Questlove’s RBMA talk is about to go down. In just a few minutes, the okayplayer president steps up to the podium at Red Bull Music Academy here in New York, to “drop some knowledge and share a few stories.” Stories may include war stories from The Roots‘ days of busking and playing road warrior through the jazz festival circuit in Europe and behind the scenes from their work on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. That’s all we’ve been told for now…but we also hear some drums tuning up! Watch the player below to see it in full:

The post Questlove’s RBMA Talk Live From NYC [Live Stream] appeared first on Okayplayer.

UPDATE:  Cosmo Baker‘s official Roots Picnic mixtape is now available as a download! Due to popular demand (True story. Our favorite tweet: “Like my man Cinque said: Give us FREE!“). Seems only right that a picnic mix should be free play any device you picnic with on Memorial Day and we fully expect that this shit will be the official soundtrack of all picnics that take place in summer 2013. But don’t let that dissuade you from being there for the real thing–you now have 1 week to get these jams so deep in your soul that you can shout along to every hook and mosh out to every breakdown at Roots Picnic. Get tickets below! And don’t say we never did nothing for you. See you in Philly.

>>>Buy Tickets For Roots Picnic 2013

Roots Picnic is almost here y’all! This year Philly’s own Cosmo Baker–the least hatable DJ in the entire world?–has blessed Okayplayer with his prodigious talents and midas phonographic touch in assembling our Official Roots Picnic 2013 Mixtape, featuring picnic jams from all the artists on the bill including (duh) The Roots, Naughty By Nature, DJ Premier, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, How To Dress Well, Trinidad James, Solange Knowles and a grip more (scroll down for the full tracklisting).

Longtime Okayplayers know Cosmo’s Philly roots run deep and this collaboration felt especially powerful coming in the same year as Fluid–the dancefloor of which both Cosmo and ?uestlove made into their DJ home over the years, so we asked him to speak on it, which he did most eloquently. You can read Cosmo’s thoughts after the mix, which is what you came here for! So without further ado, Cosmo Baker & Okayplayer present: The Official Roots Picnic 2013 Mixtape:

“At the 11th Hour it seemed like a good idea to write some sort of introduction to this mix and I gave it some thought as to what I was going to touch upon, but understand this is harder than it may seem. It’s difficult enough to capture everything that this collection of artists is about in the futile medium that’s one single mixtape. In the same regard, much like their entire career it’s almost impossible to pin down what The Roots, and Okayplayer are all about with just words. And that right there just may be the point.

I could take it back to 1992 or 93 when I first met these two dudes Ahmir and Tariq and this could be the story of “Philly dudes done well” or I could talk about the parallels of all or our respective career arcs and all that jazz. Or I could talk about how just some local musicans and DJs from South and West Philly have transformed into global music and cultural ambassadors.

But to me it comes down to one thing – love. The love that one has that makes one do what they do. It’s not for the money of the fame, but for the love of music that is the single reason why we’re in this game. That’s the greatest commonality that we all share, and one of the reasons why Okayplayer is what it is today in 2013. Perhaps it’s something in our mutual Philly history, and its collective cultural fiber; from being in that one time at that one place. I don’t know, but I do know one thing: I grew up with all this, and so when I was asked to contribute this mix, it was more than an honor. It felt like I was coming back home.”

- Cosmo Baker, 2013

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Cosmo Baker x Okayplayer Present The Official Roots Picnic Mixtape 2013 [Tracklist]

DJ Premier “Young Gifted & Black Intro”
Gang Starr “Full Clip”
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis “Thrift Shop”
The Roots “Dynamite”
How To Dress Well “Running Back”
Sonnymoon feat. Melo-X “Htlv (Houstatlantavegas) (Melo-X Remix)”
Naughty By Nature “Hip-Hop (DJ Scene 2013 Remix)
Trinidad James “All Gold Everything (Emynd NOLA Bounce Remix)
Robert Glasper “Black Radio feat. Yasin Bey (Pete Rock Remix)”
The Gaslamp Killer “Anything Worse”
The Roots “The Seed 2.0″
Solange “Losing You”
Jennah Bell “Monster Killer”
Solange “Sandcastle Disco”
The Roots “How I Got Over”
Duck Sauce “Grand Steppin”
Grimes “Circumambient”
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis “Can’t Hold Us feat. Ray Dalton”
Grimes “Oblivion”
A-Trak “Tuna Melt feat. Tommy Trash (Grandtheft Remix)”
Jay-Z & Kanye “Niggas In Paris”
Trinidad James “Females Welcome”
AraabMuzik “The Prince Is Coming”
The Gaslamp Killer “Impulse feat. Daedelus”
Kendrick Lamar “Backseat Freestyle”
A$AP Rocky “Goldie”
Gang Starr “Above The Clouds feat. Inspectah Deck”
Robert Glasper “Twice feat. Solange (?uestlove’s Twice Baked Remix)”
Gary Clark Jr. “The Life”
Joey Bada$$ “Waves”
Naughty By Nature “Jamboree feat. Zhane”
Smoke DZA “Gotham City feat. Joey Bada$$”
AraabMuzik “Hammer Dance”
The Roots “Act Too… The Love Of My Life feat. Common”
Shlohmo “Don’t Say No feat. How To Dress Well”
Lushlife “Magnolia”

