The 5-minute Interview: Will.i.am, Hip hop artist

'I performed with Prince, and Michael Jackson was in the crowd'

Will.i.am, 32, is frontman of the Grammy sward-winning hip hop band The Black Eyed Peas. He releases his new solo album, Songs About Girls, which features the hit single "I Got It From My Mama" on 1 October

If I weren't talking to you right now I'd be...

Talking to my assistant who tells me what I'm going to be doing in the next five minutes.

A phrase I use far too often...

That's crazy. I use it for everything, like if I see something that's crazy, I say, "that's crazy". Or my girlfriend just cheated on me, "that's crazy".

I wish people would take more notice of...

The fact that we're not in control. We have no control over the outcome of anything. Like the planet and global warming, we don't control that. If politicians want a war we don't control that. Acts of terrorism, we can't control them.

The most surprising thing that happened to me was...

Prince asked me to perform with him on stage at his show in Las Vegas. Ten minutes later, Michael Jackson called me up and said he was coming to the show.

A common misperception of me is...

I'm just a dude in a pop band.

I am not a politician but...

If I was, they would probably kill me. Politics are about preserving relationships at the end of the day, and it has nothing to do with the greater good for humanity. It's just all about business.

I'm good at...

Thinking. I'm good at thinking outside the box, so much that you realise it's not a box to begin with.

I'm very bad at...

Sticking to my schedules. I always have to do two things at once because I've fallen behind.

The ideal night out is...

Going out all night and taking it through till the morning.

In moments of weakness I...

Strengthen up by meditating.

You know me as a hip hop artist and producer but in a truer life I'd have been...

A scientist who specialises in quantum physics.

In a nutshell, my philosophy is this:

If you ain't doing something you're doing nothing.

Martin Broadley