The Bangin Beats had the opportunity of meeting Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas, and know more about his new avatar, toy collection, inspirations, and most importantly The Taboo Experience!

Q) Hey Taboo! A hearty welcome to India on behalf of Bangin Beats! We’re a blog which mostly caters to EDM and we mostly interview DJ’s, so we thought we’d talk to you about your latest avatar. After a dancer and a rapper, you’re a DJ now right?

TABOO: Well, I’d like to explain that, I would never take anything away from the DJ’s who have been putting their stuff out over the years, I myself am a performer, I incorporate DJing within my performance which is called “The Taboo Experience”, “The Taboo Experience” consists of MC-ing, B-Boying, Visuals, DJing, Crowd Participation and interaction with the crowd. DJing is something that is a craft and I coming from the Hip Hop culture, I started with graffiti, then I got into B-Boying, then I got into MC-ing and the last thing that was left was DJing, but I never got too technical, scratching or trying to you know, do crossfading or any of that technical stuff. So I said to myself how can I implement my performance to be as strong as something that I’ve always dreamed of stepping out of the Black Eyed Peas to present the “Taboo Experience”, so incorporating DJing by playing the music that I want to rap to or I want to get the crowd hyped to, is just an element of my performance, so I always bow down to the DJ’s because I’m not “DJ” Taboo, I’m “Taboo”, the artist, the entertainer, the performer, who’s able to mix records but I don’t consider myself a DJ, like people like Skrillex and the other guys who’ve been putting in work for years who are like top celebrity DJ’s, I don’t want to be a celebrity DJ, I want to present “The Taboo Experience”, DJing is just an element and I never want to discredit it and I hold DJ’s at a high calibre because they’re artists too and some of them have become really successful like, Tiesto, and people like David Guetta, Steve Aoki and even Avicii, who’ve become successful for their DJing and their Producing.

Q) Great! First and foremost how did the name “Taboo” come about?

TABOO: Well, since I was a kid, I lived in a place called Rosny, which is a predominantly Mexican community and it was Mexicans and Asians, mainly Chinese and Vietnamese, and my love for Hip Hop was a taboo, because in my school it was either techno music or you’re a jack, if you followed Hip Hop you were an outcast, I had black friends, I had filipino friends, if you didn’t stick with the Mexicans, you were an outcast, it was a taboo to be friends with other people which was crap, I had a black girlfriend who was my first son’s mother, it was a taboo to date outside your race! So the lifestyle that I was living was a taboo lifestyle in my neighbourhood and thats where the name came from.

Q) You have so many avatar’s, you’re a DJ, a rapper, a dancer. So how did you start out?

TABOO: Well, first and foremost it was graffiti. I used to tag on walls, tag on buses, I was a delinquent and I almost got caught by the police so I thought I must stop doing that and I must focus on B-Boying or breaking and I used to battle a lot of different crews and gained my reputation as a good dancer, then I got into MC-ing in 1993, I met will.i.am and apl at a club and we had similar interests and then I already had respect for DJing but I never felt that I could do it because I didn’t want to be DJ Taboo, I thought it’d be a bit cheesy, so Will and Apl were the first one’s to start DJing and they were doing a good job, travelling around the world, making money and expressing themselves by playing the records that they wanted to play and I always wanted to play Hip Hop music because thats where I come from, I’m a B-Boy for life! No matter if EDM is the shit right now, my heart is The Pharcyde, Boogy Down Productions, I come from that era, I’m from the 90′s and that will always have a place in my heart. So I used to just spin Hip Hop music when I first started DJing but people at the clubs were like “I don’t want to dance to this”, so I had a transition to an open format and thats where I learnt to appreciate dance music, then I started going to events like Electric Daisy Carnival, went to Ibiza and I got a sense of the movement, I went to Ultra Music Festival and I started appreciating dance music so thats where I came from.

Q) Amazing! Tell us, When you started rapping how much of an inspiration was Biggie?

TABOO: Well, I love Biggie Smalls! He is one of my favourites but my inspirations come from before Biggie, like Slick Rick, Houdini, The Sugarhill Gang, Melle Mel to LL Cool J when he first came up with “I’m bad”, thats the era I come from and then A Tribe Called Quest also, Jungle Brothers, there was Busta Rhymes’s group before he went solo, so yeah, all these guys.

Q) Were you good friends with Adam Goldstein? DJ AM?

TABOO: Yeah, RIP to him, we were friends, I remember when he first came out, started Djing in Hollywood, we would go to clubs and he would be the guy who could play like anything, like open format and I was appreciative of him. One of my good friends.

Q) Moving on to you as an actor. You acted in the Street Fighter film? Could we expect you to do any more movies soon?

TABOO: First of all, Rest In Peace to Michael Clarke Duncan, he was a great friend of mine, I’m glad that I got to work with him in the movie. Maybe wasn’t the best movie for me but it was fun to be part of the Street Fighter legacy, even though both Street Fighter’s weren’t big successes. Being in Thailand with rest of the crew and staff was an amazing moment in my career, it allowed me to be part of a cool brand and theres a new movie coming out next year which I did, its called “Jamesy Boy” in 2013, I’m excited about that but that’s the only one for now because I’m touring and taking “The Taboo Experience” all over the world. I’ve been blessed that people want me to DJ and bring the experience around the world. It’s been a blessing to be able to transition from the Black Eyed Peas to be doing my own thing. It’s exciting.

Q) We’ve heard you have an impressive toy collection. Tell us something about it?

