--- title: 10 Questions for will.i.am | TIME description: The rapper, producer, political activist, and Black Eyed Peas member answers reader questions here canonical: https://time.com/video/SpclAGMJ/ og:title: 10 Questions for will.i.am og:description: The rapper, producer, political activist, and Black Eyed Peas member answers reader questions here og:url: https://time.com/video/SpclAGMJ/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/SpclAGMJ/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 10 Questions for will.i.am twitter:description: The rapper, producer, political activist, and Black Eyed Peas member answers reader questions here twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/SpclAGMJ/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # 10 Questions for will.i.am > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: 10 Questions for will.i.am [Watch (HLS stream): 10 Questions for will.i.am](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SpclAGMJ.m3u8) (5:50)  _Published 2009-01-09. The rapper, producer, political activist, and Black Eyed Peas member answers reader questions here_ --- Jul 27, 2023 1:04 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [10 Questions for Ozzy Osbourne](/video/ItOTB6Wo/) ### 10 Questions for Ozzy Osbourne [10 Questions with Tracy Morgan](/video/nATLle6X/) ### 10 Questions with Tracy Morgan [10 Questions for Queen Latifah](/video/gC08LDCG/) ### 10 Questions for Queen Latifah --- ## Transcript >> Hi. I'm Allison Statemen and this is 10 Questions for TIME. I'm here with rapper / producer and political activist Will. I. Am, founding member of the Grammy- award- winning group The Black Eyed Peas. He became a YouTube sensation this year with his Yes We Can music video in support of President- elect Barack Obama and drew notice as a CNN hologram during election night coverage. Thank you for being here. >> Oh, thank you. >> So this question is from Derrick Williams in Dallas, Texas, who wanted to know what was the one spark that got you involved in politics? >> The one spark that got me involved in politics was having the blessings of traveling outside of America and seeing America from a distance, seeing the way people view us, how people viewed us as lazy and lopsided. No perspective of the rest of the world. I really wanted to do my job and not have to say 8 years from now, man, I wished I activated myself, right? America tomorrow could still be a bright light, the light of the world that everybody wants to be a part of that the rest of the world trusts. >> Emi Kaneshiro in Hawaii wanted to know, " Was each celebrity who appeared in the Yes We Can video strategically chosen for a certain reason and if so can you give us some examples of why they were featured ?" >> It all happened in 4 days. We didn't have the luxury of strategy and picking and selecting. People were just pouring in to the studio. Hey, we heard you're doing something for Obama. Yes. Well, what can I do? Oh, you see the speech. You pick your favorite line from the speech and then go to the camera there and say it. Kareem Abdul- Jabbar, hey, Will? What do you like me to do? Oh, hey Kareem. Can you say this line? I love to. The only strategy that was done was the editor puts the mic laughing because it was a fun shoot. So he put a lot of laughing, hahahaha. I was like hey, can you take some of them smiles out. I don't want people to get the wrong message that, you know, it's gonna be fun in the sun come 2009. It's gonna be hard work. >> Justin Durueke in Seattle, Washington actually wanted to know what your reaction was when Obama won. >> You know if it was real or not like you know like yes, right. Everyone out grow on. Then he didn't? So it was kind of a shock. It really hit me a couple of days later. I didn't think a lot of people thought that way too. I'm still in shock now. It's a beautiful day. >> Thomas Amy in Vero Beach, Florida asks " What would you have done had Obama lost to McCain? >> I would've been sad. We would have to work so hard to inspire the world to believe in America again, right? The world would've given up hope. It would've totally been like you know what, America, you guys are just don't wanna play in the future. You guys can't get your thing together. Like what's up with you, guys, right? It's like the world is waiting for us. There's new technology. In my car I have a car plugged into the socket next to my washing machine. My car is plugged in next to my washing machine. It is stashed in my Bentley, right? It's not like a technology is not there. Tesla is an American car. It's not like there's not technology there to rebuild America. Why can't we just push that program ahead? >> Do you think the auto makers are gonna like wake up now that they have to be bailed out in terms of creating more energy- efficient cars? >> Why would you have to build them out when that money should go to advanced companies like Tesla and build up their factories to produce more and more and more and more electric vehicles. Why do we still need gas? It's the freaking Flintstones versus the Jetsons, right? Fossil fuels. Why are we still messing with things with the word fossil, you know what I'm saying? >> Given what you've done with the music video for Obama and subsequent videos, Mel Maurer in Westlake Ohio wanted to know have you written anything for the Obama inauguration? >> No. I haven't wrote anything for the inauguration. I did It's A New Day. I think that's enough for now. >> Are you planning on going to the inauguration? >> Yes. I'm planning on going to the inauguration because I think it's important to be a part of that energy and to see it full circle, to have supported Obama when people looked at me and you really think he's gonna win? I guess, man. He has to. So I wanna see. I wanna be there. >> La- Toya Duncan in Brooklyn wondered with an African- American as President of the Unites States will this change or have any effect on the current state of hiphop culture and if so how? >> Now that Obama is the President it changes the inner cities for the youth and citizens of those inner cities to not just dream to be you know Little Waynes and M. C. Hammers and 50 Cents and Eminems, but they now can dream to be Obamas and that's told. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"10 Questions for will.i.am","description":"The rapper, producer, political activist, and Black Eyed Peas member answers reader questions here","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/SpclAGMJ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2009-01-09T17:43:53.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SpclAGMJ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/video/SpclAGMJ/","duration":"PT5M50S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/SpclAGMJ/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```