The Roots and Jim James of My Morning Jacket will team up for a special one-night only performance at Brooklyn’s Prospect Park Bandshell on June 18th. Titled “State Of The Union,” the show will feature Jim performing alongside The Roots (and vice versa) for an entire night.  We think it’s safe to say that you’ll definitely get to hear versions of “Dear God 2.0” and “A New Life” that will rival any other version you’ve heard to date!

Tickets for the all-ages show are on sale now at www.bowerypresents.com, or you can enter to win a pair courtesy of Okayplayer (This contest has ended).  Proceeds from the event will support free programming at Celebrate Brooklyn!

Gates open at 6pm. Show begins at 7pm. RAIN OR SHINE!

Prospect Park Bandshell
Prospect Park West and 9th St.
Brooklyn, NY, 11217

The post The Roots x Jim James Play Live–Tonight At Celebrate Brooklyn! appeared first on Okayplayer.

This Sunday, Okayafrica is proud to present a knockout show headlined by Femi Kuti at New York City’s Central Park SummerStage. The concert will feature a fervent set from Femi, who aims to reimagine his afrobeat legacy in his upcoming No Place For My Dream album, backed by Sudanese indie darling Sinkane and a DJ set from King Britt. See all info in the flyer above and at SummerStage’s website. Watch a few clips from each artist below to get you in the mood and head to Central Park this Sunday June 23 for the show! Yeah we are biased but this is clearly not a show to be missed–quite possibly the highlight of Summerstage’s pretty incredible season line-up for 2013 (see the rest of our 20 Must-See Acts At Summerstage 2013 here)

FOLLOW OKAYAFRICA ON TWITTER AND TWEET #FEMIKUTISUMMERSTAGE @ THEM TO WIN 2 BACKSTAGE PASSES TO THE SHOW!

Femi Kuti “The World Is Changing”

Sinkane “Warm Spells”

King Britt’s Sonic Journey Into Afrofuturism

The post Okayafrica Presents: Femi Kuti & The Positive Force x Sinkane x King Britt Live at SummerStage appeared first on Okayplayer.

Kanye West breaks down Yeezus and discusses his life and impact on culture in a recent interview with Jon Caramanica of The New York Times. The rare in-depth interview with the Chicago-bred megastar follows the recent listening session held for his forthcoming sixth studio LP at Milk Studios in New York City this week. Caramanica spent time with West at Shangri-La Studio in Los Angeles as he wrapped production on Yeezus between the end of May and early June. During the interview Kanye discusses the album, which he says was heavily influenced by Chicago’s house scene and guided by the legendary Rick Rubin – a man he considers a master of minimalism. He also delves into his own evolution and how the development of his style has allowed him to influence others. West cites dead prez as a guiding force in the earliest days of his career as he worked to establish his own identity. His reach has since ballooned past the confines of music to include a major presence in fashion and design. His cultural omnipresence is likely at the root of his belief that he is “the nucleus” of cool. Check the text below for some of what he had to say.

When your debut album, “The College Dropout” came out, the thing that people began to associate with you besides music was: Here’s someone who’s going to argue for his place in history; like, “Why am I not getting five stars?”

I think you got to make your case. Seventh grade, I wanted to be on the basketball team. I didn’t get on the team, so that summer I practiced. I was on the summer league. My team won the championship; I was the point guard. And then when I went for eighth grade, I practiced and I hit every free throw, every layup, and the next day I looked on this chart, and my name wasn’t on it. I asked the coach what’s up, and they were like, “You’re just not on it.” I was like, “But I hit every shot.” The next year — I was on the junior team when I was a freshman, that’s how good I was. But I wasn’t on my eighth-grade team, because some coach — some Grammy, some reviewer, some fashion person, some blah blah blah — they’re all the same as that coach. Where I didn’t feel that I had a position in eighth grade to scream and say, “Because I hit every one of my shots, I deserve to be on this team!” I’m letting it out on everybody who doesn’t want to give me my credit.

You’ve won a lot of Grammys.

“[My Beautiful] Dark [Twisted] Fantasy” and “Watch the Throne”: neither was nominated for Album of the Year, and I made both of those in one year. I don’t know if this is statistically right, but I’m assuming I have the most Grammys of anyone my age, but I haven’t won one against a white person.

But the thing is, I don’t care about the Grammys; I just would like for the statistics to be more accurate.

