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.
Taboo
I grew up listening to a lot of hiphop music and R'n'B. Bands like A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Big Daddy Kane, Boogie Down Productions, Cypress Hill, New Edition, Bob Marley, Prince, Stevie Wonder, and a lot of Spanish music.
Before the music and before the fame, I loved Apl for Allan Pineda, for being a brother that he is and for the inspiration - for him to actually come to the States from the Philippines and make something of his life. That's inspirational.
All I've got to say is if I'm a sellout, I'm selling out arenas all over the world, and I'd rather be selling out arenas than selling out of my trunk on the corner of my block.
If we're going to be on this futuristic 3008 vibe, we need to step up our performance.
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.
As long as you're having fun and being positive and progressive, I'm going to say you're living a Zumbao lifestyle.
It's powerful when you're able to celebrate your culture, but also bring the arts and music to the masses.
Our show is all about energy and all about the skill, so we never have to alter it for different audiences, although maybe we might get crazier at a punk-rock show. With kids moshing and crowd-surfing, we might have to get crazy as well.
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.
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.
Will.i.am is the genius of the group. He's the one that keeps everything together creatively.
We all had to dodge the idea we were spokespeople for our races. Like, 'Hey, it's the Mexican Guy! The Filipino! The Chick!' We've always stood up to it and said, 'Fine, bring it on and we'll show you how we rock.'
I'm a b-boy for life. I'm a dancer, I started with free style dancing and b-boying during the '80s and I always said to myself that when I get the chance to do my own thing, I will always have the b-boy element and the dance element because that's where I come from.
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.
I was in a group called Pablo, while Will.i.am and apl.de.ap were a part of the Atban Klann. They signed to Ruthless Records with Easy-E. When Easy-E passed away in 1995 they changed their name to the Black Eyed Peas and asked me if I wanted to be a part of it. The rest is history.
We just decided to make our dancing as important as our MCing and our production. It's an element in hip-hop that a lot of people are afraid to use.
Life is too short to be serious.
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.
If I was going to play any video game, it'd be things like 'Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!,' 'Street Fighter' and 'Mortal Kombat.'
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.
I'm connected with my indigenous roots.
I emptied the trash and wiped down tables. But my job that I remember the most was picking up horse manure for the Electrical Parade.
We have a global audience… we travel, and our name travels.
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.
You really need to stop and appreciate what you have, the love you have from your family, your friends, the love that you have for yourself.
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.
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.
Our daughter is a miracle baby, and having time with her and my sons means everything to me - they're why I kept fighting.
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.
We grew up with break-dancing and MCing, the old school, that whole era of just having a good time and knowing that the music was 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?'
My personal music style is very Latin and very soulful. It's dance meets hip-hop.
In order to maintain your longevity, you have to know the business. It's not about just rapping and performing.
We're able to blend and rock any crowd. If you put us on a tour with Garth Brooks, we'll take his crowd too.
From alternative to Brazilian to hip-hop to old R&B, that's what we listen to. And we don't just listen to it only if somebody plays it. We actually go out and buy these types of things and support different forms of music because we love them.
I'm the performer of the group. My thing is like, every time I come on stage, I always bring it 120 percent, 150 percent.
My name is Gomez, that's my last name.
We're not just three guys in a rap act. We want all sorts of people at our gigs.
My life got turned upside down when I found out I had cancer.
I'm building my own brand outside of the Peas. It's not Black Eyed Peas, it's Zumbao. Zumbao is different from the Peas because it's all on me and I can't feed off of anybody other than me.
Black Eyed Peas music appealed to everybody and that's why we incorporated EDM influences, dance influences, house influences, and we mashed it up with the Black Eyed Pea melodic pop sensibility that still has bounce to it.
It's all about evolution and for us, we try to think outside the box and not try to duplicate what we've done in the past.
I'm not the greatest writer or the great rapper.
We just love international music. We love the climate of that sound, it's that pulse that we just have to appreciate.
When I went to Standing Rock, it opened my mind, as did going to Indian reservations and speaking to kids about music and arts.
The Black Eyed Peas as a whole is something I always look forward to.
I wake up every day with a smile - I'm a blessed man, and every day is special.
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.
