Music producer will.i.am was in NYC for less than 24 hours last weekend, DJ’ing a set at Bloomingdale’s before rushing over to the CNN building to be interviewed by my colleague Lynn Berry at HLN.  He swooped into the City to promote the puls, his fashion-forward wrist-cuff that doesn’t just tell time but also allows its wearer to tweet, check Instagram, play music, and track a workout.  It’s a smart-watch for the downtown style set, and yet another device from the one-time producer who has also shilled sunglasses, cameras, 3D printers, and more.

As I walked into Bloomingdale’s at 7:30A on Black Friday, “Scream and Shout”, a will.i.am x Britney classic, nearly shook the walls. Contrary to the ultra-tame scene I expected, the upscale department store had turned into a turn-up trap, with the music producer perched atop a stage playing track after track from his wearable cuff.

I didn’t expect will.i.am to notice me, but he did, giving me a head nod to acknowledge my arrival to the party. He was enthused, I could tell, not about me but about the launch of a device that was du-moment and a crowd that stood gawking at him for just about an hour.

The Bloomingdale’s party ended, and I met will.i.am and his team at CNN’s bureau shortly after 9AM. He stopped me in the hall, congratulated me on my new TV gig with HLN and said with excitement, “Are you the next Anderson Cooper?!” “No, the next Ryan Seacrest,” I responded without missing a beat. He smiled, walked about five feet away, and then returned to day “Yah, definitely Ryan Seacrest, I see it!” I’d never seen him so chatty…yah, he must’ve been on a high about launching this wearable.

Or maybe I’d passed the journalist barrier, and he considered us ‘acquaintances.’

As he and his team waited for his time on-camera,  they talked about the diamond-encrusted Kara Ross overlay for the puls watch. It was the same one he showed off on Jimmy Fallon, but OMG it looked so gorgeous in person. And it was heavy. From what I understand, he hopes to create more overlays like this one – some with studs. Around 9:30, he headed into the actual studio, and I prepped the questions for my 1-on-1 that would follow.

I ran through the standard questions with the mogul, “What’s cool about the puls?” “Why’d you choose Andre Leon Talley to be the fashion director” before jumping to the meat: “So, what do you make of Taylor Swift leaving Spotify? Is music streaming doomed?”

Immediately, his handlers rebuffed. “We’re not here to answer those questions, SP.”

But will.i.am and I connected at 7:30AM, and then again in the hallways. He would answer my questions.

“I’ll answer that,” will.i.am chimed in.  And he gave a perfectly honest, if mild response: “We’re going to need to build a system that’s more fair to artists,” he said. “They need a better deal for streaming, and Taylor Swift is the first but she’s not the last.”

And then on to Ferguson, where the producer, born in a harsh part of LA, gave an impassioned speech on why it’s important to teach kids in the hood the importance of education, and specifically STEM education. “Imagine if What’sApp, a company valued at 15 billion, was made in Watts and called ‘WattsApp’. Imagine that.”

You could tell he was happy to lay his thoughts on culture out there, he’s been known to set the tone of pop-culture, after all. But I get it: it’s a high-stakes game interviewing celebrities. There’s a lot to lose on tape riffing about issues that people care about, and so it makes sense that most celebs rely on their handlers to decide the issues best left unanswered. Will.i.am, a man who has successfully transitioned from music producer to venerated businessman, is not one of those celebs. He knows when his voice matters.

Overruled, his handler stood up, signaling the end of the interview. Will had to jump on a helicopter at 10AM sharp if he wanted to catch his 11AM plane back to LA.  The businessman gave me another nod and a handshake, and went right back to checking his puls...he needed to send a tweet to 12 million people.