will.i.am recently joined the University of Wisconsin marching band at LA Live in Los Angeles for a performance of his new song "Great Times."

The celebration was part of the pep rallies for the 2012 Rose Bowl game between Wisconsin and Oregon, as well as the iamFIRST initiative to create awareness for will.i.am's efforts with education.

The 301 person marching band, led by Professor Michael Leckrone, chose "Great Times" for its fitting lyrics and energy. The track is the Brazilian promo single for will.i.am's upcoming solo album, #WILLPOWER, which is due out soon.

will.i.am is also working with Ultrabook, an ultra portable laptop computer, as part of The Ultrabook Project. Using only his eyes, ears, and his Ultrabook, will.i.am will travel around the globe, writing and recording one new song inspired by each city he visits.

Be sure to check out will.i.am's video for his single, "T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever)," and head to his official site for the latest news.

As previously reported, The Black Eyed Peas frontman is also launching a new car company called IAMAUTO. 

Also in case you missed it, check out his latest video T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever).

will.i.Am of the Black Eyed Peas is another MC working his way toward billionaire status on the low.

Forever evolving, will.i.am has been working on developing a new car called IAMAUTO. The Black Eyed peas frontman debuted the vehicle on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno. The auto was developed to help create jobs in his old Los Angeles neighborhood. See, there are more ways to make it out the hood than sports and entertainment.

will.i.am told Jay Leno,

"I'm a big technology freak and a geek and I invested my money in building my own vehicle 'cause I want to bring jobs to the ghetto that I come from.  I invested in making a demo to start the Black Eyed Peas, now I want to invest to have a car company in the neighborhood where I come from.  It's sick, it's really fresh."

The car, which looks a lot like the Delorean from Back To The Future, features a Beats By Dre sound system  and was constructed using OEM parts from Chrysler.

On the music tip, will.i.Am is expected to release a solo project this year called #willpower.

Nicki Minaj has been added as the latest act to this year's line up for the 40th Annual "package Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve celebration.

The Queen of YMCMB will be joing acts such as Florence & The Machine, LMFAO, Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga  in Times Square on New Year's Eve.

The show, which will be anchored by "American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest, with help from Fergie in Los Angeles and Jenny McCarthy in New York and will air live from 8 p.m. until after midnight on December 31.

The Los Angeles portion of the show has added Taio Cruz, Minaj, Florence, Gym Class Heroes, Blink-182, OneRepublic, the Band Perry, will.i.am. and Christina Perri. Gaga, Bieber, Pitbull and Hot Chelle Rae will be on hand for the New York portion of the show.

Rumors have been swirling for weeks that Fergie, the lead singer for the group, would be leaving the collective and would be replaced by the "Rain On Me" singer.

According to Will.i.am however, those rumors are untrue.

On Tuesday, the rapper/BEP frontman lashed out at Wendy Williams on Twitter for falsely reporting the news on her The Wendy Williams show.

"As a journalist you should check facts before spreading rumors," he said. "Going to @bep twitter page to find out the truth is easy."

 

Wendy quickly responded saying,

"Thx will and how u doin'? Will address tomorrow during hot topics. xo."

 

Ashanti and Fergie have yet to respond to the rumors themselves.

The 10 Biggest Hip-Hop Pop Acts

Everyone take cover! Big, bad Uncle Ice-T is pissed off with Hip-Hop again.

In his upcoming VH1 documentary, Planet Rock, the Original Gangster took his frustrations with rap culture out on Rick Ross for being a "fake" rapper and talked about the days when rap and Pop didn't cross paths, saying:

"Rap was a counterculture that went against pop. But when you have Rihanna singin' on your records and you're doin' records with Katy Perry, that's no longer rap.

"It's pop music, pop using rap delivery. When you hear Lil Wayne sayin' ‘I got a chopper in the car,' you go, ‘Yeah, right you do.‘”

We get it Uncle T, Rick Ross used to be an correctional officer, but so what, we like his music, so get over it.

And when it comes to rap being Pop music, we actually like that too.

It's not 1980's anymore, when rappers used to rap about killing cops and gang bangin'. Well ok, they still do rap about killing cops and gang bangin', but that's not the point.

It's a new day in Hip-Hop. Nowadays it's acceptable for a rapper to do a song with Katy Perry or Rihanna and still be considered Hip-Hop.

It's ok to have fun, party, pop bottles and sing about love.

Instead of downing artists for crossing over and expanding rap into different genres of music, we should embrace them.

So while Uncle Ice-T puts on his best mean mug and frowns upon Hip-Pop music, here at HipHopWired, we applaud them and salute the The 10 Biggest Hip-Hop/Pop Artists in the game for supplying our party rock soundtracks.

View our list on the next pages.

After teaming up with famed inventor Dean Kamen to create a hour-long TV back to school special to help promote science, education and technology, Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am is again working with not-for-profit organization FIRST, to encourage students to help make science cool.

FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), an organization founded by inventor Dean Kamen to inspire young people's interest and participation in science and technology, officially launched its 2011/2012 FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC®) season with an online Kickoff event unveiling this year's game, BOWLED OVER!™

The FIRST Tech Challenge, a widely-accessible high-school robotics program that promotes project-based learning, was recently featured on the groundbreaking ABC-TV Special, “I.am.FIRST: Science is Rock and Roll,” hosted by Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am.

Easily adapted to fit various venues, FTC is a highly scalable program that easily integrates into the classroom with measurable results.

FIRST teams learn to engage business, engineering and science professionals, and working together, become a focal point of the community.

“This year's competition is all about persistence,” said will.i.am.

“Last year, I entered FTC as Rookie, and as a Rookie, I competed against the grand master, Dean Kamen, and we won"

"We won because we were persistent. That's the mode. That's the vibe. We've got to change America by making science the coolest thing on the planet.”

More than 21,000 high-school-aged students are expected to participate in this year's competition.

The object of the game will be to design and build robots robust enough to push a bowling ball uphill, yet sophisticated enough to pick up racquetballs and place them into crates, and stack the crates to score points.

The final 30 seconds of the driver-controlled period is called the end game, where each Alliance, consisting of two opposing teams is challenged to push their bowling ball into their “home zones” to score additional bonus points.

For more information, log on to usfirst.org.

Peep a promote video below, featuring will.i.am, Justin Bieber, Justin Timberlake, Snoop Dogg and many more.

Jay-Z has been named as the closing act at the iHeartRadio Music Festival, taking place on September 23-24 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Jigga will perform at the MGM Grand event with a star studded line up that includes, Nicki Minaj, Alicia Keys, Usher, Lady Gaga, Coldplay, Steven Tyler, Black Eyed Peas, Jennifer Lopez, Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney, Jane's Addition, John Mayer, David Guetta, Rascal Flatts, Bruno Mars, Kelly Clarkson, Sublime with Rome and Sting.

Hosted by Ryan Seacrest, iHeartRadio Music Festival, is a two-day music event created by Clear Channel Radio that will mark the biggest live concert festival in radio history.

Live audio and video streams of the iHeartRadio Music Festival will be available online, via mobile devices at www.iHeartRadio.com

will.i.am Launching After School Special

Black Eyed Peas member and pop producer will.i.am has partnered with famed inventor Dean Kamen (known for creating devices like the Segway PT, drug infusion pump technologies, water purification systems and an all-terrain electric wheel chair) to create a hour-long TV back to school special.

Titled, i.am FIRST: Science is Rock and Roll, the special, will promote science, education and technology.

“As families across America are preparing to send their kids back to school, 'i.am FIRST – Science is Rock and Roll' will entertain as well as get viewers excited about robots," said Dean Kamen.

Through the show, viewers will also be privy to the 20th annual FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Championships.

The FIRST Championship is a worldwide science and robotics competition for students ages K-12. Celebs such as Black Eyed Peas, Snoop Dogg, Britney Spears and Willow Smith are on hand to speak to students during the event.

"Find out just how cool technology can be as the top robot teams face off in competition,” Dean added.

Dean Kamen initiated FIRST in 1989, to motivate students in the fields of science and technology.

i.am FIRST -- Science is Rock and Roll airs on Sunday, August 14 at 7:00p.m.

iHeartRadio Music Festival Announced
A slew of celebrities are set to converge on Las Vegas this fall for a two-day music festival sponsored by one of the biggest names in radio.

Clear Channel Radio has announced their first ever iHeartRadio Music Festival, a two-day music event that will mark the biggest live concert festival in radio history.

Hosted by Ryan Seacrest, the event will take place at the MGM Grand for two consecutive nights, September 23 and 24.

Included in the all-star lineup is Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, Alicia Keys, Black Eyed Peas,  Coldplay, Jennifer Lopez, Carrie Underwood, John Mayer, Bruno Mars and Jane's Addiction.

There will also be special performances from Usher and Sting.

Live audio and video streams of the iHeartRadio Music Festival will be available online, via mobile devices at www.iHeartRadio.com and across all of Clear Channel's radio station websites.

Throughout the summer-long promotion, Ryan and his colleagues will be giving hundreds of listeners a dream trip to Vegas to win tickets to the one-of-a-kind, two-day festival.

Details on how to purchase the exclusive pre-sale tickets for the iHeartRadio Music Festival are available at facebook.com/iHeartRadio beginning July 11 at 8:15 a.m. ET.

Tickets will also be available to the general public for purchase beginning July 16 at 1:00 p.m. ET by visiting iHeartRadio.com and entering keyword “Vegas.”

The Black Eyed Peas are set to take them successful careers into a new realm, with a new video game coming soon for Xbox 360 and Wii.

The Black Eyed Peas Experience game, created by the makers of Just Dance and Michael Jackson: The Experience video games, will allow BEP fans to dance along to the group's greatest hits, with new dance routines choreographed by the band's creative director Fatima Robinson.

More information is available on the game's official website.

Take a peek at the game's official trailer here: