie Gomez aka Taboo of the Black Eyed Peas, welcome
to Thank you a lot Yo. First of all, I
got acknowledged Steve for being a comic head. Steve, salutes
to you brother, the fact that Emir had passed it

(08:55):
on to you and said sports comics not my thing.
It's all good, all good, and salute to you, Steve.
And then Bill, you had me at two daughters. I
don't know seriously when you said I'm a father of
two daughters, my I would say my greatest gift is

(09:16):
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 that stuff where you're battling
cancer ladies and gentlemen, that shit's so irrelevant. That shit
is so irrelevant because you're like, YO, just give me

(09:38):
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 and be transparent
and candid about how much love I have for life
beyond any music, beyond beyond any career. I'm enjoying just

(09:59):
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 a mirror.
I'm a fan of fante. I know what they bring
to culture. I love them for what they bring and
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

(10:21):
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
up in their own ship and I'm not trying to
do that. Brother. I surrendered evil a long time ago.
And so how all your daughters, man? Well, I have

(10:41):
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 cancers. So
the chemotherapy so going to be so aggressive, intense and
it's gonna break down everything that's good in your body

(11:02):
to kill that one thing that's bad in your body.
And so he said, unfortunately, you're probably not going to
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 Bryants. I had a

(11:23):
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, and do

(11:45):
it in a way where it's fun, there's music, there's art,
there's culture, and has done very genuine and authentic. So
let me ask you for you for your life, women,
was the paradigm shift in which you had this awakening
and this zest for life. For people that remember the

(12:05):
earlier work as a black Eyed peas I was, I
looked very different back then because I wasn't taking care
of myself. I looked more depleted. My check bone structure
was very profound. I had long hair. I was like
weighed like one hundred and ten pounds because I was
using it and abusing. And I'm very candid about it.

(12:28):
When I 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, but 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 of love, and that was in two thousand
and three. So from two thousand, from nineteen ninety five
when we started Black Eyed Peas to two thousand and three,

(12:52):
I was building this like bravado and this energy, you know,
hip hop grabbed your crotch all that shit. I'm an MC,
I'm a b boy. I'm gonna battle you, yah yah
yah yeah. Right, you're building this provader. You're confidence sometimes
turns into ego, especially when you're going crazy with over indulging.
And so I started over indulging, started getting money over indulging,

(13:13):
and I wrote a book about it, another book before
I wrote the Kid's 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. I was living dangerously.
I was living recklessly, and you know, I had a surrender.

(13:35):
That was my first moment of surrendering because my ego
is 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 void
with alcoholism and drug use. And I'm candid about it
because I want people to take inspiration from this, even

(13:57):
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 give 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 being removed from that time period,

(14:18):
in twenty fourteen, I get hit with cancer and as man,
we don't talk about that ship ever. I ain't got
to get tested. Man, my testicles, we mean touched my nuts?
What do you mean go to the doctor and I'm
gonna go on tour. I got tours. I got shows
to do, right, So that was the mentality. I got

(14:39):
shows to do. So I had this back pain and
my right testicle is hurting, but I was like, oh,
that's cool, it's it's a it's wearing terrible 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 to testicular cancer, which it went to my
two lip notes to my fine, and I did have

(15:01):
to go into aggressive chemotherapy six days a week, well
excuse me, six hours a day, five days a week,
many many long, strenuous hours of torture and trauma, mental
and physical. I've only probably really been close to one
person that had to go through testing and that stuff
with leukemia. Shout out to Rich Nichols, who even then,

(15:26):
like Rich was such a hard ass cynic that he
didn't want to burden us with the human side of
what it felt like. But what what does what is
the process of going through that level of chema where
six hours every day? What is the what is the process?

(15:47):
It's different for every type of cancer. You know, for
the Kids Unit, which is the cancer treatment center for
kids m 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 was how the doctor explained
it to me. 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 from I got checked in on a Thursday,

(16:53):
I was doing chemo on that Monday, so I had
surgery Friday to get my right testico removed. 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 the spicks, and then
that's how you found out you had cancer or 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

(17:17):
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 is like trying to bend over
to picking my kid. I had the sharp pain 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.

(17:37):
My wife says, hey, if this continues to get worse,
you need to go to the AR. 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 AR and I went straight into getting m
I cat scans, CT scans, and by seven am they
told me I was diagnosed with cancer. They didn't tell

(17:59):
me what type of cancer. They just said, Um, we
found a mass which is four centimeters wide four centimeters
long like a tennis ball, and it's in your spine
and it came from your right testicle. Run in your family?
Is it hereditary? That was the first one, brother. Wow,
So so let me let me just give you guys,
because I know this is a fun show and everybody's beaten.

