What's up y'll my name is Apl De Ap, from the BEP crew, Black Eyed Peas. What up?
When I was doing my research I knew there's a lot about when you are in the black
eyed peas and a little bit about before when you lived in the Philippines but there is
quite a bit of gap in between so I wanna find out a little bit about when you actually moved
to the states?
It was a culture shock for me, it was pretty difficult, you know having to leave my family
at a young age but luckily the first person I met which is my best friend was Will.i.am.
Will was looking at me kind of crazy like, like I'm a different species, "oh you're from
the Philippines, what do you do there?"
I'm like oh I breakdance, "You break dance?"
Yeah I learnt this new move called the Running Man.
He's like "What you do the Running Man? You guys know how to do the Running Man all the
way from the Philippines?" And then he made me do the Running Man and the rest is history.
We form a dance crew after that and then it just evolved to be in the Black Eyed Peas.
What has made your friendship last for such a long time you and you and Will.i.am?
Before music, before making songs we're brothers we are not scared to like give tough love,
if I'm doing something wrong, he is like "Yo Man
enough!" You know I'm saying?
Or if I'm in like having a hard time, he's like "It's okay man, I'm here for you." Trying
to make it in the music business it sometimes gets really hard. There's a point where you're
like "Damn, are we going to make it?" "Yeah we going to make it man, yeah we just got a keep trying!"
You know
It's always good to have friends like that.
Good friends with the same values that you can dream with.
What are your key tips for anyone kind of going through dips in thier career or
kind of losing sight of their dreams?
For us not taking no for an answer. Kind of like encouraging each other you know
"They didn't get us man but one day"
How do you perceive Failure?
Failure is more like you have to put in hard work, when there is a dip in the road you
have to like try different things, you have to create different recipes, that didn't work
work can I do. Just reminding yourself that its not gonna come overnight. You have to keep
trying and trying. You have to remember you have to enjoy yourself why you're doing it.
It's not about getting massive amounts of fans. You have to like dig deep into your
heart and be like oh I really love what I'm doing and I'm enjoying myself it doesn't matter
if 5 people are listening to me or 100,000 people and going to give it my all.
You have to motivate yourself if you're feeling down get up, get up right now do you something.
On your Instagram you post recipes, filipino recipes.
Ha ha (laughs)
So what I wanted to find out is, as a person he's never tried Filipino food what would
you suggest is the first thing I should try?
Chicken Adobo tends to work for everyone
Will loves Chicken Adobo Fergie, Taboo, they love it so you have to
try Chicken Adobo first.
What about deserts?
There's Halo Halo, shaved ice mixed with different Filipino fruits. It's refreshing!
Can you cook all of these dishes yourself?
Yeah definitely!
I come from a region in the Philippines, we're known for cooking.
I've stolen all my mum's recipes.
How did you stay so close to your roots when you are so far away?
Being adopted as a kid my main motivation was to help out my family, so when it came
down to hardships and ups and downs, I always remind myself who I am doing it for, I gotta help out my family
I started to get homesick when I was adopted, so I wanted to be sent back home.
Yo Will i'm home sick, I miss my family "Yo Ap don't worry about it man"
- and he speaks like that Yeah
" You know one day we are going to make it, we going to go back to the Philippines do
a big show over there" Yeah man!
You know Will comes the ghetto in East LA, so he has that same determination to
get out of the ghetto, that hunger, we share that same thing, you know wanna mean?
Thank you so much for your time.