♪ Mamacita, Mamacita ♪
♪ Que bonita, mamacita. ♪
(soft music)
- If the Black Eyed Peas wanna work with a new artist,
apparently Will.i.am will just slide into their DMs.
Hit me up, Will!
(chuckling) In a new interview with Billboard's Leila Cobo,
the Peas talked about their new album, Translation,
along with Becky G, Nicky Jam, Piso 21, and El Alfa,
all who are featured on the set,
to reveal some big surprises,
like that DM slide.
- Will hit me on my direct message before we wrote the song
and I didn't believe he even used Instagram like that,
so when I saw that he text me on DM I was excited.
I had a lot of people next to me,
and I showed everybody the message like a groupie,
you know what I'm sayin'?
Like a fan, I was starstruck.
Of course, I think I left him a voicemail so,
'cause I'm not really good with texting,
I'd rather just talk.
And he hit me probably like two or three months after that.
And, uh. (apl.de.ap chuckling)
Met each other at the studio and we did magic.
I like the girl on the track as well.
She did really, really good.
- J. Rey? - That's me, hey!
(laughs) - That's J. Rey!
- Yup!
- Gave it that. - Hey.
- She gave it quits, you know what I'm saying?
So, I'mma tell you, girl,
you got a lot of talent and your voice got a lot of soul,
so, I. - Yes, thank you.
- Sky's the limit.
You're gonna kill the game, girl.
- What gave me the knowledge to go and use DM was Becky G.
- Becky G!
- From one of Becky G's video shoots.
'Cause I've known Becky G ever since she was 13 years old.
- Ahh. - And now, we've kept in touch
and collaborated in the past
on a soundtrack called Hotel Transylvania.
So, we've been friends.
I went to her video shoot just to catch up
and to pick her brain.
So I'm like, yo, how did you get out of your situation?
Because, for a while, Becky G's, like,
her project was being kept captive.
And so, then, I started seeing her grow in the Latin world.
And she was like, "I did that all myself, Will."
And I was like, how did you do it?
She was like, "DM, and you gotta send songs out!"
Because I'm very, I don't send shit out.
Like, she was like-- - Yeah, he is.
- "Send songs out!"
- The cab-- (chuckling)
- "Send songs out, DM, Will!
"That's how it works."
I'm like, are you serious?
The first person that I hit up on DM was Nicky Jam.
- I didn't have to know Will to know he wasn't a DM guy.
He gave me that type of vibe that he's very, you know,
he believes in keeping everything on the DL
and just meeting people in person.
He probably still got a Blackberry.
You know, I had that mentality.
(J. Rey laughing)
- Yo, Nicky. - He does!
- You got it, bro.
He does. - You got it.
- He does have a Blackberry! - He does have a Blackberry.
- Knew it! - No, really?
- (chuckling) Yep!
- He has a Blackberry, bro.
- He just grabbed it, right now.
- What you talking 'bout?
What you talking 'bout?
(chuckling)
- I knew it. - Is that the Blackberry,
right there?
(laughing) - I knew it, oh my God!
- Yo, he's still got a MySpace account, too.
- And Will.i.am didn't have to hit up Piso 21 on social.
That was Peas' manager.
- So our manager, he's more than a manager.
Polo's like, we grew up together.
He's like, "Yo, Will, I know these guys from Colombia.
"They're called Piso 21.
"Let's book a session!"
I'm like, all right!
It was just like that.
I didn't do no research.
I was just like, if Polo says we should work with Piso 21,
let's go.
So, they come to the studio, they have their instruments.
I'm like, oh, shit, this is a real session.
I'm like, okay, who's gonna lead?
Like, how do we, how do you work?
The first time you're working with someone,
and you meet them, there's already a language barrier,
'cause I don't speak that much Spanish,
and their English is better than my Spanish speaking.
So, I'm like, okay.
Let me figure out how flexible, so they're comfortable.
They come into our studio, we have to make them comfortable.
So, we wrote one song.
And the first song we wrote was Mami.
That's on Piso 21's album.
The whole song was based on translating, right?
- Got it.
- And so, when we wrote that song,
that's when I was like, holy fuck!
Look at this!
