Information about Apl.de.ap

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Allan Pineda Lindo, (b. 28 November 1974) better known as apl.de.ap, is a hip hop musician, record producer, and member of the The Black Eyed Peas. He was born in the Barangay (Barrio) of Sapang Bato, Angeles City, Pampanga, in the Philippines, to a Filipina mother and African American father.

Early life

apl.de.ap is an original member of the hip hop group The Black Eyed Peas where he is the main composer. His father, a U.S. soldier stationed at nearby Clark Air Base, abandoned the family shortly after his birth. His mother, Christina Pineda, raised him and his four brothers and two sisters on her own in their small barrio. He grew up poor as heavily referenced in "The Apl Song". His house was frequently destroyed by typhoons, and he fished in the river to make money. He attended Curie High School in Chicago, Illinois and often visits to help out in the music class. Music had always been part of Apl’s life, his early influences having been Stevie Wonder, The Eagles, The Beatles and the popular Filipino rock/folk group, Asin. Hip-hop soon came into the picture via the breakdancing, "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.'"

Career

They then teamed up and formed a break-dancing crew called Tribals of the Nations and were regularly performing at Southern California parties and events. As their partnership evolved, they added another MC, Mookie Mook, performer Dante Santiago and producer DJ Motiv8 (part of the group from 1992-1995) and the name of their crew turned into Atban Klann (ATBAN stands for "A Tribe Beyond a Nation"), and became part of L.A.'s hip-hop/break-dance circuit, eventually being signed onto Eazy-E’s label, Ruthless Records. Their debut album, "Grass Roots", was never released because Ruthless did not consider the social themes reflected in the group's music to be marketable to their audience.

After Eazy-E's AIDS-related death in 1995, Mookie left ATBAN, then Dante joined Will and Apl in 1996. Then a Mexican/Native American rapper named Jaime "Taboo" Gomez joined the mix and the group renamed themselves the Black Eyed Peas. Unlike many hip-hop acts, they chose to perform with a live band and adopted a unique musical and clothing style that differed wildly from the "Gangsta rap" sounds of other Los Angeles-based hip-hop acts at the time.

Their first album, Behind the Front was released in 1998 to critical acclaim and was followed by Bridging the Gap in 2000 featuring a guest appearance by Macy Gray as well as members of Jurassic 5 and De La Soul. After two albums, the group brought in Fergie, a.k.a. Stacy Ferguson, for "Elephunk".

He explains his life story in a song called "The Apl Song" found on the Peas' 2003 album Elephunk (track 11). This song has a full chorus in Tagalog (Filipino) taken from the Asin song "Balita." "Coming from the Philippines my whole goal was to support my family and have a better living situation," he said. "Trying to pursue my dream took up a lot of my time, and I got separated from my family a little bit ... I was separated from my brothers and sisters. Some good things happened to them and some bad things happened to some of them." This is in reference to the suicide of his younger brother Arnel, a heartbreaking event he recalls in the song. Its accompanying video, which reached number one in the Philippines, with its cameo appearances by fellow Fil-Ams, Dante Basco and Chad Hugo, is also a tribute to the Filipinos who fought for the U.S. in World War II.

"Bebot" is another all-Tagalog song on 2005's Monkey Business album. A music video for "Bebot" was filmed in early July 2006 and premiered online on August 4, 2006. The video was directed by Patricio Ginelsa (Kid Heroes Productions) who also directed "The Apl Song" and produced the Filipino-American coming of age movie, "The Debut". The Bebot music video was filmed in various locations in Los Angeles, CA, one location including Kenneth Hahn Park, where Dr. Dre's "Nothing But A G Thang" video was also filmed. The term "Bebot" is Filipino slang for "pretty woman", "hot chick", "hottie", "baby/babe". The video for Bebot features primarily Filipinos, Filipino-Americans and several other Asian ethnicities from the Los Angeles area (Korean-Americans, Japanese-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Thai-Americans, Indonesian-Americans, Vietnamese-Americans, etc.). The single was not released in the US but was in the Philippines and several other Asian countries.

In the future, apl.de.ap is also planning to release a solo album of his own. He recently disclosed in an interview that he would be collaborating with fellow Filipino-American Chad Hugo of The Neptunes and incorporating traditional Filipino instruments into his songs[1]. Some of his songs are uploaded on his MySpace page.

Solo Albums

• (2007) Apl.de.ap's solo album

See also

• Black Eyed Peas
• Fergie
• Taboo
• Will.i.am

External links

• The Apl Song video
• The Black Eyed Peas' official website
• Jeepney Music MySpace Page
• Philippine News Article on apl.de.ap
• Los Angeles Times article
• Los Angeles Asian Journal article