Will.i.am Says It ‘Hurts A Little Bit’ That Black Eyed Peas ‘Is Not Looked At As A Black Group’

The Black Eyed Peas have a ton of international success and fame to fall back on, but will.i.am is opening up about something that has been eating at him for a while — and it’s not something that’s so easily fixed by selling even more records.

The performing artist opened up in a new interview this week, revealing that he was fed up with the fact that BEP is “not considered” a Black group. And he believes it’s in part due to their success all around the world.

Related: Black Eyed Peas Take On Trump And His Followers In New Music Video!

The Los Angeles-born rapper, singer, and songwriter had a lot to say about that, according to Source. For one, he opened up about how he worries BEP isn’t fully considered a “Black group,” saying (below)

“In 2004, Black Eyed Peas, we were just trying to get on. I’m a Black dude, but when you think of Black Eyed Peas, we go so big that… and it hurts, it still hurts a little bit that we’re not considered a Black group because we got that big. When you think of Black Eyed Peas…it’s no longer urban or Black culture, which is… it’s not good for the black community that Black Eyed Peas is not looked at as a Black group because we had international success.”

Wow!

He went on from there, too, adding more about how it’s not just BEP that he’s worried about, but how all Black musicians and musical genres are eventually colonized by white people.

He added”

“…That should be credited to the Black community more so than letting it be adopted. That’s just a thing that we suffer from all the time. When you think of Jazz, you no longer think of Black anymore. When you think of Rock n’ Roll, you don’t think of Black anymore… I don’t know why we have that. When you think of even country, you don’t think of Black. A lot of the things that we create and we invent, we dispose of or it gets stolen from us to the point where it’s not associated to its origins.”

Is that true for y’all?

When you think of jazz, do you really not think of Black people any more? For what it’s worth, will.i.am is at least definitely correct on the point regarding rock music and country… that part seems pretty cut and dry, doesn’t it?

The comments here brought out quite a few responses, too, including this video from Kim Hill in which she tried to grapple with will.i.am’s claims (below):

Thoughts, Perezcious readers?

Where do y’all stand on this one, Perezcious readers?!

Sound OFF about it with your comments down (below)…

[Image via WENN]