Susan_Hirasuna's Blog

      I LOVE THE BLACK EYED PEAS!
    No, let me be more specific.  I love apl.de.ap of the Black Eyed Peas.
    I've been lucky to meet him a few times and each time he has this  wide, winning smile and an open, warm personality that is absolutely disarming. 
     He's sooo not a Jeremy Piven (okay that's another story for another time.)
    Here's a guy who was born into third world poverty.  He  farmed alongside his grandfather and water buffalo  and his big dream then was to get an education and become a nurse.
    Several twists of fate, brought him to the US at 14 and set him on an unlikely path of super stardom. 
    That could be the end of the story, except the exceptional person that is apl means he includes people in his success.  He writes a song that tell his story, but the music video is as much homage to his homeland and the filipino WWII vets as it is about him.  He surrounds himself with filipinos and other asians, he hires them, inspires them, supports their art.   He call it  being part of a movement.
    

    You can hear more about apl.de.ap's life when we present a profile of him on the Asian Pacific Heritage special later this month.