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Black Eyed Peas: From East LA to Super Bowl Glory 🎤 | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
Jul 22, 2025
Get ready to uncover the incredible journey of the Black Eyed Peas in this exclusive Sway In The Morning interview! From their roots in East LA to dominating the Super Bowl stage, Will.i.am and Taboo share how they rose to global fame while staying true to their hip-hop and cultural beginnings. Hear them reflect on their early days, their brotherhood, iconic collaborations, and the creative process behind their biggest hits. The conversation dives deep into their influences, groundbreaking achievements, and the importance of representing and celebrating their communities. Learn about their perspectives on social change, the evolution of hip-hop, and how they’ve stayed unified through decades of success. Packed with humor, raw storytelling, and heartfelt moments, this is a must-watch for fans of music, culture, and inspiration. Don’t miss this powerful discussion about passion, perseverance, and purpose. Subscribe for more exclusive interviews, and stay tuned for the next big moment on Sway’s Universe! #BlackEyedPeas #EastLA #SuperBowl #SwayInTheMorning #HipHop #MusicIcons #CulturalImpact #newsong #blackeyedpeas #myhumpsblackeyedpeas #pumpit #let'sgetitstartedblackeyedpeas CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Black Eyed Peas’ Journey to the Super Bowl 04:21 - Will.i.am’s Impact on Taboo 14:05 - Black Eyed Peas: 30 Years Together 15:33 - Inside the Studio Process 18:31 - Fergie's Journey to Black Eyed Peas 25:38 - Shakira's Role in Black Eyed Peas 33:43 - East LA Influence 39:43 - Immigration and ICE Issues 48:35 - Jermaine Dupri's Contributions 51:38 - Will.i.am’s Songwriting Process 53:36 - Will.i.am’s Battle Rap History
View Video Transcript
0:00
Wow, man. Give these guys a round of applause, man. It's a powerful, very
0:07
powerful love letter that they written to their neighborhoods where they came from. And it's just amazing to see
0:16
since joints and jams.
0:22
How far these guys have come, right? I knew them before they were even black IP. That's so crazy, man. That's 30 31 years
0:29
ago. 31 years ago, bro. That's like Okay, hold on. That's like
0:34
if this was the If this was 1985 Uh-huh. that means we would have we would have
0:41
did we would have came to your show in the 50s. You know what? Get out.
0:47
You know what I'm saying? Get out. We would have came to your show. Big fact.
0:52
No, we would have Yeah. We would have had a song like Baba Damn. Zoom doom doom. Right. They came in the 80s.
0:59
They're like a slamming hip-hop record. Wow. Wow. Man. Wow. And then I I remember used to seeing you
1:06
guys too, man. Just dancing, bro. You know, I used to see y'all at events.
1:11
Unity. Unity. Bigger B. Rest in peace. Bigger B. Rest in peace. Um, did y'all
1:17
ever go to Radotron? Radio. I I remember seeing you at Radio. These are all huge
1:22
movements that took place in LA. And I remember when King Tech and I first came down to do, we came down before we were
1:29
doing radio. And so, uh, and we were good friends with Eas,
1:34
you know, and Easy E used to always talk to me about you guys, right? Because y'all was spitters, you know, known for
1:42
I would went back and was listening to some of the old music and was like, yo, y'all was really, really putting on, right? And so to see
1:49
y'all here today, man, give it up for Will I Am and Taboo. these dudes been around the world, man. Let me just read
1:55
some of the accolades. They ain't going to want me to do this, Tracy, but I'm going to go ahead and do it anyway. Um,
2:01
multi-platinum recorded artist. I've seen them perform on the biggest stage on the some of the on every continent.
2:08
I've seen people throw themselves at them for joy and love because of the vibration that their music creates.
2:15
They've always spoke to the people and they always speak to the people. Multiple Grammy Awards, nine or more
2:21
Emmy Awards, James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Awards, a Time 100 Impact
2:26
Award, World Economic Forums Crystal Award, one of the few music artists who have performed at two Super Bowl
2:32
halftime shows. Goodness.
2:38
People still trying to get one trying to get invited. They trying to get tickets.
2:45
No, we were the last group to get paid. Really? Yeah. So, people haven't got paid for the
2:50
Super Bowl since y'all. No, people paid to pay to play. We got We got to check.
2:59
So, levels? Yeah.
3:04
But, but why y'all got to check? Like, is that was just the way it was done then? Or I think it was before Jay came in,
3:10
right? Before Jay-Z came in. No. No. So yeah, it was it was it was way before that. But there was a time
3:17
where the Super Bowl after the uh Justin debacle Jan Janet the the wardrobe thing
3:24
they had they only were uh hiring they only were booking you know legacy legacy
3:32
bands, rock and roll bands after after that one. They didn't they didn't do contemporary like you know pop music or
3:38
top 40 music. And so I I flew out to New Jersey to pitch the Black Ops. Flew out to New
3:46
Jersey to meet with the NFL like, "Yo, I got this idea. How about you, you know, you you change the the the acts and and
3:54
let us perform." So I DJ for for for this for leadership
4:00
and uh you know, they they open open you
4:05
know the block. Mhm. And that was the, you know, and they were paying all those acts like
4:10
Prince got paid, Paul McCartney, you know, the Who,
4:15
they all got paid. So we were, we were one of the last few groups to get paid to play the Super Bowl.
4:21
Black Eyed Peace, you know, Will got so much trivia in him, you just got to activate it and trigger it. You'll never
4:28
know what comes out. going from Ruthless Records to the Super Bowl
4:34
stage. How do you even grasp that? I mean, it's it's humbling. You know,
4:40
first of all, I want to give you guys your flowers before I even answer this question cuz you guys are my morning drive.
4:45
Oh, my family and I when we're taking kids to school, Sway, Heather B, Tracy, Mike.
4:53
Wow. No, for real. Mike, say what up, Mike. What up, Mike? Wow.
5:00
What up, brother? To have you guys as as our as our drive, as our soundtrack to to start our
5:06
morning. Heather, I love you since all Glocks down. Been a fan since day one. Sway, you
5:11
already know what it is. But to answer your question, um, you know, it's humbling coming from
5:17
being a B boy, battling, meeting Will and Apple Ballistics, and then, you know, taking this journey
5:24
from, you know, LA to the Philippines where our brother Apple, shout out to Apple,
5:30
um, doing the Philippines, going to South Africa, going to Mexico, going to Kazakhstan, and all these different
5:35
obscure places that a lot of hip-hop artists may not travel to. We just came from Turkey two days ago.
5:41
Facts. So being able to do that Yeah. Yeah. Being able to do that was a humbling but but very precious
5:46
experience because you know hip-hop has taken us to many different places and you know we're we're built from the
5:52
cloth of De La Soul and Tribe Called Quest and Car One U Boogie Down Productions. So
5:58
we really took like worldwide worldwide when I would listen to BD that's my
6:04
favorite group all times. Yeah. Boogie Down Productions. Yep. BDP. Yeah. That's my favorite group of all
6:09
all time. like my whole entire yo the yo you're Will's favorite group I think you understand my whole entire
6:16
like purpose you know like I would listen to edutainment and be like he's at the college
6:23
wow cuz you just think like okay I want to do this show like I listen to edutainment like wow you go to the
6:29
college it's like the whole album is about something it taught me things that wasn't that the school wasn't teaching
6:35
me then I would go back to my professors and my my teachers Yo, is this true? Yes, that is. Well,
6:42
why aren't you teaching that school? Like, I'm getting taught by my favorite group.