(18:21):
No no, this is a human 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. Yeah, so so,
so I just wanted to give you guys, uh, 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,

(18:42):
the career triumphs. But this one for me was the
thing that kind of shape and molding who I am
today as a father, as a husband, as a storyteller,
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

(19:03):
said to myself, what's my higher purpose beyond being an entertainer,
beyond doing music? Wait a minute, I think I gotta
go and be of service. So I went to Standing Rock.
Standing Rock was a they say it's a protest. We
call it a protection of sacred land. At that time,
which is sing rock to tribe, they were trying to
bring build the oil pipeline that would eventually bring oil

(19:27):
into the water drinking water of the trafic community surround
that you were part of those protesters that I went
there as Jimmy Gomez, an activist, as a Native kid
that just wanted to standing solidentity wasn't about Black Eyed Peas.
It just me. I took my oldest son, Josh, and
we were there as as Native activists of giving back

(19:48):
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 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 people's seeing Los Angeles, we're talking about the
Native Nation's march, or bringing more conversation in mainstream media

(20:12):
that has an indigenous lens that's very genuine and authentic
and not stereotypical like we've seen 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
wheels 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

(20:37):
in the Latino community because I'm 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. Yeah,
I was going to say that. In doing research for

(20:58):
your story, and you know, having just turned fifty two
two months ago, I'd suddenly asked myself a question. I'm like,
wait a minute, I think when you turned fifty you're
supposed to start getting test to see you know, because
I'm one of those people. You know, I have been

(21:18):
living with like stage two LYMPHIDEMAUM for about yeah, like
since like ninety eight, like for twenty five years. Answer
with you about something. Yeah, I noticed that. I noticed
that about you because I saw the fluctuating of your
health and my friend from Afar seeing you at certain events,

(21:42):
I'd be like, yo, you know, just going through my
struggles in my illness. Same thing that happened with Dave
in Peace for Boy, I had that same conversation, and
it was so candid and it was so on a
human level that he inquired me more than any day
I saw track or any song or any message or
any lyrics because we we bonded as brothers. And so

(22:03):
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. Thank you, man,
thank you. You know at the time, I just ignored it,
and I never heard the term limpid demon. I was
just like, damn, I got fat, like suddenly, I gained
seventeen pounds overnight, Like how has that happened? And I

(22:25):
didn't realize, like, you know, every day I have massive
swelling and like in different limbs or whatnot. 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 arms? Okay great, That's why I
asked you, like from the time you were diagnosed to
the time that you immediately wanted to get it checked out.

(22:49):
Like it took me nine years, nine years to finally
and it's only because of mistake, Like I was changed
before a video. My manager saw me and like, what
the fuck happened to your legs? A mirror and then
like he rushed me into the hospital. So um, you know,
and I know I'm at that age now where every

(23:11):
my mental health and my physical health is like paramount,
and so like I took my first and 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 due my my my cancer test and

(23:31):
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 uh, yeah, I've been
putting this off for two years. 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,

(23:52):
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 rather just live in
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

(24:13):
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, Like get this together. So well.
We need we need we need more heroes without capes
and our communities that activate just you know, health as
wealth man. And I learned that the heartbreak. I'm not

(24:33):
a preacher. I will never preach 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 of our pioneers that are not taking care of themselves. Yeah,
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

(24:55):
of prevention with a little bit of a conversation and
communication which can hope bring that light. Like that's something
that you know, I would like to do that for
for communities, just like just like what Lance Armstrong and
I know the whole scandal was whacking. It just ended
up like bullshit, right, But if I can be that

(25:16):
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 a mirror, You're like, oh, I
saw your story and I'm like, fock, okay, it's fifty one. Okay,
I'm gonna do it. Maybe it was 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 chests. Definitely a nudge. It is

(25:37):
the nudge that finally made me call my doctor and
being like all right, I'm coming in let me you know,
so I want to credit you with that. Yeah, man,
it's a conversation that 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 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

(26:01):
taking care of themselves. Now, I'm really going to start style.
Where were you born? I was born in East Los Angeles,
Ball Heights, California. Okay, yeah, what's your what's you know
for you? What's your memories of what your childhood was?
My grandmother, my grandmother was a beautiful Native woman from Jerome, Arizona.

(26:26):
She represented her roots to the to the tea. She
was all about being a 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. Um. She was all about the arts
and music and dancing. It goes hand in hand with
our ancestry. You know, we used dancing as a way

(26:48):
of prayer healing. If you look at an old power
out 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 former healing in prayer
and so growing up, my grandmother kind of instilled that
that dancing performing mentality at five years old, and I

(27:08):
would be dancing to like you know, craft work and
African Bambada and you know, um, I got into craft
work because of African Bambada and soconic Force. I started
understanding studying where that whole electronic style came from. And
then after that I saw, you know, when we saw
breaking and he saw what's the name doing the freaking? Like, Yo,

(27:32):
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
and where that electronic vibe came from, so you know,
and and growing up, I started really sharpening my swords
as a b board breaking being inspired by breakers like
Crazy Legs and the rock Steady Crew from from New York,

(27:55):
but also a lot of dancers from from the West
Coast like Popping Pete Boggaou Shrimp Um, Jeffrey Daniels who
was part of Shelamar, he was doing Feller, you know
what I'm saying, Like he was ill with it. He
taught Mike MJ a lot of the stuff. Um, but
also like Leg one, Leg two, MC Lights Dancers, Mission

(28:15):
Impossible Special LEDs dancers, Uh, you know kid in play
to scheme team, which is Divine Stylers dancers, So Brothers
that was Deaf Jeff's dancers. Yeah yeah, yeah, the far side,
you know, and I mean the mop tops from buddhas
Stretch from from New York. Like, I had such an
innate love for for freestyle dance, and then it got

(28:37):
into housing. Once housing came in, I was like, Yo,
what's this Because when I heard the Ginger Brothers said
say girl, our house you I was like housing. And
I started doing research on like soho and hot hot
music music Hot from Doom Dude. I was like, Yo,
what's that style? So I started seeing these different styles
herp Alpert North on South Street, watching those videos and

(29:00):
really immersing myself in the art foom 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 the past, and I started incorporating these styles
and wanted to bring this this hip hop clash of

