Are Black Eyed Peas Sniffing Sweet Smell Of Sellout?

With the huge worldwide success of the Black Eyed Peas latest single ‘Where Is The Love?’, the band has received some scrutiny for “selling out”, but member Will.i.am tells Ricardo Baca of the Denver Post anyone who thinks he’s sold out doesn’t know jack. “Hip-hop is supposed to be popular,” Will.i.am said. “If hip-hop was never supposed to be popular, then Grandmaster Flash would never have DJ’ed in Manhattan. He would have stayed in Queens or Brooklyn or wherever he was from. If hip-hop was never supposed to be popular, Run-D.M.C. would have never made ‘My Adidas,’ Russell Simmons would have never started Def Jam, hip-hop would have never made it to Germany, they would have never sampled a disco song and rapped to it, the Sugar Hill Gang would have never made it (expletive) hip-hop-a-hippity-hip-hip-hop-a-you-stop-a-rockin.’ Hip-hop, in my opinion, was never supposed to be underground.”