6:47
And so, you know, BDP is like, dang, if you remove BDP from existence, like I
6:53
will just I'll just lifeless humanoid. and BDP Caris one and
7:00
Miss Melody and Douggee Fresh and all the people that did self-destruction taught us that
7:07
standing for something, advocating for something. We wouldn't have did Where's the love if self-destruction
7:12
Exactly. It's like, yo, how do we have messaging behind our music, not just the party feelgood vibe, but also messaging.
7:18
You wouldn't have did Where's the love, which is huge if self-destruction self-destruction,
7:24
cuz it was like the It was like, and this is what you're supposed to do. Yeah. Mhm. It was like
7:29
those songs, those albums became my rule book. This like
7:34
you know I'm vegan. Yeah. Because of beef. What a really like I don't eat certain foods cuz a freaking
7:42
song my dude. Yeah. K RS. Let me tell you how funny that was. I'm
7:47
No, go ahead. What you going? No, I was going to say and then you had West Coast doing We're all in the same game. You had Easy and Hammer and Young
7:53
MC and King T and NWA. So we had solidarity in the west coast to have that same messaging. So that was dope
8:00
for us too as as East LA kids. Wow. You you you saying something here? So I was in the studio with Kenny
8:07
Parker, KRS1's brother when Chris recorded Beef. We were there watching it and we were listening to him do this
8:16
song live and that's why I stopped. We made a dollar bet.
8:22
It was the straight. We made a dollar bet that who could stop eating beef or pork. We started with that first. And
8:28
since 1990, I haven't had beef or pork. I don't eat chicken anymore either, but
8:33
it started in 1990 being in the session live with KRS1 recording beef. Yeah,
8:39
that is crazy. The impact of that song. And I I still have the memory seeing him
8:44
behind the glass doing it and was like, "How is this going to work?" And he just
8:50
spit it and spit it and spit it line for line. It was incredible. It was
8:55
incredible. That's crazy. It became out like you know my my building blocks my my uh
9:02
you know the config how I configured myself this the car. So, how going from
9:07
ruthless uh to Super Bowl Clan Super Bowl? Mhm.
9:14
That's like science like the kind of songs you write the
9:21
your configuration of influences ignoring certain like in rhetorics you
9:27
know the combination of like okay what is K1
9:33
and BDP withwame de lasso and
9:39
delight with groovas in the and hammer. If you would have put Ankit
9:46
and play, you put them all together and heavy D. That's the black eyed piece. That's the black eye.
9:51
You put it all at because Oh, I'm sorry. Uh and throw in Jungle Brothers with Girl
9:58
House to that that takes you to international dance music. I would even say Big Daddy King cuz he
10:03
danced too. Nobody's crap. Yeah. No, we dancing. I'm talking about dance music like four on the floor.
10:09
Okay. You know, four on the floor. house music from Chicago or techno from Detroit. Like we dabbled in that stuff, too.
10:16
That's all still all black and brown music from Puerto Ricans to African-Americans.
10:22
And you know that picking these types of songs like, "Oh, wow. I I I really love
10:29
Queen Latifah's Give Me Body, Don't Make Me W, Come to My House." like or when I
10:36
heard delight I'm like okay there's a white girl singing the singing the song
10:42
there's this Latin dude an Asian person and then Q-tip on the rap
10:49
that recipe sounds like repeat that recipe I got to repeat that recipe cuz that
10:54
that just worked once only once how how can you repeat that
10:59
wow so I'm like take this recipe it's They do it at your favorite restaurants.
11:07
A burger is a burger. Now, when I when I see Groovas in the heart with Q-tip on it, like only one
11:12
burger, you just going to make one burger. Yeah. Like people like the burger duplicate
11:18
all around Earth. Mhm. And so that that's how I that's how we went from Appban to Super Bowl is being
11:26
scientical with your methods and being, you know, purposeful like intentional. Yeah. Who who are we trying
11:33
to speak to? Are we just trying to I just want to rap to rappers?
11:39
No, I want to just rap to rappers. Mhm. And plus plus our brother Apple's from
11:44
the Philippines. Yeah. So he came uh to the US in 1989 always
11:49
wanted to go back home and do something for Filipino community in Philippines. So, we always were destined to do
11:56
international because of Apple. And we've always dreamed like what if we could take East LA around the world.
12:03
Yeah. What if we could bring the LA heritage and hiphop to the world because that was
12:08
always our motivation. Yeah. Worldwide. Worldwide. When I when I think of songs like I got
12:15
took that little sentence and you and that became the DNA worldwide worldwide
12:21
across the nation. Now that we activated our communication, one demonstration has to activate a role
12:27
woman walker be the funky motivator. We I want to travel the world and stop in every city like our whole thing. Even on
12:34
joints and jams, we're about massive pill, no segregation, got black to Asian and Caucasian. Like we wanted to go
12:41
everywhere. The whole the whole premise from the jump. Yo, my man, I got a plan to do it
12:46
all. I got a plan that none of y'all ever thought about because underground [Â __Â ] don't be thinking. I'm going continental like Lincoln. How can you
12:53
make moves when you always trapped under? I'm trying to reach the surface to learn more about the thunder. I wonder what really makes the world go
12:58
round, not thugs cuz thugs go around to bring other brothers down. these sentiments, these like
13:04
affirmations, you know, after being stewed and brewed
13:10
in like my favorite hip-hop songs are all talked about, you know, they got 100
13:16
100 clips coming to New York. New York. Like, wow. That's how these guns is coming to
13:21
our cities. You think we learned that in school? You think there was some documentary or some
13:26
like CNN report on how the guns get to your neighborhood? that that's not what they that came from our music
13:32
to warn us and then all of a sudden we started like praising the drug dealer. It was it was a time where like the drug
13:39
dealer was not the person. He wasn't the hero necessarily music. Yeah. Then during the you know the the street
13:46
the three strike uh rule and the prison industrial complex our music started
13:52
celebrating and the hero became the drug dealer. Mhm. And so, but my my snapshot of the of the
14:00
coordinates was before that that the era before that, you know,
14:05
how did y'all align though? Like for you had a vision, app the app has a vision,
14:11
Taboo has a vision, but how did as a group, you know, you guys, you've obviously had some challenges as a
14:16
group, but you still never had challenges. We've never had a fight. Wow. We've never been like, "Yo, man, get
14:23
me." You never fought about money. We never fought about Only thing we ever fought about was like, "Hey, Tab, how
14:28
come you ain't come in the studio no more?" What? You just got the house now. You don't want to come hang with us? Only
14:35
thing we ever fought about. We never yelled at each other. We never pushed one. Like, serious.
14:42
We ever fought? No. Wow. We never tripped on money. We never
14:48
Our whole entire childhood we never fought. Yeah. And And our brotherhood is black eyed peas.
14:53
Yeah. Yeah. Will App and myself, we are a reflection of our friendship and our
14:59
brotherhood. And that's what the world received as black IPs. So, and at the end of the day, like we're
15:05
still going in 2025 and trying to put on being competitive, being hungry, but
15:11
never being complacent. They never argued. Like, to me, if I think about that, I'm
15:18
like, "Yo, we've never argued." Yeah. We never had a like, yo, a a time
15:26
where we like, yo, I ain't talking to that dude. I just need a week. Yeah. Never ever ever. It's never been that way.
