{"id":77551,"date":"2025-07-20T08:29:21","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T08:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/77551\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T08:29:21","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T08:29:21","slug":"will-i-am-and-taboo-release-hometown-tribute-song-east-la","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/77551\/","title":{"rendered":"will.i.am and Taboo release hometown tribute song ‘East LA’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shortly after Black Eyed Peas cofounder will.i.am<\/a> 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\u2019s timely single \u201cEast L.A.<\/a>\u201d drops on Epic Records Friday in solidarity with a community hit hard by this summer\u2019s ICE raids.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt it was urgent to lift up the community during the ongoing raids and unjust execution of ICE,\u201d said will.i.am<\/a> 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Built around a remix of Santana\u2019s 1999 hit \u201cMaria Maria,\u201d a mariachi guitar trio and infectious cumbia beat, the song is a tribute to a resilient community that\u2019s battled gang violence, economic hardship, environmental racism and gentrification. Immigration raids are not new to the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re 40 plus, you remember la migra in the \u201880s and \u201890s,\u201d said will.i.am<\/a>, who in the song raps that he has a Black Chicano soul. \u201cWe came out of that and now we\u2019re back, but it will pass. My ancestors experienced some version of what Latinos are experiencing now. This one is for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inspiration for the song grew out of will.i.am<\/a>\u2019s longstanding personal involvement in helping the neighborhood of his youth. <\/strong>In 2009, amid his rise to international fame, the Harvard Business School graduate and tech entrepreneur founded i.am Angel Foundation<\/a>, which provides STEAM programs and College Track<\/a> for thousands of LAUSD students.<\/p>\n

In recent months, will.i.am<\/a> saw how federal law enforcement raids have sown fear and apprehension.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could see the stress from kids in our program and a lot of them are residents,\u201d said the seven-time Grammy-award winning artist, who performed at last year\u2019s East L.A. Classic<\/a> football game. \u201cMasked men are apprehending people that are documented and putting them in unmarked cars. It\u2019s insane and confusing to a lot of families.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"YouTube<\/p>\n

Strewn with Spanglish and cholo slang, \u201cEast L.A.\u201d shouts out landmarks like the iconic Art Deco Sears building on Olympic Boulevard that will.i.am<\/a> frequented as a kid, the historic Whittier Boulevard and the veiny 5, 710, 10 and \u201c60 pinche\u201d freeways that weave through it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The track arrives alongside a compelling music video<\/a> directed by will.i.am and Sterling Hampton IV<\/a>, which was shot at many of these cornerstones and backdrops. Murals like Frank Fierro\u2019s 1970s \u201cOrale Raza\u201d 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<\/a> and Taboo flaunt.<\/p>\n

The song and video evoke a specific time and place in the artists\u2019 lives with nostalgic references to cholo lifestyle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to go back to the neighborhood that built me,\u201d said will.i.am<\/a> who was mindful about shooting the video in neutral gang territories like Hollenbeck Park and the Sixth Street Bridge. \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The music video was first shown on Tuesday at will.i.am<\/a>\u2019s creative tech company FYI<\/a> in Hollywood.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"will.i.am<\/a>will.i.am speaks at a preview event for \u201cEast LA\u201d at FYI in Hollywood. (Courtesy of i.am Angel Foundation)<\/p>\n

will.i.am<\/a> gave shout outs to Boyle Heights mainstays like El Tepeyac and Al & Bea\u2019s, and hired local vendors Lupita\u2019s Mexican Cuisine<\/a>, traditional Mexican ice cream makers Nieves de Garrafa Don Joaquin<\/a> and Maria Reyes\u2019 California Fresh Fruits<\/a> to cater the event.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to be something new for Black Eyed Peas fans,\u201d said Taboo, who was born Jimmy Gomez and raps unapologetically about being a pocho and tagging up Metro, even whistling like a cholo. \u201cThis is telling the story of our intrinsic Boyle Heights and East L.A. culture. It\u2019s the genesis of our 30-year brotherhood. We\u2019ve come full circle.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the people living in fear of ICE, Taboo wants them to know that he has their backs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stand in solidarity and empathize with you,\u201d said the rapper, who is of Mexican and Shoshone descent. \u201cI lead with love, but will fight for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taboo and will.i.am, who met breakdancing in L.A.\u2019s late \u201890s freestyle scene, and as founding members of Black Eyed Peas, went back to their roots on \u201cEast L.A.\u201d\u201cThere wouldn\u2019t be Black Eyed Peas if it weren\u2019t for Boyle Heights and Estrada Courts,\u201d will.i.am<\/a> said. \u201cMi gente por vida.\u201d<\/p>\n

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