ABSTRACT
During the summer of 2003, hip hop recording artists Black Eyed Peas released "Where is the Love?", a complex multi-layered exploration of truths that lie hidden behind the seventh door. The success of "Where is the Love?" on the pop charts did not translate into sales or credibility with hip hop audiences, however. The group's success on the pop charts and association with Timberlake and Aguilera tempted many hard core hip hop fans to dismiss the song as not hip hop at all, as a pop song aimed at white listeners and buyers, and successful because of that calculation. Few people remember that "where is the love?" was one of the main questions raised by the civil rights movement forty years ago. In his 1963 book, Strength to Love, Martin Luther King, Jr grappled with the problem of love in a world ruled by hate, hurt, and fear.