(29:21):
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
of tribe, and we loved the Jungle Brothers. So Tribal
Brothers right right, Will and Apple were tribal nation because

(29:47):
Zulu nation and you know trip call quests. So eventually
we became a crew and the name of our crew
was Grassroots. And when we're trying to do like the
Native tongues in the West Coast, because we were so
inspired by the native tongues. It wasn't just your grandmother,
was it mom and dad in the picture? Like who
was who was it? My mom was in the picture,

(30:08):
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, that apex predator mentality, battle came from my

(30:30):
grandmother's will and her energy. Like, yeah, I loved Michael
Jordan and you know Magic Johnson and all these sports
figures and Bruce Lee was a big, huge inspiration. I
love Kung Foot movies, Marsha black Bell Theater, loved Billy
Jack Um you know, love watching those old school eighties
movies too. But my grandmother was my superhero. And that's

(30:52):
I think that's why I kind of really got into
storytelling and being a superhero advocate because my grandmother was
my hero. Without a cape. You mention hot Music by Soho.
Just found out that um Soho was basically are you
are you? You remember pal Joey, Pal Joey and the House?
I did not know so pal Joey, who was kind

(31:14):
of an engineer for Kariss One. So I guess around
the time when they're making Sex and Violence. I think
D Nice told me the story that basically all those
patches belonged to d Nice and Kariss One, like that's
how he made hot music. But Pal Joey is making
like house records on the side, just you know, for
extra cash or whatnot. So wow, and I did not

(31:35):
know it. That's kind of like how we looked at
when we when we started getting that frequency of international
EDM electronic music around the world, whether it was Justice
or the the you know, uh David Getta who were
traveled the world, and we're like, yo, remember that era
of like go out house you and the technotronic plump

(31:56):
up the gym? Y remember remember so who hot Hot.
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 throw
a House you, but just doing a black eyed Peace
style and utilizing those inspirations and those sounds and those

(32:18):
frequencies that were 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 and and those folks that were

(32:40):
transitioning into that, Yeah, a lecture of music. Music. Yeah.
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 him outside

(33:00):
of her standpoint. I mean, I'm a DJ, but I
don't really get many opportunities to do like house parties
like on frequently, maybe like four or five times a
year some club will hired me to do a house
set or whatever. But you know, were you at all
part of the whacking community like those? It was a

(33:21):
pretty tight niche We were part of the freestyle the
Adrian Youngs. You know Adrian Young before he became a producer. Wait, yeah,
before Adrian Young became a producer with Ali Shahid Muhammad 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 out to Adrian Young for his transition into

(33:44):
becoming an amazing cultureist 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.
So were you part of the good life community at
all or was that like sort of before we had
our own thing. We had our own thing called Peace
and Justice Center, which Black Eyed Peas spawned out of it.

(34:04):
We also had pump gated heead we used to come
out of there. Um. Not a lot of main artists
came out of there, but we had love and appreciation
for the abstract roods and the fellowships and you know,
uh Medusa and all those folks. Yeah, Medusa. Um, But
we weren't that part of La. We weren't in Lamert Park.

(34:25):
We were in East La Glendale, Sangibo Valley, Los Felis,
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 would bring us
to the hip to Filipino parties. So okay, that's kind
of where we We were sharp sharpen our swords and
battle other crews. My idea of battling really just stems

(34:48):
from watching Beach 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 out dance to all of you, like
how does a battle start? It's more of a spiritual warfare, bro,

(35:10):
more than our battle out dance you. It's more like
when you know when you see the X men battling
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 are in there as apex predators to see

(35:33):
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 Umu Rack Shot by
the mop Tops and and Wild Style, and you know,
we learn from the greats watching the battles between rock

(35:54):
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 would 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 mic and battle on the MC tip.
He was a killer. He was a killer on the

(36:17):
MCATs on the freestyle tip. And so there was this
club called Ballistics which Bud Bundy Ak David Faustino used
to put out and there was a hip hop club
and basically we would have, you know, crews from Pasadena,
from LA from South Central come to battle at the
spot in Hollywood, and that's where Buckwheat was at. That's

(36:39):
where the Far Side exhibit Robin Dick Haul of Patton,
Leonardo DiCaprio. We all came to Alyssa Milano. We all
came to this club when we were all teenagers and
black eyed peas. That's where we met and that's where
we started kind of like conjugating at this club called Ballistics.
When these battles happened, Like is there at ticular crew

(37:01):
or a person to whom you were like, nah, man,
I'm a destroyer when I see him next, or that
sort of thing, Like like what's the battle mentality to
to discredit another dancer? Not discredit another dancer, but like,
how does one determine who won a dance battle? Um?

(37:23):
I think it's more about the cruise, you know, and
and and just getting the name up and getting your
name because the crew would give you married in every
city if you're if you're dominating these battles. Um it
wasn't about money. Back then. There was no money. It
was like you know when you watch eight Miles, like
Eminem just battling. There was no like it's like, Yo,

(37:45):
you're battling for reputation, right, and then you're battling At
that time in the eighty nine 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 foot loose opportunity.
Maybe I can be on David Letterman, like the way

(38:08):
that Crazy Lads 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 would just break
dancing or freestyle dancing. And then I started elevating my
mentality to be able to utilize performance dancing. And then

(38:30):
with the guidance and the strength 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 as like

(38:51):
I could be a triple threat, break it down because
he wasn't just a 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 bounce to it. What was the point in which
you knew or seriously pursued like, Okay, this is what

