It was a hot Friday afternoon. All 564 students at Everett Middle School were packed into the antique and stuffy auditorium. The room was buzzing with conversation; who liked who and weekend plans. Most were staring at the clock, hoping the seconds would tick away faster. About 10 of us were in the right wing of the stage, waiting for the queue to take our place. We were laughing out last minute jitters, as well as questioning our decision to do this. We were getting ready to perform “Where Is The Love” by the Black Eyed Peas. We were the closing number to our Peace Week assembly. We then saw our vocal teacher frantically motioning for us to emerge and go on the stage; we reluctantly followed directions. The murmuring, which I wished was anticipation, was probably just laughing. Our teacher, Mr. Chavez started the first notes. Our voices were shaky at first, but they grew stronger as the song went on. As I listened to myself singing the lyrics, throughout my nervousness, I let myself realize that this song has a really important and beneficial message that could definitely be used in the world today. Although I didn’t get the standing ovation I had hoped for, throughout the next couple of days, I kept thinking out the song and the lyrics. I realized that this song has a really powerful message, and if the students had listened, they could have learned a really valuable lesson.
The Black Eyed Peas were initially formed in Los Angeles. At this time there were only two members, Will. I. Am and Taboo. Singer Fergie was not introduced into the band until the song “Where Is The Love” was released. To start off their career, they were signed to Eazy-E’s record, Ruthless Records. When the band listed some artists who influenced them, they mentioned Jurassic Park, and De La Soul. They started as an alternative hip-hop group, then later added R&B and EDM into their music. According to one article, their songs, “reference the world at large, right here this very moment in time.” The song “Where Is The Love” was released in June 2003 on the album Elephunk. This song features Will. I. Am, Apl. De. Ap, Taboo, and female singer Fergie. In the song “Where Is The Love” by the Black Eyed Peas uses rhyme, as well as simile and loaded language throughout the lyrics to convey the theme that you should use peace instead of violence when solving conflicts, take care of the world, and spread love throughout the world.
By using rhyme, the Black Eyed Peas helps the audience understand that you should use peace instead of violence when solving conflicts, take care of the world, as well as spread love throughout the world. In the second verse, the Black Eyed Peas address the problem that sometimes the government does not tell people the whole truth about what is going on in the world. An example of this is when the lyrics say, “Not respecting each other/ Deny thy brother/ A war is going on, but the reason's undercover/ The truth is kept secret, it’s swept under the rug/ If you never know truth, then you never know love” (“Where” 5). When they are rhyming “deny thy brother” with “reason's undercover”, the artist is making the connection that when you keep things from people, and keep the reason of these things undercover, you are denying these people what it is their right to learn. You are denying them of their given rights. This reveals the theme that you should use peace instead of violence when solving conflicts, take care of the world, and spread love throughout the world, by saying that is is important to not withhold information from people, and especially not lie about information, because when you share the truth with people, this spreads and insures peace around the world. Also by rhyming “swept under the rug” with “you never know love”, the artist is connecting and contrasting withholding the truth, and not having love in the world. This reveals the theme that you should use peace and not violence when solving conflicts, take care of our world, and spread love around the world, by saying that if you do not give people the information that they deserve to know, this will only cause violence to produce, and this is not a good way to spread love. An example of when the government withhold the truth was the war on drugs. The government said they fighting the war purely on drugs, when this was just an excuse for the government to put a large amount of African Americans in jail. In this situation, the government lied to the public, and this only caused more conflict.
Also, by using simile and loaded language, these lyrics convey the message that you should use peace instead of violence to deal with conflict, take care of the world, and also spread love around the world. An example of this is when the lyrics say, “ Wrong information always shown in the media/ Negative images, it’s the main criteria/ Infecting young minds faster than bacteria/ Kids wanna act like what they see in the media.” (“Where” 9). In these lines from the song, the artist is comparing kids to the violent images in the media in order to show that when kids see these kind of negative images and miss-representation in the media, this is what they aspire to do and reciprocate in the future because they see it so much in the media. This reveals the theme that you should you peaceful methods and not violence when solving your conflicts, take care of the world, and spread love throughout the world, because it shows that if we have these violent images in the media, it will spread violence to the kids minds. This is spreading love around the world. In the same lines, the author used loaded language using words like “bacteria” and “criteria” to convey a tone of negativity towards the violent images in the media that we see so much of. Using these loaded words reveals the theme that you should use non-violent methods when dealing with conflict, take care of our word, and spread love throughout the world. When using the word “bacteria”, we know that bacteria is something that spreads extremely quickly throughout your body, and the word does have a slight negative connotation towards it, so it is saying that in the media, these images of violence and the miss-representation in the media spreads throughout the mind and body of kids and people when they see these images in the media, like bacteria.
A significant strength in the song “Where Is The Love” is the music video that is paired with this song. While explaining some of the lyrics through visuals, it also produces images about social injustices around the world. A big part of this music video is that people keep putting up a big black sticker with a red question in the center. I think this represents that we are questioning and confused about where all of the love in the world has gone, and we are questioning how we are going to get it back. Another piece of symbolism in this music video is that they keep showing kids lip syncing to the lyrics. This is showing that the youth are the ones that are extremely affected by all of this hatred in the world. This goes with the lyrics in the song when the lyrics say, “Chemical gasses fillin’ the minds of little ones” as well as “children hurt and you hear them cryin’”. I had a really hard time finding something that I did not like about this song because I think the message is great, and the music video pairs with the song really well. But, in the video, people keep putting up these black stickers, with a big red question mark on it. I think that this is great symbolism for where is the love, and questioning things in the world. But, most time someone put up a sticker, they ran away immediately, like someone was chasing after them. I do not really like this aspect because it is implying that what you are doing is wrong, and you should run away after you do it, but the message is saying stand up against injustices, so I think it does not follow the theme in this one aspect.
In the moving song “Where Is The Love” by the American hip-hop group the Black Eyed Peas, the band used rhyme, as well as similes and loaded language to convey the theme that you should use peace and nonviolence when solving conflicts, take care of our world, and spread love. This song talks a lot about being peaceful when protesting, and this relates a lot to what is going on in the world today, especially here in San Francisco where we recently had two hunger strikes going on, one to fight against about police brutality, and one of them to keep an ethnic studies program at a college in S.F. We are just now beginning to realize that the right way to protest is peaceful, because this is the most effective way to get what you want to achieve. This song also connects to what's going on in America with Donald Trump, and how he got elected to be the presidential candidate for the republican party. As we know and have learned this song is all about spreading love, and being honest, and not using violence, not spreading hate. And if he gets elected president, he will not contribute to spread hate, and not love, which does not contribute to the theme of this song. It is so amazing that so many people are fighting against injustices and standing up for their rights, and others rights, and I recommend that we follow what this song says, we need to keep using peace when protesting, and restrain from using any violence, because this would not spread love. If we keep using peaceful methods when protesting, we will be much more effective than if we use violence. What this song has taught us: Stand up against injustices, speak out, use love to rid of the world’s hatred. If we all do this, the world will improve.
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