Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - S11 Ep 12: will.i.am

Episode Date: March 31, 2021

Fill up my cup! We have will.i.am on TM! Will talks about his ‘pancizza' creation (a pancake pizza), being a vegan over the past 4 years, how he loves a song with ‘boom’ in the lyrics and growing up eating his Mum’s goulash. We get to learn how 'Ordinary People' came about with John Legend, Black Eyed Peas record label stories, his involvement with Beats and singing ‘mazal tov’ around the world!!Black Eye Peas new single ‘Shake Ya Boom Boom’ is out now with Static & Ben El Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to Table Manners. I'm Jessie Ware and I'm here with my mum and we've put the ring light back on, haven't we? Yeah, but my hair looked better without my earphones on. I think I need like a beehive behind my earphones. I like height, Jessie. What, like dusty springfields? Yeah, it's flattening my hair down too much. I don't think this guest is going to mind, seeing as he doesn't usually look at the people's voices that he's... Do you like that little segue?

We've got Will.i.am. We tried to get him for a very long time. Oh, I'm so excited. I'm very confused that the biggest tech man that we know will only let us use Zoom recording. So apologies in advance if the sound quality is a little shit. Anyway, so yes, we have Will.i.am, producer, artist, tech giant. Voice coach.

Judge. Voice coach. Voice coach, sorry. They don't judge in the voice, do they? I've seen you quite a lot, Mum. No, you haven't. Well, you kindly had my children for the night. And my son woke you up.

Three o'clock interlude to go for a wee-wee. Number one child. Number two child wakes at 5.30 because he could hear the birdies singing to ask me if the birdies had teeth and would they fall out of the tree. I think this is rather advanced for a two-year-old to be discussing about whether do birdies have teeth birds do

they just have beaks this is the discussion that my two-year-old and my mom were having at five in the morning i said i don't think they do have teeth i think they've got beaks oh mom also you would be really proud to know that my son is now in nursery saying, come on, darling, to everyone. So I know who to thank for that. Come on, darling. Thank you for that added vocabulary to my son's repertoire. I want to give a shout out to, I'm so happy that they are now doing South London takeaways. So when I lived in East Londonon there was this really great initiative that had just started called dab a drop and they're a sustainable takeaway indian curry

it comes in a tiffin tin so there's no plastic so you get it in like you get four different things in your tiffin tin a man or a woman come on a bicycle and they deliver it and it's in a lovely kind of fabric basically plastic free sustainable takeaway really delicious curry the food was amazing they're a really brilliant organization set up by two women and i'm just really happy that they're in south london so south londoners east londoners maybe you already know about it dabba drop and you have the subscription so you can kind of get it how do you spell it gabba but dabba don't know like i was about to do gabba music or jabba yes dabba and then drop anyway that is my little tip for you guys so will i am is coming on table manners we can talk the voice i definitely talking the voice

and we can also talk about his new single and his philanthropy you can talk about it all yeah his new single is called Shake Your Boom Boom, and Mum really quite likes it. Didn't he have a boom boom shake the room? He had boom boom pow. He likes boom boom. He likes a little bit of boom boom, oh, Will.i.am.

Willing to booms, isn't he? Loves a boom or two. Maybe we can discuss. But his booming. His most heavily used word is boom. Will.i.am, coming up on table manners hello guys hi will how's everyone how are you will i'm super have you got your juice oh oh sally told you that i don't i don't eat on mondays you don't eat on monday no she didn't tell us this yeah no i don't chew on i don't chew food on mondays are you hungry no actually i do i

do it's pretty uh so here's my routine for the past uh how long has it been since um right after christmas yeah i have my pancakes and my vegan burgers on Fridays and Saturdays and Sundays. I go salad. So first on Fridays, I start with like salads in the day and then avocado. So I cut my avocado. Hold on, let me show you, let me show you, let me show you, let me show you. So, you know, most people like cut their avocados this way. Yeah.

I cut my avocado this way why that way i could use it as a cup so then i take all the avocado like the chunk out and then i mix it with the lime yeah and then i put a little freaking hill malaya sea salt and then i chop up some jalapenos in it and then i put it back into the avocado two half cups and then I scoop it out like that so it's kind of like an avocado slush puppy oh yeah that's right and then I put my soy sauce in it that's my avocado like devil's egg like you know devil's egg you use the inside of an egg and you put it all back inside the egg yeah we do um so same thing here with my avocado so that's what I eat on Fridays the first solid that I eat and then on on Mondays, I have like my vegan pancake.