(39:15):
I want to do for a living. What was your
life into your daily life into pre entertainment, like as
far as school or a job or that sort of thing.
My first first job was at Disneyland picking up Horseman
after the electrical parade, which was I was dealing with
a lot of ship back then, ladies and gentlemen. I

(39:37):
was dealing with a lot of shit. But it taught
me being on point um as far as like um,
you know, being punctual, work ethic um, humility, because I
was dealing with a lot of shit but also being
part of a corporate structure. And during the day I
was working at disneland and at night I was performing

(39:58):
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. Um,
just like what you guys used to do a mirror
at the what was it called Leila's was that? What
was that spot called? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah, the early years. Yes,

(40:19):
So we used to do that same thing. We used
to go to this Peace and Justice Center and just
sharpen our swords, 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 were
getting paid a lot of money, maybe like one hundred
and two hundred bucks, we looked at it like, oh,
this is a start of something. Maybe we can you know,
continue to grow this art form and this this this

(40:40):
vehicle called Black Eyed Peas and this could become something. So,
you know, and 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 the way I was

(41:00):
able to pay for gas or meals to get to
the studio or to my performance. I was gonna ask
had y'all officially become at band clan at that point? No, So,
Will and Apple got signed at sixteen as an ad
band 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

(41:23):
signed him. He was like, Yo, I love I love
what you guys representing. You guys are kind of like
the West Coast version of a trip Call Quest or
Diggible Planets. 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 Diggible and Tried did
in the East Coast. I'm gonna do that for you

(41:45):
guys here in the West Coast. And so unfortunately Easy
passed away ninety five, and so that's that was kind
of the moment where Will was like, Yo, we got
to start a new thing. It can't be ad Bank clan.
So let's just I don't know this called Blue Unit. Nah.
That's why let's call it uh, let's call it uh

(42:06):
beans of rice? Why nah, it's just kind of whack.
What about what about black eyed peas? Peas? What does
that represent? Black eyed peas 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

(42:27):
we started coming with it cool ideas about what black
eyed peas represented. And plus, there wasn't a lot of
food groups out there other than the chili pepper, right, Fante,
you're kind of a part of this, but you, you
and poo don't necessarily do like run DMC tug of

(42:50):
war style. But you know in the Peas there are
various songs in which you guys trade lines and 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,

(43:11):
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 for us? He's the
first 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. Yeah,

(43:32):
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 two eighteen,
which is probably about that love that record Thank You Brother,
which is our best work. It's not a pop record.

(43:53):
It's a strictly Black Eyed Peas is showing you, which
we still are capable of doing as hip hop kids,
as mcs. We got to work with our freaking one
of our mentors, Lalo Shipperd doing all these transitions. So
that being said, you know, we're just in the studio
just vibing, like jumping around and just acting like we

(44:15):
were seventeen again. And that's what the Peas is is,
like we're 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 um? 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, I am an apple and
it's always been that, And so what you see on

(44:37):
stage is us jump jumping around having a good time,
just you know, not taking ourselves too seriously. Not to
Day Last, so not to day La 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

(44:57):
what do you got? Apples say something, and then we
just started exchange and then you have your traditional like
you know, tab what you got yo? 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 every song, and it comes out magical because

(45:20):
we know our formula. We know how to maneuver on
stage and in the studio as a trio. You spoke
about briefly about the ladies that y'all worked with over
the years. I want to ask you specifically about Kim Hill.
I really love her, Like, what memories do you have
of working with her during that time of First of all,
I just want to acknowledge all the ladies that have
worked with us, and Kim Hill set the tone. You know,

(45:42):
She's been such an amazing piece of our history. And
for those folks that don't know she's she's an amazing
designer as well. She has some pieces. Yeah, she's a DJ,
she's a great mom, and she she just she's all
around amazing person. So she just set the tone for

(46:02):
us because she was older than us at the time
over 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 a line when we're on tour.
You know, we're like teenagers. She was in her early
twenties and we were like, uh, you know, still kind
of goofy and messing around, and she'd be like, yo, guys,
we gotta we gotta show them all whatever. But it

(46:23):
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,
because she contributed a lot to the first two albums
behind the front and bridging the gap, and you know,

(46:46):
she's just she's amazing and I'm proud of everything that
she's doing now, So salute to Kim Hill. He walks
us through the process of what led to the deal
with Interscope, from the time that you got guys formed
the group to getting that deal, Like, what was the process?

(47:06):
A lot of a lot of shows, man, a lot
of shows, A lot of nose, black eyed peas. You're
not tangible enough. M there's already a slum village, there's
already a route, there's already a Fuji's what makes you
think you're gonna sell records? I feel the spirit of
run fairy Man. It was. We dealt with a lot

(47:29):
of nosse it's not tangible enough. I don't hear any
singles of you know, who are the black eyed peas?
What are you the black eyed peas? Like you know what?
You got a ninja and a black guy and 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 we always had an international mindset

(47:51):
because Apple came from Philippines, so we knew we 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 Banjour and
Sir Joe Mendez and Brazil sixty six and all these
amazing Brazilian artists, and we loved the samples. We loved

(48:11):
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 Hendricks did,
the way that the Doors did, the way that you
guys did at Jazz Cafe. You know, it was just
that that idea of always wanted to go international, and so,
you know, it was it was a journey man. It

(48:32):
was a journey of belief, of doubling down on ourselves
when people were doubting us, and we just we just
continued trucking on. In fortunely, Jimmy Ivey 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 fifty and it was also Tom

(48:54):
Wally at Warner brothers and then at Jimmy Ivy and
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 touring band. Um.

