01x11 - Taboo & The Power of Representation

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at marvel

we tell stories about heroes that are

larger than life who represent their

communities

use their special powers for good and

inspires all to triumph over adversity

but as we know not all heroes wear capes

because it's what's on the inside that

truly makes someone a hero

best known as a founding member of the

black eyed peas jimmy

taboo gomez is a rapper songwriter and

actor

that uses his own heroic story to

inspire those around him

and by around him i mean the 76 million

people that have bought his albums

never mind the millions that have seen

and performed around the world i'm

hanging with taboo today to talk about

music

culture and what it means to be a hero

i'm joe quesada

i tell stories for a living welcome to

marvel storyboards

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[Applause]

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what's up man what's up brother how are

you doing

i have a tradition that started when we

when black eyed peas performed at

madison square garden

we were staying around the corner and uh

there was a store that caught my eye

this really cool antique spot and i'd

like to take you to it let's go let's do

it all right

cool i'm very fascinated about the

ancestry of my people i'm hopi and

shoshone

yeah so you know there's a lot of heroes

and a lot of stories that need to be

told

school me what's up nelson brothers good

to see you bro

yes sir

if we're in the business of storytelling

this is what inspires me

my tattoo is inspired by some of the

pottery

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if someone wears something that is

inspired by native american culture

because because we're this huge melting

pot at what point do you draw a line and

say well

you know it's it's okay for something to

be inspired by native american culture

and

and then okay no that's not okay i lead

with love right

i would be hypocrite if i had some form

of negative frequency because i'm the

guy that said where's the love

we can celebrate cultures i i'm married

to a filipino woman and i love filipino

culture

well i am is african-american apple

d'app is filipino i'm native and mexican

so we're a diverse group that celebrates

each other's cultures and we appreciate

our culture

instead of pointing fingers at you i'd

rather educate you and inform you

and do it in a way where we could have a

conversation about it and be

uh communicators as opposed to agitators

i agree 100

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did read complex as a kid you know what

honestly i didn't read comic books as a

kid

i collected toys i'm a toy guy and

that's what led me to comic con it's

about pop culture and it was about

you know storytelling and it was about

your imagination and i fell in love with

comic-con because of that so as i got

older i started really

going back and really um getting into

comics the one

comic that i always asked for was red

wolf

always how did you become familiar with

red wolf i started fall in love with

that character because i said to myself

why don't i celebrate and really get

into a hero that speaks to me on a

personal level

i love spider-man i love iron man i love

those guys

but when you have culture represented

and you're able to see

heroes in the marvel universe

that could potentially inspire you to

become a hero in your own

reality that's what i gravitated to

he can continue to be under the radar

but eventually have a moment in the sun

and that's how we are

black ip was underground yeah but

eventually we had our moment in our sun

underserved communities have to have

that spotlight too

so speaking of red wolves speaking of

comics what's your superhero origin

story

so at five years old my grandmother was

the person

that would sit in a chair just like this

and she would say from los angeles

california give it up for jimmy gomez

and i'll be dancing in the living room

doing whatever i can to entertain her

the joy and the happiness that that lit

up in her face

let me know that this was something that

i was good at this was my purpose

so she inspired me to become the person

that i am today your grandmother seems

to play such a huge role

she does man she was my warrior spirit

she was the light of my life

you know and i i when i talk about her i

get choked up because

she's my hero beyond any superhero my

grandmother was my hero

she didn't wear a cape she had a cane

but when she stepped on the dance floor

she would throw her cane and she would

start dancing you see how i light up

when i talk

about her dancing so where does taboo

come from taboo represented

um the lifestyle that i was living as a

teenager

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i was doing hip-hop music and in my

