{"id":26608,"date":"2022-05-05T21:56:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-05T13:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/?p=26608"},"modified":"2026-09-27T22:00:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T14:00:13","slug":"will-i-ams-robotic-future-starts-with-will-i-amg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/2022\/05\/05\/will-i-ams-robotic-future-starts-with-will-i-amg\/","title":{"rendered":"Will.i.am\u2019s Robotic Future Starts With WILL.I.AMG"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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For many of those who grew up in the 1980s and \u201890s, Mercedes-Benz is a lifestyle. Per will.i.am\u2019s rapping in his exclusive interview with BEAST, he reminded us how the German marque is intrinsically woven into music \u2013 \u201cMe and Lorenzo rollin\u2019 in the Benzo\u201d from NWA\u2019s \u201cFuck Tha Police\u201d and \u201cThe AMG kit keeps us closer to the ground\u201d of Sir Mix-a-Lot\u2019s \u201cPosse\u2019 on Broadway\u201d are only a small percentage of lyrics that infiltrated the hip hop scene 30 years ago. Couple that with Rakim rocking Mercedes chains or JAY-Z and Kanye West destroying a Maybach in the \u201cOtis\u201d music video, and Mercedes-Benz\u2019s prevalence in music is undeniably enviable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Likewise, Mercedes-Benz is also heavily referenced in fashion. Palace returned to its Mercedes-AMG partnership this March, Virgil Abloh\u2019s collaboration with the brand concluded with the co-designed Maybach S-Class and apparel collection, while A$AP Rocky\u2019s AWGE, Proenza Schouler and Heron Preston have all shifted gears to collaborate with the manufacturer. Now, Mercedes-Benz enters a new era, one punctuated by WILL.I.AMG, its new collaboration with will.i.am.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WILL.I.AMG\u2019s aim is to prepare inner-city kids for a future that they can be a part of, harnessed by the understanding and learning of robotics, autonomy, and STEAM education. The collaboration comprises \u201cThe Flip,\u201d a car developed by will.i.am and West Coast Customs, and an accompanying merch collection dubbed \u201cBEAR WITNESS.\u201d Combined, it\u2019s a collaboration close to the Black Eyed Peas\u2019 frontman\u2019s heart: \u201cMy dream was to get a car and customize it,\u201d he explains. \u201cMy dream was never to have the gold chains and teeth, although that\u2019s still part of hip hop because a big part [of it is about] bedazzling itself and over-accessorizing with jewelry. My dream was always customizing cars.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Everything will.i.am touches has to have a purpose. While our interview was littered with far-reaching metaphors, not out of reach for will.i.am\u2019s eccentric character, there is a method to his madness. \u201cThe whole premise is to auction this car off and we use the proceeds to build robotics teams,\u201d explained will.i.am.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you look at the investments in our inner cities, the hood is fcked by 2040. We\u2019re not going to understand the complexities of how to navigate the autonomous world. No one is preparing them. We\u2019re not having the conversation about how urgent it is. It\u2019s the most urgent f<\/em>cking thing,\u201d added will.i.am.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe exit out of the hood is not always only music and athletics and designing apparel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the last 11 years, will.i.am has enabled graduates of his education programs in East Los Angeles to enroll at various Ivy League schools in the States. For him, it proves that \u201cthe exit out of the hood is not always only music and athletics and designing apparel.\u201d He lives in a world that\u2019s both eagerly anticipating the future and fearing it, and to succeed, will.i.am recognized that robotics, engineering, technology education, mathematics and more need to be taught to inner-city kids so that they can be a part of their own future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re barely dealing with race relations; racism is still in effect and we\u2019re still trying to figure that out,\u201d says will.i.am. \u201cThere is shit that is going to change how Black and Brown people are looked at when no one is training the data, no one is building the algorithms. The algorithms are important when you have a fleet of police drones in your neighborhood. They\u2019re like \u2018we\u2019re programming the algorithms to understand our conditions.\u2019 We can\u2019t even deal with the police in our neighborhoods today, and that\u2019s humans!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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WILL.I.AMG was born to further will.i.am\u2019s educational support and to better the world as we\u2019re soon to know it. It is not merely a car collaboration, nor a design exercise to generate buzz. As well as spreading the word for all of will.i.am\u2019s philanthropic work, it also encourages kids to get their hands greasy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI come from The Projects, I lived in Boyle Heights for 27 years. My mom grew up in The Projects and she was there for 50 years. Yes, I had a headstart because the music was my entry point into building, because of my music success, but what it tells them is that most of the people who built the car are Black and Brown,\u201d says will.i.am. \u201cOur predicament and configuration, the way it\u2019s told, does not mean it has to be that way forever\u2026 Lewis Hamilton is proof \u2013 he joined a profession that Black people weren\u2019t in, and dominated it. I\u2019m not just going to be okay, I\u2019m going to be the f*cking best. I\u2019m going to beat all the records.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The core purpose of WILL.I.AMG is to serve the community. But, it also goes to show will.i.am\u2019s creativity. Making \u201cThe Flip\u201d was more than just a rolling sculpture \u2013 it\u2019s a fully-fledged depiction of what we can expect from the future (or at least, the future will.i.am sees for us all).