Shortly after Black Eyed Peas cofounder will.i.am turned 50 this past March, he poured his heart out in a love song to his Boyle Heights hometown. Teaming up with longtime collaborator and fellow Eastside native Taboo, the artist’s timely single “East L.A.” drops on Epic Records Friday in solidarity with a community hit hard by this summer’s ICE raids.
“I felt it was urgent to lift up the community during the ongoing raids and unjust execution of ICE,” said will.i.am in an interview with Boyle Heights Beat. The multi-platinum global visionary was born William Adams at LAC+USC Medical Center (then General Hospital) and raised in the nearby Estrada Courts housing project.
Built around a remix of Santana’s 1999 hit “Maria Maria,” a mariachi guitar trio and infectious cumbia beat, the song is a tribute to a resilient community that’s battled gang violence, economic hardship, environmental racism and gentrification. Immigration raids are not new to the neighborhood.
“If you’re 40 plus, you remember la migra in the ‘80s and ‘90s,” said will.i.am, who in the song raps that he has a Black Chicano soul. “We came out of that and now we’re back, but it will pass. My ancestors experienced some version of what Latinos are experiencing now. This one is for the community.”
Inspiration for the song grew out of will.i.am’s longstanding personal involvement in helping the neighborhood of his youth. In 2009, amid his rise to international fame, the Harvard Business School graduate and tech entrepreneur founded i.am Angel Foundation, which provides STEAM programs and College Track for thousands of LAUSD students.
In recent months, will.i.am saw how federal law enforcement raids have sown fear and apprehension.
“I could see the stress from kids in our program and a lot of them are residents,” said the seven-time Grammy-award winning artist, who performed at last year’s East L.A. Classic football game. “Masked men are apprehending people that are documented and putting them in unmarked cars. It’s insane and confusing to a lot of families.”
Strewn with Spanglish and cholo slang, “East L.A.” shouts out landmarks like the iconic Art Deco Sears building on Olympic Boulevard that will.i.am frequented as a kid, the historic Whittier Boulevard and the veiny 5, 710, 10 and “60 pinche” freeways that weave through it.
The track arrives alongside a compelling music video directed by will.i.am and Sterling Hampton IV, which was shot at many of these cornerstones and backdrops. Murals like Frank Fierro’s 1970s “Orale Raza” painted on the actual Estrada Courts building where will.i.am and his family lived is a prominent element as are the black and gold LAFC jerseys will.i.am and Taboo flaunt.
The song and video evoke a specific time and place in the artists’ lives with nostalgic references to cholo lifestyle.
“I wanted to go back to the neighborhood that built me,” said will.i.am who was mindful about shooting the video in neutral gang territories like Hollenbeck Park and the Sixth Street Bridge. “I get emotional thinking about how hard it was, how beautiful it was. It was like a village. We would go get free cheese and powdered milk together at Resurrection Church, we went to the welfare office together. When you had nothing, the people around you were everything.”
The music video was first shown on Tuesday at will.i.am’s creative tech company FYI in Hollywood.
will.i.am speaks at a preview event for “East LA” at FYI in Hollywood. (Courtesy of i.am Angel Foundation)
will.i.am gave shout outs to Boyle Heights mainstays like El Tepeyac and Al & Bea’s, and hired local vendors Lupita’s Mexican Cuisine, traditional Mexican ice cream makers Nieves de Garrafa Don Joaquin and Maria Reyes’ California Fresh Fruits to cater the event.
“This is going to be something new for Black Eyed Peas fans,” said Taboo, who was born Jimmy Gomez and raps unapologetically about being a pocho and tagging up Metro, even whistling like a cholo. “This is telling the story of our intrinsic Boyle Heights and East L.A. culture. It’s the genesis of our 30-year brotherhood. We’ve come full circle.”
As for the people living in fear of ICE, Taboo wants them to know that he has their backs.
“I stand in solidarity and empathize with you,” said the rapper, who is of Mexican and Shoshone descent. “I lead with love, but will fight for you.”
Taboo and will.i.am, who met breakdancing in L.A.’s late ‘90s freestyle scene, and as founding members of Black Eyed Peas, went back to their roots on “East L.A.”“There wouldn’t be Black Eyed Peas if it weren’t for Boyle Heights and Estrada Courts,” will.i.am said. “Mi gente por vida.”