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Allan Pineda Lindo, (b. 28 November 1974) better known as apl.de.ap, is a hip hop musician, record producer, and member of the Black Eyed Peas. He was born in the Barangay (Barrio) of Sapang Bato, Angeles City, Pampanga, in the Philippines, to a Filipino mother and African American father.

Early life

apl.de.ap, together with will.i.am, is one of the original members of the hip hop group Black Eyed Peas. His father, a U.S. airman stationed at nearby Clark Air Base, abandoned the family shortly after his birth. The eldest of 7, his mother, Cristina Pineda, raised him and his four brothers and two sisters in their small barrio. He would ride the jeepneys to school an hour away from his family home. In order to make money, apl farmed sweet potatoes, corn, sugarcane and rice until he moved to the United States at the age of 14.

Apl was sponsored by the Pearl S. Buck Foundation, an organization that finds healthier living environments for young abandoned or orphaned Amerasian children, most of whom have been abandoned by their American fathers. He was sponsored by Joe Ben Hudgens through a dollar-a-day program, and initially brought to the United States at the age of 11 to treat nystagmus, an involuntary movement of the eyes. During a trip to Disneyland, apl expressed his interest in staying in the United States. It would take another three years for Hudgens to officially adopt him.

After adoption, Apl moved to the US to live with Hudgens, where he met will.i.am, the nephew of Hudgen's roommate. He attended John Marshall High School in Los Angeles, California but also attended Curie High School located in Chicago, Illinois which he lived for 2 years after. He stated in an interview that "there is where he started to love music and get involve" and he said "he goes and visits at times."

Music had always been part of Apl's life, his early influences having been Stevie Wonder, The Eagles, The Beatles, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Leaders of the New School and the popular Filipino rock/folk group, Asin. Hip-hop was part of Apl's life from his youth, through break dancing, "I would take the jeepney all the way to Angeles City, and that's how I got introduced to break dancing," he said. "I would see kids at the corner break-dancing and I'm like, 'I wanna do that.'"

Career

They then teamed up and formed a break-dancing crew called Tribal Nation and were regularly performing at Southern California parties and events. As their partnership evolved, they added another MC, Mookie Mook, performer Dante Santiago and producer DJ Motiv8 (part of the group from 1992-1995) and the name of their crew turned into Atban Klann (ATBAN stands for "A Tribe Beyond a Nation"), and became part of L.A.'s hip-hop/break-dance circuit, eventually being signed onto Eazy-E's label, Ruthless Records. Their debut album, "Grass Roots," was never released because Easy-E died before they could put the album out.

He explains his life story in a song called "The Apl Song" found on the Peas' 2003 album Elephunk (track 11). This song has a full chorus in Tagalog (Filipino) taken from the Asin song "Balita." "Coming from the Philippines my whole goal was to support my family and have a better living situation," he said. "Trying to pursue my dream took up a lot of my time, and I got separated from my family a little bit ... I was separated from my brothers and sisters. Some good things happened to them and some bad things happened to some of them." This is in reference to the suicide of his younger brother Arnel, a heartbreaking event he recalls in the song. Its accompanying video, which reached number one in the Philippines, with its cameo appearances by fellow Fil-Ams, Dante Basco and Chad Hugo, is also a tribute to the Filipinos who fought for the U.S. in World War II.

"Bebot" is another all-Tagalog song on 2005's Monkey Business album. A music video for "Bebot" was filmed in early July 2006 and premiered online on August 4, 2006. The video was directed by Patricio Ginelsa (Kid Heroes Productions) who also directed "The Apl Song" and produced the Filipino-American coming of age movie, "The Debut". The Bebot music video was filmed in various locations in Los Angeles, CA, one location including Kenneth Hahn Park, where Dr. Dre's "Nothing But A G Thang" video was also filmed. The term "Bebot" is Filipino slang for "pretty woman". The video for Bebot features primarily Filipinos, Filipino Americans and other Asian-Americans from the Los Angeles area. The single was not released in the US but was in the Philippines and several other Asian countries.

In the future, apl.de.ap is also planning to release a solo album of his own. He recently disclosed in an interview that he would be collaborating with fellow Filipino-American Chad Hugo of The Neptunes, Illmind from G-Unit and incorporating traditional Filipino instruments into his songs . Some of his songs are uploaded on his MySpace page.

Solo Albums

• 2009-2010 apl.de-aplfied

See also

• Black Eyed Peas, hip hop/pop group
• Fergie, pop/R&B singer
• Taboo, hip hop musician
• will.i.am, hip hop/pop rap musician

Awards

• 2008 - Special Citation - Myx Music Awards

External links

• Official Apl-de-Ap Website
• The Black Eyed Peas' official website

• 1974 births
• African American rappers
• Afro Asian Americans
• Afro Asians
• Afro-Filipinos
• American rappers
• Asian Americans in music
• Black Eyed Peas members
• California musicians
• Filipino Americans
• Filipino pop singers
• Filipino rappers
• Filipinos of American descent
• Kapampangan people
• Living people
• People from Los Angeles, California
• People from Pampanga
• People of Kapampangan descent