Black Eyed Peas Lead Rapper, Sub-vocalist, Songwriter, Producer Apl.d.Ap is Filipino
Posted By philippine evolution staff on August 3, 2012
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Apl.D.Ap
Photo from: wikipedia.org
Allan Pineda Lindo, Jr. (born November 17, 1974) better known as apl.de.ap (pronounced “Apple D Ap”), is a Filipino-American rapper, record producer, and occasional drummer who is best known as a member of the Grammy Award-winning group The Black Eyed Peas.
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Apl.de.ap was born in Angeles City, Pampanga, to a Filipino mother and an African American father. His father, an Airman stationed at Clark Air Base, left the family shortly after his birth; his mother, Cristina Pineda, raised him and his six younger siblings as a single mother.
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In Los Angeles, he attended John Marshall High School where he befriended William Adams (stage name will.i.am), the nephew of Hudgens’ roommate. He went to college at Holy Angel University. Apl.de.ap’s early musical influences were Stevie Wonder, The Eagles, The Beatles, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Leaders of the New School and the Filipino rock/folk group, Asin. Apl was introduced to hip-hop by break dancing. “I would take the jeepney all the way to Angeles City, and that’s how I got introduced to break dancing,” he said. “I would see kids at the corner break-dancing and I’m like, ‘I wanna do that.'”
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Apl.de.ap revealed to People Magazine in 2011 that he is legally blind in both of his eyes, suffering from nystagmus and has had this condition his entire career. “I’m good at shapes. If I’m not close, even if it’s big, I can’t read it. I doubted myself for a long time,” apl.de.ap said. “I’m comfortable not using my vision. I weave around my problems.” He went on to say in the same article that “Until I discovered hip-hop, I felt I wasn’t going to accomplish anything.”
Lindo 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 and other countries.
“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 “Nuthin’ 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 who also directed “The Apl Song” and produced the Filipino-American coming of age movie The Debut. The single was not released in the US but was in the Philippines and several other Asian countries.
Photo from: wikipedia.org
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. 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. In August, he released a music video for his second single named Mama Filipina.
Photo from: wikipedia.org
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.
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Apl.de.ap recorded another Tagalog song for The Black Eyed Peas’ fifth studio album, “The E.N.D.”, the song is called “Mare”. In 2009, he also had a song entitled “Take Me to The Philippines”, in partnership with the Department of Tourism of the Philippines.
Photo from: fanpop.com
The Black Eyed Peas were ranked 12th on the Billboard‘s Decade-End Chart Artist of the Decade, and 7th in the Hot 100 Artists of the Decade.In November 2010, they released the album The Beginning. The first single of the album was “The Time (Dirty Bit)” and topped the charts in many countries. In February 2011, the group performed at the Super Bowl XLV halftime show. The album’s second single was “Just Can’t Get Enough” and was released in February 2011. The music video was filmed in Japan one week before the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. The third single “Don’t Stop the Party” was released in May 2011. In July 2011 the group announced that they are taking a break and have denied breakup rumors.
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