The post Cosmo Baker x Okayplayer Present: The Official Roots Picnic 2013 Mixtape! appeared first on Okayplayer.

Case you didn’t get the news, Booker T. Jones–he of Booker T & The MGs fame–is back home, having returned to the revitalized Stax Records label to put out his new full length album Sound The Alarm. Dedicated Okayplayers already knew that Booker’s work with The Roots had opened up a 2nd chapter in the soul giant’s storied career and the new record represents a quantum leap forward in the evolution of the Booker T sound, incorporating the latest approaches to musical production with his genius for organ and keys-driven composition. Appropriately the record includes collaborations with core Okayplayer folks like Estelle, Anthony Hamilton and Gary Clark Jr.–not to mention Sheila E.! But there could not be a better standard bearer and manifesto for this new Booker T invasion than the title track and 2nd single from the record, “Sound The Alarm” featuring young soul cat Mayer Hawthorne on vocal duties–and OKP is incredibly proud to be hosting the song’s World Premiere! Kicking off with an echoey sample-driven intro, the song quickly resolves to fight song for the game called “one man taking on the universe,” marked by a shiver-inducing chorus of churchy vocal runs and a guitar lick with the spooky minor-keyed drive of classic Memphis soul. Stream below to see what I’m on about and scroll down to find the full tracklisting and album details. Sound the alarm, indeed. Take notice, anybody thinking you were going to publish the definitive Book of Soul. We’re gonna need a rewrite.

Booker T – ‘Sound The Alarm’ tracklist:
1. Sound The Alarm – featuring Mayer Hawthorne
2. All Over The Place – featuring Luke James
3. Fun
4. Broken Heart – featuring Jay James
5. Feel Good
6. Gently – featuring Anthony Hamilton
7. Austin City Blues – featuring Gary Clark, Jr
8. Can’t Wait – featuring Estelle
9. 66 Impala – featuring Poncho Sanchez and Sheila E.
10. Watch You Sleeping – featuring Kori Withers
11. Your Love Is No Love – featuring Vintage Trouble
12. Father Son Blues – featuring Ted Jones

The post Booker T x Mayer Hawthorne – “Sound The Alarm” [World Premiere] appeared first on Okayplayer.

Let Erykah Badu look into your eyes for too long–goes the standing joke amongst the Okayplayer crew–and she will have you in her power. Consider us bewitched. We had the chance to sit down with Miss Badoula while she was here in New York for her lecture at Red Bull Music Academy and much like the RBMA audience we were by turns surprised, charmed and busting out laughing as she spoke on everything from her recent cameos on tracks from Janelle Monáe and Bonobo to her collaborative chemistry on new efforts with Thundercat to when we can expect a new Erykah Badu album (“You can expect it whenever you want to…”). Along the way she tells tales of eating and sleeping with mama’s actual gun by her side for several days to prepare for her role in Jeymes Samuel’s all-black-everything western They Die By Dawn and provides some hilarious behind the scenes DVD extras on the making of her “Window Seat” video–notorious for it’s public display of brown skin. But whether she is talking about nudity or about baring soul in the musical process, we predict Erykah Badu will have you under her spell right from the moment she introduces herself as “She ill” AKA “Green Eyes.” Watch below–but don’t look into those green eyes too long!

Videographer + Editor: Chinisha Scott

The post Erykah Badu Speaks On Movies, New Music, “Window Seat” + More | Okayplayer TV appeared first on Okayplayer.

