Visiting the country off the back of a trip to Australia where he appeared on reality music series The Voice, will.i.am attended a corporate event in Auckland over the weekend. During his visit, the hip hop artist and frontman for mega group the Black Eyed Peas made a surprise donation of $100,000 to be spread across nine low decile schools in the area.
These schools, which are struggling for funding and where 95 per cent of the students are Maori and Pasifika, include some of the city’s oldest state housing communities.
The rapper told the media that he hoped the money would help young Maori children further their technological futures.
“What’s coming is something that we haven’t seen in humanity – this technological revolution that is transforming society as a whole,” he said. “As the world advances, kids in inner cities are left behind and not even given the tools to compete in the future that we are walking into.”
Growing up in a “the projects” of East Los Angeles, Will.i.am (real name William Adams) revealed that he could have easily “ended up in prison” but was saved by his group of close friends and support network, which encouraged him on the path to phenomenal success.
“Music and arts literally saved my life,” he said.
will.i.am was in New Zealand to perform at the Hallenstein Brother’s “Ultimate After Party”.