(49:16):
If you guys are about the money, you can go
to some 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 like he
was the godfather that led us on that path. Whenever
an artist puts the big hit at the very end

(49:37):
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 bridge of the gap,
not behind it. Yeah, so you know, there was a
second where it's like, okay, you guys getting traction on
on TRL and this is about to happen. You guys

(49:59):
are how 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 you're you're surviving is going to
be sink or swim? Like, did you walk through that period?

(50:20):
That's when we knew the Internet was real. Okay, this
is when we found out the Internet existed, and it,
I mean it swallowed our sales. It was this thing
called Napster. Okay, you had all the promo marketing, all
the looks you can have. We were on tour, on

(50:41):
a college Invasion tour with Dayline White Left and I
believe it was bisin Marquis 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,
tab did you did you bring 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,

(51:03):
who's playing the fucking record? So it was a girl
She's like, I love your new albums and we was like,
what do you mean our new album it's not even out.
It'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 like the new pirrating ship, like you can
get all these like new albums. So we basically found

(51:27):
out that our album had been pirateed 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 picked up the song, but we only sold we
sold less than behind the front because people are now
going to Napster sot theyd get it for free instead

(51:48):
of buying the 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 ELEPHONK album. This
is two thousand and one, right, So how our decisions
made as far as who to work with, who to
bring like our producer to work with, what members to

(52:09):
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, It's like we're all going
through our own individual issues. And I remember at being
away from from studio a lot so to me and

(52:30):
Will Heavy in the studio on Elephant and at that
time ninety eleven happened. So we're recording Aboudego Bay nine
eleven happens, we're supposed to go on tour in September twelve.
We go on towards September twelve, and we travel around
the US and we see all this divide, all this,

(52:51):
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? 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

(53:15):
we started creating where's the Love? The record the song,
and we recorded these records where's the loves Let's get
its started. We recorded Hey Mama, all these joints off
the elephone, and I remember we played it for Ron
Fair and he said, I don't hear a single. Wow,

(53:35):
I don't hear a single. So our exaction like, we
don't hear a single on elephone. So we're like, we
gotta double down. This is 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

(53:56):
have a girl in the studio, She's singing the girl
parts that we yeah so so referencing stuff, but it
actually sounded good and 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

(54:18):
a kids 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, are we gonna put put
her in the group? Like yo, we 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,

(54:39):
because we have. We had Kim Hill, Macy Gray as Sterile,
Don Beckman, Noel Skags, all these females have worked with us,
Debbie Nova. But now there was going to be a
female that might not fit the mold because she'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

(55:02):
make this happen. Let's just bringing the crew. Let's take
her on tour. We took her on tour. People hated it.
People like, oh, man, what's this? This ain't black eyed Peas.
I'm not feeling this. So they were hated, Like yo,
it just turned like it turned negative because we have
this new girl in the group, Furgi, and so we

(55:22):
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 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,

(55:45):
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
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? That was it?
I said, can give me something like mercy? Mercy me

(56:07):
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? Yo? I gotta call Will I call Will?

(56:28):
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. But 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.

(56:49):
He's in Sync. He's like, that's even fucking worse. Tab,
Why are we gonna have that guy thing 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, he records it, and
the left the rest is magic. We we put it out.

(57:11):
It creates this huge, huge, amazing frequency around the world.
It becomes our first number one record, and Ron Ferris
put strings on it and that was his connection to it.
I always knew it was going to be a hit.
Little buddy, when this song finally takes off, what was
the first paradigm shift that occurred in your life? I

(57:33):
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
be the establishment. So what what is happening like? What's
what's the feeling like? What happens? I love that you

(57:53):
said that because I was so proud of you transitioning
into late night me felon 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 re people, to be acting
and all the great things that you guys have been doing.

(58:14):
So that being said, I think for 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, I was gonna say, how did that
feel to be? Yo? We made it? Boy that just
loves hip hop culture and yes it was tongue in cheek.

(58:37):
It was funny. It's like they're making fun of the
black eyed peas, but they're mentioning the black eyed peas. Yeah,
you know what I'm saying. My brother Appletypp came from
Philippines not knowing the word of English because hip hop
taught him how to speak English. He reading dictionary, learned
how to wrap, and became a freaking huge international superstar

(58:59):
from the fact pop y'alla pop culture references like that.
So so I'm like, yo, you gotta own it. Who
else but us? I mean, we get shit if it's there,
own it. And if people hate all good, Oh, you
gotta sellouts. Yeah, we're selling out stadiums around the world. Yeah.
You know. My manager used to tease to reconni about

(59:22):
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. We
should be walking in slow motion, We should be you know,

(59:44):
pouring champagne all over women and whatever whatever. Hype Williams
slow motion kind of life that shiny Yeah, like that
experience you like this bill. For me, it was getting
custody my son, being able to pa twenty thousand dollars
to get custom full custody of my son, Josh. I

(01:00:06):
was like, Yo, that's with more than any gold Chain,
than any Bentley because now I'm able to raise my
son on 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

(01:00:27):
a little kid having a kid. So when the whereas
a love moment happened, that was when financially I was
able to actually provide a stable home for my son.
Right although I had health with my mom because I
was still young, I was twenty one, twenty two, at
least I have some form of stability financially to be
able to take my son away from the way he

(01:00:50):
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 Bentley moment or any gold chain or you know.
And I bought a house, yeah, but it was like
taking care of Josh was like, you know, I made
it and it was because of that wears love money
that brought me this, this opportunity to be a dad.