You want the historical record to be right.

Yeah, I don’t want them to rewrite history right in front of us. At least, not on my clock. I really appreciate the moments that I was able to win rap album of the year or whatever. But after a while, it’s like: “Wait a second; this isn’t fair. This is a setup.” I remember when both Gnarls Barkley and Justin [Timberlake] lost for Album of the Year, and I looked at Justin, and I was like: “Do you want me to go onstage for you? You know, do you want me to fight” —

For you.

For what’s right. I am so credible and so influential and so relevant that I will change things. So when the next little girl that wants to be, you know, a musician and give up her anonymity and her voice to express her talent and bring something special to the world, and it’s time for us to roll out and say, “Did this person have the biggest thing of the year?” — that thing is more fair because I was there.

But has that instinct led you astray? Like the Taylor Swift interruption at the MTV Video Music Awards, things like that.

It’s only led me to complete awesomeness at all times. It’s only led me to awesome truth and awesomeness. Beauty, truth, awesomeness. That’s all it is.

So no regrets?

I don’t have one regret.

But that is something that you apologized for.

Yeah, I think that I have like, faltered, you know, as a human. My message isn’t perfectly defined. I have, as a human being, fallen to peer pressure.

So that was a situation in which you gave in to peer pressure to apologize?

Yeah.

A lot happened between “Graduation” and “808s,” obviously: a lot of struggle, a lot of tough things for you. [Mr. West’s mother died in 2007.]

Creative output, you know, is just pain. I’m going to be cliché for a minute and say that great art comes from pain. But also I’d say a bigger statement than that is: Great art comes from great artists. There’s a bunch of people that are hurt that still couldn’t have made the album that was super-polarizing and redefined the sound of radio.

But producting happened for you first, especially after Jay-Z used you so heavily on “The Blueprint.”

I used to have tracks that sounded like Timbaland; I had tracks that sounded like [DJ Premier]. But Jay-Z was an amazing communicator that made the soul sound extremely popular. And because I could make the soul sound in my sleep, it finally gave me a platform to put the message that my parents put inside of me and that Dead Prez helped to get out of me and Mos Def and [Talib] Kweli, they helped to get out of me: I was able to put it, sloppily rap it, on top of the platform that Jay-Z had created for me.

Before, when I wanted to rap, my raps sounded like a bit like Cam’ron; they sounded a bit like Mase; they sounded a bit like Jay-Z or whoever. And it wasn’t until I hung out with Dead Prez and understood how to make, you know, raps with a message sound cool that I was able to just write “All Falls Down” in 15 minutes.

Is that true?

Yeah, that’s how I discovered my style. I was just hanging out with them all the time in New York. I would produce for them. You know, I was able to slip past everything with a pink polo, but I am Dead Prez. And now, because I was able to slip past, I have a responsibility at all times.

What thoughts do you have about parenthood?

That is a really interesting, powerful question. One of the things was just to be protective, that I would do anything to protect my child or my child’s mother. As simple as that.

One of the things I thought when I heard the new record was, “This is the anti-’College Dropout.’ ” It feels like you’re shedding skin. Back then, you were like: “I want more sounds. I want more complicated raps. I want all the things.” At what point did that change?

Architecture — you know, this one Corbusier lamp was like, my greatest inspiration. I lived in Paris in this loft space and recorded in my living room, and it just had the worst acoustics possible, but also the songs had to be super simple, because if you turned up some complicated sound and a track with too much bass, it’s not going to work in that space. This is earlier this year. I would go to museums and just like, the Louvre would have a furniture exhibit, and I visited it like, five times, even privately. And I would go see actual Corbusier homes in real life and just talk about, you know, why did they design it? They did like, the biggest glass panes that had ever been done. Like I say, I’m a minimalist in a rapper’s body. It’s cool to bring all those vibes and then eventually come back to Rick [Rubin], because I would always think about Def Jam.

His records did used to say “reduced by Rick Rubin.”

For him, it’s really just inside of him. I’m still just a kid learning about minimalism, and he’s a master of it. It’s just really such a blessing, to be able to work with him. I want to say that after working with Rick, it humbled me to realize why I hadn’t — even though I produced “Watch the Throne”; even though I produced “Dark Fantasy” — why I hadn’t won Album of the Year yet.

