The big Apl talks about his humble beginnings

He was a young boy with an eye condition, born to a Filipino mother and an African-American father, who just liked dancing on the streets of Sapang Bato in Angeles, Pampanga. Now, he is a Grammy Award-winning, international best-selling artist who performs in sold-out shows around the globe as one fourth of the Black Eyed Peas. How did he do it? Here are 10 things you should know about Apl.de.Ap.

1He was born with an eye condition called nystagmus, and is considered legally blind. “But I’d never let that stop me.”

“It’s the muscle in your eye, it’s not stationary, it just keeps moving. So it’s harder to focus. When I was young I didn’t know how to control it, but as I grew up I learned to focus,” he explains. “Back then, when I would look at things, I’m like…” He shakes his head. “People are like, ‘Man, he always got a beat in his head! Ano kayang pinapakinggan niya,’” Apl laughs, remembering. “That did not stop me. I still played basketball and people were like, ‘You’re lying to us!’ My friends, they can’t beat me in pool or bowling. It’s all about measurements. I’d memorize things, I’d memorize the stage, I just do a lot of mental pictures.” So what does he see? “It’s not blurry, it’s more like I am nearsighted.”

“I had an operation last year where they put the lenses inside my retina. They put the actual lens inside my eye, so I wouldn’t have to put contacts,” he shares. He is soon adding a new program in his foundation, Apl Of My Eye, to provide the same equipment used in the US to help kids here. “There’s this new technology that they will be teaching doctors here that prevents retinal damage and blindness. It actually occurs a lot with premature babies. There’s a way to detect that. Having this condition, I wanna be able to provide that.”

2Apl first showed interest in music as a child when he started breakdancing on the street, and was popular in the community because he knew all the new dance moves.

“Growing up, I’ve always kinda been into academics. I wanted to be an engineer or a nurse,” he reveals. “Going through school I had a hard time because of my eye condition, it was hard to see the board. It got me a little confused. ‘Okay, how am I gonna be an engineer if I can’t see perfectly or a nurse to give shots to patients?’

“I started seeing kids breakdancing on the sidewalk. It started to intrigue me. Like, ‘Oh, I love doing it.’ It didn’t require too much of my vision. Then it just evolved from there. From breakdancing, I wanted to know where this music was coming from. Then I started learning how they produced it in the studio. I wanted to learn about the music, how they made it. Then I switched to producing and writing,” he shares.

Did he ever join dance contests as a kid? “Oh, definitely! I was always joining in Sapang Bato. Merong parang dance event every Saturday, and I always tried to do a new dance move. I remember seeing the Running Man on a Pepsi commercial on the UHF channel. ‘Oh, my God, ano yun? I gotta copy that!’ So I’d practice that. I’d go to the basketball court and dance. I got popular because I got the new moves but I didn’t win too many contests,” he says with a smile.

On Pinoy food he loved growing up: “I used to eat rice, gatas ng kalabaw –– and with salt. That would be our breakfast. A great breakfast! I loved champorado, tocino. I used to love tuyo, bagoong, suka and rice. To me that was the best.”

On Pinoy street games he loved as a kid: “I played patintero, siato, tumbang preso, taguan. I even played with the salagubang. You just tie a string around it and you run with it. Wheeeee!” he laughs. “Then the little wheel with a little hook, and I rolled around with that. A lot of basketball, too. My mom would get so mad because I would break my glasses a lot of times, they were so expensive! Makulit? Yeah, at some point. Like sometimes I’d be at the court and my mom would yell my name across the neighborhood, ‘Allaaaaaaaaan!’”

3He moved to the US when he was 14, and at some point experienced discrimination not by American kids but by fellow Pinoys.

Apl’s adoptive father, Ben Hudgens, was the reason he moved to the US through the Pearl S. Buck Foundation, and they lived in LA where there is a huge Filipino community. “I remember my first friend, he used to breakdance, too. He had this dancer attire so I would wear the same thing, like we’re in a crew together, because when you’re in a crew you tend to dress alike. I didn’t know that was gangster attire –– he was in a gang. And every day after school we would get chased by other Filipinos. Then I’m like, ‘Dude why are we running from other Filipinos?’ They would ask where we’re from, anong gang kami. What? That didn’t make sense to me,” he recalls. 

“It’s weird, like the Fil-Ams, there was a little bit of segregation. The Fil-Ams that were born there didn’t like to speak to the FOB, what they call ‘fresh off the boat.’ I’m like, ‘What?’ I just didn’t get it. Me, I was just breakdancing. So I was able to relate to everyone. With the Fil-Ams, they always mess with each other. To me, we’re all Pinoys, I don’t see any difference.” He shares he was never bullied by Americans, never got into any gang, and he thanks music for that. “Dancing, breakdancing, rapping, it’s a neutral thing for everyone. Music gave me that neutral lane to relate with everyone.”

