Rough Draft

Here's a not so edited piece I wrote for the New Paltz Nugget.

Following the release of the video “Yes We Can” earlier this year, rapper Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas agreed to postpone the date of his new video “It’s a New Day,” from its original release date of Nov. 5, to last Friday, Nov. 7.

While Will.i.am planned to release the new video on the DipDive Website – an online merge of social networking and music – it could be assumed that t.v. mogul Oprah Winfrey had plans of her own. With that said, the video was released two days after its original release date, just so it would debut on Winfrey’s show.

Along with two other pro-Obama projects including the sequel -- “We Are The Ones” -- to “Yes We Can,” Will.i.am decided he would create a video based on the aftermath of last Tuesday’s presidential election. According to numerous reports about the production of the video, Will.i.am asked a bunch of his fellow celebrities to send in their video testimonials that he spent part of Election night editing, in preparation of the next day’s release.

When questioned by reporters about the inspiration of the video Will.i.am replied “This was inspired by America. It's about Obama winning, and really paying tribute to those people who are responsible for that happening, and that's the American people." He continued, “The whole thing is really for people to leave testimonials ... to create a page and leave testimonials on how they feel about this American accomplishment."

The video is a collage of crowds of Obama supporters; snippets of the rapper traveling, posing for photos with both Obama and Vice President Joe Bidden; photographs of Obama and the new First Family; snippets of Obama giving speeches; hordes of American flags; photographs of President Abraham Lincoln, President John F. Kennedy, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (coinciding with the lyrics of the song); a flash of Winfrey and Rev. Jesse Jackson crying; etc. It also features celebrity testimonials, including celebrities such as rapper Kanye West; singer Fergie; actress Kerry Washignton; actor Eric Mabius to name a few.

The rapper’s first Obama-related video hit, “Yes We Can,” was presented to the public February 1, 2008 on ABC News Now’s What’s The Buzz, featuring about 40 actors, celebrities and athletes, including John Legend, Kate Walsh, Aisha Tyler, Amber Valletta, Taryn Manning, Nicole Scherzinger, Common, Scarlett Johansson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Herbie Hancock and Nick Cannon. By the end of the first week of the video’s release there were over a million views of it on YouTube, and over 10 million views on the host Website, DipDive.com. The video was honored by receiving the first-ever Emmy Award for Best New Approaches in Daytime Entertainment and also won Will.i.am a Webby Award for Artist of the Year. In numerous reports, Will.i.am makes it clear that the song was inspired by Obama’s presidential campaign, particularly his speech after the New Hampshire primary. The video “It’s a New Day,” is obviously in recognition of Obama’s landslide win against republican presidential “hope-failed” John McCain.