June 19, 2007 @ 5:05 pm

FIRST SHOT: will.i.am "Songs About Girls"

Julianne Shepherd

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Producer/rapper will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas came through VIBE Monday (June 18) to play tracks from his forthcoming record, Songs about Girls, set to drop September 25. According to will, collaborations include Snoop Dogg (on the backend-appreciative "Donkey Song"), Nas, Common, Polow da Don (who produced the gossamer "She's a Star") - and, on the hook of the hot lunch jam "Got It from My Mama," a producer named Katie that will met at a club. "Every song links up and tells this story about a guy who loved a girl," explained will. "Then guy cheats on girl, girl cheats on dude, they break up, the guy gets with the girl he cheated on with, that relationship falls apart, dude wants to get back with his old chick." So Songs About Girl might be about girls, but keep it straight: Songs About Girls is not just a record. Songs About Girls will be amplified by several related artforms - including film, live shows, websites and a second sub-album. Gotta get yourself connected. "I wanted to do something engaging," said will, "So I'm going to Brazil on Sunday. Staying there for two weeks [to make a] film-play-movie thing-a-majig," which correlates to the songs on the album. "In the film, my character is a DJ and an aspiring producer. But this film isn't a [traditional musical], where I'm walking down the street and then we start singing like 'do-do-do.' We have a creative way of putting it on there. So I did two records at the same time." Will said the concept behind such a grand multimedia film/two-album project was based, in part, on technology. "It affected the scope of what I was going to put out. Here we are in 2007. Niggas got Blackberries, MSN, AOL, talking to motherfuckas through texting. The whole poster shit? Done deal. I'd be walking down the street looking at the poster, like, who gonna buy their record? So, we're trying to push it forward. (laughs) You know those little eggs... where you open up a big egg and there's a little egg inside of it and there's a little egg inside of it? Real shit, man. [laughs]" A new-media visionary who co-owns musicane.com, and dipdive (a music-website company with Jimmy Iovine of which the the Black Eyed Peas site is an example), the musician spoke animatedly on exploring all technology's outroads. "The music industry was impacted when Tower records closed," he explained, "but you don't hear about anybody tryna create a new infostructure. People are't rockin CD players. You come into your office - you got peoples' computers, right, but I don't see no CDs... This VIBE magazine and I haven't seen one fuckin CD player. But yet, them motherfuckas are still pressin that CD? It's fuckin crazy."

Article tags: FIRST, SHOT, Will.i.am, Songs, Girls 

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