What is remarkable about this video is the diversity of the band. Three of the five members are people of color. When I was in high school, bands pretty much either looked like this:
or this:
There wasn't a whole lot of overlap.
Another thing: while it is a rock(?)/pop song, in order to get the full meaning of the chorus, you have to be familiar with a certain rap song. In general, I think there is a lot more fluidity with race and music than there was when I was younger. I wonder how/if this affects race relations among the youth of today.
I might be remiss in my bloggy duties if I didn't mention that, as usual the lead singer (aka the person who gets the most attention in any band,) is white. And some might argue that their homage to 50 cent is actually ripping off his idea, furthering the long musical tradition of white people ripping off black people's mad musical skillz to make a buck.
However, today I choose to focus on the positive--this nice, United Colors of Benetton band singing their infectious song to their nice United Colors of Benetton audience.
Comments? You know what to do.
