INTERVIEW with
APL.DE.AP
conducted by JiZO Lexy and Jewles
JiZO:
Wassup A.P.L.de.ap!!!? I really appreciate you
taking the time out of your busy
schedule to do this interview with us at
www.JiZO-Entertainment.com! How is
everything going for ya?
apl.de.ap: Busy. Excited and Proud!
JiZO:Forgive my ignorance bro, what does
A.P.L.de.ap stand for? How did you come up with
that name?
apl.de.ap: It comes from my name and my hometown in the Philippines.
Allan Pineda Lindo of Angeles City- Pampanga. I
think that speaks for itself:-)
JiZO:
What was a pivotal moment in your life, which
encouraged you to become a musician?
apl.de.ap: When I first moved to the United States, Will and I started
a dance circuit which lead to the inception of
our musical career. We began not only busting a
move but began to write and produce our own
music.
JiZO:What
are the most satisfying aspects of your work as
an artist? What are the true inner rewards?
apl.de.ap: As an artist, my reward is being able to travel all around
the world to perform and experience other
cultures, place and people. My deepest inner
reward is being able to support my family living
in the Philippines, starting the Apl Foundation,
and pursuing m dreams with my family and
friends.
JiZO:Do you write a lot of your own stuff?
apl.de.ap: Yes, I write and produce all of my own music. In the studio
Will and I work together.
JiZO:How often do you go back to the
Philippines? Do you speak fluent
Tagalog?
apl.de.ap:
I have been back to the Philippines three times
this year. I am always there at Christmas. Yes,
I am fluent but takes a few days to sort it out
when I have been away for awhile, if you know
what I mean.
JiZO:The newest album being released
June 9th is called "The E.N.D." People may
interpret this album as being the last album for
you guys, despite the fact that it means "The
Energy Never Dies". Tell us a little more about
this album and what you contributed to it.
apl.de.ap: This album is about celebration and a transition. We are in
a time of transition. We want to bring together
all cultures and remind them how to find the joy
in celebrating, even when there is a lot of fear
and unknowns. We have infused music and
influences from all over the world.
JiZO:The song "Bebot" was a huge hit in the
Philippines. How did this idea come to you and
what makes a woman a "bebot"?
apl.de.ap: I love women---every woman is a Bebot! I want to celebrate
them all shapes and sizes. I want women to be
admired for their beauty.
JiZO:You're of Filipino and African-American
descent. Do you think this gives you a bigger
advantage in the music industry and has it given
you issues growing up since you are bi-racial?
apl.de.ap: I do not think my race really has any advantage, it is just
who I am. As a child at times, I would get
teased but as I got older really it did not
affect me. If anything, it just gave me a bigger
community of people that relate to the same
culture and heritage that I do.
JiZO:I read on Wikipedia.com that you would
take the jeepney all the way to Angeles City and
you would see kids at the corner break-dancing.
Was this the first biggest influence that got
you into this whole industry?
apl.de.ap: Yes, this is where I was introduced to break dancing and my
passion for Hip Hop began.
JiZO:While we're on the topic of jeepney, you
also started your own music company called
Jeepney Music, Inc. How did this come about and
what is Jeepney Music doing now?
apl.de.ap:
I want to create a community where people can
come together and find music, beats,
information, and connect. Jeepney Music is a
platform that will celebrate the artists from
around the world. Simultaneously, we will be
connecting the Filipino community and creating
history around our culture, accomplishments,
history, and families. We will be launching in
late July 2009.
JiZO:You did a song with Billy Crawford that
was debuted earlier this year in January that's
from your upcoming solo album. Will this album
be
released in the US?
apl.de.ap:
Yes. This is part of my solo work and we will be
launching soon.
JiZO:How is BEP's newest album "the
E.N.D" going to differ from the previous ones?
How long did BEP work on it?
apl.de.ap: We worked on it for about a year. The focus for the album
was an up tempo electro dance album.
JiZO:As a Filipino American, what are your views on the current
representation of Asian Americans overall in
Entertainment?
apl.de.ap: I think right now the Asian community is coming into their
own. They are starting to be recognized for
their talents and creating and inspiring
innovation in the entertainment field.
JiZO:If I sent you a free
JiZO-entertainment.com t-shirt... would you wear
it out bro? You would so make my day! LOL
apl.de.ap: send us your address and we will send you one of our new
apl threads.. Thanks! Apl.de.Ap
JiZO:Aite brother! Thanks again for the interview! BLACK EYED PEAS
rule!!! Boom boom Pow baby!!!!