4The toughest thing he had to do to get to where he is today: “Leave.”

He takes the longest time to answer this question. “To leave. To leave my family at a young age. Leaving the Philippines, going to another country tens of thousands of miles away. That was pretty scary,” he shares. “Actually me and my mom, we made a pact. ‘No crying, okay? No crying!’ We’ve always talked about it. Me being adopted, I’m old enough, I’ll be okay, I’ll be able to go back home. But of course as soon as she said, ‘Bye,’ we were like, ‘Ooooooh,’” he says, recalling how he cried as a teenager. “That was pretty hard. That was probably the hardest.” He speaks fondly of his mother Cristina (who raised him and his six siblings as a single mother), but also of his adoptive father, Ben. “I got homesick a month later. ‘Oh, Dad, can you send me back home now, I wanna go home.’ ‘Oh, son, the papers are final and you’re here to stay, you’ll be able to go back home later when you get older.’”

He also lists being signed to Black Eyed Peas as one of the toughest experiences of his life. “That did not come easy,” he declares. “We did a massive amount of shows. We had to prove ourselves. We had to create a following. Back then there was just mailing list, no e-mail, no social media. After the show, we would take the addresses of the people that came then we would mail them a flyer to the next show. We did that for four years. We had to create a following to show the record company that our music was tangible. Back then, in LA, it was all about gangster music. And we were all about hip-hop, all about positive, happy music.”

And he shares a third toughest part of his life. “Of course, the loss of my brothers. My brother Joven and Arnel. Those were pretty dark times. That was painful. That was… you know, I wish they were here to see this. We miss them.” Apl was 30 when his older brother Arnel committed suicide, and was 35 when his younger brother Joven was shot dead. He wrote in The Apl Song: “I guess sometimes life’s stresses get you down on your knees; Oh brother, wish I could’ve helped you out.”

5On choosing education as his main advocacy: “With an education, you can be anything.”

Apl revealed that he will be joining the Ironman event here in the Philippines this year, and has begun training for the race. “I’ve been doing a lot of 10ks here sa Pinas, I join, and they donate to my foundation, and we are able to build schools,” he shares. “That’s what they’re doing for Ironman. As a peace ambassador, I want to utilize that path to connect with people from Mindanao and give the proceeds to build schools over there.” Apl will do the 60-mile bike leg of the race, his trainer and colleague in his foundation Joe Santos will do the swim leg, and they will choose a kid from Mindanao to join them for the run leg of the race.

“Education helped me a lot. I knew I was being adopted. I was so worried. I asked my mom, ‘How am I gonna talk to people?’ I didn’t know how to speak English. She’s like, ‘Anak, don’t worry, read the dictionary!’ I was just learning, translating, and when I got to the US, she was right. It made sense later on in school. Even Will was like, ‘You have a deeper vocab!’ Things like that. That is why education is important. Opening up information to kids. I want to help provide that.”

6Apl is very particular about his fashion choices, and laughs as he admits, “I’m kinda like… cheap.”

“I’m really bad with the names. Fergie’s always like, ‘Apl, you have to memorize all your stuff!’ But it’s just a lot of them,” he says.

He loves Maison Martin Margiela, G Star, Unconditional, Skingraft and Rick Owens, to name a few. “He is big on anything that has a collar,” his stylist Anna shares. “Now, I’m feeling a lot of Team Manila shirts,” Apl says of the local clothing brand. “I want to hook up with them and do stuff.”

For his trademark eyewear, he loves vintage pieces from Cazal and Alpina. “I like fun watches. I’m not so into bling. But someday I’ll get a Rolex, when I’m responsible. I’m very bad with jewelry! I always lose them,” he reveals. For shoes he likes Creative Recreation and (he actually removes his studded black shoe during the interview to check the label, saying, “What are my shoes?”) Giuseppe Zanotti.

The most sulit item in his closet: “This Margiela black leather jacket. It’s always ready.”

His style inspiration: “I kinda mix it up. If I like somebody I try to do it but a little different. Before, it’s weird because I was more like, ‘Girls got better clothing!’ If I could change that a little bit, I would turn that so that a guy could rock it. But now, guy fashion, they are trying to push the envelope. Prince is cool. But I can’t rock it like Prince.”

His shopping process: “My stylist Anna shops, brings it home, I do a fitting, then she brings it back when I don’t like it. I’m kinda like… I’m cheap,” he laughs. “Not that cheap! ‘I like this, how much is it? Is it cool enough for that price? Is it too expensive? Am I wasting money? What event am I gonna wear this to, is it worth it to spend that much?’ I evaluate things. It’s probably like my upbringing, I grew up poor. If it’s worth it, all right.”

