Yes We Can
“Yes We Can” is a musical rendition of Barack Obama’s New Hampshire primary victory speech. This highly effective blend of politics and art was produced by will.i.am, from the Black Eyed Peas, with help from a long list of stars from the music, movies and sports industries.
According to will.i.am’s testimony, this song and its companion video were written, produced and delivered to the web in 48 hours. This powerful video then took the web by storm and quickly became an Internet phenomenon, spreading its message of hope and helping spread awareness of Obama’s inspirational vision to millions, just in time for the Democratic primaries’ Super Tuesday 2008.
I believe this video represents a watershed moment in politics and in the music industry. Its impact, a scant days after its release, is already palpable. This video makes any other political advertising pale in comparison even though (or perhaps because), it was made without the involvement of money or even the participation of the Obama campaign (beyond having made Obama’s speech freely available online). User-generated content (whether from stars like will.i.am or from regular folks) is truly the wave of the future.
The song’s mode of distribution is also a political statement. Made freely available from the [yeswecansong.com/http://yeswecansong.com] website and YouTube.com, this video brought brought its creator’s message to the ears of millions of people who would otherwise never have purchased to a hip-hop song while enhancing their personal fame as well. This kind of feat would never have been possible ten years ago and would only have been possible for a select few only 3 years ago. Not everything should be free, but the fact that sophisticated and poignant material CAN be distributed for free by anyone is something that must be encouraged, not censored by law or technology.
A Dream
“Yes We Can” is not the first song will.i.am set to a famous speech. “A Dream”, the theme song for the excellent movie Freedom Writers by Common was also set to the memorable “I have a dream” speech my the late Martin Luther King.
