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Okayplayer
Okayplayer is an online hip-hop and alternative music website and community, described by ''Rolling Stone'' as a "tastemaker" and "an antidote to dull promotional Web sites used by most artists". The community was founded by The Roots' drummer Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson and author Angela Nissel as a loose musical collective in 1987, and evolved into an online community in 1999. In 2004, Questlove launched Okayplayer Records as a spin-off of the community, in partnership with Decon. After a near-decade hiatus, the label was rebooted in 2012 with Danny! as its flagship artist. This community is made up of recording artists (who keep their official internet homes there), visitors to the site, and individuals who post on the site's message board, the most popular feature of the site. All of the artists and staff, as well as those who post to the site's message board, are considered "okayplayers," or "OKPs" for short. Okayplayer was one of the first online hubs through which fans ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
The Roots
The Roots are an American Hip-hop, hip hop band formed in 1987 by singer Black Thought, Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and drummer Questlove, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'', having served in the same role on ''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' from 2009 to 2014. Current regular members of The Roots on ''The Tonight Show'' are Captain Kirk Douglas (guitar), Mark Kelley (bass), James Poyser (keyboards), Ian Hendrickson-Smith (saxophone), Damon "Tuba Gooding Jr." Bryson (sousaphone), Stro Elliot (keyboards and drums), Dave Guy (trumpet), Kamal Gray (keyboards), and Raymond Angry (keyboards). The Roots are known for a jazz rap, jazzy and eclectic approach to hip hop featuring live musical instruments and the group's work has consistently been met with critical acclaim. ThoughtCo ranked the band #7 on its list of the 25 Best Hip-Hop Groups of All-Time, calling them "Hip-hop's f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Roots Picnic
The Roots Picnic is an annual music festival created and hosted by hip hop group, The Roots. The festival is held in the Roots' hometown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Mann Center in Fairmount Park. The first festival was held on June 7, 2008. Co-founder, Shawn Gee, and manager of The Roots serves as executive producer of the festival. The festival is a one-day event but for one year it was expanded for two-days in 2012. It was expanded again in 2022. Another festival was held outside of Philadelphia in 2016, with Roots Picnic Experience being held at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California. Lineups by year Inaugural Roots Picnic ;June 7, 2008 The Roots, Gnarls Barkley, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Santigold, Santogold, Deerhoof, J*Davey, Diplo, Esperanza Spalding, Esperanza, DJ Jazzy Jeff, The Cool Kids (duo), The Cool Kids 2nd Annual Roots Picnic ;June 6, 2009 Main Stage: The Roots, TV on the Radio, The Black Keys, Public E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson
Ahmir K. Thompson (born January 20, 1971), known professionally as Questlove (stylized as ), is an American drummer, record producer, disc jockey, filmmaker, music journalist, and actor. He is the drummer and joint frontman (with Black Thought) for the hip-hop band the Roots. The Roots have been the in-house band for ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' since 2014, after having fulfilled the same role on ''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon''. Questlove is also one of the producers of the 2015 cast album of the Broadway musical ''Hamilton''. He has also co-founded the websites Okayplayer and OkayAfrica. He joined Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University as an adjunct professor in 2016, and hosts the podcast ''Questlove Supreme''. Questlove has produced recordings for artists including Elvis Costello, Common, D'Angelo, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Bilal, Jay-Z, Nikka Costa, Booker T. Jones, Al Green, and John Legend. He has been a member of the Soulquarians, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Decon Records
Decon is a New York–based advertising agency and record label. Decon is known for their "Green Week" initiative for NBC Universal, which involved an installation at the 30 Rockefeller Center. Additionally, Decon has produced documentary-style profiles featuring Nissan Leaf. They were also involved in launch of the Fiat 500 in New York in the year 2011. History Originally named Deconstruction Company, it was founded in 2002 by Peter Bittenbender and Jason Goldwatch after the creation of their hip-hop documentary and accompanying soundtrack, ''One Big Trip''. The soundtrack was then released as a double-sided DVD/CD in 2002 with Hieroglyphic Imperium Records. In 2012, Decon earned a Promax Award for work on NBCUniversal's "Green Week" campaign. That year, Misha Louy and Sacha Jenkins both joined as partners, in the Production and Entertainment divisions. Decon Records Decon Records is an independent record label functioning as a division of Decon. It was established in 2003, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Danny!
