For Will.i.amthere is no place like… hotel.

The Grammy winner Black Eyed Peas musician, behind high-octane hits like “Boom Boom Pow” and “I Gotta Feelin’,” spoke at AfroTech Conference this week in Houston, discussing his second very high-paying gig, as a sought-after technology investor behind startups that Fyi.AI.

He also told PEOPLE that despite the wealth he’s amassed, he’s still not ready to put down any roots in real estate.

“As far as the idea of ​​’I made it,’ I don’t think I made it, because every milestone takes me to the next milestone,” said the star, 49. “I’m manufacturing the. I’ve never had a house. I bought myself a studio. I have my office, but I live in a hotel. I don’t have a house because I didn’t buy the house that says “I made it.”

The idea of ​​home is something that has long been a motivation for the musician, who shared with the audience at AfroTech that he grew up in a housing project in South Los Angeles.

“I remember my mom saying, ‘Wait, put your clothes on.’ You go up here to collect our food vouchers. Get in this line to get this cheese. When you’re in a project, that’s your reality, he said. “You come out, your best friend that you grew up with is no longer with you because he got shot and you want to dream differently – that’s where I get ambition from.”

While he continued to make music (the Black Eyed Peas are about to record residency in Las Vegas) in recent years, the star has been busy investing in technology companies. He is now the founder and CEO of Fyi.AI, a new messenger and tool to streamline apps, making it a one-stop shop on your device.

“You don’t need a thousand apps, especially when apps don’t talk to each other,” explained Will.i.am. “With FYI, everything is in one place, your news, your calendar, your collaborative work. It may sound like a foreign concept, but eventually it will become the system.”

Although he’s done pretty well for himself through both music and investments, he still makes sure to go back to where it all started.

“I go back to the projects every weekend when I’m home,” he said. “And I have since I lived there.” And these days he’s bringing valuable resources back with him. The star was originally inspired to give back to her community in a significant way after volunteering overseas for tsunami relief in 2005.

Afterwards, “I thought, ‘Wow, there’s a tsunami happening in every hood, every day and it’s not a tsunami of water but one of no opportunity, of neglect, of bad food, bad zoning.’ I thought, “Why don’t I give back to my own neighborhood?'”

That experience and the popular educational documentary Waiting for Supermaninspired the star to leverage his resources and connections to bring robotics classes and college access programs to struggling schools in his neighborhood.

He thought, “If I marry these two things, these kids will graduate with a job waiting for them, not graduate with debt and a diploma,” he said. The programs are now available in over 500 schools. “Here we are and we have kids now graduating from Stanford and Brown and Dartmouth.”

It’s a badge of honor for the musician and entrepreneur, who is still on the hunt for his futuristic dream home. “When I get to house,” said he, “then I have made it.”