"Obamamanias make me cry, sometimes."

The power of Barack Obama's words is evident in his ability to inspire a cast of Hollywood hitters to make an online music video, made completely independent of his campaign, based solely on the words from his speech after the New Hampshire primary. Supporters often compare his speeches to lyrical poetry, but never before had people actually turned presidential speeches into songs. Plus it wasn't even a presidential speech, it was an address he made after he lost the New Hampshire primary.

"Yes We Can" music video is directed by Jesse Dylan, Bob Dylan's son, and produced by Black Eye Peas' will.i.am. It features Common, Scarlett Johansson, Tatyana Ali, John Legend, Herbie Hancock, Kate Walsh, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Adam Rodriquez, Kelly Hu, Adam Rodriquez, Amber Valetta, Eric Balfour, Aisha Tyler, Nicole Scherzinger and Nick Cannon. To gather all these people and figure out a sweet tune is not an easy task to do in three weeks. Since the video was release on Feb 2, it was viewed over a million times and favorited over 6,000 times.

Youtube is known for its treasure trove of weird and funny videos posted by tech savy folks, young and restless teens, and dissenting critics. Naturally there are of hundreds of mockumentries and video mash-ups against G. Bush. Beyond amateur videos, free services like Youtube makes it possible for people to participate in public discourse through publishing evidence of injustices or political support without having to maneuver the expensive political media machine. What's more is that there is an audience on the other side of the computer screen interested in what alternative media have to present.

A simple search on Youtube of this year's presidential candidates will reveal Obama's strong internet presence over his contenders. There is a strong supply of speeches posted by the Obama campaign and by individual users. While other candidates not only lack in supportive propaganda, but have an abundance of bad publicity. Poor Hillary's top searches include Ann Coulter vowing to campaign for her if McCain wins the nomination, a mash-up of an old superbowl Apple Mac ad referencing Orwell's 1984, with Hillary representing Ingsoc, the totalitarian government, and the closest she got to a music video is Hillary herself singing the National Anthem last year in Iowa. Obama on the other hand inspired two musical collaborations, "Yes We Can" and "Fired up, Ready to Go." "Fired up, Ready to Go" (see video below) involves Reverend Pat Wright and her renowned gospel choir, drummer Matt Cameron from Pearl Jam, lead singer Jake Bergevin, other top studio professionals, all decided to do this for free and independent of Obama's campaign. Just a couple dozen of folks making music to Obama's speeches on their time off.



Recently Obey's Shepard Fairey, a graffiti artist known for his criticism of political propaganda, independently made street bills promoting Obama as a political candidate. Obama's overwhelming support from young people is hardly any news, but what is unique here is that his words are moving people to do something creative and independent. People are actively trying to sway debate, from posting a music video of his speech to postering on the streets. Can't say I witnessed the same enthusiasm for the last election, unless you count P. Dilly and Paris Hilton as voting advocates with their "Vote or Die" shirts. Which ever way you vote, this year is going down in history.

referencing, Andre the Giant.

More music!
Electro Hip-hop for Obama:
FMB (Fire Magic Blood), which consists of Daedelus and Taz Arnold & Shafiq Husayn from Sa-Ra.

FMB - Vote Obama (mp3)
via Keepin It Right Radio


- Diana Jou