And then on Sunday, and then at night, I have like a vegan burger. And then on Sundays, I go like, I go really rambunctious on like my vegan salads with pastas and stuff like that. And Sundays is my like carb day, heavy, heavy carb day. And then on Monday, i juice tuesday i juice wednesday i juice with a salad thursday um juice with a salad friday juice my avocado and that's and that repeats you're gonna disappear well no no here's why because the body it stores fat areas and so just i know i know and and so how do you tell your body to start utilizing the energy that it's been storing and then by um april i'll go back to like a more like chewing throughout the week regimen so this is a regular kind of a ritual for you that you do every year that kind of january sounds like a lockdown thing

because it'd be harder to do out of lockdown no you take your little bag of juice like you know like when we were in elementary school some people went to school with like a lunch bag oh yeah yeah yeah so you go out in the world and you have like your eight juices i have a juice every hour every other hour and i'm full of energy i'm getting all my supplements that i need i'm getting all my vitamins that i need my skin is extra like what you look you look very handsome this is not this ain't a filter child look at this you do look great but what okay so what are you missing if maybe you're not maybe you're feeling completely okay with a lot of juice in the zone you're not, maybe you're feeling completely okay

with a lot of juice. I think it's in the zone, Jess. I know, I feel like you're in the zone and I'm slightly jealous about you being the zone when I've just had loads of pasta for dinner. For example, today I had nothing but juice, didn't chew anything solid. I did my pull-ups, four sets of pull-ups.

Then I did my bench presses, then I did my push-ups. Then I did my run up a hill. And then I walked from the London Eye to the Pyramid and back. That's a six-mile walk. The Pyramid? Which Pyramid is that? The Shard. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Shard.

Okay. Yeah, I walked from the London Eye to the Shard on a Zoom call, which is like two hours and six miles. All on juice. You're getting your steps in. I got energy. Yeah. I'm not like tired, like come later. I'm like, let's go. What are we doing next?

I would definitely be in a coma if I was on a juice diet, darling. But you've never tried a juice diet. No, I haven't, darling. That's to be fair. So I would say, I would say a liquidarian. Oh, I've never heard that. I it wow i'm a liquidarian i'm about wine i'm i'm sorry i'm a liquidarian but okay so will we we haven't really introduced ourselves i'm jesse and this is lenny and we know who hi lenny hi jesse hi darling and and we we've got you after probably quite a full day of promo you're thick in you know the voice and mum wants to discuss this with you you know

you're promoting your new record shake your boom boom mum says hasn't he got another song called boom boom i said well that's boom boom power black eyed peas but how are you finding london do you like it here because you seem to come back for more like every year and we appreciate it because we love you as a as a coach I love the UK yesterday I walked from the London Eye to the end of Hyde Park wow and back down to the London Eye that was 10 miles because I wanted to go through all the parks like so it took about three three-hour walk. And so just walking through London, there's nobody on the streets, is a very eerie feeling. Like, you know, it's three o'clock in the afternoon.

It's golden hour. There's no cars out on some streets, no one walking on some streets. And that's like a sad and a proud feeling at the same time. I'm sad, like, oh my gosh, this looks scary. But then I'm proud, like, oh my gosh, this looks scary. But then I'm proud, like, wow, everybody's behaving. It's going to be an awesome memory for the folks that get through it. And it's going to be hard. It's heartbreaking for the folks that we've lost. I've lost friends and family. So yeah, it's been tough. But when you see people out there, when you don't see

people on the streets, it's sad, scary, but then at the same time, you're like, wow, people are doing their part and staying indoors. This is going down in the memory books. Yeah. You, we need to know about you growing up and what you were eating around the dinner table. This is what we ask all our guests.

So set the scene. Who was cooking the meal and who was around that dinner table and what were you eating? My mom cooked the meals. We ate spaghetti. That was like my mom's favorite. Wow, what sort? Spaghetti bolognese with like ground turkey

because my mom didn't like the idea of eating beef. So my mom made spaghetti bolognese a lot. That was like, like you know she was super happy when when that's what we were eating for dinner did you like it yeah was it was that's like one of my mom's favorites that I love my mom's goulash yeah so my mom made goulash and that was delish my mom's pancakes oh my lord jesus and they're crispy just the right amount of crisp on the edges like get out of here. That's happy moment for me.

How did she make them? Like, what was her trick? Was it just like the right oil that she used? Or what was like, is there something in it that we should all be doing? I don't know. But I try to do my vegan version of it. It doesn't turn out right. But I like my vegan pancake that I make.

But we weren't vegan growing up I've been vegan for four years now um so growing up what else did my mom make that was delicious oh Thanksgiving dinner was like oh oh wow yeah like her turkey was amazing her ham was awesome her stuffing was get out of here my mom's freaking uh what else did she make that was delish? Macaroni and cheese. What? So she was a good cook. You really, you like, yeah.

Yeah, I love cooking. Yo. Do you? What I made last night? What? Okay, come on then. Last night I made a pan pizza. Okay.

