Apl.de.ap

Black Eyed Peas member and Pinoy pride Apl.de.ap is in the forefront of a project that is helping unsigned acts get the kind of support signed artists enjoy. His company Jeepney Music inked a career-changing one-year recording contract for each of the seven local performers recently chosen as winners of MTV Emerge.

“I see a lot of talented musicians who have less outlet (of their music). I want to provide that for them,” he told the press in an interview related to the matter.

A rich mix of different-sounding groups are looking at a bright future ahead, with the contract clauses including artist management and promotion, digital distribution of a certain number of their tracks, and a workable marketing plan to maximize exposure. The lucky seven are hip-hoppers DRP (Dirty Room Productions) and Mid Nasty, Cebu rocker Soul Brothers, experimental rock Faircatch, alternative rock TBG (The Band Glenn), R&B group Urbanation, and new wave Pin-Up Girls. The last is a veteran of the indie scene led by music channel segment host Mondo Castro.

These local artists topped entries almost reaching 2,000, all of whom uploaded samples of their music on the MTV Emerge site during a month-long span. MTV Emerge is a collaboration effort of music channel MTV, Department of Tourism (DoT), and Apl.de.ap’s Jeepney Music which is more than a music label since it is described as a non-exclusive community filled with content and connectivity among aspects such as music, entertainment, travel, food, and living histories.

The man known for incorporating his Filipino ties in his world-renowned group’s music expressed, “The seven winners really are what we were looking for. Their unique talents very well characterize what MTV Emerge is about – homegrown talents trying to reach out to the world while at the same time representing the country with pride.”

Apl.de.ap (whose Pinoy name is Allan Pineda) is famous for putting Tagalog lyrics into some of Black Eyed Peas songs like “The Apl Song,” “Bebot,” and “Mare” which got into the group’s latest and fifth studio album “The E.N.D.” He picked the key lines of “Balita,” originally done by folk rock icon Asin, and put it in “The Apl Song,” instantly getting the attention of Filipino listeners when it came out a few years back.

“I’ll be singing more Tagalog songs,” he promised.