Will.I.Am (pronounced Will, I am), Black Eyed Peas musical frontman,
producer and the Tour de Force inspiring America's youth and young at heart to
"get involved" and "Be the Change", debuted his first collaboration with David
Foster, "America's
Song" live
onstage at the Kennedy Center Opera House
featuring Seal, Bono and Mary J.
Blige in a taping of the Oprah Winfrey show.
Watch the video and listen to the America's Song story at Dipdive.com . The
song is free for twenty four hours or through Inauguration Tuesday on
What Change Has Inspired
You? This isn't
the first time
Will.I.Am debuted a politically
charged song on Oprah's
show",
reports MTV.com. In November,
just days after Obama won the
election, Will premiered the video for his new song "It's a New Day."
Will.I.Am - New Music - More Music Videos
The video flashed pictures of Obama on election night and crowds celebrating
the Illinois senator's victory alongside images of historical figures like
Abraham Lincoln and Harriet Tubman. It also featured celebrity appearances
from bandmate, Fergie, as well as actors Olvia Wilde, Jonathan Schaech and
Kerry Washington.
What Change Have You Inspired?
When he released his first song about the then
presidential hopeful, "Yes We Can," Will gathered
celebrity friends including John Legend, Scarlett
Johansson and Common for the video. The next
song, "We Are the Ones," also had a star-filled
video, featuring George Lopez and Jessica Alba.
What Change
Will You Inspire Now?
Explaining his inspiration for
his, "Yes We Can," song, Will
wrote in an
accompanying blog
post that he was in a recording
studio
watching one of the
presidential debates and feeling torn
between candidates when the idea struck.
"I was never really big on
politics ... and actually, I'm
still not big on politics," he
wrote. But "the outcome of
the last two elections has
saddened me ...
on how unfair, backwards, upside down,
unbalanced, untruthful, corrupt and
just simply,
how wrong the world and politics are...
So this year I
wanted to get involved
and do all I could, early."
Nick Cannon, Scarlett Johansson
For Barak Obama Video, By Gil Kaufman.
On winning an Emmy for "Yes We Can"and for being recognized at the
Webby Awards as the Artist of the Year where acceptance speeches were
limited to five words, he proclaimed, Now We Know We Can! Read
the full article, YES WE CAN SONG wins an EMMY! at Dipdive.com
"What inspired the "Yes
We Can" video? In an interview with Rolling Stone, Will was asked about his
inpsiration for the "Yes We Can" video, "About four years ago we worked with the
DNC and I became really
good friends with Terry McAuliffe, who
represented Kerry. He called
me and he
asked if I was gonna support Hillary, and at
the time, I was confused — I didn't know
what I was gonna do. A couple of
weeks
passed and at Super Tuesday in New
Hampshire I saw Obama's
speech, and that's
what did it for me— he inspired me to
want
me to change myself to better America. It
made me reflect on
the opportunities I had. I
thought of all the civil rights protests
and Kennedy and Martin Luther King and all
the freedom fighters. I
was like, "Wow, this is crazy, because Obama is probably
one of the
only blatant freedom fighters that we have right now in the media." And
it all made sense to me, the difference between an agenda and a movement. And I
was like, "Wow, this is a movement." Read the full Rolling Stone article,
"Yes We Can": The Story Behind Will.i.am's Viral Hit
Will.I.Am
Is Change.
What Change
Are You>
Listen to "A New Day", listen to "Yes
We Can", listen to "America's Song".Become
the change you want for your children. Become the change you want for your
parents. Become the change you want for your neighbor. Become the change you
want for yourself.
"Believe in the hope of a better day...Change has come to America...We have all
sacrificed...This victory belongs to us...The road ahead will be long. Our climb will
be steep...There will be setbacks and false starts.
Summon a new spirit of
patriotism; of service and
responsibility where
each of
us resolves to pitch in and
work harder and look after
not only ourselves, but each other.
Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught
us anything, its that we cannot have a thriving Wall
Street while Main Street suffers - in this country,
we rise or fall as
one nation; as one people.
The true genius of America -
is that America can change.
Our union can be
perfected.
And what we have already
achieved gives us hope
forwhat we
can and
must achieve tomorrow.
America, we have
come so far.
We have seen so
much. But there
is so
much more to do.
So tonight, let us ask
ourselves - if our
children
should live
to see the next
century; if my daughters should be so lucky
to live as long as Ann
Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?
This is our chance to
answer that call.
This is our moment.
This is
our time -
to put our people
back to work and open
doors of opportunity
for our kids; to restore
prosperity and
promote the cause of peace; to
reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that
fundamental truth - that
out of
many, we are one; that while we
breathe, we hope,
and where we
are met with
cynicism, and doubt, and those
who tell us that we cant, we will
respond with that timeless creed
that sums up the spirit of a
people...
All of the above excerpts taken from
Watch the Video, Read the Full Text at
Huffington Post.com
This Land Was Made For You and Me!
dear kathleen,
i was a regular viewer of your show on food network. it was the one i enjoyed most (along with alton brown and sara moulton) it's wonderful to discover you online. i plan to highlight some of your recipes on my site.
an ardent fan,
bee
Posted by: bee | 27 January 2009 at 07:17
For every celebrity who appeared in that video and performed on inauguration day, the celebrities we idolize and who command the highest salaries in this country, what change are they bringing? I wonder if they would all commit to taking the money they were paid to perform and put it into the poor communities or into the school systems.
Change will come when we readjust our priorities and start paying our teachers more than our celebrities. We need to raise up generations of children who are empowered and have high goals and standards. The schools are underfunded and the teachers are underpaid. I know what my change is. I work in the projects, I extend myself to the people who need help.
I like Will I Am. I even like the song, but I can not stand all of these high paid celebrities who are all calling for change while they are living quite large. Sorry to sound harsh. Just how I feel.
Posted by: MaryJo | 23 January 2009 at 05:01