Will.i.am Made His Customised Car To Inspire Local Youth About Academic School Subjects

7 May 2013, 10:41

The star says his $900,000 car was a project aimed at inspiring young people to go into scientific subjects.

Will.i.am has revealed he built his new custom-made car to inspire the kids of his local neighbourhood to get into serious school subjects like mathematics and engineering.

The 'Scream & Shout' rapper says the car, which features heavily in his music video for new song '#ThatPower', was a project to help show the youth in his local area that those academic subjects can have a practical and fun application in the real world.

"I made the vehicle because I want to teach kids in my neighbourhood [about] science, technology, engineering and mathematics," Will.i.am told ET this past weekend. "To go to an inner city and say to a kid, 'you should be a scientist', and not give them anything tangible that represents their education, that's hoop idea.

"So I decided to invest in a vehicle so that people who help me build that vehicle - the chassis, the body, the interior, the shocks - all that it took to make that you need to know some type of science, engineering and math to make a vehicle.

"It's dream of mine," he admitted. "I'm not saying it's executed yet, but I would like to put that as a tangible means of education in my neighbourhood."

Check out a picture of will.i.am's custom-made car on the single artwork for '#ThatPower' below:

The car is said to be worth $900,000 and was made specially for will.i.am over the course of three years, featuring vintage suicide doors, custom door panels and an aluminium interior.

Will.i.am launched his new album '#willpower' last month and is expected to take the record out on tour later this year.