Rosalind Wiseman

The Black Eyed Peas kicked off summer 2009 with the release of yet another insanely popular album entitled “The End: The Energy Never Dies”. Its first hit single “Boom Boom Pow” has been somewhere on the iTunes top 10 list since it was released, which means that most likely it’s deep bass and electronic melody has crossed your eardrums at some point in the last 10 weeks.

So why are we talking about it? What I like about this song is that it doesn’t hit the listener or the viewer of the video over the head with bad messages. It’s got none of the usual stuff that adults find objectionable. So even if you find the beat a little intense, you won’t find any naked women throwing themselves on guys in the video, no hints of drug use, limited use of PG-13 swearing, and no violence. It’s just a catchy song with a visually interesting video from an extremely popular group.

But even though it’s pretty harmless content, there are still some things worth talking about. First and foremost is the inescapable product placement from HP computers. As the video begins the camera zooms in on a computer monitor slowly enough to make sure that you know it’s an HP, and it does the same when it zooms out at the end of the song. These are the only two instances of subtle branding in the video. But what do kids think about that? You could start by asking them:

• Why do you think the Black Eyed Peas chose to allow a company to sponsor their video?
• Why do you think that HP wanted to be associated with the Black Eyed Peas?
• What do companies gain but having their products next to celebrities? What do they lose?
• What do you think HP wants you to think about their company after seeing this video?

The other thing you’ll notice about the song is that while the lyrics aren’t violent or littered with horrible language, the lyrics are all about being better than everyone else.

I like that boom boom pow! Them chickens jackin’ my style. They try to copy my swagger, I’m on that next shit now.

I’m on that supersonic boom, ya’ll hear the spaceship zoom. When I step inside the room, them girls go ape shit, uh.

“So what’s the big deal about that?”, you ask. And rightfully so. It’s not as if in listening to this song that you suddenly think to yourself, “Wow, my life is so lame because I’m never going to be as cool as Fergie. She just said she’s so ’3008′ and I’m so ’2000 and late’.” But it’s a great place to start a conversation with kids about this kind of self-aggrandizing that is rampant in many popular songs these days, as well as who in our culture is permitted to get away with saying things like that and people actually listen rather than blow them off. A good place to begin the conversation:

• When music artists talk about themselves as being better than everyone else, do people believe them?
• What kind of qualities do you have to have in order for people to believe you when you say you’re better? (What do you have to be like, look like, act like.)
• In real life, what qualities to people have to have in order for people to take them seriously when they speak about themselves this way?
• Just because someone talks about being the best, does that mean they really feel confident? What does someone who is confident look like versus someone who is just cocky?

So what do you think about Boom Boom Pow? Do you agree with how we see it? Leave your comments!