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7 Things You May Not Know About Taboo

The Black Eyed Peas rapper returns to India for the third time for Sound Awake, the day-long EDM fest in Bengaluru next week

Jul 30, 2013
Taboo

Taboo. Photo: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0/Walmart/Flickr

For over two years now, American hip hop/ pop group The Black Eyed Peas have neither denied nor confirmed the news of a split. While rumors of Fergie leaving the Grammy winning band have appeared on and off, most other members have been launching solo projects. Frontman and founding member will.i.am, who premiered a song on Mars (yes, the planet), is currently touring UK, besides helping the likes of actor Priyanka Chopra pursue her musical ambitions. Rapper Jaime Gomez, who goes by his stagename Taboo, has also been touring with his side project, Taboo Experience, as a DJ. Last year, he performed at Delhi’s Amber Lounge as part of the Indian Grand Prix, marking his return after Black Eyed Peas performed in Mumbai in 2007. Taboo, besides being a rapper can also be seen bboying, levitating, and sometimes doing nothing across Black Eyed Peas’ music videos. Known as one of the two “other guys” from the band (the other other guy is apl.de.ap), Taboo was also conferred the title of “The Black Eyed Pea that no one knows” by SNL, making our job even more simpler. Here are 7 things you surely didn’t know about this other guy: 

1. Taboo worked at Disneyland while performing with will.i.am. The rapper was a horse-manure picker at Disneyland, California, when he joined what was then called The Black Eyed Pods. 

2. He met will.i.am and apl.de.ap at a break dancing circle in a LA club (check out his moves here). Later will.i.am showed him a few tricks of trait in the rapping industry””such as practising with a pencil between your teeth.

3. Taboo has two sneaker lines”” TabooXJump and Taboo Deltah 3008, and is said to have a collection of over 800 sneakers at home. “I have every single pair of Air Jordans that was ever released,” he said.

4. Taboo, who has acted in films such as Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, has a black belt in Ninjutsu.

5. He had his first child when he was 18. Now 20, his son is also a DJ.

6. In 2007, he was arrested by the DUI for driving under the influence of marijuana. Post the incident he turned clean and recently announced six years of sobriety from drug abuse and alcohol.

7. Taboo discusses drug abuse at length in his autobiography, Fallin’ Up. He recalls his first impression of Keith Richards, when BEP opened for Rolling Stones. “He was reptile looking, with all that sagging skin, clearly ravaged by years of partying….I went back to my hotel room and examined every flaw, bag and shadow under my eyes and across my skin, wondering if my comparable apprenticeship in drugs and drink had caused any damage yet… Dude, you’ve got to stop, I said to myself in the mirror.”

 

Taboo will perform as part of Sound Awake on August 4th at Supernova Arena & Convention Centre, Yelahanka, Airport Road, Bengaluru. Tickets Rs 1,000 and Rs 5,000. Buy here

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