(01:01:12):
How old were you when you had Josh? Seventeen? I
actually walked I walked my graduation with a sign bro
Like I was like, only it was crazy, dude. It
was like, 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

(01:01:34):
of fashion. I don't eat teen parents parent team. 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. Of all those records,

(01:01:58):
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
and D. But going into Monkey business. What was the pressure? Like,
I mean, bro, like we uh we went in there

(01:02:20):
and actually tried to make hits. Elephant wasn't trying to
make hits. We're just making records like, Yo, what's popping
over there? Shiit? What's what's what's uh Timberland doing, What's
what's Forrell doing? What's this person doing? Like it was
all over the place being students and like how can
we compete? And so records like Don't Lie, which is

(01:02:43):
my least favorite record, even though it was a smash,
I don't like performing it. It's just um. Then we
had Don't Funk with My Heart, which is cool because
we studied Bollywood and we like that frequency and we
loved Lisa. Lisa and Nicole jam love that record. I
wonder if I take yeah so that record, and it

(01:03:03):
was like, oh, okay, this kind of sounds like weekends
from u um uh from from Bridging the Gap um,
which we sampled um Um Debbie Dap look at weekends
because here we come, and so there was like a
formula happening. And then we sampled Dick Dale Misery Loot
for Pump It and then Well did My Humps, and

(01:03:28):
then we finished it off with with the James Brown joint,
which is my favorite. Yeah, talk about that session record
when I was jealous, man, how did that happen? We
were at the mojole. They don't want music, they don't
want music. Yes, that was the first Boom Boom song.

(01:03:49):
And mister Brown, as he liked to be referred to,
mister Brown 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, you work
blah blah blah, giving them flowers. What I don't have

(01:04:10):
to work with anybody, but something says that I need
to work with the Black Eyed peas. Yo. Yo. Also impression,
it's it's, it's, it's it's trying. But but he says, Okay,
I'm show up to the studio. We're recording at um

(01:04:33):
Metropolis in London Paramounts No Metropolis Studios. He comes, he
has his whole entourage. Bro. When I tell you this
dude's a mega superstar. He walk in with a lady
that cos his hair. So he's sitting down. They bring
out a mirror. The lady sits down, combs his hair,

(01:04:54):
and then he's like, okay, I'm ready. I don't ready.
So we're like okay, cool. So so s our band
they going there, they start doing the thing. He's like no, no, no,
everybody out. He brings his horn players, so his horn
players are leading the dance. That his horn players are

(01:05:16):
leading the dance, We're like, oh yo, just let him
do his thing. What kind of style can we bring
to what James Brown's bringing mister Brown's bringing. What about
like that Greg nice and that that nice smooth joh
Yo Disney go less. He plays a sad and I
like Matt. So that's the that's the frequency that we
tapped into for the rap party that Will is doing

(01:05:38):
with with James Brown. And I just remember like after
the session we were breaking bread. He's sitting at the
table and he's talking to us and somebody comes over
and starts cutting his his food, like his meat, his steak.
He has someone to cut his steak. He has someone
who brush his hair, and then he goes like this
like some he comes and wipes his mouth. I was like,

(01:06:07):
wait a minute, hey, Steve, Yeah, that's like one of
my favorite tracks of y'alls man me too, d 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,

(01:06:29):
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 native tongue. So
that was very important, and that was around that time
the Monkey business Eric. But during that time we also
got to tour with amazing rock groups. Can I just

(01:06:50):
tell you about the Rockets? Yeah? Yeah, I want to
know what tour life was like at this point in
your life. I mean, we're we're touring with with uh,
with um, I mean, seven Dust, No Doubt, Whence to
Find Me, Lit Blink one eighty two, it was just
Dope Metallica. We were just touring with all these amazing

(01:07:13):
rock groups because those are the type of 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 audiences that weren't necessarily hip hop audiences,
and so our pellet kind of expanded, and that's why
we had UM. You know, we worked with Travis Barker,
and we worked with Papa Roach and all these these

(01:07:36):
rock groups so that we could learn how to bring
that frequency as well and just be students of the
game UM and and learn how to perform in front
of these audiences that you know, you better be doing
something other than just playing instruments or just rapping, because
they're gonna they're gonna tell you, we're gonna throw stuff
at you, they're gonna flip you off. So we're learning
how stage died, we're learning how to do mosh pits

(01:07:57):
all that stuff around Europe, and as that we can
bring that same rock energy with with the Black Eyed
Peas essence. Well, this is a question I always wanted
to know. Okay, So for the longest I'll say, like basically,
before the Internet kind of colonized the world and had
us all thinking like at the same time, whereas before

(01:08:19):
you go to different territories and the section of town
didn't get what New York has or that sort of thing.
But there was a moment where I remember when you
guys first came out. Uh you guys went to Australia
and you did Big Day out right. Yes, loved it.