A pancake pizza. No, I got it, mom. I need to know what the vegan I need to know this so I so I was like I don't have pizza dough I was like what if I make a pancake but instead of putting you know sweet stuff in the batter like cinnamon and a little bit of brown sugar and a banana to give me the thickness because I don't have an egg why Why don't I make the pancake, but put olives in it and some jalapenos in it and a little bit of garlic in it and blend it up really nice. Put that and cook the pancake, make it really thin and then put like marinara sauce and then my grounded impossible meat and then my vegan mozzarella and then bake that

and then automatically the the pancake is going to turn a little bit more crisp yeah and then and then i put some basil on like yo my pan pizza get out of here i even named it i named it i was like yo this is a pan pizza. My pan pizza was the bomb. So this is the next endeavor for you. Like forget tech, forget philanthropic. This pan pizza is going to come to everybody like in a year or two. No, no. Vegan pan pizza.

This is for me to like for my friends and family, like, yo, check out my pan pizza. Have you ever had a pan pizza? My pan pizza was the bomb. Okay. What else did I make the other day? Ooh, I did a quesadilla with my Impossible. I love that. But here, check out how I did it, though.

I got my flour tortilla. I made my Impossible meat with green onions and then green bell peppers. I kept it really greeny. And then my cilantro and then a little peppers. I kept it really greeny. And then my cilantro, and then a little bit of freaking cheese in the inside. And then I baked it. So the cheese melts in the inside. And then I put a bunch of like mozzarella and cheddar cheese. And then I put some, hold up.

Then I put some Mando's lime sauce in a cup put that in and i mixed it and i put the the cheese and the nando chili sauce in the microwave i melted it and then smothered the freaking quesadilla with that and then i put filthy yo yo it was like the bomb dot org because i organized the whole thing. It was, it was so fresh. No, but it's funny because like the way that you're talking,

that obviously you're doing the juicing and you, and you were talking about, you know, you're the avocado. But it's like you, when you cook with your, you like the impossible meat. Like I had a beyond burger the other day it was

bloody great yeah it was so good so when you became a vegan it wasn't like you you went off the taste of meat I'm presuming or maybe it was because you're still kind of trying to get that kind of texture in there with the mince meat well the vegan meat but um why did you become a vegan four years ago okay so I had high cholesterol so first I you become a vegan four years ago? Okay, so I had high cholesterol. So first I got sick four years ago. I had like this cough that I couldn't beat. And so I went to the doctor and they took my blood. They took my blood pressure.

And they told me that I had high blood pressure and high cholesterol. And they wanted to give me a pill. And I knew what pill it was because my uncle's on that pill. I was like, yo, yo, that's some like old people's stuff. Like, why you want me to take this freaking high cholesterol pill? They're like, well, because it runs in your family. And, you know, this would help you get your cholesterol in order and bring your high blood pressure down.

So I was like, wait, how about if I get my cholesterol in order based off of what I eat? And if that doesn't work, then I take the pill. He was like, yeah, I'll see you in a month. I'll give you a month's time, but you really should really think about getting your cholesterol down and your high blood pressure down. I was like, okay, I'll come back in a month. I came back in three weeks because I coughed went away right when I went vegan. Three weeks, And three weeks, because I coughed one away right when I went vegan. Three weeks, I stopped the bagged processed food. I stopped the freaking high glucose sugar stuff that was causing the freaking post-nasal drip and inflammation in my body.

Went back to the doctor. They're like, what did you, did you take any medicine? I was like, no, I didn't take any medicine. I started eating more vegetables and I got rid of eating all that fast food stuff and then from then on i'm like i'm never i never want to chew animal flesh i never want to freaking like the idea of just like drinking a cow's like udder is utterly gross but like before you became a vegan, were you drinking a cow udder? You had macaroon and cheese. And you were like, but were you quite like, were you quite?

Yeah. You were like a big dairy bloke? Like were you kind of? No, no, because I'm a lactose. So milk, it was easy for me to kick milk, but I love cheese. Yeah. For some reason, like I was lactose intolerant, but I could do, I could eat cheese and pizza. And like, I love eat cheese and pizza. And like,

I love artichoke pizza. Now I know how to make it with cashew milk, or I know how to make it with almond milk. I mean, with almond cheese and cashew cheese, but yeah, we are so like conditioned to where, you know, plant-based is like, well, how are you going to get your protein? Like, well, why don't you ask the gorilla over there where he gets his protein from? And ask that rhinoceros and then ask that elephant because they're eating grass. A cow's eating nothing but grass and then we then eat the cow.

Like, yo, why can't we just do what the cow does and have awesome food that's plant-based? Because technology and science has made it to where you can have awesome food that's plant-based. Because technology and science has made it to where you can have awesome food that's plant-based because the stuff that you like from the foods is not the meat itself, it's the seasoning. Like what makes you say, this is delicious, is how it's cooked. It's the smoke, it's the spice. It's everything else but that cow flesh. It's everything else but that chicken body part. You can have awesome food that's plant-based.