Kool & Kass–known on their other jobs as Kool A.D. of Das Racist and Kassa Overall–took the blogosphere by storm with their collaborative Peaceful Solutions album–or at least they took us by storm (that shit is off the hook–you should listen to it. Hear the original LP stream here and the newly-remastered version on the Kool & Kass bandcamp). Which makes it trebly appropriate fo us to be hosting the World Premiere of the video for the title track, also titled “Peaceful Solutions.” Kicking off with a walking jazz bassline and a wink from a four-eyed animated deity of urbanism, the Slack Barrett-directed video sets the perfect mood for the kalimba and stoned immaculate rhymes to grab you and shake like a bobble-head dance (watch, you’ll see what I mean). Kind of a sleeper cut to be a title track for an album, upon repeated listenings “Peaceful Solutions” is the perfect manifesto for Kool & Kass’ lazy revolution. Kass: “we not changing the game / we druggin’ it.” Kool: “Bobby Fisher with a swisher…shouts to academia/ keep doin’ what you doin’ / I believe in you.” Play below, enjoy the mindplay, bobble your head and don’t say we never did nothin’ for you! (scroll down to find dates for Kool and Kass upcoming solo shows).

Kassa Overall upcoming solo shows:
May 30 @ The Paper Box w/ All Natural, Quincy Vidal, and Dr. Ooo
August 1 @ The Stone w/ Vijay Iyer, Himanshu Suri, and Rafiq Bhatia

Kool A.D. Upcoming shows (with Killer Mike x El-P)

07-10 Ottawa, Ontario – Ottawa Blues Festival *
07-11 Toronto, Ontario – Hoxton *
07-12 Mariaville, NY – Camb Bisco *
07-13 Pittsburgh, PA – Altar Bar *
07-14 Louisville, KY – Forecastle Festival *
07-16 Nashville, TN – Exit In *
07-17 St. Louis, MO – Firebird *
07-18 Iowa City, IA – Gabe’s Oasis *
07-19 Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theater *
07-20 Madison, WI – UW Memorial Union *
07-21 Chicago, IL – Pitchfork Festival *
07-24 Edmonton, Alberta – Starlite Room *
07-25 Calgary, Alberta – Republik *
07-26 Vancouver, British Columbia – Biltmore *
07-27 Seattle, WA – Capitol Hill Block Party *
07-28 Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theatre *
07-30 San Francisco, CA – The Independent *
08-01 Los Angeles, CA – Echoplex *
08-02 Santa Ana, CA – The Observatory *
08-03 Phoenix, AZ – The Crescent Ballroom *
08-05 Austin, TX – Mohawk *
08-06 Baton Rouge, LA – Spanish Moon *
08-07 Atlanta, GA – Masquerade *
08-08 Asheville, NC – Orange Peel *
08-09 Chapel Hill, NC – Cat’s Cradle *
08-10 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club *
08-12 Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer *
08-13 Boston, MA – Paradise *
08-14 New York, NY – Webster Hall *

The post Video Premiere: Kool & Kass – “Peaceful Solutions” [Official Video] appeared first on Okayplayer.

J. Cole and The Roots smash out a powerful live performance of Cole’s heavy single “Power Trip” on the set of Late Night With Jimmy Fallon from last night’s show. The official jawn, of course, is a Miguel collabo but Mr. Unlimited was nowhere to be seen this time around (maybe he is still rubbing Khyati’s feet for the next 100 days as apology for that flying soopa-dooplex he put on her the other night. Sorry, couldn’t resist. Insert your own Miguel-legdrop meme or joke here–its fun!). Which could have been a potential problem, seeing as some previous live renditions we’ve seen of this particular love/hate song have definitely felt like “The Miguel show, featuring J. Cole.”

But Cole definitely brought the requisite intensity to bring the song’s emotional punch home, however. And The Roots definitely brought the requisite drama, the requisite slow-building groove and the requisite crashing cymbal crescendoes to the backing track. In fact, if this performance was your introduction to the song you might be like “Whoa. J. Cole & The Roots is a tuff band. I might have to check these cats out. Who’s Miguel?” In which case you might also be like “what’s a google?” which is maybe just as well because some of the thing rap nerds been saying about Cole online lately would just ruin your high. Speaking for myself I have to say that Cole’s contributions to hip-hop and pop culture have ranged from inspiring to tepid over the last year and change. But I’d like to see Big Ghost call him the ‘human croc shoe’ after this. Definitely bears repeated viewings00get started below:

The post J. Cole x The Roots – “Power Trip” Live On Jimmy Fallon appeared first on Okayplayer.

