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will.i.am has explained the real meaning behind his controversial lyrics on ‘Let’s Get It Started’.

The Black Eyed Peas released their hit single from Elephunk in 2004, which reached number 21 on the Hot 100 and earned a Grammy for ‘Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group’.

However, before it was titled ‘Let’s Get It Started’, the song was originally called ‘Let’s Get R*tarded’.

The R-word was seemingly used in the title and lyrics to convey the act of getting drunk, but it was later changed due to it being an ableist slur.

However, during a recent appearance on Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast, will.i.am provided a different explanation.

“So if you’re in the studio, right? And you have a conductor, or a producer, and they’re telling the band the instructions on the song,” he began. “The producer or the conductor says, ‘OK, on bar 24, we’re going to ritard on bar 24’. That’s a musical term.”

He continued, “That’s the reason why in the lyrics it says, ‘In this context/ There’s no disrespect/ So when I bust my rhyme/ You break your neck/ We have five minutes for us to disconnect/ From all intellect/ And let the rhythm perfect.”

will.i.am went on to clarify the meaning behind the term on his record with Fergie, apl.de.ap, and Taboo.

“So that song, ‘Let’s Get R*tarded’, is a musical term meaning to let’s slow down our inhibitions on bar four,” he said. “And in the first verse it says, ‘In this context/ There’s no disrespect’. Because we’re referring to slowing down our inhibitions on bar 24. Which is the reason why we said, ‘Let’s just make it, let’s get it started.'”