15:33
So, how does it work in the studio? Okay. So, say you you doing you're working, you're vibing, you may say
15:38
something, you may say, and it doesn't work. It doesn't fit. How does that part get uh resolved without some kind of n
15:45
this is Oh. Oh, there was a Okay, so it's a song called Remo.
15:51
Mhm. Mhm. Song with Jay Bowin. Mhm. Um the song was complete
15:57
and Tab was like, "Ah man, I wish I I wish I could have been on that song." I was like, "Don't trip. Don't trip. Uh I
16:04
we'll get another one done." Okay. He's like, "Damn, but I really wanted to get on that one though."
16:10
Yeah. But just listen to it and tell me is it is it done though? Because we could like
16:17
we I we could make a new part, but we could mess up by doing that. We could change the vibe of what it is.
16:24
Just listen to it, Tab. Yeah. And then Tab would be like, "Yeah, you're right. This one's done, but let's
16:29
just let's make sure we we get another one." So So we go in the studio, we make Mamasita
16:35
or we make another record. I was like, "Yo, don't worry about it. I'll get a song that's predominantly you on it."
16:40
And so that's the trust that we have like all right just take a mama was done
16:46
and then I'm like yo tab listen to it. He was like well I listened to it but it's not done. I think there's room to
16:54
improve this. Just go back in there and tr All right cool cool. I'll go back in there. And that open-mindedness where
17:00
you trust one another. Egos aside. Yeah. There's no eos cuz it's like we we
17:05
since day one he's like don't worry about it. We'll figure it out. this is before we had, you know, any type of success. It's like, yo, at 17, 18, 19
17:13
year old kids, we'll figure it out. So that trust in in Will's leadership and his guidance has always been
17:20
prevalent to our journey as Black IPs as brothers. So when we're in the studio, he he's not like he doesn't have an ego
17:28
about, yo, will I maybe we'll do that. No, that's kind of whack. Oh, Tab, maybe we'll change that because it's a
17:35
contribution. It's a collaborative effort. Even with this East LA song that we just did, it was like us in the studio laughing, coming up with thinking
17:42
about words that represented our childhood and still to this day is intrinsic to that conversation.
17:48
And like, yo, Tab, is this whack? Yeah, that's whack. It's whack.
17:53
All right, cool. Cool. Are you sure it's whack? Yo, that's whack. Why is it whack? Well, it's whack because dot dot dot.
18:00
Oh, all right. All right. Or it's whack because your flow is giving me too much elbow. Yeah, we always do the elbow
18:06
thing. Like for sure. What does that mean? If your flow will make you do like this, if I could do like this to the rap,
18:11
that's just corny. What the [Â __Â ] Wait, really? Yeah. Our internal friends,
18:17
our our internal friendship was like that got too much elbow. Too much elbow. Okay. It's like,
18:27
so if you can do this to the flow Uhhuh. Nah, that's whack. Yeah. Damn. I wish people could see what they're doing right now.
18:33
They going to see it. So, so, so with Black IPs, how how so with Kim or Fergie, were they features
18:40
to Black IPs or were they members of Black? Shout out to Kim Fergie.
18:45
Uhhuh. So, we always had a girl in our crew like before at Bang Clan, it was um
18:52
Dandelion. Mhm. And then we met uh
18:58
then it was uh uh Dupri.
19:05
Uh Ingred Ingred Dupri. Uhhuh. Ingred Dupri sang on uh Joints and Jams.
19:11
Uh and then we rocked with uh Kim Hill. And Kim Hill was like, "Yo, she's our
19:19
big sister. She's a part of our family. She's on our records.
19:24
Um, but she had from the jump she's had a solo. She was a solo artist. She was a solo artist that's down with our
19:30
crew. Macy Gay was a part of our crew. I remember this solo artist, but she was pursuing her album. So, she rock
19:37
with us. We tour with her all throughout LA. Um, she we would open up for her
19:43
all throughout Europe, but she's still part of our crew. Eststero joined our crew, but Kim Hill was the solid pillar.
19:50
Mhm. Even though we had we was down with other female singers. Um Kim didn't want to rock with us no
19:56
more. Mhm. And uh we were we were about to go on on
20:01
Was it creative? Like she just wanted to do her own thing? No, there was it was a lot of like politics happening.
20:07
Okay. And um and so she we were on our way to Australia
20:14
and um she was like, you know, I'm not am I going to go with y'all? And so I'm like,
20:21
who's going to sing the choruses? Mhm. So I was like, I I'll do it.
20:27
I got it. I got I'll figure it out. I'll figure it out. So then I had to figure out how to sing the choruses.
20:33
And so then I realized how to do that. So then we went in to record Elephant
20:39
and so I had to write songs knowing that I can't rely on the girl to sing the choruses. So I wrote songs like let's
20:46
get it started. Um let's get it started. You so because that's what we learned
20:51
from touring. Uh the chances. Yeah. I figured out how to how to have melodic choruses without So ele
21:01
then we met Fergie. Then she came and sprinkled adlibs and things on elephant.
21:08
That's why on let's get it started she's in the beginning. Let's get started and then she does some ad liibbing on over
21:15
the song but she don't have no verses. Same thing on where's love. Where's the lovely she does back into to Justin
21:22
Timberlake. She has a song has a verse on Boogie that be and has a song by herself that
21:29
Taboo does a fly away on Fly Away. he does a verse on.
21:35
Um, and that's how we figured out a way to bring Fergie in. Monkey Business was really the album um where Fergie
21:43
where we really highlighted Fergie, but out of all the girls that was down with us, she was the first one that was
21:49
on the album cover and would do interviews with us, right? And like because we were, it was
21:56
Jimmy's idea, you know, Jimmy I from Records, why don't you sign it to your label? I
22:02
was like, I don't have a label. Now you do. Sign it to your label. Put her in the
22:08
group. Well, I've seen this work before with Fleetwood Mac. So Stevie Nicks
22:13
wasn't in Fleetwood Mac when they started. I did not know this. Know that either. And Jimmy produced Fleetwood Mac and
22:20
Stevie Nicks. So Jimmy's thing was like, I've seen this happen before. Back to the hamburger. It was the
22:25
recipe. He knew the recipe. Seen this happen before. Put her in a group. Sign it to your label. Break her
22:30
through the black eyepiece. That was Jimmy's genius. I'm like, "All right, cool." Cuz I
22:36
already had He was like, "You're already producing a demo." Cuz I had Fergie's demo produced. And then I was uh I I I I
22:44
met up with Farel to sign Fergie to Star Trek.
22:50
And then Jimmy's like, "Why would you do that?
22:56
Why would you take a star, sign it to you? I'm like, wait, you can
23:04
act reactivate my label cuz Kim was also signing my label.
23:09
Um, but there's a lot of politics that went through. So, so we put her in uh
23:16
signed her to the label, put her in the group, sprinkled her ad libs to already complete album Elek. Really went in on
23:24
monkey business. Uh and then we did her Duchess.
23:29
Mhm. Went like that from Mahumps to Fergalicious. Yes. And what that recipe came from what
23:36
Ruthless Records, JJ Fad, and we're here to rock. That that was my like Oh. Terry B was
23:43
actually the first white girl rapper sounding Ruthless. So I seen the blueprint from being up at
23:49
Rofless. Okay. Terry B. Oh, but only if Terry B was doing JJ Fab music. Yeah. It would have went. Not her trying to rap
23:55
like a gangster. Uhhuh. If you had Terry B doing JJ Fad stuff out of here. It would have been it would have flew.
