Will.i.am says he feels like he has 750 children after helping under-privileged kids get into university
BLACK Eyed Peas frontman Will.i.am has smashed global records in his 25-year career, including having the first song broadcast on Mars – and now he’s set another one.
The quirky star has opened up about parenthood, saying he has 750 children . . . sort of.
He launched his i.am.angel Foundation in 2009 to help provide financial support and opportunities for young people to go to university and he reckons it’s like having his own family.
On the phone from his home in Los Angeles where he is isolating, he told me: “I send those kids to college and connect them with my network of folks and see what they can accomplish in life.
“I think my choice of family and responsibility is I’ll serve 750 kids this year.
“Last year was a really proud year for us, we sent kids to Brown, Stanford, Dartmouth, and these are like Ivy League, amazing schools and the kids come from the ghetto that I come from.
“It all depends on what you mean by family.
“I think the work that I do and where I choose to focus, I still have responsibilities and I still have love and joy and fulfilment.”
Will, who has just returned with the band’s new single Mamacita, has kept schtum on his private life in the past but is believed to have had relationships with singer Natalie Imbruglia and model Casey Batchelor.
But now he feels like the tradition of settling down with a partner and having kids could be outdated.
He continued: “What is traditional? When you’re looking at the world from today’s perspective there is nothing traditional.
“In fact, tradition is now in question, because who knows if we are gonna go back to tradition after this?
“Everything is gonna change dramatically after this.
“The world will not be the way it used to be.
“Everybody has their aspirations that are not the same and my aspirations are unique.
“What I think is valuable is what I can do to impact people on a productive and optimistic level.
“I wanna contribute to a lot of different people and culture and society.”
That told me . . .
READ ON FOR MORE OF BIZARRE’S BLACK EYED PEAS SPECIAL
We're ready to pop
THE band have made their best music following hard times and believe the pandemic will be no different.
Will said: “In 2001 we went on tour the day after 9/11. On November 24 we wrote Where Is The Love?
“In 2008, during the financial collapse, I wrote I Gotta Feeling.”
The band released single Mamacita featuring Ozuna and J Rey Soul this month, and it will be on their as-yet untitled eighth album.
It will be a change of pace from their hip-hop comeback Masters Of The Sun in 2018, which failed to chart.
Will explained: “Did we wanna do a pop album? Yes. Was it too risky having taken a seven-year break? Yes.”
Apl added: “We’re back on our thing. Bringing that energy, that joyful music, to occupy you for those three minutes.”
PeasBit
APL.DE.AP revealed his secret to staying fit and healthy.
Signing off my interview he said: “Stay safe and I challenge you to 100 burpees. That’s what I do every day.
"You’ve got to keep that immune system up.”
Naomi fit for Prince
WILL’S pal Naomi Campbell dressed up as the late Prince for a Grammy special in his honour aired tonight.
But I doubt that will be enough to get her on to the new album following the Black Eyed Peas’ previous collaborations with Justin Timberlake and Nicole Scherzinger.
Speaking about who they have teamed up with, Taboo said: “We want to keep it a surprise, so everybody is just like blown away.
“But we are really connected to the whole Latino, urban vibe.”
Taboo's living life to the max
TABOO has told how his diagnosis with cancer six years ago spurred him on to live life to the full, just as the current pandemic will do for others.
The rapper said: “When I got diagnosed with cancer in 2014 I was bed-ridden, I was doing chemotherapy, fighting for my life.
“That was the first moment to really evaluate the importance of my health and my family, and what the priority in my life is.
“Not be the entertainer, not be in the music business, but actually being a husband and a father, because at the end of the day all that stuff goes away and what are you left with?
“Fortunately I beat cancer.”
He added: “People should appreciate the time that they have with family and kids and just being present in their lives every day.”
bizticker
- J-Lo and Alex Rodriguez may buy New York Mets baseball team
- Eminem 12 years sober
- Ne-Yo cancels the divorce papers he filed weeks ago
- The Batman movie release delayed until October 21
Lott to see
PIXIE Lott looks amazing in this Instagram snap so I see why Will has done three The Voice Kids series with her.
But he says the show’s team complain that he takes calls while filming.
He said: “Everybody was like, ‘Get off the phone’.
"I work from it. Half of this new record was made via FaceTime.”
Apl farm
HE has made millions in Black Eyed Peas but Apl.de.ap has a secret side career – farming.
The rapper says he dreamed of becoming a “cool farmer” growing up and has now made that a reality in the Philippines, where he was born.
He owns organic rice fields, refuses to use pesticides and relies on solar panels for energy.
He said: “Instead of me buying cars and stuff I wanted to invest in something that will last forever, that will always be needed and it will provide for my family.
“I’m like, ‘We’re always gonna need rice,’ so I call my mum and I’m like, ‘Buy some rice fields’.
“Now we’ve been using that rice field and we’re donating it right now in our province because people are going hungry because of Covid-19.”
Good on him.
Peas' secret
TABOO reckons the secret to the Black Eyed Peas' 25 years in the industry is their versatility.
MOST READ IN BIZARRE
He said: “There’s not a lot of people that can reinvent themselves and continue reinventing themselves.
“You never know what’s coming from the Peas.
"We’re chefs that are able to cook any recipe, but you’re always gonna have a plate of Black Eyed Peas with that recipe.”
PeasMeter
THE band members recall the best memories of their 25-year history . . . and a meeting with Nelson Mandela was one of the top.
- Taboo: “Getting signed after a couple of years of heartache and pain and sometimes even being homeless. There were a lot of naysayers back when we first started in 1995. We finally got to the destination which was Jimmy Iovine had signed us to a deal and we had all these folks in a bidding war.”
- Apl.de.ap: “New Year’s Eve 2006 in Brazil we did a show and it was like over a million people by the beach and we couldn’t drive a regular car to the stage because it was so packed. So we had to pretend it was an emergency and they drove us in an ambulance to the stage.”
- Taboo: “When we met Mr Nelson Mandela, because we had never met such an iconic figure and it had nothing to do with the music business. It had to do with humanitarian work and the way that Black Eyed Peas was built, it was built on philanthropy. Nelson Mandela reinforced our philosophy.”
- Apl.de.ap: “I was getting homesick and Will was like, ‘Yo, don’t worry, if you wanna go back to the Phillipines to do a show, we’re there’. A decade later we went back and did a show for the country and the whole army was there, the president was there and my family was there. That was a big moment.”
- GOT a story? RING The Sun on 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP on 07423720250 or EMAIL [email protected]