With several people mentioning her online, Hill felt the need to address the controversy, and took to Instagram to share her thoughts about the statement.

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A post shared by Kim Hill (@alwayskimhill)

Hill said that she, like many people, felt the group had long strayed from making the "Black" music that they started out producing in the 1990s.

She spoke passionately about what she called "cultural smudging" and said her role in the group's rise to fame was being erased, even as Jean mentioned the group's early beginnings.

"It's not enough for me to be a Black woman," she said.

She said she has always fought for her Blackness and felt like she not only had to sexualize herself but "exotify" Blackness. Hill said that she felt pressure to move outside of her Blackness in order to help the group gain more success.

But she went on to slam will.i.am and the group for demanding acceptance from a community they had actively shunned since they found success.

"You want to have the same community that helped build you and was the foundation of us coming out of the Native Tongue movement to now hold you in the space we now hold Mos Def, and De La Soul, and Tribe, Phife, and Slum Village. These are all our people cause we all toured with them and all these brothers hold me to the highest regard to this day," she said.

"And I don't get it from you, not publicly," she continued. "You want that same community to validate you, and you put a white girl in that place."

Black Eyed Peas

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