24:00
That was my like putting two and two together like a man what I learned from Easy Up at Ruthless. If I only could do
24:07
put Fergie on JJ Fad type stuff. Uhhuh. Yo, boom. out of here, you know. Yeah.
24:12
No, Boom Pow came after after that. Okay. One My Humps, Fergalicious, Clumsy, you know, a lot of those out of
24:19
those records. Um, and then from there, she was on on her own. So, had to go back to the
24:27
original recipe, relying on me to sing the courses. That's why on Rock That Body, which is doing well
24:33
right now on on TikTok. And then um I got a feeling. Got a feeling be I then
24:39
went back to singing the course. Uhhuh. Oh wow. Because we already established Fergie. Then we did the the beginning we did we
24:47
did Super Bowl. So that was the dynamics. So when Fergie she in 2011 she
24:52
was like you know I'm going to be you focused on being a mom. And so we thought it was going to be a small break. But that break between 2011 to
25:01
2017 18 when we did Master of the Sun, that's the same amount of time from Ruthless.
25:09
Yeah. From 1992, '93 94 95 96 97 98 our first record.
25:14
Mhm. So 2011, 2012, 2013, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18.
25:21
Translation. Yeah. So the break that we took was the same break of dreaming to put a first record
25:26
out. Yeah, the science. Oh my god. So then we had to start over again
25:32
as a trio. As a trio and go back to Behind the Front to then apply that same pop stuff
25:38
to Remo, Mamasita, and Translation Like Me and Girl Like Me with Shakira.
25:43
Mhm. So Shakira was always like in and around. I always wanted to work with her. We recorded Girl Like Me in 2008.
25:51
Damn. You know, and that was just sitting on my hard drive like, "Yo, let's put this out now." And now you know you know
25:57
Shakira's Shakira she's man that recipe of like okay why
26:03
cliff actually we do okay we do look alike cleft got a record with should get out
26:11
we do look alike I'm like all right that recipe shoot let me go up in that recipe and do girl like
26:18
me now that cleft ain't trying to rock with Shakira right there shoot okay let
26:23
me get this recipe right quick you You know what I'm saying? And because in my head I'm like the
26:28
moment that somebody comes up to W Cleiff and be like, "Well, I am I made it."
26:34
Because everybody would always come up to me and be like, "Hey, Wack Cliff." I'm like, "I ain't Wiff.
26:40
God damn it. I'm me. I'm from East LA. He's from Haiti. He's from Haiti." He was like, "Hey, you
26:45
Haitian. I'm East LA. I'm Boy Heighten."
26:51
Yes. So, so the moment I made it in my head
26:57
as one day in like it was 20 uh 17
27:02
2016 I'm in New York doing Central Park doing the show and some beautiful young
27:08
little black child comes up. Will I am I am like oh this kid is so cute. Can I
27:14
take a picture with you? I'm like yeah sure. So I crutch down to a picture. She runs off. She's like, "Dad, dad, dad,
27:21
see I told you you do look like Will I am." I look, I'm like, "What?" Cliff.
27:29
[Music] I made it. You made it. I made it.
27:36
I made it. Drop the orange pill.
27:43
Oh, man. This is so great to hear, man. You know, and I love how you said you
27:48
had to uh, you know, block out the rhetoric because you guys, as far as we
27:54
were concerned, was hip-hop, you know, foundational hip-hop dancers,
28:00
graph riders. I mean, even to this day, like freestyle session, going to the B boy battles and being present and being in the mix and
28:07
appreciating the art form because we'll always be part of that world. Yeah. But there be but but then that
28:12
world and that has happened to me to a smaller degree when I went to MTV becomes very critical of you as you
28:19
start moving up that ladder of success. And a lot of us it could nag us like no
28:25
man I ain't forgot y'all. I didn't I haven't changed. I've just grown. I think that's uh
28:30
what is that? Okay. Now, imagine there's a imagine you
28:39
wanted to make sure a group of people don't have uh true financial wealth and
28:49
success. You don't want them to, you know, be in charge of their own capital dominance.
28:57
The thing you're going to do is you're going to plant seeds of uh doubt. you're
29:03
going to confuse them on what capital um success actually is
29:09
and you're going to make the community dislike true capital success because
29:15
with that capital you could go back and take care of your community yourself. And that's what you're you guys are
29:20
doing with your the classes and the education. So that happened to MC Hammer.
29:26
Uhhuh. I see I saw that happen to MC Hammer. like why did that actually happen to MC
29:32
Hammer? What did he actually do that was detrimental to the health of our
29:40
community psychologically, physically? He's active. He's dancing. He has songs. I like that's why we pray. That's why we
29:46
pray just to make it today. Like he had a lot of records that were like
29:51
actually whether he was dropping bars or not. Yeah. Oh, even the word bars
29:58
Mhm. is a part of the prison industrial complex on what you celebrate. Bars. Why
30:04
bars? Not not like stanzas, not like thoughtprovoking, you know? TP. Yo, that's
30:09
thoughtprovoking. TP. Why we say bars? Like even psychologically how we're been
30:17
conditioned. You see, you see the sprinkle. You see the poison, the trail. If you if you take a back, you know,
30:24
bird's eye view, you look at our configuration, there's a lot of subliminal psychological trickeries
30:31
as to what we, you know, attribute to the things that we celebrate, but it's
30:38
all conditioned. Yeah. Um KRS1,
30:46
I was I was walking the other day down uh Hollywood Boulevard. Michael, how
30:52
come his name ain't down on this floor? Hollywood Walk of Fame. Like, why isn't when's he going to get a uh uh
31:01
get inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Why isn't he,
31:07
you know, why wasn't those records million million platinum? You know,
31:14
those are freaking amazing songs, melodic, thoughtprovoking,
31:20
but that was by design. It was that what would they designed it that way, whoever the they are.
31:27
Mhm. So, um yeah, that that's not
31:34
Yeah. The the the twisters, the uh manipulators,
31:40
they're good. Mhm. They're they're invisible. They are the ones who they've you you
31:49
see their like I said, you see their their fingerprints. They designed the our words to where
31:56
black is negro and negro neg is neglect.
32:03
Negotiation because I can't trust you. Um uh it it's riddled with negativity.
32:11
Mhm. Uh the negative sign in the on the battery is a black takeaway which is
32:17
subtract uh less than. The designers that design these words
32:23
that condition how you look at the word world, you know, you got to they ain't messing
32:30
around. Yeah. And so if you don't think deeper and
32:35
and apply that to how you how you move to go from ideiation and materialization
32:40
to amplification to you know the maximum the maximum of what you can go out there
32:46
and do in society. You're just going to be ruled by their conditioning. I don't
32:51
I don't like to rock that way. Caris once said it best. Reality ain't always the truth. rhymes equal actual life in
32:59
the youth. So that sentence of reality is not always the truth is like what they're g they're putting these carrots
33:05
in front of you, but in actuality you got to look deeper into what that is. Well, I'm glad y'all didn't let any of
33:13
that rhetoric Yeah. uh detour you from your path because it was necessary to see I would see you
33:20
guys doing concerts in countries I never heard of. Yeah. Yes. Can I be honest with you?