Well, I want to know, where do you like to go for awesome plant-based food? In London? Is there any spots that you found that you like? I want to know where he goes shopping. Unfortunately, London is not like LA. No, yeah. when it comes to like awesome plant-based stuff which means there's a huge opportunity for awesome like plant-based meals neat burger is pretty cool but the UK's interpretation of like plant-based is like

vegan burger yeah we're kind of a bit slower on the uptake I feel it's like it's like yo you got any vegan food how about a vegan burger well i have i have actually i have a really do you like mexican food yo i made an awesome freaking freaking burrito the other day and vegan tacos um i know how to make awesome vegan uh enchiladas mexico has awesome vegan food because a lot of mexican dishes if you get rid of the beef and the fish and the and the chicken they use a lot of like plant-based uh ingredients in their in their dishes well there's two places that i'd like to recommend to you whilst you're in um old blighty there's an amazing restaurant that is closed at the moment because actually i think he's stuck in tulum but

he's an amazing mexican chef called um santiago lastra and he used to work for um he opened noma mexico uh but yeah he's done his own mexican place and it's in central london he's really amazing he does really great plant-based food also there's an amazing if you like walking and you're walking along the river borough market i don't know if you've been there for food yet or not it's right by the shard yeah yeah yeah yeah I saw that today it's like outdoor market and it's like partially outdoor indoor yeah yeah yeah so it's amazing and there's this place called Tacos Padre which do a great margarita but also they do these really good cauliflower like al past like cauliflower past store ones and I feel like you'd really like them so I feel like you

should go to Borough Market on one of your walks and just like go to some of the stalls because there's some really good plant-based stuff there I do on the weekends yeah well hey how is like the recording of The Voice going is it it's live right so we go live uh next weekend and um everything else has been taped um recording The Voice has been has been awesome they they do a really good job with the social distancing. They do a really good job with making sure everyone is, you know, the spirits are up. And yeah, it's really awesome. One of my favorite voice memories

is when Becky Hill was on it. Do you remember when Becky Hill was on it? Yo, she's a thing right now. Becky Hill has a career. She's done really well. Like, she's doing great. She's like one of the only singers that has a career she's done really well like she's doing great she's like one of the only only singers that's have that has a career post a voice why what yeah what's that about why do you think it doesn't connect in the same way what is and then Lucy the the

opera singer that I had I think season four Lucy has a has a career and and a successful one in opera. And I think the reason why is very few singers, contestants have realized that what the voice is actually for or singing competitions as a whole. So if you, if I were to say like, yo, name the best name, the most successful singer in the history of singing competitions that has a career that reached the highest levels. Who is it? That will be Jennifer Hudson.

Jennifer Hudson, yes. Jennifer Hudson. Fantasia. Fantasia. Fantasia, she won the American Idol, but Jennifer Hudson lost that same year. I think it's the same year. And went off to win a BAFTA, an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, a Tony.

Is she an EGOT? Is she an EGOT? No, no. She's not an EGOT because she's just, she, I think she won a Tony. Maybe she hasn't got an Emmy. Yeah. She's doing all right. She's J-Hud.

Yeah. And, but, and, and she lost. And what, what was it that went from a loop where she lost, but then realized like there are other paths. And Becky Hill is one of those singers. Like she lost. She didn't go through to the final. She didn't win,

but she's winning because she's found other paths. And that was just a catapult or a trampoline for her career. While other singers are waiting for the show or someone to usher them into success but so do you think it's a slight curse if you do win i think it's a curse for you to think that by doing the show that doors are going to open for you first off the doors are supposed to be kicked down there is no politeness to becoming successful. You've got to freaking kick the door down. There's no like, excuse me, excuse me, I'm talented.

It's like, open this mother door right now. Oh, really? Bam. That is like success. And every single person that has success will tell you they had to scream and knock the door down. They had to freaking break the window. They had to go through it.

Ain't no polite. I don't know. But maybe my level of success is not what you're talking about. But I feel I didn't shout the door down. I'm on my fourth record. Weirdly, having the podcast that we do has almost helped my music career because it's made me feel more creative. And like that's art again rather

than just feeling like my bread and butter and so this has like been amazing balancing but for me I feel like I was very lucky that I had maybe other people kicking the door down for me because I was quite self-deprecating I didn't feel like I should be doing it and I was quite apologetic but hey maybe yeah that's what I mean whether it's you or someone in your camp, the door was kicked out. My mother. It was my mother. It was my mother. Me, me.

She was the pushy Jewish mother. Whoever it is in your world is kicking some doors down. There is no gentle in making sure the lane is open for you. Someone is doing it. I wonder if British people are different. I just feel like British are too polite, aren't we? They're like, excuse me, don't worry about me, sorry. No, no, like somebody in the background is making sure

that your lane is kept clear for you to walk down or drive down or however you want to navigate down that lane that has been open for you. It's true. There is not a shortage of singers. the the there is not a shortage of singers so when there's not a shortage there's an abundance of people that are clamoring to have your spot somebody has to clear the lane for you and that's not a polite thing yeah did you bang the door down will uh yeah no i think he i think he was very quiet and shy and retiring. No, I banged the door down because, like, or networked properly because I'm an unlikely candidate.

