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Last month, the eclectic hitmaker (Born William James Adams, Jr.), whose production credits include Usher, Michael Jackson, and Nas to name a few, faced criticism stemming from his 'MTV Video Music Awards' appearance, which many thought was him dressed in blackface.
Although the singer-songwriter disputed claims stating that he set "black people back 100 years" with his outfit, the chart-topper recently responded to critics who feel that his music is distant to today's hip-hop music.
"I'm like, 'Cool. It's not crowded. Y'all n*%#as stay over there,'" he stated in the November issue of The Source magazine. "F*#k a quotable. I ain't trying to make other rappers be like, 'Yo, that n*%#a's nice.' I don't give a f*#k. I did that when I was
19, 20, 21. I don't wanna do that no more."
Will.i.am went on to tell the mag how he doesn't want his creativity limited due to his cultural background.
"We take no ownership and Hip-Hop demonstrates that," he said. "We came from dance, disco and electro, but in 2010, if a Black man does dance, disco and electro we say, 'That's not Hip-Hop.'
"As a Black man in America, why should I limit my creative to stereotypes that not only white America sees in us, but now our own culture," he continued. "So, please, tell me what Hip-Hop is 'cause if that's your definition, I don't wanna be that. I'll be the definition of the Hip-Hop I fell in love with."
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Comments: (3)
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By: sharkchops on 10/22/2010 11:02AM
Sing it, Will. Im not a fan of his music but I respect his attitude and way of thinking. Hip Hop hasn't been exclusively black since the mid 90s. People need to get over trying to lock the genre into a racial box. Today's hip hop isn't just black. Hip hop is performed all over the world by whites, asians, indians, africans, latinos, etc. There are Australian, polish, mexican and Japanese hip hop groups. And they take their sh!t seriously too. People forget, without blacks' contribution to music (gospel, blues, jazz, r&b) most forms of today's popular music wouldn't even exist and likewise, hip hop would have died off like a fad if other races hadn't accepted it. Blacks have as much right to branch out to other areas of music than anyone. We don't seem to have a problem when whites like Robin Thicke, Joss Stone and Natalie Bedingfield become successful r&b and crossover artists but can't seem to understand artists like Darius Rucker who went from having success as a rock artist to now being a top country artist. And Will I Am is having the last laugh. Haters are just jealous because, Black Eyed Peas and his music collaborations sell more world-wide than 95% of other rappers.
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By: Darksavior on 10/22/2010 5:26PM
sorry dude you are not hip hop i been hip hopping for over 30 years and no way are you hip hop more like pop ,hip hop don't make the radio or even get signed to deals ,this crap that you and the kanya's are trying to pass off ,as hip hop is what the industry wants us to except as hip hop because white america buys it sorry my dude not even near hip hop !
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By: ronB on 10/23/2010 5:01PM
lets see they add a white girl to the group then went mainstream to not only be accepted but to make the almighty dollar.
Sorry Will i have some old black eye peas stuff on tapes of back in the day when you actually doing REAL underground stuff ,but i guess that would never push you main stream or get you paid.
remember you left hip-hop not the other way around.so don't push any dumb explanation on us.
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