33:26
Yes. I told Will this once. I said, "I battled cancer in 2014. If cancer didn't
33:31
take me out, the rhetoric is not going to take me out." There you go, man. That's my brother Taboo. Give that man a round of applause. Just celebrated his his
33:38
birthday as well. You made it, man. 14 years. You too, brother. 14 years for us. Our anniversary here on
33:44
Sirius XM in the in the song East LA. Let's talk about this because we relocated to LA,
33:51
so we're primarily here now. And that was by design, you know, and we go where
33:56
we feel the people can use us, you know, and what's happening in immigration out
34:03
here. And I'm watching these families just get shredded and broken apart with no
34:08
explanation, no get back. This song is a love letter uh to East LA. in it. Will you call yourself and
34:16
and it's interesting because they do they always are at hard at work because
34:21
you always hear this narrative about the divide between so-called black and brown, right? The the the Mexican
34:28
community, the black community. I grew up in East Oakland. Every house either side of me or
34:35
diagonally was a Mexican family. So, it was black, Mexican, black, Mexican, black. We We didn't even think
34:40
about that, you know. We didn't think there was no divide, you know. And so to see you guys make
34:47
this song in the song you call yourself a black cho. Yeah.
34:52
There's a lot of people that don't know what that means. A black selo. Yeah. Okay.
34:59
Black Ops. We had our show a tour this year in Europe in uh Eastern Europe
35:05
and my mom came out and my mom we're at we're in um we're in France and she's
35:12
like Willie look I'm like what's that? She's like that's media. I'm like oh she
35:17
got why she got a princess dress on. Willie that was her kinetta.
35:23
Wait when was her kinetta? Her kinetta was last week. How come you
35:28
didn't tell me I could have canceled our show? I wanted to play her kinetta. So for the people listening, a kinetta
35:33
is a Mexican sweet 15. It's like equivalent to American sweet 16.
35:40
Mexicans celebrate a kinetta. So one would be like, well, you're black, so you got nieces that had a
35:46
kinet have kinsettas. If you come to my house on Thanksgiving or Christmas,
35:53
my family is split between black Mexican and all the kids, all the nephews and
35:59
nieces are black and Mexican. Mhm. Cuz we grew up in all Mexican neighborhood. So when I say I'm black
36:05
so, I got to acknowledge my nieces and my nephews who are half black and half Mexican because they're like, "That's my
36:12
uncle Willie, right? My uncle Willie." So I'm black so. I got to acknowledge
36:19
a a a large part of my family and more importantly I got to acknowledge the community I was raised in.
36:25
Absolutely. And so, you know,
36:30
am I Mexican? No, I'm not Mexican. Mhm. Is
36:36
my any of my ancestors am I 20 I didn't do 23 of me. Mhm. So, but I'm pretty sure uh I'm not
36:46
Mexican DNA blood. I'm not I'm not Mexican. But energetically, spiritually,
36:54
a lot of the traditions that I've that I was raised in, I adore, I cherish. And
37:01
representing my nieces and my nephews, you know, my family is black suo.
37:06
Okay. And they're they're they're I'm black African-American through and
37:12
through proud. My my grandma was born in Piku, Mississippi. My mom was born in Louisiana. They migrated here to Los
37:18
Angeles during that the great migration. You know, like I knew my grandmother. My
37:23
grandmother knew her mom. My grandmother knew her grandmother. And my grandmother's mom was born in the
37:29
1800s. That person was a slave. Mhm. My my grandmother's mom worked on the
37:37
fields. My grandmother's grandmother, like I know my grandmother, rest in peace, nanny,
37:42
my grandmother knew her grammar. That person was a legit bonafide,
37:48
you know, they wasn't even thinking about freedom. Freedom. Yeah. Um, so what I when in in in what's
37:56
going on right now, people that work in the fields that are responsible for the food that's in our supermarkets, people
38:02
that make our city beautiful, black and brown have a lot in common.
38:07
And um yeah, so there's this uh uh line
38:13
in the song, I love Mexicans, us from the border, make her my wife so I bone a porter. Um because that that move Trump
38:22
knows what that is. Yeah. Trump married Melania. So if you could if you that's like
38:29
American Minton, but I'm
38:35
Mexican-Americans are just as much American as African-Americans because
38:41
yeah, we might have been born here. Our ancestors aren't from here, from this
38:47
land. Native Americans and Mexicans, if you live in California, Texas, Arizona,
38:53
that is your ancestors land. So if if it's about origins and from
38:59
what time scope are you talking about? You mean to tell me George Washington was that dude wasn't born here?
39:05
Not at all. Not at all. And yeah. Yeah. It's a lot of fear.
39:12
What a mystery. It's a mystery speaking of haha. Anyways, yep. I want to get into that too. And
39:17
then and then another subject. I think people were here in America way before we know people were here before pre
39:23
Columbus, you know, and I do believe that Africans migrated here um uh pre-colonial days. And I do believe that
39:32
uh folks were here already and and cohabitated. U we wouldn't know the
39:37
history ain't going to tell us that. Uh, but I want to know Taboo from your point of view, what are you seeing out here
39:44
and what are the effects of what we're seeing with ICE and what are you seeing in your community and your family?
39:51
Yeah. So, as a a Native American Shosonyi and as a Mexican American uh
39:56
multicultural, it's uh it's disheartening. It's sad. It um it makes
40:02
me feel ashamed whenever we travel the world and people ask us where you guys from. It's not the same. Like when we
40:09
see a a Brazilian flag, they have pride to be Brazilian. When we see a French
40:14
flag, you see the pride Philippines. But we don't have that same pride because of
40:19
what's happening. We do, but it isn't all-encompassing. It's sad. It's sad because the, you
40:25
know, you don't, you want to be like, "Yeah, I'm proud, but there's stuff that's happening that is not good,
40:32
right, in our communities, in our cities, um, especially in in in Los Angeles, as an Angelino. And for us to
40:40
to take the stance as Angelinos and actually advocate for those that don't have a voice, that don't have a platform
40:46
like we do, it was important. It was a calling. I said, "If I'm doing stuff in the indigenous community, if I'm going
40:51
to Standing Rock and I'm standing in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sue tribe, you best believe I'mma be at home
40:57
championing Mexicos and and Latinos in in East LA and all over Los Angeles." And I think that's why it was important
41:03
for us to stand up and do our part. So I I I could tell you. So we had another
41:09
graduating class from my foundation this uh this year. Kids going off to four-year college to
41:16
pursue higher uh education. I am Angel with I am Angel. We have our IM college track, our our robotics programs.
41:24
Um you would think the idea of protecting
41:29
our borders, going after the criminals, you would be like, "Wow, our community is going to be safer. Mhm.
41:34
I feel safe now. I feel at ease. But that's not what's happening. It it is like
41:43
they've broadcasted fear. They deployed fear to the community. Um and that and
41:49
that's because the way it was executed, you know, mass men and un unmarked cars going up to any
41:57
person that looks Latino. That is just inhumane. You would think that's happening. some
42:03
like rebellious third world country. It's inciting folks that are wicked.
42:11
They gives it gives them the pass to go to any army surplus, dress up like an agent,
42:17
grab a Latina, and kidnap. And there's no way that
42:24
the the innocent bystanders or or civilians that are out there watching to
42:30
even recognize because they mandated it's okay for the mass. There's no
42:36
unmarked cars. There's no ID. There's no badge. There's no you can't run up to
42:42
the VIN number. So they made it super unsafe. And so,
42:49
you know, you would think, like I said, that a third world country is doing that.