TABOO: Ohh! I grew up with Transformers, GiJoe’s, Thundercats, Voltron. So yeah back in the 1800′s when I was a teenager (laughs) there were all these cartoon characters who I used to love as a kid and I also said that I wanted to collect and I started going to countries like Japan, Korea etc. where it was all about these different types of toys and collect them. Its kind of my geeky side of collecting toys, superhero toys as well, it’s kind of like my shoe collection, I own 600 pairs of shoes, I started with Jordan’s and kept on travelling the world and seeing exclusive sneakers from different parts of the world and I just started buying and before you knew it I had a whole collection of them. I actually have a shoe room thats kind of like a shoe store, where I have all my cubbies from which the light comes out and I have all my Jordan’s on one side and other shoes like Air Force 1 and others, so yeah I’ve been collecting for a while!

Q) So, which is the most cherished toy out of your collection?

TABOO:(Laughs) Most cherished toy, wow, there’s this game called USA vs Bin Laden, its nuts, I can’t believe it that they made a video game out of that and the purpose of the game or the strategy of the game is to go into the twin towers, which is weird ! Why would you wanna make a game that shows you destroying the twin towers? I had to buy it because I was like I have to have it!

Q) From when you started out, were you always a gear junkie? Like collecting equipment?

TABOO: Yeah, since I’ve been a kid I’ve been into gadgets and technology even before what we’re now with computers, iPad’s and the crazy tech movement. Back then we had drum machines like MPC 2000, the SP 1200 which is a smaller version, we had a 4 track, we didn’t have programs like fruity loops or ableton live or reason and all the other things which we have now but I’ve always been into it, I’ve always been fascinated by expression and music was that thing which led me to do what I do now, which is perform around the world.

Q) Could you tell us something about your DJ set up? We believe you use serato?

TABOO: Yeah I use Serato, CDJ – 2000, with a Pioneer 900 mixer. I tried using Traktor but I started with the Xponent and then moved on to a smaller controller and it just didn’t feel right, I mean I liked the tone of the CDJ’s. I don’t come from the vinyl world, I don’t use 1200′s but the fact remains that I just like the feel of my CDJ’s. I’m not discrediting it, it’s a cool tool but I’m just happy with CDJ’s be my weapon of choice.

Q) Tell us about your studio? Are you a big fan of synthesizers?

TABOO: Well my son is. He’s a producer. He’s the one who’s into Ableton Live and the different programs that you can get online. I’m more like, I learn things but I’m not the one who picks up quick, he’s the fast learner, so I got those synthesizers for him to practice his production. He does scores for movies, he started with Hip Hop basically and then started doing Dance Music and then he said, Dad I want to score movies, kind of like Braveheart type of scoring or Gladiator type of scoring, pretty dope!

Q) You Co-authored a book as well, called “Fallin’ Up: My Story” in which you’ve mentioned the dark side of stardom, fame and money resulting in alcohol and drug addiction. Would you have any advice to people who might be going through the same phase? Like how to fight and come up and take control?

TABOO: Well I’ve been sober for 5 years now which is an amazing feeling, a lot of great things have happened for me, I got married, had wonderful children, became successful. This year, has been a great successful year specifically for me with my company, “Tabmagnetic”, there have been a lot of achievements that I’ve accomplished because of being clear headed, been respected as a businessman. I ruined many years of my life when I had long hair and when I was that guy, that was the drugs and alcohol phase and whenever I see pictures of that time it always reminds me of the person I never want to be again. I almost lost everything, I almost lost my kids, almost lost my career and I’ll just say if you’re going to do it, do it in moderation, I’m not converting anybody or being as if I’m this holy god or anything because I’m sober. Respect each and everyone for their vices. You want to go have a drink go ahead but if you do it excessively, the way I did, it will catch up to you especially in this music industry or in any entertainment business.

Q) How hard is it to be touring and being away from family?

TABOO: That’s the hardest part, sacrificing and being away from my kids, my wife, it is hard but I have to stay away from my family. My wife does her job, my kids understand that dad will come back but I put it down for them.

Q) There’s a question looming over the future of The Black Eyed Peas. Could you tell us something about that?

TABOO: Well, right now as we usually do, we’re taking a break, Fergie was able to do her album in 2007 which was very successful, it’s called “The Dutchess” and will.i.am has been doing a lot of solo work as well throughout the year. I myself hadn’t got the chance to do anything because I was just focused on the Black Eyed Peas, so now I’m going to take this time out that we have and focus on “The Taboo Experience”, which is very important to me, so now my individual intention is to brand myself as an individual just like everybody else did. I’m going hard into making sure that I get out there and my fan base is built and my credibility as an individual as well. So the Black Eyed Peas, haven’t talked about doing anything because right now everyone’s focusing on their solo work.

Q) So can we say that “The Taboo Experience” is a mentally as well as a physically transformed Taboo?

TABOO: Yeah, no doubt, I got a whole new vibe going on and I’m proud of the struggles and I’m able to smile and be happy instead of being caught up in my own world where I drank and did drugs, like I didn’t care about myself and now it’s like I’m doing well and want the appreciation for life and be clear headed and just taking “The Taboo Experience” across the world.

Q) Any last words for your fans in India?

TABOO: Please follow me on my twitter, @tabbep. Check out the Amber Lounge on Facebook, thats where I’m going to be tonight and also make sure you go on Youtube and check out, “The Taboo Experience” – MC-ing, DJing, Dancing, Visuals, Crowd Participation and Mad Energy!

Thank you!

And for those of you havent checked out his music yet, here’s a club banger by Taboo & Alex Gaudino, this ones called “I Dont Wanna Dance”

Interview by Kanov Bagai; Edited by Aditya Seth. Special Thanks to Amber Lounge!