(01:08:41):
And I remember, uh Jurassic Five telling me you know
we we we you have 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 there'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, yeah, mega
And he was like yeah man, Ben Harper play stadiums
and he was like yo, yo yo, black Eyed Peas
can set out of the stadium. I was like, black
Eye peat the Black Eye Peas are just opened for
me last week the Solid Stadium. I literally I was
like my mind was blown. But for you, what was

(01:09:26):
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 play
whole music over there, like a person like Ericabadu can

(01:09:49):
still find space on pop radio along with whoever is
like hidden pop and that sort of thing, Like they've
always been balanced that way. So as a result a
lot of them, music that we like that's deemed underground
music gets the same platform that something mainstream is. But
for you, like, what was the feeling in breaking breaking

(01:10:11):
that ceiling and finally, you know, getting to a point
where I'm certainly met 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. Uh So, so
being able to travel to Australia, you're seeing all these
actors and actresses and kind of like the the experience

(01:10:35):
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 um and so
you're meeting all these people and you're getting this after
effect of like yo, I didn't know they liked the music, right,

(01:10:55):
We're just we're just kind of like Nomad's 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,
or you're just creating music. So we were we were
just embracing the beauty that was Australia and it is
Australia because they supported us before any before anyone actually

(01:11:16):
gave us that then Flowers, it was Australia, New Zealand.
Let me show you something. Yes, this is my first
plaque bust New Zealand. This is the first plaque that
I actually got gold. Wow. So that being said, in
New Zealand and Australia, they had loved for us before
any any domestics, so especially on our first earlier work

(01:11:40):
with behind the front of Bridge of the Gaff. So
you know, it just it just affirmed everything that we
had been doing. We have been working towards being able
to toward the world and be international and just bring
that energy. And I would say Australia was probably the
place where we spent most time because we did the

(01:12:00):
Big Doubt for months and every year we did it
up until that point when they stopped doing it. Okay,
So I have a theory about mega songs. Every mega
song that I've ever known from Louie Louie to shout
to tequila. Like mega songs, songs that will never die.

(01:12:22):
The story always starts the same where it's like we
created that in like twenty minutes, Like we didn't really
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 gotta feel and will ever

(01:12:43):
go away or not be played at any function, be
it wedding, celebration. Yeah, the amount of times I've had
to spend it as a dj M. What was the
process in making that song? I just remember we're talking
about what's that song we're building, what's that song that

(01:13:04):
plays at every freaking sporting events, wedding the Earth Winning
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 little Great
good Time, come on, yeah we do. We need we
need something that's like gonna live sporting events, colleges. Yo,

(01:13:30):
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
in Mire we have each one has a verse or
you know, you have like a bridge or something. But

(01:13:51):
in this song, we strategically said, we want the energy
of this song to feel like one. Yeah. Right, So
I remember David Ghetta sent the track to Will. He's like, oh,
I have this remix for the Love is Gone right
now that the Love is gone? Remember that song? So

(01:14:12):
this is the remix track too, that song. Okay, he
didn't use it. Oh really, yeah, he didn't use it.
He's like, oh, 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,

(01:14:33):
that's when you know it's something. Um. The first time
we performed it, it was a disaster. We performed at
the Tangle it was horrible. Where was it Wangle Tangle Kiss?
At Bam Ryan Seacrest, it was like I wanted to
say it was. It was in in in Anaheim. We
performed it and people are alive. Nope, We're like this

(01:14:58):
scourged no words like, oh, oh, this might not be
the one. Maybe it's this other Boom Boom Power song. Again,
there was a knockout punch. Boom Boom Power came first,
right right, that was that number one for like twelve weeks. Yeah,
so we're like, yo, how do we outdo Boom Boom
Power because that was like, bro, we already We're already

(01:15:19):
at number one twelve weeks. And then we came with
I got a fill in and then it just knocked
it out and it just stayed on the charts. And
then we're doing all the awards shows, all the the
you know, all the sporting events. We did the Super Bowl,
we did the World Cup. That song is blowing up everywhere,
and then, um, it just let us know that something

(01:15:43):
that we thought was gonna be a college anthem became
an anthem that 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

(01:16:06):
That's why that representation of us doing the lyrics together
is a synonymous for that song, how it brings everyone
together when you're having um this level of success. And again,
like the question was like, can you guys out do elephunt? Okay?

(01:16:27):
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?
Or has it? Has it ever been a time where

(01:16:48):
it's just like, was there ever a be careful for
what you ask or wish for a moment for you? Right?
I don't 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 man, I love being on that

(01:17:09):
stage with my brothers. Bro, Like that's like our livelihood.
When we're on stage. We're seventeen year old kids that
just loved performing and loved 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 ship was bullshit, bro, that's like suicide.

(01:17:31):
That eight year break. That a year break from twenty
eleven to twenty nineteen, when we put out Leetmore with
Jay Balvin, when Sylvia Rohan signed us, learned 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,

(01:17:54):
I got cancer in twenty fourteen, but man, we were
very lucky to come out of that your hiatus because
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? How is that conversation happened?
Are you guys actively communicating with each other and saying like, hey,

(01:18:16):
I need a break, need to have some me time.
We'll reconvene in any year right now? It was it was.
It wasn't a choice that mean Will and Apple had
just being honest with you guys, that's the reality. We
would have kept going We're at the height of our period.
Why stop? But I get it, you know, um not

(01:18:38):
all of us wanted to continue. And so that being said,
when it came back to coming back to wanting to
do music again. This is after I battle cancer. I
reached out to Will, I reached out to Apple, I
reached out to fird I said, Yo, I'm ready. I
need I need this to reduce life. I need I
need my healing performing Black Eyed Peas. We need to

(01:18:59):
do it again. Will and Apple were like, let's go,
and that's what it is me. 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 Jay Ray Soul and she she was a
young artist that inspired him to be able to bring

(01:19:21):
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 part of this amazing
new I guess you can save this new lease on
life because, like I said, we were our Interscope and
then we got dropped and then we got picked up
by Silvia. Rohne explained to me the process of getting