42:55
Yeah. And it's it's so irresponsible how how
43:00
they went about it. You remember in 2020 when they asked everybody from LA to go
43:05
to Dodger Stadium to get swabbed up and then get vaccinated? Yeah. For CO. for
43:12
a lot of the people that were there. They know the addresses of these folks.
43:18
We live in a in a technologically advanced country. Mhm. There's satellites orbiting right now
43:25
that can see through this damn building. They know how to find people.
43:30
You would think we would have put our best on it and made a process to make
43:36
undocumented people documented people because it's great for our economy. because these folks work two to three
43:41
jobs and will be paying income tax. Mhm. The the income tax is already taken off.
43:47
The employer is taking off the income tax cuz they have to. So, one apprehending them doing it the
43:54
way they go about it affects our economy. Yeah. Not documenting them affects our
44:00
economy. Not only Latin folks, you have if you go
44:05
to Harvard, Yale, MIT, who do you think are going to those schools? I just graduated Harvard
44:13
last year. Majority of the people in our school is Chinese,
44:18
Indian, which is all great. Yeah. But here's when it's all bad. H-1B visas is not in in practice right
44:25
now. You can't even there's not a easy process for folks that come to our
44:30
country to soak up all the knowledge and wisdom to then make them citizens. So
44:36
not only is whatever is happening don't make no sense at all. Mhm. You given knowledge for new industries
44:43
to be started off of our knowledge. Our immigration thing is butt ass wrong. It
44:50
isn't like, you know, the folks that are hooping and hollering for border patrol, border uh
44:57
uh stricter border policies, which they should, but those folks are not. It
45:03
ain't people from our neighborhoods going to MIT. Yeah. And and and these schools
45:09
up until my IM college track and my IM my uh the IM uh robotics.
45:15
Now we got kids going to Dartmouth, Brown, and Stanford. Mhm. Congratulations on that. Yeah. Uhhuh.
45:21
You know, but we need the way they went about it is just horrible. Yeah.
45:26
So that's why we wanted to have a song that's not a political song. There's nothing political in the lyrics.
45:31
Yeah. It's the action around celebrating the the community, celebrating and speaking
45:37
up and standing in solidarity with the folks that are impacted the most. Um cuz
45:43
like I said a couple of rants ago, my grandmother's mom
45:48
knows exactly what it feels like to be in the field. Yeah. And it's it's beautiful to be able
45:54
to um have our career really take um international whatever success means,
46:00
right? Um with Where's the Love when we first dropped Where's the Love and the sentiment uh coming off the heels of 911.
46:07
Yeah. It was it was so ingrained in us. uh where's the love within humanity because there was so so much divide so much
46:14
separation and even to this day people still call for that song um with
46:20
everything that's going around the world not just in the US but around the world as well so for us to make music like
46:26
this that's not political in a sense but celebratory it just goes to show that
46:32
our heart is always before any any creative any art yeah yo I love you guys man taboo uh Phil, I
46:40
love you guys, man. I appreciate you. You've been solid ever since. You know what, too? And I'm happy that I I could,
46:49
you know, because we come from the same cloth, you know, the first ever radio interview was on the wake up show.
46:56
First ever radio interview was with Sway and Tech. Julio G. I was because I at the time I
47:01
was uh ghost riding for Easy and he had me working with Julio G. Mhm. And I'll be like, "Yo man, I want
47:08
to get on want to go on the Sway and Tech show." Crazy. Wait, wasn't it on Franklin? Yeah, that was on uh Oh, yucka. Was it
47:17
on Yucka? Yeah. Off Franklin. Yeah. Franklin. Yep. Yucka Franklin. I
47:22
remember like, "Oh man, we about to go on a swing attack show." Oh, I was like our first
47:28
radio interview. And so, you know, always seeing your success and how
47:34
you've transitioned from radio to MTV to now here at uh Sirius XM, like shout out
47:42
and and love and and appreciation for being a pillar to uh to hiphop, to music, to urban
47:48
life, and seeing us for, you know, seeing us and and keeping us down to
47:54
earth. Absolutely. I would see them all the time. And even if we didn't talk, just
47:59
being in the same spaces, those big ass award shows and all these, damn, there they go. We good. Just seeing y'all gave
48:06
me confirmation. And I hope seeing me in those spaces gave you confir, man. Cuz you know, it's like
48:12
it's not only representing um the MC or the music component. You've always been so rooted
48:19
in the B boy scene. Yeah. Which for us is is so important cuz that's where we
48:24
come from. Of course, we did graffiti. Mhm. We love the DJ element of, you know, the four elements of hip-hop, but the B boy
48:30
scene, dancing has always been something that I appreciate. You've always been there for us. Thank you, brother.
48:36
Hey, man. Go ahead. No, I was going to say it's funny. Will, you mentioned uh Ghost Riding for Easy. Jermaine Dri was here yesterday and he
48:42
spoke about your writing skills and spoke about Oh, he did. Yes, he did. Yes, he did. Oh, what up, Jermaine? Did he tell you
48:48
I'm fashioning him? Just kidding.
48:53
Me and so what happened? What happened? Me and me me and Jermaine Me and
49:00
Jermaine always have this like uh you know this street banter of like Nicholas
49:06
race. Okay. It's race. Anyways, but what what did he say about the writer? Well, hold up. We we might do we got that.
49:12
We we should have JD. It'd be great cuz Will is a music producer that people
49:18
don't acknowledge as well. as well and songwriter and as many things as he
49:24
does. But he don't talk. That's the thing. Huh? He don't talk. That's why you got to get him to talk about it. That's the thing.
49:30
He don't talk about it. He don't even speak about it. He wrote uh Beautiful People for Ordinary people.
49:35
Ordinary people. John wrote the song. Ordinary people.
49:41
Wrote the song. I'mma say it again. He wrote the song. He didn't give him the idea. He wrote
49:46
the song that by as a writer. Yeah. I'm blown away by that. Like that's a
49:52
powerful Will I am wrote this? Yeah. But he don't talk about it. What's the question for Will? I'mma play it back for
49:58
why he don't talk about that song. Oh, why don't talk about
50:06
um Okay. So, if you go to my studio or my house, I don't put my plaques up,
50:14
you know? No, I don't I don't want to see them. Why not?
50:21
Because that's going to that's going to I don't carry money. Okay.
50:26
I never never care. I'm like the the broke I I like to live the way I lived
50:32
when I had no money. Okay. So, um,
50:38
we we'll get to a venue and we'll we'll be playing in like a stadium and I'll be
50:43
in the dressing room making beats and they'll be like, "Hurry up. We got to go." I'm like, "Hold on, let me let me
50:48
finish this." I'm always on on to the next. So, whatever I did,
50:55
that's already done. Mhm. And so living and holding on to that
51:00
that that's going to stifle me. Then in my head I did it already. So if
51:08
I do it, let it go. I let it go. And I'm I'm always my hands is over there reaching over there. I'm not over I'm
51:15
not doing this. Yeah. You're not reaching back. I I'm not I don't have a carry-on. I I I I travel light. I travel light so
51:23
I can sponge up more. If if your sponge is already filled, you ain't gonna sponge up nothing.
51:28
So, I sponge rinse out. Sponge rinse out. I like to keep a dry sponge.
