Will.i.am has insisted the Black Eyed Peas' innovative project 'Masters of the Sun' caused a rift with their record label.

The 'Street Livin'' hitmakers have unveiled the new single from their album/comic book/augmented reality hybrid, and the track was at odds with what bosses at Interscope.

Speaking candidly to Rolling Stone, will.i.am explained: ''As we were finishing Masters of the Sun ... when we were scoring the worlds, you know, the mood of jazz, soul ... that was the mood. And so when we finished 'Street Livin'', we're like 'Yo. ... Play that s**t again. Yo. You feel that s**t?'

''The record company is like, [mocking voice] 'We really want the Black Eyed Peas super big, you know, you guys been gone for so long. We want to make sure we have big explosion with the Black Eyed Peas being back. You know, what I mean by explosion? Will, you guys are big pop group! You got the big pop songs!' ... I'm like, nah we did that. Nah, this is what we're doing.''

'The Voice UK' coach explained the ambition behind the project comes from striving the impress and ''outdo'' their teenage selves, with the hope of matching the passion and hunger they felt when they were younger.

He added: ''We kept saying, like 'What would our 17-year-old self think of where we're at now?'

''So we'd try to outdo our 17-year-old self; when we were hungry and we was all about battling and rhyming and dancing and b-boying ... So we said to ourselves, 'We gotta out-do every f***in' line. It has to be better than the last line.' ''