7On what it feels like to win a Grammy Award: “It is an amazing feeling. You almost feel numb. You can never get used to it.”

He stutters when asked to recall how it felt to win the first time. “It was, it was, it’s like… I had to pinch myself. Kinda like, ‘Damn!’ After we received the award, we were all backstage and we were like, ‘Dude!’ To us it was like, “Remember when we just used to be in a room, and we were so happy to have a tour bus? It was a broken-down bus but to us that was our biggest accomplishment! We got a tour bus! We’re opening up for our favorite crew!’ But having a Grammy. Wow.” He reveals he would rather perform all day than give an acceptance speech. “When you’re up there, it’s a moment of, like, every word’s got to mean so much. Every word you spit out, you always somehow blank out. You don’t want to forget anybody. You want to thank everybody but you don’t have much time… and there’s four of us that got to speak,” he laughs. “I could perform all day, but when it comes to that, you’re like, ‘Oh, smack.’ You’re in front of all your peers.”

On the most meaningful songs he has written: The Apl Song (“It tells a bit of my story, and I dedicated that song to my brothers”), Where’s the Love? (“Because it touches on social issues”), and Someday (“Me and Will, back in the day, we were just dreaming in our room, you know, someday.”)

On his songwriting process: “Certain songs just come to you. Party songs you kind of like paint a picture. Sometimes you want to tell a story so you put that together. Sometimes it’s just from a conversation. Sometimes you make a beat first, then you let the beat tell you what it makes you feel.”

On describing the Black Eyed Peas in one adjective: “Taboo, a showman. Fergie, strong. Will, a visionary.”

8Apl.de.Ap in numbers:

12: Number of years before he was able to go home to the Philippines, after having moved to the US when he was 14.

200-plus: Estimated number of magnets and shot glasses in his collection. “A total of five continents! I get from every place I’ve been to.”

200: Number of jeepneys in his miniature jeepney collection.

500: Most number of shows the Black Eyed Peas did in one year, as in 365 days. “That was for ‘Elephunk.’ And three shows some days.”

6: Total number of Grammy Awards won, the first one being in 2005 for Let’s Get It Started. The Black Eyed Peas have garnered over a hundred nominations and won over 50 awards from bodies that include the American Music Awards and Billboard Music Awards.

9He actually shipped a whole jeepney to LA and plans to turn it into the first battery-powered jeepney. 

It was shipped in parts, and he has asked the help of Pinoy friends in GM to put it together and fix it up. “I also met with Tesla Motors, to see if they could turn the jeepney into a Tesla, if they can do that technology. Now it’s just parked at a garage. I have to take it to the DMV to put it in US standards,” he reveals. Will he actually drive the jeepney there? “Yeah. And I’m turning it into a limo. Anyone can just rent it,” he smiles.

On what Pinoys should be proudest of: “Our hospitality. It’s the best. I’ve been to a lot of countries and we have the most hospitable people. And we work hard, yeah.”

10  Apl The Coach: Three things aspiring artists should have/do to have a chance of making it big.

1. Personality: “Definitely personality. When you’re up there, you gotta be able to connect with the crowd. Don’t be shy.”

2. Originality: “Don’t be scared to try new things. New songs. Try writing.”

3. Have a great team behind you: “Do a lot of shows. Make sure you utilize your media. Media is a big help now in showcasing your talent. Have a great media team. Have a great manager. Show yourself.”

As a coach on The Voice of The Philippines, Apl admits he wasn’t sure he wanted to take on the role. “When they first approached me I was kind of hesitant. Am I going to be able to see the contestants onstage, or how’s my Tagalog? I was so worried about things like that,” he admits. “But I discovered, it’s not about that, it’s about relating to people. Sharing my story and the things I’ve gone through and what they’ve gone through. When I realized that, I had the greatest time. It’s about the big picture. I pay attention to that picture instead of focusing on the little things.”

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“Apl.de.Ap” is actually an acronym for Allan Pineda Lindo (his real name), from (in Spanish) Angeles, Pampanga, which tells of how proud he is to look back at where he came from. Apl goes home to the Philippines regularly not just to perform but to share whatever opportunities were given to him with others. His is a life that proves it is not how your story begins but how your story goes — and ends — that matters most. Just as he says in The Apl Song:

Everyone help each other whenever they can

We makin’ it happen, nothing to something

We be surviving back in the homeland

Been away half my life and it felt like a dream

To be next to my mom with her home-cooked meal

Man, I felt complete.

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E-mail me at askiamsuperbianca@yahoo.com or message me on Twitter @iamsuperbianca.