Former Black Eyed Peas singer Kim Hill has responded to Will. i.am’s recent remarks that he is upset that the group is not considered a “Black” Hip-Hop group.
“When you think of — like, I’m a Black dude, but when you think of Black Eyed Peas, we got so big that…and it hurts, it still hurts a little bit that we’re not considered a Black group because we got that big,” Will.i.am said on Wyclef Jean’s “Run That Back” show.
He continued, “And when you think of Black Eyed Peas, you don’t think of — it’s no longer urban or Black culture, which is… it’s not good for the Black community that Black Eyed Peas is not looked at as a Black group because we’ve had international success.”
Hill, who left the group in 2000 and was replaced by white singer, Fergie, hopped on social media to address the rapper’s comments:
“Why I’m coming on camera and addressing you is because for you to make that statement as if the oweness is on the Black community to celebrate you and the band when you didn’t celebrate us,” Hill says in the video. “It’s almost like there’s this cultural smudging. And for the record, when my doc got on YouTube — and it’s at I don’t know like 5.4 million views with like (I had to write it down) almost 19,000 comments— the majority of those comments that come from Black women clearly say it feels like cultural smudging.”