Like, Black Eyed Peas at the time when we were coming up, it was gangster rap. So how did we even fit into the roster on Ruthless Records, which is, like, the home of gangster rap? How do we get in there? And then when Eazy-E passed away, rest in peace, how did we end up at Interscope? And then from there, while we were at Interscope and everyone was saying that Black Eyed Peas

is not going to sell records or make money or become profitable, how did we keep that door, that lane open? It's networking. It's relentless, earning your keep and proving yourself and learning and collaborating. Yeah, you banging the door down and, you know, maneuvering over obstacles. Have you got any really memorable food memories with Black Eyed Peas that you would be able to share? Yeah, there's this lady by the name of Polly Anthony. Rest in peace. She was the head of Sony Epic and they offered us like a million dollars back in 1997.

And she took us out for Thai food and we had a bidding war. All these labels wanted to sign us. Thai food. And we had a bidding war. All these labels wanted to sign us. And we went from like an offer of $15,000 in a month's time to $60,000 to a month and a half time to $400,000. Our first record deal. And then Pauly Anthony over Thai food offered us a million bucks. Wow. And we were eating at this restaurant off of Wilshire. And I remember it. She was like, look, we really want Black Eyed Peas on Sony, Epic.

And I think you guys are a special group and you guys are self-contained. You write your songs, produce your songs. Will, you know, we had this manager at the time named Jan Stiles. And every meeting that we had, I was a part of the meeting. She's like, you have a business mind in your head and I want you on my label. And so then I was like, oh, man, a million dollars.

Like, what the fuck? Oh, shit, we're about to be millionaires. And so then Jimmy Iving calls us over for tea. Oh, wow. Yeah. He's like, so i hear explain who jimmy is to my mom i know who he was he was on american idol darling i love that reference i know and he's married to a gorgeous woman who's he married to but like this is ridiculous he's also one of the most important people figures in the music industry but anyway okay i didn't know is that important sorry well you know you know you know fleet fleetwood mac right yeah right and uh so he produced fleetwood mac wow he um also produced

stevie nicks he dated stevie nicks tom petty he did the heartbreakers tom petty yes he did he did Tom Petty. Yes. He did. He did. Bruce Springsteen, John Lennon. He's like an icon. He's a big deal. Yeah. Big deal. Then he became an executive and, you know, the chairman, visionary at Interscope Records. So in the 90s, late 90s, after he got wind that Pauly Anthony offered us a million dollars, he was like, so I hear you're going

to sign with Pauly Anthony at Sony. I was like, yeah. He was like, let me tell you something. A group like the Black Eyed Peas, to take a million dollar contract, do you understand the risks that you're putting on your career? If you don't sell records to recoup the million dollars, that'll be the last record you ever make. Because now you have a stain on your name. And it's a dangerous thing. You're basically betting on yourself to lose. So give me the money now. So if you sign to Interscope, no matter how many records you sell, or I mean, how many times the songs are played on the radio, you can always make records and release records at Interscope. And the deal that I'm offering you is still a lot of money,

400, $400,000. I was like, Oh shit, this guy, this is a freaking awesome pitch. So then I, so we regrouped,

that was over tea. And so we regrouped and I'm like, yo, let's go with Jimmy. They're like, well, are you serious? Like Polly's after us a million dollars

i was like yeah but you have to pay that shit back it's a bank all right so i was like yo let's let's let's go with jimmy he said we could always make records no matter how many records we sell so let's go let's go with jimmy we were going to sign for 15 000 last month so we we did that and that was the best decision of our lives. Cause one, he became a friend and a family member. Like that's like my confidant. That's my mentor. And after it all said and done, we did beats together. So it was, I told Jimmy in 2006, like, yo, Jimmy, let's make our own hardware 10 years later. Let's make our own hardware. And we started, we started we started

beats i was a third i didn't know you were involved in b yeah i'll be rocking man beats that was the first beats commercial oh sorry sorry well of course sorry sorry apologies no no no my my uh my involvement it doesn't so my whole thing is like as a collaborator and a partner whether people know on face value that i'm my involvement is not as important as the ideas that I bring. Credit, shmed it. Who cares? Let's make it work. And the people, the principals know, right?

