For Black Eyed Peas’ Apl.de.ap, helping farmers in the Philippines returns him to his roots
We join the rapper/singer in his native Philippines to learn about his philanthropic work and past, ahead of Black Eyed Peas’ Hong Kong show
A Filipino-food feast is spread across a chunky wooden table.
There is shrimp adobo, a whole milkfish cooked in a banana leaf and stuffed with tomatoes, onions and garlic, and a hearty beef caldereta – a rich stew – along with plates of grilled vegetables: aubergine, bitter melon and okra.
“You have to try the fermented rice wrapped in a mustard leaf – it is so tasty,” Allan Pineda Lindo says as he pulls up a chair.
The Grammy Award-winning group, which J. Rey Soul joined after Fergie’s departure in 2018, are known for hits such as “Pump It”, “Boom Boom Pow”, “I Gotta Feeling” and “Where Is The Love?” They have played to huge crowds, including a million people on Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on New Year’s Eve 2006.
But today, Apl is far removed from the crowds as he wanders the rice fields and fruit trees – mango, papaya, calamansi – on his farm in Pampanga, in the Philippines, where he was born.