William James Adams has a lot to answer for. He also answers to a lot of titles. Rapper, singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, Black Eyed Pea, The
Voice Judge, actor, DJ, record producer, Grammy Award winner and philanthropist, oh and car designer.
Will.i.am as he is rather better known has turned his hand to car design with some fairly mixed results. It is a good job then that he has linked up with Lexus to launch the new NX. Significantly will.i.am will design his own limited edition interpretation of the NX, which is Lexus’s sharply- styled entry into the premium mid-size SUV market (posh 4 x 4s). He also stars in a rather funky television commercial supporting the new model, which features a rectangular fox.
‘Whatever I do, I want it to be striking. I want to innovate and revolutionise, and my partnership with Lexus on the Striking Angles campaign is
no different. Inspired by our shared philosophy in design, we’ve been able to work together on a multi-faceted campaign that will challenge design conventions and fuel people’s imaginations.’
A believer in Stem (science, technology, engineering, maths) education, he says his aim
is to help the next generation ‘dream what the future will be’. Something he has achieved by setting up his own car company i.am.auto. ‘I don’t want to make thousands of cars. I want to make vehicles so that when kids learn a Stem skill set, something tangible comes out of it.’
So far there have been just a handful of highly
distinctive cars. Firstly will.i.am worked with customisers West Coast Customs to produce a reimagined 1959 Chevrolet Corvette. The body is Corvette, but slightly modified, whilst 2008 Corvette running gear boosted performance and inside, as you would expect, the latest entertainment technology.