51:34
There's liquid everywhere. [Â __Â ] I'm trying to soak up all the liquid. Yeah. Not hold on to my last liquid. You
51:39
sponge it up. Rinse it out. Sponge it up. Rinse it out. And um Yeah, I could talk about it when I'm
51:47
done. Yeah. I'm not done. So, let me talk about it as Let me let me let me chime in. Ladies
51:54
and gentlemen, let you guys know how important this man is. Not only because I'm part of Black IPs, but seeing his
52:01
success, not just in the pop world, but also writing songs or making beats for
52:06
Nas, The Game, uh, Bust the Rhymes, Rihanna, Rihanna, Michael Jackson,
52:12
Britney Spears, Kanye West, it just on and on and on. Nicki Minaj,
52:17
Kanye was like, I don't want nobody to know that you're writing. I was like,
52:22
"Well, then then I don't want to write. I don't I don't ghost.
52:28
I ain't I ain't Casper. I don't I don't do ghosts." So, he wanted me to be a ghost.
52:34
A ghost writer. Just ghost everything. No, he was like, "I want you to produce
52:40
uh I want you to uh oversee or produce um what came before Deep Darkest
52:45
Fantasy." What? DA? No, no, no, no. Um not late registr. What was before
52:51
deep uh DB? What was before? Beautiful mind. Beautiful twisted dark
52:56
before that one. 808 808 and heartbreak was Oh, okay. Was that okay? It was
53:01
so there was uh the deep darkest fantasy. Okay. He's like, I want you to produce uh
53:07
executive producer produ write and produce. I'm like, all right, cool. He's like, but the only thing is I don't want
53:12
nobody to know. I'm like, well, [Â __Â ] I ain't doing it.
53:20
It's as simple as that. Like I don't And it's all good, bro. Like we could still
53:25
be homies. I don't I don't like I like to write. I love to like I write I try to write a
53:33
song every day. Wow. Wow. Still still to this day. How can I write
53:38
a song every day? And and Will as an MC like he in LA he was what what Eminem was doing
53:46
and in Detroit. Will was that for us in LA? Battling battling at Ballistics,
53:53
battling people like, you know, Buckwheat and and freaking Jinx from West Coina and all these MC's that were
53:58
from the surrounding Los Angeles area. Will was always winning these rap battles at this uh uh club called
54:04
Ballistics put on by David Fino, Bud Bundy from uh Married with Children. Married with Children. And it was a it was the hip-hop club on
54:11
the Sunset Strip. We had all these different, you know, artists, musicians, MC's, B boys, dancers, freestyle
54:18
dancers, producers that came to watch this beautiful um mosaic of of hip-hop.
54:25
Wow. Will was known as a ferocious MC. And if you go back and listen to some of the u
54:31
the AppBand clan um lyrics, like I was listening to something recently and just really admiring how young y'all voices
54:39
sounded, but the the rhyme patterns that y'all was doing in that day and time, right,
54:46
was really advanced. That's why we liked y'all. You know, I can tell you what made me stop like
54:52
wanting a battle. What? So in high school, in junior high school, I used to rap against Ahmad.
54:59
And that's what everybody would like and he was dope. Part of Palisades like my like Amad we
55:06
battling again like it's like to battle like to compete. So I would like whoop a mod's ass all the time. And then we got
55:12
signed to Ruthless and so I was like yeah I got my record deal. I'm beat. I'm, you know, always winning the rap battles in school and
55:19
and the talent shows. And then we graduated high school and then 1994
55:26
back in the day when I was young. I'm not a kid anymore. But some days I like wish I was a kid again. I'm like, this
55:32
[Â __Â ] got a hit all over the radio. Oh, hell no.
55:39
No. And it wasn't like, you know what I mean? It wasn't like
55:45
Big Daddy Kane, Cooj. It was like a song. So that song,
55:51
it's like, oh, I I got to change how I battle now. Yeah. Cuz in my head, he beat me.
55:57
Yeah. In my head, Ab beat me to a hit. And so I'm like, okay,
56:04
me, let me instead of LL Cooj and Big Daddy Kane, let me get myqaame pin on. Let me get my
56:12
freaking heavy D some I want somebody to love me and follow me,
56:17
right? I want I want them. Let me go for that, right? Let me see what Let me let me let me do that kind of
56:23
stuff. And that changed my whole my whole just
56:29
because I like to compete. Ahmad. Ahmad. He had a hit first. I love your story where your mind be
56:36
working. Now I see why he don't be looking back. Why them plaques ain't hung up. I get it. He had a hit first.
56:42
He had a hit first, bro. God damn it. Throw that throw that on, John. Let me see if it'll do anything for him.
56:51
[Music] The man using the DVD. Y'all still rap?
56:57
What? What? Instrumentals. Instrumentals. You want me to rock over
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instrumentals? Talk about East LA got me sentimental.
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I got the elemental peas. I'm from the peas. Hit you with these ease.
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Third degree burns. It's my turn to get up on the mic. I earn my respect. I got
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the dialect. Perfect. The energetic way that I select these rhymes and these
57:30
flows. Broken up flows. We go blow for blow, toe for toe, nose for nose. You
57:36
too close, [Â __Â ] You trying to kiss. I don't go that route, but it's cool if you go that way. I'm here with sway and
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I don't play. Nope. Not every day I break it up. Get up on a mic and make it
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up. Come on. Revlon Chevron, no gas. Your ass about to get
57:56
torched. I'm riding on a porch. Come on. These fools they abort. You get an abortion
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for this distortion. The course is on. [Music]
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I'm strong like teflon. You know I drop the bomb and all that stuff.
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Check it out. No flake like danger. I ain't done yet. Hardcore. Yeah, you better run yet. Get
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get ready. Get set. Go. I'm about to launch. I'm about to throw it. You know you know
58:28
it. Some people in the comments talking about that [Â __Â ] pausing too much. You know I could read. I'm in the future.
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I'm robing too much. I got the rhyme style. New type of things make your
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whole crowd get wow. You never heard it before. No,
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twister. Yeah, that's a mystery. Making worries up as I go. I got flows. Hardcore the T A B O left of me.
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Hardcore. Yeah, I got the shephery. Cooking [Â __Â ] up. No [Â __Â ] referee, but I do it. I move it. I'm grooving. I got
59:01
you. Hit it. Yo, our loved ones that lost ones they came from Aladena, Jackie
59:09
Robinson. So much history now there's misery. How the fires got started is a
59:14
mystery. Was it Edison? What's the deal, son? Should we blame the mayor? Oh,
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Gavin knew son. Things got to change like climate change. 100 mile winds got
59:25
a lot of pain. A lot of stress on the brain. Got to maintain. God save us all.
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So please let it rain. Not enough water. Water putting out the flames. Who's in charge of that? At where the money at?
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Paying our tax dollars. Who's getting tax? Even J from State Farm giving money back. Alterina strong. Pasadena strong.
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Malibu Palisades. Got to live long. East LA. LA. Pasadena. Aladina. Got to live
59:54
on. Yeah. Feel it right now. Now. Heather. Feel it. Take it to the extreme. Hyper
1:00:02
like Jensen. Well, I am coming with some like tangerines. Pill it. Yo, I'm freaking hotter than in the skillet. Yo,
1:00:10
I know that style is really old. What? Oh, it's a beat. No, now I want you to go acappella.
1:00:16
Oh, acappella. Oh, acappella.
1:00:22
Capella. Oh, I just want to explain that. Uh, that was dope, by the way. We got some
1:00:27
We got some hyenas up in here. No, I want I will explain. I'll explain. So,
1:00:34
it's cla what happens when people come on uh on your show and they rap and sometimes people hit you. Sometimes
1:00:40
people hit them with like unorthodox like u patterns and and when the
1:00:46
unorthodox patterns come, people are like are super critical cuz they're flows and and cadances that people ain't
1:00:52
heard. Yeah. Sometime sometimes people get up here, they should be making sound effects. Um Wow.