neighborhood it was either you were a

g*ng member

or you're a rebel and i was doing

hip-hop i was a

break dancer

so it was a taboo to be immersed in

hip-hop culture in my neighborhood

so i just said wow if i'm living with

taboo lifestyle i am taboo

eight years old until 16 or 17 that was

when i met willam and apple

and in 1995 we became black ips

so straight out of high school i started

my career

and then during the day i worked at

disneyland picking up horse manure

during the electrical parade it taught

me a lot about

appreciating and never taking it for

granted

how are you doing

so how did you get into comic books i

read them as a kid

growing up my father actually introduced

me to comic books i was inspired by the

stuff that stanley would write but never

dreaming that someday i'd have that same

job

you know as marvel first thing came in

new york was that was that with the ps

yeah

the thing that really drove us as

dancers as b-boys as freestyle dancers

was east coast music whether it was

gangstar ks1 boogie down productions the

tribe called quest

de la so i mean public enemy the list

goes on and on

of how much inspiration came from the

east coast

diner yes sir right here

everything that i've done in my artistic

career has mostly been done

through collaboration i love the idea of

collaboration and

for millions upon millions of people all

over the world

the black eyed peas have been the

soundtrack of their life and i think

that's because

combinations breed success like the

avengers right the avengers they come

together for this

great moment this great heroic moment

nick fury puts them together

when you guys come together to

collaborate what's that like so we have

two rooms going um

during our process right so we have the

willy wonka room which is the willam

room where he's producing and coming up

with stuff and then me and apple have

the star wars room so that inspires us

you know that's that's the room where

the the toys activate the inspiration

those are our two workshops me and apple

write verses and we'll come up with a

hook and then we'll come into our room

and be like oh let me add something to

that

and we come up with something together

we dreamed together and we believed in

each other and motivated each other

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how does it work for you guys like when

you guys are creating comics

it's a very collaborative process

everybody's sort of creating in their

own

their own studio but all with you know

one goal in mind

when the writer writes the story the

artist is then interpreting that story

look at this thank you

thanks man so talking about story every

great story

your protagonist your hero somewhere

just before the third actor finds

himself in a place where their back is

against the wall

and they've got nowhere to go they have

a choice to make that choice

is either to hang it up give it up

or to somehow or other become the person

they are to be can you think of a moment

like that for you

my battle against cancer the ultimate

villain

because it was no longer something that

was in my control yeah 38 with

testicular cancer stage two

um it was spreading at a rapid rate and

you know those moments where i wanted to

give up

because i was like man this chemo's too

intense for me yeah i can't make it

five days a week six hours a day and it

was like t*rture worn a nightmare all in

one that's what i felt

my wife was my rock started going in

through into like

warrior spirit mode and that's when i

started seeing the visions of my

grandmother saying keep your

your hands in the soil mother earth and

that's what led me to

to where i'm at now and being an

advocate for indigenous people and

and uh being an advocate for the fight

against cancer

because i'm like man this is a blessing

that i'm alive

so why not use it to be able to help

others and that's why i went to standing

rock

for those folks that don't know what

standing rock is standing rock was a

situation where the

dappled the dakota access pipeline was

being built on sacred ground

which is the standing rock sioux tribes

reservation i felt like i needed to be

there

and so this helped me during my healing

process as a as a cancer survivor

and it just like illuminated my life it

taught me a lot about

solidarity and standing with people

for a cause all of a sudden marvel i

know about your great love for the

character red wolf so for those who

who aren't familiar with red wolf and

are familiar with your love of the

character tell me a little bit about

there's so many stories that could be

told about diversity and within the

marvel universe

then it's just it's a win-win for all of

us you know you need that you need to

to have a reflection of who you are and

that's why i always talk about red wolf

i love that character so much and i love

what red wolf means to us

when we look in the mirror we see

ourselves in red wool

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at the end of the day it's all said and

done right

when you hang up the black eyed peas

cape right what keeps you grounded

my wife and my kids yeah my family

knowing that

uh i i don't want to leave just leave a

catalog of music i want to leave a

legacy

and my kids can really appreciate you

could say my dad was a humanitarian

my dad used his platform to help others

like that's

powerful yeah because it's like being of

service

amazing thank you so much thank you has

been amazing and educationally

inspirational thank you

red wolf red wolf awesome

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the black eyed peas must ask where is

love

and spending the day with taboo makes

that answer obvious

it's in everything he does taboo also

reminded me

that creativity not only comes from who

you are but where you've been and who

you love

do

you