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The self-funded car is based on a Mercedes-AMG GT 63 Four-Door Coup\u00e9, but its similarities to the production car end there. \u201cWhen Mercedes saw the work in progress, they were surprised that this was the level of build that I was doing. They thought I was making a show car, because that\u2019s what most people from our community build. Paint it or change the rims, build it to where it doesn\u2019t matter if it moves or not. To me, it has to move, it has to drive, you have to keep the same integrity and safety of the original car.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Working with West Coast Customs, \u201cThe Flip\u201d is the embodiment of how will.i.am thinks, especially when it comes to music. His approach to sampling is informed and it goes further than making hit songs for his own band and dozens of huge music stars. When asked about the design process of \u201cThe Flip,\u201d will.i.am simply replied, \u201cI sampled. I make music because of computers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Digging deeper, it\u2019s a design that draws from Mercedes-Benz\u2019s evocative history of simplistic and ultra-luxe designs derived from the SL series, notably the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL \u201cGullwing,\u201d SLS, and Mercedes-McLaren SLR. \u201c[Mercedes-Benz\u2019s Chief Design] Officer Gordon Wagener is my James Brown in this metaphor, I want to sample his design perspective. I wanted to sample this particular GT 63, that\u2019s the drum loop, and the baseline is the long nose, and the Jimi Hendrix guitar sample is the G Wagon front.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, \u201cThe Flip\u201d combines elements of the GT 63, the SL Series, and the nose from a G Wagon. Bastardization or revolutionary, you decide, but for will.i.am it all makes sense in a warped take on perfection. \u201cI see the James Brown jazzy funk drum loop, I see the Ron Carter because that\u2019s jazz, I see why you went to Stan Getz because that\u2019s jazz, but why the Jimi Hendrix guitar riff on all-jazz samples? That\u2019s the G Wagon nose. That\u2019s the audacity.\u201d Through this, he\u2019s referencing the squared-off anti-aero cars that Mercedes-Benz was loved for in the \u201880s \u2013 the same ones on rapper\u2019s album covers and in the aforementioned lyrics \u2013 and it recalls the era in which will.i.am grew up, harkening back to his dream to design his own car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou only have a relationship with the car when you\u2019re in the car. That\u2019s not futuristic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as we\u2019ve come to expect from a man who lives between now and tomorrow, futurism also plays a considerable role in \u201cThe Flip,\u201d both in its design and its message to the community. \u201cThe future could be living underwater in bubble cities,\u201d he says. \u201cI think the future of a designer can be anything. For this, the futurism of the vehicle is not about what the car looks like, it\u2019s about what the car does. No matter what the car does or looks like, ultra-technical or basic, they all serve the driver the same relationship \u2013 you only have a relationship with the car when you\u2019re in the car. That\u2019s not futuristic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Instead, will.i.am likens \u201cThe Flip\u201d to your relationship with a smartphone. Carrying one everywhere with you means you always have a connection with some form of computer, and seeing as a car is one of the most expensive things you can buy, will.i.am believes it\u2019s time for us to reconsider how we connect with our four-wheeled machines. \u201cWe put a connective tissue platform in the vehicle that is truly mobile so you have a relationship with the car when you\u2019re not in the car. It\u2019s a connective brain, a better brain if you will.\u201d While more on this is yet to come from this collaboration, what it promises is a connective future between owner and car, car and world; a world of robotics, autonomy and kids learning to work with this level of technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far as will.i.am is concerned, it\u2019s as clear-cut as this: \u201cYou don\u2019t have to be the best musician to be the greatest artist. But in the car industry, you need to be the best engineer to have the best car. Fact.\u201d In order to do so, inner-city kids (and everyone, at that) need to be prepared for the soon-coming future. WILL.I.AMG\u2019s \u201cThe Flip\u201d represents our soon-to-be reality, but it\u2019s a concept that will.i.am has been living and creating for the last decade through his work. \u201cI just do it, to do it. It\u2019s the most important thing I can do with my time and the success that I\u2019ve had with the information and the network that I have to get it done. Now I realize that I need to work harder, smarter and faster because the clock is ticking. It\u2019s a couple of years before these car companies release a fleet of autonomous vehicles, that sounds awesome but at the same time I\u2019m like, holy shit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WILL.I.AMG\u2019s \u201cThe Flip\u201d is an invitation to join will.i.am in the future. In our lifetime, there will be a handful of figures that will change the world as we know it, and will.i.am hopes to be the vanguard of this prospect. Simply put by the man himself, \u201cMercedes has never done this level of collaboration.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For many of those who grew up in the 1980s and \u201890s, Mercedes-Benz is a lifestyle. Per will.i.am\u2019s rapping in his exclusive interview with BEAST, he reminded us how the German marque is intrinsically woven into music \u2013 \u201cMe and Lorenzo rollin\u2019 in the Benzo\u201d from NWA\u2019s \u201cFuck Tha Police\u201d and \u201cThe AMG kit keeps […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[223],"tags":[44,12],"class_list":["post-26608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-car","tag-mercedes-amg","tag-mercedes-benz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26608"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26614,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26608\/revisions\/26614"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}