So the public doesn't really matter. So we went off and did awesome stuff together. So then after it was all said and done, when Jimmy retired from the music industry to focus on beats, I remember when we sold beats to Apple, Jimmy tells Tim Cook, he was like, I'm just happy I was able to keep my promise to Will. I said, no matter how long, how many records, and look what we've done together, and look where we are now. We're at Apple. I was at that part, I cried, I was crying. I cried when, when Jimmy told me that he said that to Tim Cook and we were there at Apple for the announcement of the beats into the Apple system. And then when we got dropped off at Interscope in 2019,

they dropped the black IPs. We got signed at Pollyann. I mean, we got signed at polly and i mean we got signed to um sylvia roan at epic and so i went over jimmy's house for lunch and he was like so what's going on with the black ips i'm like yo jimmy we just got signed so we're about to get signed to sony he was like have you signed the deal yet i'm like no he's like let me help you negotiate your contract i was like i would love that he was like wouldn't it be awesome why don you ask them? Tell them you want the same deal that Pauly offered you back in 1997. So it came, it came full. It's like, we could ask for anything. We've sold a lot of records. We have this, like this huge cache. He was like, look, don't take a big advance don't do that get a bigger back end and wouldn't it be beautiful if you got the same amount that paulie anthony because that's where we were supposed to go to epic anyway that was our first deal and now we're

at epic with our you know having the most success we've ever had four number ones off of our new album translation that came out in june and we were at the label that gave us the biggest offer back in 1997. And that was the deal that we constructed with Sylvia. Like, how beautiful that full circle story is. That's amazing. And I love that you and Jimmy, just like he's helping you broker the deal. I needed you in my first fucking music signing deal. I needed you and Jimmy in my ear.

He's my mentor. That's like, I love Jimmy. We talked the other day while I was here in the UK and, and it's always like, what's next? What's coming? Like,

cause I, in 2003, my manager, Seth over lunch is like, Hey, well, General Motors wants, they want black IPs to play their corporate party.

I don't know how you feel about playing corporate parties. It's pretty big. They're offering you a lot of money. I was like, well, how much is a lot of money? He was like, you know, to play an hour at the corporate gig in Orange County, it's like right down the freeway off the five. They're going to pay you like 500K

and then they're going to give every Black Eyed Pea a car. I'm like, whoa, say that again. Wow. Yeah, they're going to give you Hummers and then they're going to give every black ip a car i'm like whoa say they're gonna wow yeah they're gonna give you hummers and then they're gonna give you 500k to play their gig so i was like that was awesome yeah so we did it and then i watched this documentary called who killed the electric car and that documentary shows that like at some point in time general motors had this car called the ev1 and the ev1 their strategic like the head of strategy says, if we continue to sell the EV1, it's going to potentially threaten our combustible engine business. So they pulled the EV1 from being sold. And their marketing campaign was to give the EV1 to celebrities like George Clooney, Angelina Jolie were all driving around Hollywood with this electric vehicle called EV1. So then people started ordering EV1s and then they pulled them.

So then they gave Hummers away for free. And we were the group that they gave Hummers away for free. And so when I saw that documentary, I was like, oh man, we got duped. They used us to freaking sell gas guzzlers. And at the end of the documentary, there was this little car, this is the future. And then my manager's like, yo, Will, do you see that documentary? I know, gas guzzlers. And at the end of the documentary, there was this little car, this is like, this is the future. And then my manager's like, yo, Will, do you see that documentary? I know, I found out the founder of that car. That's at the end of that documentary. You want to take a trip to San Jose to meet them? I was like, yeah, I'd love to freaking go to San Jose. So I go to San Jose and then I meet the founder. I was like, yo, I want to invest in your company. So I sold my Hummer, use that money to invest in this company back in 2004. So I go back home and I'm like, yo, Jimmy, I just invested. That was my first investment in 2004. I just invested in this electric car company. He was like, that's great, electric cars. I was like, yeah, I think it's going to be pretty freaking cool.

I was like, yeah, I think it's going to be pretty freaking cool. Anyways, Tesla, before freaking Elon took it over from the original founders. So my investment is like when Elon was just an investor, it was before he took over the whole entire company. So that freaking whatever that was like 80 grand turned into like, what the world? So then Jimmy yesterday, he was like two days ago, what's next? I was like, yesterday, he was like, two days ago, what's next? I was like, yo, Jimmy, like electric bikes. Electric bikes is next. Because now the world, we see the world, you see empty streets. You see people like are working from home.

Do they need the car car? How are they going to commute? Electric bikes gives you, especially if they're pedal assist bikes one pedal gives you you know three pedals and there's no like dominant player in that space electric bikes electric bikes electric bikes okay that's really good to know i like this i like that you're passing this on now back to black ips and this success with the last record you're saying it's the most successful record that we've had and like why do you think that's happening like what do you think do you think it's the union of you finally with epic and like or do you think it's like what do you think what happened do you think sometimes

it's about serendipity and about the stars being aligned or do you think this is your best music i think this is our most consistent body of work. The end was a very consistent body of work. It's like 128 BPMs to 130 BPMs, the whole entire record. And if there was a slower song, the songs have transitions. Like I'm a Beat has a transition where two minutes and 40 seconds into the song, there's like this transition with like an orchestral, and it goes into like 130 BPM again. So the end was by far

with I Got a Feeling and Boom Boom Pow, a super beyond success album. Took us to stadiums, and we played Super Bowls. Bar mitzvahs. Right, stadiums, bar mitzvahs. Many, many bar mitzvahs. You know what I mean?

