VIDEO: Amidst Troubling Times, Will.I.Am and the Black Eyed Peas Reimagines “Where Is the Love?”

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These day, it seems that every time I log onto my social media accounts, or turn on the television, there’s another horrific tragedy flooding the news feeds. It’s sad to think that a day without headlines of people getting shot and killed is considered a “good day” in today’s world. Sigh.

While there isn’t a panacea to cure what ails us, voices are speaking up and actively discussing what needs to be done in order to change the way we, as humans, operate as society while respecting everybody’s freedoms and ideologies. Grassroots organizations protest, and politicians debate, the issues that need to be addressed, but in today’s “Social Media Culture” there are no more influential speakers than those whose lives are constantly in the limelight: The Celebrity.

At this years ESPYs awards, four of the biggest NBA stars took the stage to call upon other athletes to stand up and use their influence to promote social change.

“The system is broken, the problems are not new, the violence is not new, and the racial divide definitely is not new, but the urgency for change is definitely at an all-time high,” said Carmelo Anthony.

“[L]et’s use this moment as a call to action to all professional athletes to educate ourselves, explore these issues, speak up, use our influence and renounce all violence and, most importantly, go back to our communities, invest our time, our resources, help rebuild them, help strengthen them, help change them. We all have to do better,” said Lebron James.

In light of the deadly shooting of police officers in Dallas, TX, Snoop Dogg and The Game decided to lead a peaceful march outside of LAPD headquarters to spark up conversation on what needs to happen in order to mend the relationship between LAPD and the neighborhoods they patrol.

Both Snoop and The Game took it a step further and hosted a “peace rally” in Los Angeles, asking Bloods, Crips and other gang members to make their neighborhoods safer, and to curb the violence for the future of the children.

“Where Is The Love?” is a song that was originally recorded by The Black Eyed Peas featuring vocals from Justin Timberlake. Released in 2003, it was a smash hit that debuted at number 9 on the Hot 100 and spent 12 weeks in the top 10. It is a song that “lament[s] on various worldwide problems. Many issues are discussed, which include but are not limited to terrorism, U.S. government hypocrisy, racism, gang crime, pollution, war, intolerance, and violence against LGBT people.” (Wikipedia).

The song is over 10 years old, but if there was ever a time to bring back a song, to reimagine it, to breath new life into it, to reshape and reemphasize “the message” for modern times, to speak on the ills of the world, this is it. It’s a shame that we’re still fighting the same issues. It’s even more of a shame that we, as a world, haven’t taken steps to fix these problems. But we’ve got to speak about them. We’ve got to address them all … and this song, beautifully reimagined by the Black Eyed Beas with a music video that contains a plethora of celebrity appearances (Justin Timerberlake, Mary J Blige, Diddy, Jessie J, Tori Kelly, Andra Day, Usher, Ty Dolla $ign, Jamie Foxx, The Game, Krewella, Snoop Dogg, Lance Bass, Wiz Khalifa, DJ Khalid, A$AP Rocky, Jaden Smith, and the list goes on…)   could help push the discussion along.

I certainly hope that it does.

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