"Yes We Can": The Story Behind Will.i.am's Viral Hit

How did it affect you to learn that you were able to move people that way?
I was sitting in my hotel room right before I was going to the Super Bowl and I was reading the comments on the Huffington Post and I started bawling. That ain't the most hip-hoppingest thing to say. It's different, dude. It was life. It's humanity, it wasn't like, "Yo, I'm trying to go platinum" or "Yo, I'm trying to sell out the Staples Center." It was to express a concern and to exercise how I've been moved and inspired and align myself with the source of inspiration.

Did you ever hear anything directly from the campaign or from Obama himself?
Much later. I opened up for him in Philadelphia. And it was me and Ed Kowalczyk from that group Live. I was backstage and he thanked me for conceptualizing it and helping out. It's surreal to see how regular people can affect things. 'Cause at the end of the day I'm a regular person. I don't have a crew. My friends are in the Black Eyed Peas, I'm not Diddy. I'm not Jay-Z. Those guys are like super super super duper icons in music. We sell more records than a lot of artists but for some reason my persona is that I'm a regular dude. Here's the difference: When 50 Cent goes to Jay Leno and I go to Jay Leno, 50 Cent sits on the couch — I perform and leave. So when you look at that kind of celebrity, I'm a regular guy. And what I represent to people is that regular people are powerful. I just proved it!

What do you think musicians can do going forward to help Obama, assuming they're supporters?
I'm gonna do more concerts for the Internet. It's gonna take a lot of content on the Internet from artists, not just celebrities but regular people are going to make a difference, more than celebrities, believe it or not. There was a perception among some corporations and celebrities that regular people were idiots, they sat on the couch and they read their content and looked at commercials and they did what they told them to do. That's not the case anymore. These people are so savvy that they've crippled big companies like the record company; it wasn't just technology that crippled the record company, it's the people's savvy-ness about how to use technology that crippled the record company.

In 2004 there was the Vote for Change tour, which featured mostly white rock artists. Is there anything that urban artists can do as a group in this election?
There are little to no urban tours, primarily because it's a club culture. And the way that urban acts can participate this time around if they're not included in touring is by making songs, mixtapes, viral things for the Internet and believing in things, doing shows in communities, empowering communities, collaborating with people that have an opinion. You're up against "I don't believe that. I don't believe you." People don't think it makes a difference. It happened with Bush two elections in a row. People think, "I don't think I can really do it. Nah, I'd rather not. I'm gonna focus on my job so I can pay these bills. I don't got time to go vote." So urban communities and urban artists have to see what they're up against. You have to make people believe in them, that they can make a change.