(01:19:41):
dropped by Interscope when you're literally one of their biggest
money makers. Well, Jimmy was gone, bro, Like Jimmy was
now beats World He's like, I don't have anything to
do it. So who took over Interope? John Janet and
Steve Burman? Burman? Oh damn okay. I believe Burman is
the cat if you remember the Dre Day video, Yeah,

(01:20:04):
where he's playing the role with Jerry Heller. I didn't realize, like, wow,
Burman took over Enescope. Okay. Yeah. So we put out
Master the Sun and they're like the saying it, this
is not what we want from Black Eyed Peas and
so the album was great, but not to that. So
in their eyes there was a failure. It wasn't what

(01:20:27):
they expected. And so they're like, you know what, we're
gonna part ways. I think 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,
we're like, yo, what what are we gonna do? And
like Will always does, Will is like, don't worry about it, guys,

(01:20:47):
we're gonna figure it out. So I trust him. Since
I was seventeen, he's always been the don't worry about it, guys,
We're gonna 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 Reepmo that we recorded with Jay
Bowin right. So I remember Zeke from from Sony comes

(01:21:11):
to the studio and he hears it and he's like, Yo,
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 are.
He's like, we're not on the label. So he leaves

(01:21:32):
the studio called Sylvia Roone. Sylvie Rone shows up to
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.

(01:21:54):
This whole Latin afrobeat fusion, whatever you guys are doing
with this frequency, it's international and it's popping right now.
We're gonna sign black Eyed son to Epic. So we
get signed. We create this album which was translation, which
we put out during the pandemic, we still put out
a record. We had songs like We're Like Me with Shakida,

(01:22:14):
We had Mamasita with Thosuna, Viva Loco with Nikki Jam
and Tiger. So all these records just represented where we
were at in that state of our career and how
we were inspired by these Latin applebeat rhythms that were
happening around the world, and so that was kind of
our nod to that. And then we created another record

(01:22:36):
which we put out called Elevation, and that one featured
Don't You Worry with Shakida and David Ghetta, and then
we did a record with Anita from Brazil and Alalfa
and the max record would drop in is with Daddy Yankee.
After having done it at 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.

(01:22:58):
With the group, docuse 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 of
like a scripted series, Like I don't think it's a movie,
it's a it's a series like the Beatles did a
docu series like the Beatles did a Yellow Submarine, where

(01:23:18):
it's kind of like mystic magical, uh, 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. And then they
became popular around the world. It's like, no, we want

(01:23:39):
to tell all these amazing stories like cancer survivor and
and tech guy he's 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 well, I am so all these
crazy stories. It's a little bit sensation wise, and it's

(01:23:59):
it's entertaining and and and still appealing into the eye.
I see, I see well, man, dude, this is definitely
worth the weight. And for you know, this is like
our first in depth conversation with each other. Man. So
I'm really glad that we got this. Wait, Steve, you're
about to say something. No, I was about to come

(01:24:19):
wipe wipe something off your mouth. For that's theirs. I
just want to do a little, a little promo real
quick on something. So I invested in this company called
a Kid's Book, about which you already I sent it

(01:24:39):
to you. Yes, 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, you know, a
kid's book about mindfulness, this book about addiction, um, this
book about anxiety. And it's all about having uncomfortable conversations
with kids because a lot of times parents tiptoe around

(01:25:03):
these conversations. And so we said, no, why don't we
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. So this is just so what's the name
of the of the book series, A kid's book about

(01:25:48):
and where do we find that online? We get that
on Amazon Kid's Book About dot Com. And basically it's
all these different writers, authors, kids that are doing the
forward so that that they that you empower the kids
to really be part of this journey along with the
books that I'm writing for Marvel. Um, being an author

(01:26:11):
is very important to me because then I'm able to inspire,
just like we did with lyrics, Like now I'm putting
that same energy and 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, um,
and I'm doing my due diligence. I'm putting in the

(01:26:33):
groundwork and putting in my ten thousand hours to be
able to transition from music into into being a creator
and a screenwriter and eventually one day on wood a
director films make it happen. I mean, you lived a
life in which you know you you made moves with
no trepardation and you know you put your foot forward,

(01:26:55):
So that's definitely going to happen. Yeah, brother, I appreciate that.
And again uh fante, thank you man, thank you for
the inspiration. I hope you feel better. Oh yeah, thank you.
I want to say Tar and Pharaoh Munch I'm my
two favorite mcs of all time of all I shall
relay that to him. And honestly, we didn't we didn't

(01:27:16):
touch on Daylight Bro, and that was something very important
because when he text me about about Dave and that
that piece you guys put together, everybody put together, that
was beautiful man, So well, thank you for being a
part of that. Man. Yeah, I want to dedicate this
one to Dave Bro and his impact, um that he
had on all of us and what Daylight means to us.
And now with their music being on all streaming platforms,

(01:27:37):
I'm proud of Pasta, Nous and Mace and Dave. I'm
still listening to music like like it just came out yesterday.
We're well on behalf of the QLs crew, on behalf
of yea cousin, Jake, Steve and I'm paid. Bill came
home from a cigarette. Thank you Taboo for joining us

(01:27:59):
and this is what's love. We will see you on
the next go round of course. Love Supreme, all right,
see you M. What's Love? Supreme is the production of

(01:28:21):
I Heeart Freed Well More podcasts from my Heart Radio,
visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you
listen to your favorite too,