BIOGRAPHY (wikipedia)
Allan Pineda Lindo,
(born September 28, 1974) better known by his
stage name apl.de.ap, is a
Filipino-American
hip hop
musician,
record producer
and is best known as a member of the
Black Eyed Peas.
Early life
He was born in the
Barangay
(Barrio) of
Sapang Bato,
Angeles City,
Pampanga,
in the
Philippines,
to a
Filipino
mother and
African American
father. His father, a U.S. airman stationed at
Clark Air Base,
abandoned the family shortly after his birth;
his mother Cristina Pineda raised Apl and his
six younger siblings as a single mother. Two of
his siblings are deceased: his younger brother
Arnel committed suicide. His youngest brother,
Joven Pineda Deala, was murdered at the age of
21 in February 2009 in
Porac, Pampanga.
As a child, Apl would make an hour-long
jeepney
trip to and from school, and helped his family
subsist by farming sweet potatoes, corn, sugar
cane and rice. The
Pearl S. Buck
Foundation, an organization that finds healthier
living environments for young abandoned or
orphaned Amerasian children, matched him with a
sponsor named Joe Ben Hudgens through a
dollar-a-day program. He initially came to the
United States at the age of 11 to treat
nystagmus,
an involuntary movement of the eyes. During a
trip to Disneyland, apl expressed his interest
in staying in the United States. It would take
another three years for Hudgens to officially
adopt him, but at fourteen he moved permanently
to the United States to live with Hudgens.
In
Los Angeles,
he attended
John Marshall High
School and he met
will.i.am,
the nephew of Hudgens' roommate. He also spent
two years at Curie High School in
Chicago, Illinois.
He stated in an interview that Chicago "is where
he started to love music and get involved" and
said that he still "goes and visits at times."
Apl and will.i.am formed a break-dancing crew
called Tribal Nation and performed regularly at
Southern California parties and events. From
1992-1995, their crew was re-named Atban Klann (ATBAN
stands for "A Tribe Beyond a Nation") and
included
MC Mookie
Mook, performer Dante Santiago and producer DJ
Motiv8. Atban Klann was eventually signed onto
Eazy-E's
label,
Ruthless Records
but Eazy-E's death put an end to their debut
album Grass Roots.
Apl has brought his Filipino culture into his
collaboration with the
Black Eyed Peas.
He explains his life story in a song called "The
Apl Song" on the Peas' 2003 album
Elephunk,
which includes a full chorus in
Tagalog
sampled from the
Asin song "Balita."
The accompanying video, which includes cameos by
fellow Filipino-Americans
Dante Basco
and
Chad Hugo,
is also a tribute to the Filipinos who fought
for the U.S. in
World War II;
the song reached number one in the Philippines.
"Bebot"
(which is Filipino slang for "pretty woman") is
another all-Tagalog song on 2005's
Monkey Business
album. A music video for "Bebot" was filmed in
and around
Los Angeles
in early July 2006, including in Kenneth Hahn
Park, where
Dr. Dre's "Nothing
But A G Thang" video was also filmed;
the video features primarily
Filipinos,
Filipino Americans
and other Asian-Americans from the
Los Angeles
area. The video was directed by Patricio Ginelsa
[1]
who also directed "The Apl Song" and produced
the Filipino-American coming of age movie The
Debut
[2].
The single was not released in the US but was in
the Philippines and several other Asian
countries.
Apl.de.ap is working on a solo album. He
recently disclosed in an interview that he would
be collaborating with fellow Filipino-American
Chad Hugo
of
The Neptunes
and
Illmind
from
G-Unit to incorporate traditional Filipino instruments into
his songs
[3].
Some of his songs are uploaded on his
MySpace
page. On January 3, 2009, he debuted the first
single, You Can Dream featuring
Billy Crawford,
from his upcoming album on the internationally
broadcast Philippine variety/game show
Wowowee.
Apl.de.ap started the Apl Foundation. It is
committed in giving back to communities and
children within the Philippines and throughout
Asia. He also started his own music company
called Jeepney Music, Inc. It is currently based
in
Silver Lake, Los
Angeles, California. It currently
handles DJs such as Free School, DJ Rockyrock,
DJ MIA, and PoetNameLife.
Apl.de.ap recorded another tagalog song for
Black Eyed Peas'
fifth studio album, "The
E.N.D.", the song is called "Mare".
