I actually went to the frontline to be with my brothers at Standing Rock.
— Taboo
I'm half Native American and half Mexican and I support all native peoples around the world.
I'm a normal person just like everybody else. I just may have a different job. But I have kids, wife. I bleed, I went through cancer.
When I see children in New Delhi, babies walking around in no diapers and their mother is in a corner putting up bricks, it gives you a sense of being grounded.
I was the first Pea to have kids - you know how it is - I have three wonderful children, and when we talked about that time, and Fergie would say 'Tab, what is it like?' I always told her when the time is right, it's gonna happen for you, and God bless her, and I can't wait to see baby Ferg.
Apl has a lot of songs that are paying homage to his native tongue. He's from the Philippines. He has songs inspired by his culture.
Most of my career, people have the misconception about me as being threatening and scary, and having an intense look, but that's not the real me.
Apl, my bandmate, is from the Philippines. He came to America in 1989, and the first person he met was Will.i.am. And then, I met them when we were 17. Our common ground was music.
Our first major hit was 'Where Is the Love.' That was what best represented us bringing people together, no matter what walk of life, and no matter what culture or creed.
When it comes to being on stage, I might be on stage one minute and the next minute I might be in the audience, dancing and lifting people's spirits.
We're best friends that get to travel the world and create a movement. That's what's special about Black Eyed Peas.
They didn't tell me what type of cancer I had. They didn't tell me what stage I was in. They just told me, 'Mr Gomez, you have cancer.' My life flashed before my eyes. I thought about my kids, I thought about my wife. Nothing prepares you for the shock of someone telling you you have that horrible disease.
Apl introduced me to all the Pinays he knew, and so I married one.
Brazilian music has always been a part of us, but it's even more valuable now because of the sentiment or the theme of the actual song. So I feel like 'Street Livin'' is paying homage to what we started and it's touching on a lot of serious themes to DACA, immigration reform, prison control... all the things we address in the video.
Even if we are 50 or 60 years old, if we can do it we will continue to create content that pushes the envelope.
Black Eyed Peas is me, Will and apl.de.ap. That is who Black Eyed Peas is. We are the sole members.
We thought: 'Let's write songs about our relationships, the world, our anxieties - let's make the most of this.'
When they told me I had cancer, I thought I was going to die.
When you're getting chemotherapy, you feel so alone, even when your family is there, or your friends are there with you. Sometimes it's just you, feeling like you're in a fight against something that you can't control.
A lot of people have a misconception about artists, that they're invincible, you know, they're on a different plateau. But I'm just a human being.
I want to really brand myself as an individual.
I know that being in the entertainment business… my first son, I had to sacrifice being away, being on tour a lot and I wasn't really present.
The Black Eyed Peas as a whole is something I always look forward to.
I did something that's a no-no in the music industry. I cut my hair. For years, my hair was my stamp. 'Oh, that's the long-haired guy from the Black Eyed Peas.' But when I did it, it was like a breath of fresh air.
It's powerful when you're able to celebrate your culture, but also bring the arts and music to the masses.
As long as you're having fun and being positive and progressive, I'm going to say you're living a Zumbao lifestyle.
Zumbao' is a word that is not commonly used in mainstream America or even mainstream Latino America. For me, I needed a word that describes me as a performer, as an artist and that is just me wilding out and being crazy. I'm Zumbao.
Life is too short to be serious.
We have a global audience… we travel, and our name travels.
We don't want to live in the past; we want to go into the future.
Every time we come out, there's a hunger for creative expression or creative ways to put out content that isn't duplicated from our last run. Whether it's technology, messaging, visual… we're always pushing the envelope.
I am glad to see K-pop really pop off and it's cool to see how it's become an international craze.
It's a natural thing for us to be working on content and finding ways to implement, whether it's visuals or the partnerships to go along with the audio.
I wake up every day with a smile - I'm a blessed man, and every day is special.
I'm connected with my indigenous roots.
Cancer - there's no prejudice. There's no age limit. It can happen to anybody.
The Peas is the mothership you always go to. But when you able to bring something new to the table, it makes you stand out as an artist. I am not chasing the same things as Fergie or Will.i.am.
When I was touring with Peas, I was able to make the crowd feel the energy. When I said: ‘put your hands up or make some noise,' they just did it.
We have songs that are inspired by the Latin side. We have songs that are inspired by rock, African rhythms. Whatever country we go to usually inspires us.
My wife and I sometimes read books together. It's kind of like bed talk.
At home, I'm daddy and a husband. There's no Superman's cape. I'm changing diapers, giving my kids baths, and coloring 'Angry Birds' and playing games with them.
When I went to Standing Rock, it opened my mind, as did going to Indian reservations and speaking to kids about music and arts.
My name is Gomez, that's my last name.
If we're going to be on this futuristic 3008 vibe, we need to step up our performance.
The thing about Black Eyed Peas is we're very humorous. All we do is laugh all day.
In Vietnam, we can go and get big audiences, and we've been going there for so long. A lot of other hip-hop groups don't even go.
We don't get concerned with stuff like pressure. We just do what makes us feel good.
I grew up in a predominantly Asian and Mexican community, and because I did breakdance and poplock and all that, I did get a lot of criticism: 'You're Mexican, why are you doing that?'
We just love international music. We love the climate of that sound, it's that pulse that we just have to appreciate.
I was almost giving up because the chemo was so intense and aggressive that there were moments I had to find the inner strength within myself.
