A blog about music and its evolution in the online world.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Admiring Apl.de.ap


I first saw Apl.de.ap in person and up close during MTV Emerge winners announcement night last November 27. He is a Filipino-American hip hop musician, record producer and is best known as a member of the Black Eyed Peas.



It amazes me how Apl has brought his Filipino culture into his collaboration with the Black Eyed Peas. Some of the group's songs with Tagalog lyrics include "The Apl Song" from the album Elephunk, and "Bebot" from the Monkey Business album.



Currently, Apl.de.ap is working on a solo album. He would be collaborating with fellow Filipino-American Chad Hugo of The Neptunes and Illmind from G-Unit to incorporate traditional Filipino instruments into his songs.



Last January, he made a debut with the single, U Can Dream, featuring Florante and Billy Crawford. In August, he released a music video for his second single named Mama Filipina.



Apl.de.ap started sharing his blessings through the Apl Foundation which is committed in giving back to communities and children within the Philippines and throughout Asia.

He recently established the music company called Jeepney Music that provides promotional and collaborative opportunities for artists to work with him. An artist's beats or music might be featured on Jeepney Radio or they might be invited to collaborate on a Jeepney Project.

Jeepney Music also fosters a non-exclusive community filled with content and connectivity between music, gossip, travel, food, entertainment, and living histories from the Philippines. It is one location where one can always track Apl.de.Ap and participate in the Jeepney community. It is currently based in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California and currently handles DJs such as Free School, DJ Rockyrock, DJ MIA, and PoetNameLife.



Apl.de.ap recorded another tagalog song for Black Eyed Peas' fifth studio album, "The E.N.D.", the song is called "Mare". In 2009, he also had a song entitled "Take U to The Philippines" that is hitting the airwaves in the Philippines. The song is in partnership with the Department of Tourism of the Philippines.




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