Madlib just announced a new installment of his much nutted-over “Beat Konducta” series (remember Beat Konducta in Afrika?). The newest edition is called Rock Konducta and at an upcoming show in San Francisco, Madlib will apparently be releasing a limited edition 45 with two tracks from the project. That’s ‘upcoming’ as in June 7th, 2013; ‘SF’ as in 1015 Fulsom Street and ‘limited edition’ as in 300 white label copies, available only at the show. Speculation is that this will be a (duh) more rock-oriented take on the concept, though Afrika may still be in the mix as well. The SF show will be dedicated to Zambian rock–Zamrock if you’re nasty–and features a performance from Emmanuel “Jagari” Chanda, who is billed as “the last surviving member of cult Zambian rock act WITCH.” Stream below “Mad March (Skipping Drunk),” one of the Rock Konducta tracks which will be on the ultra-limited 45, scroll down for show info, tickets and back cover art–and the first digger who can identify the Zamrock source material gets a frosty Mosi Lager on me. Holler.

MADLIB MEDICINE SHOW – WELCOME TO ZAMROCK
1015 Folsom
Friday, June 7, 2013 at 10:00 PM – Saturday, June 8, 2013 at 3:00 AM (PDT)
San Francisco, United States

>>>Purchase Tickets

shouts to FACT

The post Madlib – “Mad March (Skipping Drunk)” + ‘Rock Konducta’ Limited Editon 45 appeared first on Okayplayer.

Goodie Mob, Janelle Monáe and a heavy beat all collide on “Special Education” the newest leak from the slew of Cee Lo-related projects which is apparently coming this year. Besides the new Goodie Mob LP Age Of The Machine (which will feature include this track) theres apparently a new Gnarls Barkley joint and a regular old Cee Lo album on the way. The Goodie boss also revealed that he returned Janelle’s flavor with an appearance on her own forthcoming LP Electric Lady. Whew. That’s a lot of Lo coming down the pipeline. Get the full details via his recent Billboard interview and get a taste via “Special Education”–which touches on themes of individuality and originality similar to Janelle and Estelle’s “Do My Thang,” though musically they could not be more different. Do your comparison shopping via a little streaming mp3 action below:

The post Goodie Mob x Janelle Monáe – “Special Education” appeared first on Okayplayer.

Kanye West‘s SNL appearance saw him losing his mind a little–in a good way (I think). We got to see the “screaming thing” Daft Punk recently described as his new vocal style on the Saturday Night Live debut of “Black Skinhead” plus a performance of “New Slaves” which technically already premiered on 66 walls worldwide but premieres here for the first time without windows and bricks visible in the lines of Ye’s face. In “New Slaves” Kanye describes himself as “going Bobby Boucher” but it sounds more like he’s going Obama-going-Bulworth and I for one support it (I think). Love it or hate it, it was definitely everything you expected from a Kanye West SNL guest spot. While “Awesome” seemed like a bit of a throwback to 808s & Heartbreak Kanye, these two new songs are kind of a throwback to “All Falls Down” Kanye with a much harder, more schizo edge…while he goes 1980s Adam Ant on the music side (and manifests his continued ambition to be the new version of Andy Warhol with the graphics and performance art approach). Watch below and let the WTF? conversation begin with us…

The post Kanye West SNL Appearance: “Black Skinhead” + “New Slaves” Live Debut appeared first on Okayplayer.

Kanye West‘s “New Slaves” video has apparently been screened on 66 walls worldwide in a kind of guerilla-action version of a premiere. Yeezy announced the distributed-premiere action last night via twitter with a link to the map of total world domination he has set up on his website www.kanyewest.com. The map (scroll down for a screenshot) shows red squares at 10 cities around the globe from New York to Sydney, Australia, with 6 or 7 locations within each city. Click on the city and you get a city map with times listed for the various screenings. Miss Info was on hand for the projection on the wall of the Wythe hotel last night right here in lovely Williamsburg, Brooklyn and our UK bredrins at SoulCulture captured the screening on the wall of the Old Truman Brewery in East London just a few moments ago (see above, Yeezy’s visage emblazoned on the wall of the 5th Avenue Prada store in Manhattan). Kanye is also expected to premiere material from the new album–which we now know is titled Yeezus and will indeed drop on June 18th, as suspected–on his appearance as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live which will air on NBC in just about 30 minutes from now. Watch the UK & BK screenings below and tune in to NBC for more.

The post Kanye West “New Slaves” Video Screens On 66 Walls Worldwide + New LP ‘Yeezus’ appeared first on Okayplayer.