Will.i.am is convinced the only way The Black Eyed Peas will reunite is in virtual reality.
The hit R&B/pop group, which also includes members Fergie, apl.de.ap, and Taboo, began a hiatus in 2015, five years after releasing their sixth studio album, The Beginning, and according to band leader Will.i.am, there may never be another BEP album, due to fact that streaming sites like Spotify and Apple Music make it difficult to earn money through music.
"What you're asking is, 'Hey, are you going to make 14 songs (for an album) the way you used to before, and put it on a streaming platform for no money?' Probably not," he tells U.K newspaper The Mirror. "Like, why? Why (are) you going to go back to yesterday when you know the amount of money you made yesterday won't be made doing it that way today?"
The forward-thinking tech entrepreneur and music producer is now focused on the future and he is currently working with bosses at technology firm Oculus to create a virtual reality adaptation of his hip-hop inspired comic book Masters of the Sun.
Will.i.am is also considering doing a The Black Eyed Peas virtual reality spin-off, a project he is much more excited about than making another album.
"There are infinite possibilities for the (Masters of the Sun) world to create," he shares. "We could create virtual Black Eyed Peas - you could go back to when we started the group in 1998 and experience that story, you could go back to when we first got signed in 1997... What we were thinking in 2003, when we put Fergie in the group. There's so much you can do."
He also plans to add more characters to his Masters of the Sun comics to expand that universe in a move for more creative longevity.
"I want to create worlds with new characters, so Masters of the Sun isn't just me, apl.de.ap and Taboo," he explains. "We created new characters, new ideas, things that can live forever.
"There's a limited shelf-life for what Fergie, me, Ap and Taboo do as creators but now you can create s**t that can live for a long-a** time."