Daniel Keith Swain (born August 18, 1983), known mononymously as Danny!, is an American rapper, record producer, singer, and composer. Swain rose to prominence after his debut performance on ''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'', where he premiered his song "Evil". After joining Okayplayer Records, Danny! released his album ''Payback (album), Payback'', cited by AllMusic as one of the best hip-hop releases of the year. In 2013, Ebony (magazine), ''Ebony'' magazine listed Swain among other rising artists in its "Leaders of the New School" piece, calling Swain one of a handful of "innovators". Swain has composed Incidental music, background music that has since been placed in numerous motion pictures and television programs, most notably Fox Broadcasting Company, FOX's animated series ''Bob's Burgers'' for which Swain was awarded an Emmy Award, Emmy plaque for his contributions to an episode that won in the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program, Outstanding Animated Prog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Angela Nissel
Angela R. Nissel (born December 5, 1978) is an American author and television writer best known for her first book ''The Broke Diaries: The Completely True and Hilarious Misadventures of a Good Girl Gone Broke''. She was a writer and executive producer for '' Scrubs.'' Nissel also worked as a writer and consulting producer in the fourth season of ''The Boondocks'' and was a co-executive producer and writer for the ABC sitcom ''Mixed-ish.'' Biography Nissel was born and raised in Philadelphia. She attended the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts, where she majored in Creative Writing, and she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1998 with a degree in medical anthropology. She is married to WWE Hall of Famer Sean “ X-Pac” Waltman. Her first book ''The Broke Diaries'' was published in 2001 and was promoted in non-traditional ways. In one case, her friend applied "Buy ''The Broke Diaries''!" stickers to ramen noodle packages and passed the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
OkayAfrica
OkayAfrica (stylized as okayafrica) is a digital media platform dedicated to African culture, music and politics. Founded in 2011 by Vanessa Wruble and Ginny Suss as a sister site to The Roots frontman Questlove's Okayplayer, the site has become a popular destination for Africans on the continent and in the diaspora. Today, OkayAfrica is the largest US-based website focusing on new and progressive music, art, politics, and culture from the African continent. History In an interview with '' The One Magazine'', ''OkayAfrica'''s Vice President Ginny Suss, stated,We realized that there is no place on the web that acted as a hub for all the new fricanmusic, culture, art and politics and the amazing culture that was being generated on the continent that was really relevant to youth culture today. We came up with the concept of creating a one-stop shop, interactive community where our main focus is new progressive African music and also feature culture, film, art and lifestyle.Okay ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
The Foreign Exchange
The Foreign Exchange is music duo consisting of the American rapper Phonte and the Dutch record producer Nicolay, their music is a blend of hip hop, soul, R&B and electronica. Musical career The pair initially made contact via message boards on Okayplayer.com and soon began recording and exchanging music. Soon after, they formed The Foreign Exchange without having ever met each other in person, hence the name. Their album, ''Connected'', was released in 2004 and was a showcase for Nicolay's musical talents as well as an introduction to like-minded Little Brother affiliates who contributed to the album. The album received strong reviews and the single, "Sincere", featuring YahZarah, was released with a music video directed by Joey Boukadakis. In October 2008, the duo released their second album '' Leave It All Behind''. In June 2009, the group announced that Zo! is now an official artist on The Foreign Exchange Music imprint and, in November 2009, YahZarah also joined the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Hip Hop Music
Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music Music genre, genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African Americans, African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip-hop includes rapping often enough that the terms can be used synonymously. However, "hip-hop" more properly denotes an entire hip-hop culture, subculture. Other key markers of the genre are the disc jockey, turntablism, scratching, beatboxing, and hip hop production, instrumental tracks. Cultural interchange has always been central to the hip-hop genre. It simultaneously borrows from its social environment while commenting on it. The hip-hop genre and culture emerged from block parties in ethnic minority neighborhoods of New York City, particularly The Bronx, Bronx. DJs began expanding the instrumental Break (music), breaks of popular records when they noticed how excited it would make the crowds. The extend ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Nicolay (musician)
Nicolay (born Matthijs Rook in 1974) is an electronica, R&B and hip hop music, hip hop record producer from the Netherlands, better known as one half of The Foreign Exchange. Due to his work, Nicolay now resides in the United States. In December 2009, The Foreign Exchange were nominated for a Grammy, for Best Urban/Alternative Performance for the track "Daykeeper," from their second album, ''Leave It All Behind''. Nicolay is the fourth Dutch person to be nominated. Discography The Foreign Exchange *''Connected (Foreign Exchange album), Connected'' (2004, Barely Breaking Even, BBE) *''Leave It All Behind (Foreign Exchange album), Leave It All Behind'' (2008, Foreign Exchange Music) *''Authenticity (Foreign Exchange album), Authenticity'' (2010, Foreign Exchange Music) *''Love in Flying Colors'' (2013, Foreign Exchange Music) *''Tales from the Land of Milk and Honey'' (2015, Foreign Exchange Music) Nicolay & Kay *''TIME:LINE'' (EU Release: February 1, 2008 & US February 12, 2008 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Urban Contemporary
Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contemporary radio stations feature a playlist made up entirely of Black genres such as R&B, pop rap, quiet storm, urban adult contemporary and hip hop; Latin music such as Latin pop, Chicano R&B and Chicano rap; and Caribbean music such as reggae and soca. Urban contemporary was developed through the characteristics of genres such as R&B and soul. Because urban music is a largely U.S. phenomenon, virtually all urban contemporary formatted radio stations in the United States are located in cities that have sizeable African-American populations, such as New York City; Washington, D.C.; Detroit; Atlanta; Miami; Chicago; Cleveland; Philadelphia; Montgomery; Memphis; St. Louis; Newark; Charleston; New Orleans; Milwaukee; Cincinnati; Dallas; Houst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
