Writer: Chris Ahrens | Photographer: Nabil
I haven’t behaved like a groupie in at least two decades, but realizing I may never get another chance; I broke professional ranks and asked the one and only will.i.am. of Black Eyed Peas fame to do my phone message. So now, when you call my number you hear, “Hey, what’s up? This is will.i.am chillin’ with Chris and Tracy; why don’t you leave a message?” Problem is everyone thinks it’s fake. Come on, will.i.am hangin’ with a dude like me? It’s so unexpected, but after this interview, which was my second sitting with him in two years, I have learned to expect the unexpected from him.

I detect few walls blocking will’s thinking. Maybe because he grew up in the Projects of East LA, escaped poverty and went on to become one of the most recognized pop stars in the world. Maybe because 2005 led him to six Grammy Award nominations, work with Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana, Diddy, Justin Timberlake—with whom he formed the promising new production company, the Jawbreakers (Justin and Will). Maybe because he launched i.am clothing and producedTimeless, the decades overdue revival of Sergio Mendes on Concord Records/Starbucks Hear Music. Maybe it’s because will.i.am contemplates ideas that never cross lesser brains, like music someday being used to heal, yes, literally heal people from diseases like cancer. Maybe it’s because there is nobody like him, never has been and never will be.

Of course he would humbly say the same about you, apparently never trippin’ for a moment that he might somehow be above anybody else. And that’s why that hour, 17 minutes and 26 seconds with him composed the most electrified moments of the launching of 2006. This was better…well, maybe not better, but different as he is different, different than anyone I’ve ever met, yeah, like they broke the stupid box cliché lovers insist they think outside of along with the proverbial mold, before they poured this one. will.i.am. looks kinda like a dark skinned cherub might look, something complemented by a honey-baked, soothing, nearly hypnotic speaking voice. There is no trace of malice in him, nor is there anything resembling egomania, something that seems improbable, given his omnipresence in the world of pop. His words, while soft often to the point of a whisper, are, nonetheless, delivered with authoritative weight. His clothing is not like anyone else’s clothing and his thoughts are not like anyone else’s thoughts.

Interviewed exclusively for RISEN Magazine in Los Angeles.


RISEN Magazine: How did you escape poverty?
will.i.am: I grew up surrounded by people that were poor. I wasn’t given a handbook on how to be successful.

RM: What did you think you would do when you were in eighth grade?
will.i.am: I wanted to do music.

RM: Why do you think people will spend $10,000 on a painting to hang on their wall and less than $100 for something to hang on their body?
will.i.am: Fashion is art. I’d spend $2,000 on a jacket I liked. The reason we spend more on pictures for our walls is that the wall won’t grow. [Laughter]

RM: Were you the type of kid that would cut up and redesign his school clothes?
will.i.am: Not my school clothes, my mom would kill me, but yeah, I did that. When she gave me the freedom to dress like I wanted, I ran with it. That was ninth grade, when I had my freedom of expression.

RM: Where would you go if you could go anywhere you wanted for a day?
will.i.am: I would fly to Geneva and take a tour of Cern Laboratories, where the top scientists in the world conduct their experiments.

RM: Are you interested in science?
will.i.am: Physics, quantum physics, yeah. I went to a science magnet school, ever since I was little.

RM: Where do you see technology going?
will.i.am: I think it will someday be applied to our bodies, where you get a chip planted in your ear.

RM: Does that scare you at all?
will.i.am: No, I think technology is a wheelchair for something we should be able to do on our own. If we knew how to use more of our minds, we would be able to do that without a chip.

RM: What makes you think so?
will.i.am: Okay, what do you think about this? You have a cell phone, right? That cell phone has a send number. I could dial you from the other side of the planet and that antenna would pick up that frequency. Here we are human beings, we have a send number, that’s our DNA code, and we have receptors. There are frequencies that pass before us that we’re not aware of. Certain frequencies hit us and make us feel a certain way that we can’t explain. That being said, we know more about gadgets and technology and neglect our own gadgets, our bodies. We don’t know our capabilities for picking up other frequencies.

RM: Have you ever communicated like that?
will.i.am: With my mom when I was in her stomach.

RM: What?
will.i.am: All I know is I ate when I was hungry. [Laughter]

RM: Have you ever had out-of-body experiences?
will.i.am: I’ve had those, yeah.

RM: Have you talked to anyone who’s communicated telepathically?