1:00:57
And that's just that's dope. It's expressive. The reason why I want to I want to talk
1:01:04
about unorthodox flows uh and breaking the mold is because the
1:01:10
machine can do exactly what you like. Mhm. Whatever you thought was tight, the
1:01:18
machine got it down right. Yeah. The machine. And so
1:01:25
expressiveness and true like unconforming to the norms.
1:01:31
Yeah. You're going to see a lot of that coming where people are going to they're going to go into, you know, your traditional
1:01:38
flow. They're going to go into spoken word. [Â __Â ] are going to start to have to cry and dig deeper
1:01:46
because that's one thing the machine can't do. Yeah. And if you're battling
1:01:52
that, all the stuff is on YouTube and the machine has learned it and you can now prompt it. And I don't
1:02:00
know if you've seen the freaking like Popeye's battles. Yeah. Or the or the McDonald's. Well, you know, Cam said he battled Chat
1:02:07
GPT. Wow. And Chat GPT beat him in his opinion, right?
1:02:12
Wow. It's Yeah. So that expressiveness, that
1:02:18
unorthodox, that you know, slap boxing, the the pharaoh munches. Mhm.
1:02:23
Uh the black dots, the black dot. Oh, damn. Black dot is like Mhm.
1:02:28
Damn. That [Â __Â ] is the facts. He's the dopest. Say it.
1:02:34
He that dude is the dopest to ever like And what I
1:02:41
Black Dot is a trillion times better than Jay-Z. Okay. Why you say that? A trillion.
1:02:48
Trillion. Okay. What's your logic behind that?
1:02:54
In my mind's eye, there's a battle that's going to happen or it already happened in my mind. And seeing Black
1:03:01
Thought, what he's capable of just off the top. And yeah, Jay's off the top is dope, too.
1:03:09
And Jay's dope. Don't get me wrong. No. But Jay's already said everything that
1:03:15
he's just regurgitating everything he's already said, including other rappers.
1:03:21
When everything that Black Dot comes up with, it's like, wait, wait, I never heard that one. Wow. You split that word
1:03:27
up like that. Damn. Like he and that's just my pref that's just me. Now there's a lot of
1:03:34
people that be like, "What the [Â __Â ] you know about hip hop? Will I am?" I don't give a [Â __Â ] what you think. I just know
1:03:40
what I think and what I I in my head black dot because we like top five MC's. It's
1:03:47
always Biggie, Tupac, Nas, Jay. I'm like, uh,
1:03:56
KRS, Rock Him,
1:04:01
Big Daddy Kane, KRS, Nas, Black Dot.
1:04:07
That's a nice five. Yeah, that's a nice five. That's a nice top five. And if you want to put Fairmont
1:04:13
Mhm. Fairmont. Fairmont. Yeah. Is another another one like
1:04:19
what is that cadence? Like unheard of. Yeah. And yes, Jay-Z's awesome.
1:04:25
I'm not not taking away from his brilliance. I just don't think he's better than Black Dot.
1:04:30
And that's your mind's eye. That's fair enough. And I'd like to see a battle. I like to see
1:04:36
them [Â __Â ] battle. And if they don't want to battle in person, someone is going to get an AI simulator
1:04:45
that takes all their body of work and all their concerts and flows and you'll
1:04:50
see exactly who's doper and and somebody's going to make it. Will I like how he put his glasses?
1:04:56
Somebody might be him because the glasses watch the the glasses turn. Going to make that simulation, right?
1:05:02
Yo, man. I love you guys. Give it up for Taboo. Give it up for Willie. Yeah. We're going to end again the show with
1:05:08
the new single. It's called East LA is out right now. Um the song is a love letter to East LA. Boy Heights. Um all
1:05:15
Mexican neighborhoods across just to America too. You know, there's a lot of
1:05:20
folks that are need a song like this right now. They need to Right. And another thing as far
1:05:26
as immigration like the concept of America, the whole idea of America is
1:05:31
you know immigrants coming to achieve a a bigger dream. You know whether you're
1:05:37
from Poland or Ireland or you know French, British
1:05:44
are the founding fathers. They weren't American. In every town is a Chinatown. How are
1:05:50
you tough on immigration and there's a Chinatown in your town? Mhm. The whole concept of America is,
1:05:56
you know, collaboration, you know, trade, commerce, skill for
1:06:02
skill, discipline, different cross-disciplinary talent coming together to make our cities beautiful.
1:06:08
There wouldn't be a Jeff Bezos if it wasn't for Miguel Bezos who migrated from Cuba, met Jackie Bezos, who already
1:06:16
was uh had a kid, and then Miguel Bezos helped raise Jeff Bezos to be Jeff
1:06:22
Bezos. Thank you. Shout out to all Cuban migrants that come to America to want to
1:06:28
be American. He risked a lot and contributed a lot. There wouldn't be an Amazon a you ain't
1:06:34
shopping on the Zan if it wasn't for Jeff Bezos and and Miguel's Bezos uh uh uh contribution
1:06:41
to one of the greatest businessmen in the world. There wouldn't be a Nickeola Tesla if we practice our immigration uh
1:06:48
practices then as we do now. So where do we want to go? America tomorrow given
1:06:54
how highly technical it is. Yeah. Or is it
1:06:59
is what's hap here's a question is what's happening in
1:07:05
America and the disregard to folks and their work because of the fact we don't
1:07:12
need them anymore. And you're going to start seeing robots in the field. Mhm.
1:07:19
AI has taken a lot of people's jobs. So, what do they know as to why they're
1:07:26
behaving this inhumane to folks? What are they preparing for?
1:07:32
Why are they so why are they sprinkling with so much hate? Why can't it be done, you know, with
1:07:41
human regard and appreciation and and value them?
1:07:46
Why? If it's about the criminals, you didn't see not one criminal be
1:07:51
apprehended, right? They go into the factories that
1:07:56
make all of our our textiles and and and and our garments downtown. What What were they doing wrong? What
1:08:03
they made some bad shirts? What would they do? They got two or three jobs taking care of their kids.
1:08:09
And speaking of kids, they taking a lot of they taking care of a lot of the kids from the families that live in Beverly
1:08:16
Hills. They made your cabinets and your gardens awesome. Yeah. Wait, you went to Home Depot? What you
1:08:24
think? People from Calabasas, they tripping on those jobs. People from Pal from from Brentwood's
1:08:30
like, "Man, they over there at Home Depot, man. They got my spot." Yeah.
1:08:35
What were they doing wrong? Yeah. you wanted though. You mean you got to acknowledge, you got to
1:08:41
appreciate, you got to celebrate, you know, the folks that do the work that
1:08:46
make our city awesome, that make our homes, put the food in our supermarkets,
1:08:52
you know, they're they're they make our families dope. They they make our our community awesome, and I love them. And
1:09:01
yeah, so East LA, East LA, will I am taboo in stores now. Love you
1:09:07
brothers. And it's our 14th anniversary. This the way we gonna end it. Thank y'all for
1:09:12
celebrating with us. You guys are amazing. and Chrissy B. Arnold
1:09:18
PB Tracy G Mike Mules DB Ka Khani John Z
1:09:26
Big Horse
#Human Rights & Liberties
#Urban & Hip-Hop