Music concepts and applications

¶ … Love?," the author attempts to argue the 2003 release of the song "Where is the Love?" By the Black Eyed Peas sought to create change in the world during a time when the United States needed positivity in their lives. After reading the paper, I feel that the paper is unorganized, ambiguous, biased, full of fallacies, and fails to demonstrate why the song was especially impactful at the time it was released.

The essay begins by explaining the song was released less than two years after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, but fails to concretely establish that "this nation" is; throughout the essay, the author will approach the subject from a familiar viewpoint instead of a formal one, which weakens the integrity of the essay and arguments. The introductory paragraph concludes with the statement, "However, the world and the United States in particularly, needed a song with such a beautiful message more than ever," which provides an ambiguous stance on the importance of the song. This "thesis" statement is too subjective and does not specify why the song is important. The final sentence of the second paragraph, "Where is the Love?" is the type of song that makes you reflect on yourself and question whether you are doing your part to make the world a better, happier place," makes for a stronger thesis and explains why the song should be considered to be significant. The author also makes broad claims that the lyrics of the song are deep, but does not explain why they are deep or how they are deep. The author should provide examples of how specific lyrics or references in the song appeal to the listener's emotions, ethics, or logic.

The essay is also full of false and biased statements. For instance, the author contends the Black Eyed Peas were an up-and-coming hip-hop group at the time the song was released when, in fact, they had been around since 1995 and had released two albums prior to the 9/11 attacks. The author then proceeds to contradict himself or herself by referring to the Black Eyed Peas as mainstream. So, are the Black Eyed Peas up-and-coming or mainstream? Moreover, the author contends that it was refreshing to have a "mainstream music group" release a song with a positive message when the music the band was not considered to be mainstream until the release of "Where is the Love?" And the release of their third studio album.

The essay is also heavily biased against hip-hop, or at least it appears to be, through the arguments made the song is influential because the Black Eyed Peas were able to convey such a message through hip-hop music when hip-hop artists "are stereotyped as thugs who only talk about money, sex, and guns." By arguing hip-hop artists are negatively stereotyped without explaining that hip-hop is not limited to these views and the term can also be used to define a specific music style or a lifestyle.