L'chaim. You're playing like Muslim countries, and people in the audience are saying mitzvahs you know i mean laheim you're playing like muslim countries and people in the audience are saying mazotaw like beautiful you're going to malaysia like fill up my cup mazotaw like yo do you understand a black white latino and filipino group inspired muslims to say Mazel Tov. Yeah. And especially in the first concert ever in Saudi Arabia, we sing, I got a feeling 40,000 people in the audience in Saudi Arabia sings Mazel Tov. Beautiful. But the album that we have now, The Body of Work Translation, after eight year break, there's eight years gone away. And now we're a trio.

Hence the reason why the record company were like, Black Eyed Peas or not, let's take them off of our books. They're never going to have a return on our investment, them as a trio. So when I say success, it's successful because we've overcome all the odds. It's successful because we have four number ones and in this new metric of like views on social media, like on YouTube and Spotify, these songs are performing greater than I Got Feelings and Where's the Love.

Like Reetmo has like 800 plus million views. We have way over a billion views with just off of four songs and it's outperforming our past work and we're a trio on a new label the label that offered us you know a million bucks back in 1997 so yeah this is our the greatest success that we've had congratulations i mean it is it is really interesting because you have so many strings to your bow, whether it's I Am Plus, I Am Media, doing The Voice, doing Black Eyed Peas, you know, producing for other artists. It's really investing in frigging Tesla. Like, I mean, like, I mean, things.

Can I just ask, when you wrote Ordinary People, did you write it so John Legend would sing it? No. So we wrote it it I was stressed out because words of love was a hit words of love to hey mama that hey mama became the iPod launch to launch iPods and iTunes let's get started NBA campaign to shut up and then I had to make a new another record so I called John Stevens at the time like yo, yo, John, bro, like, I'm fucking stressed. I got to make a hit on purpose now. I was like, yo, let's study. Let's have a session where we just study all of our favorite songs and figure out the math to why those songs are good, because it's all math. science. Why is this song good? What is the progression? And how many other songs have this same progression? And let's look at the spacing between. So I just went in like a fucking scientist to break it down mathematically. So then he comes up with these chord progressions based off of breaking all our favorite songs down and seeing the similarity and commonality between the

construct of our favorite songs. Whether it's freaking like, I come from the land on under, whatever that progression is, or to like Bob Marley progression or Earth, Wind and Fire progression. There are certain types of progressions that move us magnetically. So we figured out this chord progression. And so at that point in time, I was going to like counseling every Thursday, relationship counseling. And so we started working on the song in Burbank after my relationship counseling. He's like, yo, what's going on?

How was your counseling? I was like, oh oh man it was tough he's saying that's thick and uh you know i'm dealing with like childhood you know abandonment issues and stuff like that and trying to make my relationship work out like and i don't want to i don't know everything she doesn't know everything i don't know the answer she doesn't know the answers like we're just ordinary people but we want to stay together but we don't know which way to go. Like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. That fucking, that's a lyric, right?

Right. So we're just ordinary people. We don't know which way to go. Like, yo, say, say, sing that over those chords. We're just ordinary people. Like, we don't know. And the way you sing it, say it the way you would say it. Like, we're just ordinary people.

We don't know which way to go. Like, keep that same cadence, but now put a melody on the natural cadence of speech, right? So then after we come up with the hook, I was like, oh, we got it. Let's move on to the next song. We're just ordinary people, and my recipe is always repeat at the end. We don't know this way to go. We just repeat it. We know if there are people maybe we should take it slow repeat again take it slow and my recipe for every song that works is that same repeat like i got a feeling that tonight's gonna be a good night repeat that tonight's gonna be a good repeat and that's gonna be a good good day same blueprint you take let's get it started let's get it started repeat let's get it started like

right it's like my if i look at my mind i'm like oh i have a pattern of what works but not towards point where it's like oh there you go with that pattern again right if you can figure out a way to hide your pattern to where you don't notice it but now that i I've said it, now motherfuckers are going to say like, they're going to know my fucking pattern. Don't put it on the internet. So. But who did you write it for? Just for yourself to sing?

John Stevens. That's John Legend's name, isn't it? Oh, I didn't know that's his name. No, so we wrote it for the Black Eyed Peas. That was a Black Eyed Peas song. And then when we sung it it just didn't sound right so then we came to london that summer and he's like yo what what are you gonna do with that song that we wrote in spring whatever i think was spring i was like oh we're not gonna use that

bro like i really you could we're not gonna use that but that was that was me trying to like desperate hunting for a hit putting my laser to try to figure out and it was indeed a hit but for him and not everything you do is for you just because you make it just because like you you did it doesn't mean that piece of work is intended for you and my contribution was just the chorus the verses that's john Girl, I'm in love with you. That's him. My part, we Disordinary in collaboration with John, right? That's the magic that we did was the chorus. Because in rap, you have the chorus, and then I do my verses. But it just, with the beat that I had at the time and our approach,

it was better off a piano ballad. That is so fascinating. I'm in the studio tomorrow. I'm just going to remember, repeat, repeat, repeat. No, no, repeat to where it's not like nuisance. Repeat towards instructional and inspirational. Okay.

