The Taboo Experience

pictured here with Taboo

Fun-energy-vibrant is what exuded when I caught up with Jaime Luis Gómez better known as Taboo of the Black Eyed Peas.

He was recently at the Amber Lounge in Delhi when we caught up with him for a little informal interview. Dressed in a red and brown jacket, rectangular glares, brown sneakers matching with the sleeves of his jacket, he looked the perfect celebrity all set to sway the Delhi audience.

Life is not all that glitzy and for Taboo it had definitely not been easy. He confessed that his trysts with drugs and alcohol had greatly impacted his early life. And his past mistakes had made him realize how taking things to the extreme can over time weigh in.

'Earlier I had been into drugs and alcohol and had done things in extreme, anything extreme is bad. Those were the long-haired days. Now, I have gone bald and I am clear-headed I can think and do much better now,' he said.

His only purpose to come to India is to bring the Taboo experience. So we had to understand what was the Taboo experience?

'Well, I have taken some time off from the band to do my own thing as an individual. 'Taboo experience', is all about MC, DJ, Visuals, instruments, traveling interacting with the fans and the magnetic music,' added the 35-year-old rapper.

One thing I noticed when I saw were his shoes. He had an absolute love for shoes. He admitted owning a large collection of shoes. 'I own about 600 pairs of shoes and have a shoe store at my house,' he said.

Now that he has a comfortable life, in retrospect, it hadn't been very kind to him.  He said life was hard when he lived as an outcast his entire life. But now things have changed, he added. He was now a proud father and also a loving husband.

"Now I have become more responsible after getting married and being a father to my kids."

Family is important to him and being a father made him better. Taboo declared that fatherhood has been his greatest achievement. 'I am foremost a father and this is the greatest achievement of my life: being a father to my kids,' added the rapper.

So let us cheer for another great daddy and see him take on the world as he brings on the  Taboo experience.