You could go Spanish to English, back to back,
real fast! (chuckling)
And so, we wrote that song in 45 minutes.
45, an hour, at the most. - Yes.
- Wow!
- 45 minutes, we got the first song.
- And so, then, we were like,
all right, let's do another one!
And so that's when Apl came.
Apl came late.
- And the interview had some heartfelt moments,
Like J. Rey Soul's thoughts about joining the iconic group
after Fergie's departure.
- Black Eyed Peas was like my big brothers.
I met Apl.de.ap in the Philippines.
I'm half Filipino, half Black.
I was doing The Voice when I met him,
and after the show, he was like,
"You know what?
"I wanna help you with your career
"and fly you to the States,
"and introduce you to my brothers," right?
- Right. - So, I went to the States,
and then I started working with them,
and every day with them, every day in the studio with them,
it's just so inspiring to see how successful they are in.
- I think this is a blessing for our culture, our music.
I always thought of them as Spanish people, for some reason.
I don't know why, 'cause I see, like,
two of them look Spanish!
(all laughing)
- Mexican, bro!
- Yo, those are the homies.
They're gonna call me soon, they're gonna call me soon.
- Yep.
(Nicky chuckles)
- So, to see that, to see a group so iconic,
like the way they are, to call us to do music,
and what with urban singers and Reggaeton and all that,
I mean, it's just beautiful and it's a blessing,
and it makes me feel that I made it, you know?
Saying that's the way I feel, you know?
(Pablo laughing)
Yeah, man, I mean, come on, man.
I've been watching your career for more than a decade,
and for me to be a part of your album?
I mean, come on, man.
It's unreal, man, it's unreal.
I can tell that to my family, my kids, my grandkids.
- Yep. - Everybody,
and say that I worked with Black Eyed Peas.
So, it's a blessing.
(David speaking Spanish)
- The Black Eyed Peas.
(David speaking Spanish)
"I Gotta Feeling," "I Can't Get Enough."
(David speaking Spanish) - "Where Is The Love?"
(David speaking Spanish)
- "Where Is The Love?"
(David speaking Spanish)
- I feel like Translation is a true representation
for, you know, people just like me,
who have lived their lives simultaneously
in two worlds at the same time.
I've always considered myself the 200%.
I'm 100% proud to be from Inglewood, from L.A.,
but I'm also 100% proud to be Latina.
I think growing up speaking Spanglish, being pocha,
it was something that I always felt embarrassed about.
It was always made very clear that, you know,
it's one or the other.
So it was like I had to choose, but it didn't feel right.
And when you look at what Black Eyed Peas has created,
they've embraced their cultures,
they've embraced other cultures,
they have literally just united
so many people through music, and I think that's something
that I discovered in my Latin project,
was that music is a universal language
and it is made for everyone to enjoy and to participate in.
It actually empowered me more to better my Spanish,
to better my connections
and my relationships with fellow artists,
because that's where it's at.
It has to be genuine, it has to be real.
And that authenticity, I think,
really comes through on Translation.
That's why I feel so proud to be a part of it.
(speaking Spanish)
- Thank you for respecting Spanish people,
respecting Latinos, respecting our music, our hustle.
'Cause I'm one of the architects
that worked this music back in 1992,
when people said-- (cheering)
This music would not last a month.
(cheering)
- Wow! - 20 years after,
25 years after, we're still here, working.
Not only Reggaeton.
We got people like El Alfa doing dembow music that,
it's one of the musics
that people didn't believe in, as well.
And Piso 21, they started out as a pop group.
I got nothing but respect for all of y'all.
- What you've done for your community and your culture, bro.
It's like you and Yankee have provided so much outlet
for people to live their dreams and transform their lives.
Right?
And how healthy Reggaeton is.
You guys are going to a different countries
and selling out American arenas.
That's why I'm like, yo, yo, yo, there's something here
that we could be, that the world should be inspired by.
How tight the community is, how networked the community is,
the collaborations, working with each other,
everybody lifting each other up.
You know, everybody checking their egos
and thinking about how the culture grows is beautiful.
- Beautiful, indeed.
To read more about Translation
and all the incredible features,
make sure you head over to billboard.com.
Running it down for you always,
I'm Tetris Kelly for Billboard News.
(soft music)