Who doesn’t love a throwback to a classic ’90s kids’ show? The Power Rangers franchise just celebrated 30 years at WonderCon in Anaheim over the weekend. And now, Blue’s Clues has a new film dropping Tuesday. The family-friendly Blue’s Big City Adventure finds Josh and Blue traveling to New York City to audition for a Broadway musical. However, they end up getting lost as a result of Josh forgetting to bring his Handy-Dandy Notebook, and now their friends must travel to find them with the help of Josh’s cousins Steve and Joe, Blue’s previous companions.

In addition to the timeless Steve Burns, Blue’s Big City Adventure has other fun cameos, including Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas. We recently caught up with Taboo, who dished on his dance-filled scene from the film and other projects in the works. Read our exclusive interview below.

Doing It for the Kids

MW: My wife and I grew up on Blue’s Clues. What made you want to join the new movie?

Taboo: Because of my kids, I just jumped right into it. My son, who’s 30, grew up watching Steve. And then Jalen grew up on it during the time period of Josh De La Cruz. And now my daughter and my two nephews are growing up on Josh. So you know, I had built a friendship with Josh during the Macy’s Parade in 2019. We kept in touch, we texted, we talked, and we just built a great, organic friendship. So when the opportunity came to be part of this project, I jumped on it. I was like, “Wait a minute. It’s part of my family’s history. Josh and I are good friends. I get to be part of this amazing project. Let’s go!” So that’s how it all happened.

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MW: Your cameo is super fun. What was it like shooting that scene in the park?

Taboo: It was shot in one day. It was cool being a part of the street-performer community, knowing that there are a lot of street performers out there — musicians, artists, singers, performing on the street is their thing. And so I wanted to celebrate that and be a part of that. And having that as a way to connect the idea of performing the arts. And then, you know, being in the scene with Josh, tying it all together, it was special because it was kind of like a metaphor of celebrating that community as well […] But then seeing how natural and organic our relationship — Josh and I — like, it wasn’t acting. We’re friends, and so that came out on the screen […] There was no room for acting or acting classes — just go out there and do what you’ve been doing since you met Josh in 2019.

MW: For sure. And you don’t even get taken out of it, like, “Oh, it’s Taboo from Black Eyed Peas!”

Taboo: No, because a lot of people don’t know that. They probably don’t know that, and it’s okay, because I look different from when we were at the height of our career. I had long hair at the height of our career. This is a different version of me. And so to be able to reinvent myself, to kind of bring in a new audience that may not know of the Black Eyed Peas — because it’s a younger demographic, too. I kind of liked that. It’s bringing new viewers and new eyeballs to me as a performer and as an actor and as an entertainer and a storyteller.

Music is always a part of my journey, but to be able to go into the acting space, voice-over workspace, writing comics, creating animation, that’s where my heart is. I do this for my kids because that’s what I live on… I’m proud of being a girl dad. So if I could create content where there are matriarchs, heroes that inspire my daughter, I want to do that. That’s what I’m doing now.

Beyond the Black Eyed Peas

Nickelodeon Movies

MW: Do you hope to act in other film or TV projects down the line?

Taboo: Yeah, I’ve done a couple, two of them actually, that I can’t really announce yet. But one of them is part of the Nickelodeon family […] So I’m proud of that, and then another one is an indigenous animation project I’ve been writing for. I have four comics that came out of the [Spider-Man] world that I’m very proud of, one of them being the newest that came out this year. I wrote a kid’s book, it’s called A Kids Book About Identity, and I have two shows in development right now, which are kids’ based…

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I’m telling you, man, my fuel is to be able to inspire kids. Like, I love what we do with the Black Eyed Peas — that’s awesome, it’s great — but it’s not tailor-made specifically for kids. Now what I’m doing beyond Black Eyed Peas is being able to do what my brother Kobe Bryant did after basketball. Kobe Bryant created these amazing books to inspire his daughters, let alone inspire kids around the world. And he created this amazing documentary about him as a kid, his love for basketball. Then, he was going to do this animation production company, but it never happened.

So I just took the inspiration that my brother gave me, because I had an opportunity to speak to him before he passed and spend time with them. And our families got to hang out together. So that influence is heavy in my heart. And I just want to do the same thing with my kids, inspire my kids with my content, creating my writing, music that is beyond just the Black Eyed Peas. You know, me making music specifically for the kid space, that’s something that I’m very passionate about as well.

Blue’s Big City Adventure is now available on DVD.