Repeat towards like information and guidance. That's why you repeat. Where it's disguised in a way where the listener is not bothered by it. But then you're going to be like, okay, so why you repeat boom, boom, boom so much? I remember one time we were in Japan. Somebody comes up to me like right when we got off the freaking bullet train, they're like, Will, Willichan, Willichan, you say boom, boom 645 times. I'm like, yo, you sat there and counted how many times I said boom.

Well, that's amazing. Now they can add shake your boom, boom to it. So they're like, their mind's just going out of control now. This is a masterclass in songwriting, darling. This is very, this is really, really fun. Will, before we like let you go, we ask every guest a few questions. One of which is your last supper.

If you were to leave this earth tomorrow or you were to go on a desert island tomorrow and you had one last meal, starter, main, dessert and drink of choice, what would it be? Would it still be plant-based, I'm wondering? It's weekend, right? Oh, yes.

I mean, you're... It's your last supper. You're not going to eat... Forget about the bloody weekend. It's whatever you want. It's whatever you want on a desert island. Okay. So what I would do is I would...

I'm not going to torture myself because I know I'm going to go to a place where I'm probably going to have, I look at it as like a detox. I've been doing six months detox. Yeah. weekend, I'm gonna have my pancake in the morning, a vegan pancake. Yeah, I'm gonna have my impossible vegan burger smothered with chili cheese with avocado in the middle of it. Yes. And that dinner and oh, and I use I use like this bread like this, like wheat bread with with seeds in it. It's delicious. And I toast it. It's nice. So then at dinner, so if I'm doing that for lunch, what am I going to do at dinner? So then I do like, and then I take my burrito, right? Yeah. So I do my vegan burrito. And then after I wrap it in flour, then I put it in a little tub of like olive oil. And then I fry the tortilla make a chimichanga so now it's a crispy burrito so then

I smother the burrito the crispy burrito with that salsa verde and and and mozzarella cheddar and then it's like delish given your health kit do you drink alcohol Will is this going to be washed down with a margarita? I don't drink that much. I never was a heavy drinker. So if I'm going to drink, it's just like a shot of tequila and that's it. Okay. Or I'll do like, I'll do a skinny bitch. And a skinny bitch is just like water and vodka.

Yeah, with a little bit of lime. Do you have good table manners? Well, I am. Good table manners. You mean like, do I put my elbows on the table well i don't know it depends your what your definition of good table manners are is it a posh definition because if that's the case i don't have good table manners my elbows is on the table i'm probably picking up the wrong knife when the when the meal comes out wrong fork i i use my spoon way too often on areas where I should be yeah like now. Will.i.am thank you so much for giving us this time and chatting to us and telling us your

stories it's been an absolute pleasure speaking to you and congratulations on all the success and your new single is out, Shake Your Boom Boom. And I feel like I don't say it sexy enough. I don't make it sound like... I love a boom boom in a song. But anyway, congrats on all your successes. And just for being a very lovely, decent bloke who has lots of amazing stories to tell. Thank you for coming on Table Manners.

Oh, thank you guys so much. And you know what's really awesome? You and your mom doing this is pretty is is awesome well look she's the star of the show i just make way for lenny to really you know shine so yeah no that's that's beautiful like relationships between like parents and their kids kids and their parents you know singers and their moms is is a beautiful thing and like it's big enough, the most powerful thing in the world. And that's like a mom. We should have got your mom.

We should have. Yeah, we should have got your mom. Yeah, my mom, she would be like, no, she's going to try to burn me. Like, did you put lotion on them hands? will i am on table manners that was a whirlwind of energy and creativity and his skin look well mum i i'm telling you like he I mean he looks after himself mum did you feel like you got the will I am that you needed to get from the voice and I think he was just as charming as I thought he would be I'd have liked a little more goss about the voice I found his American music industry stories fascinating I think I didn't know that about

black ops anyway Jess now you know how to write a song right so i'm gonna go in there tomorrow i love my mum mum mum mum done done done done um thank you for listening to everyone who listened i hope you found that as kind of interesting as we did i hope everyone's okay i hope you found that as kind of interesting as we did i hope everyone's okay i hope everyone has learned how to write a hit song after that episode he was 40 minutes late but he made up for it with brilliant stories so thank you will i am Thank you for listening. The music you've heard on Table Manners is by Peter Duffy and Pete Fraser.

Table Manners is produced by Alice Williams.