This album is moments that I haven’t done before, like just my voice and drums. What people call a rant — but put it next to just a drumbeat, and it cuts to the level of, like, Run-D.M.C. or KRS-One. The last record I can remember — and I’m going to name records that you’ll think are cheesy — but like, J-Kwon, “Tipsy.” People would think that’s like a lower-quality, less intellectual form of hip-hop, but that’s always my No. 1. There’s no opera sounds on this new album, you know what I mean? It’s just like, super low-bit. I’m still, like, slightly a snob, but I completely removed my snob heaven songs; I just removed them altogether.

Respect my trendsetting.

Yeah, respect my trendsetting abilities. Once that happens, everyone wins. The world wins; fresh kids win; creatives win; the company wins.

I’ve been connected to the most culturally important albums of the past four years, the most influential artists of the past ten years. You have like, Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, Henry Ford, Howard Hughes, Nicolas Ghesquière, Anna Wintour, David Stern.

I think that’s a responsibility that I have, to push possibilities, to show people: “This is the level that things could be at.” So when you get something that has the name Kanye West on it, it’s supposed to be pushing the furthest possibilities. I will be the leader of a company that ends up being worth billions of dollars, because I got the answers. I understand culture. I am the nucleus.

>>>Read Jon Caramanica’s full interview with Kanye West at The New York Times

The post Kanye West Talks Yeezus, Life & Influence appeared first on Okayplayer.

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Last night’s episode of Late Night With Jimmy Fallon provided us with what might be one of the best things we’ve seen all week.  As part of the “Audience Suggestion Box” sketch, Jimmy presented a short-but-sweet video of edited clips of NBC News anchor Brian Williams that made it look like Jimmy’s “Slow Jam The News” co-hort was rapping Snoop Dogg‘s opening verse from Dr. Dre‘s hip-hop classic “Nothin But A G Thing.”

Hell yeah!

The post NBC News’ Brian Williams “Nuthin But A G Thing” On Late Night With Jimmy Fallon appeared first on Okayplayer.

Q-Tip‘s weekly “Offline” party returns to Stage 48 in NYC on Thursday, June 6th just in time for all this great weather we’re having in the Big Apple.  Q-Tip will be joined by guest DJ’s every week, and we’re certain anyone that attends will want to come back again and again!

There will be a strict door policy. No single guys will be admitted unless there are some ladies in your group. Dress To Impress. Management reserves the right to refuse admission.

Tickets are available via TicketWeb or you can enter to win a pair courtesy of Giant Step and Okayplayer below! The ticket give away has ended!

Doors Open At: 10:00 PM
Show Starts At: 10:00 PM
Advanced Price: $15.00

Stage 48
605 W. 48th St. @ 11th Avenue
New York NY, 10036
PH: (212) 957-1800

The post Q-Tip’s “Offline” Party Returns To NYC! Win Tickets From OKP! appeared first on Okayplayer.

India Arie drops her latest video for “Cocoa Butter” – the first single from her forthcoming LP SongVersation – directed by Randee St. Nicholas. The set is a softly lit mash of dusty rose and white that envelopes India Arie in the midst of devastation over a love gone wrong. The video is a tearful, passionate ode to her anthem of resilience as she embraces a new love and grows a thicker skin. The song and video lead her fifth studio LP, which is scheduled to arrive on June 25th. Check the footage below. Purchase “Cocoa Butter” via iTunes.

The post India Arie – “Cocoa Butter” [Official Video] appeared first on Okayplayer.

Lauryn Hill has reportedly agreed to vacate the New Jersey residence she has been renting ahead of her impending prison sentence. The news follows an eviction suit filed by Hill’s landlords in May, alleging her failure to pay rent for the month of March. Lauryn Hill reportedly reached an agreement with the property owners that required her to vacate the property by May 31st and pay $7,000 in back rent to settle the matter. Whether she has made that move or not yet, is unclear. Lauryn Hill is scheduled to begin serving her sentence on July 8th.

Spotted at TMZ

The post Lauryn Hill Vacates New Jersey Mansion? appeared first on Okayplayer.

YOOOOOOO NEW YORK!   Cody ChesnuTT and Bilal are doing separate shows at SOB‘s this month and OKP wants to send one lucky New Yorker to both shows! Bilal and denitia and sene will deliver an unforgettable show on June 9th. Cody ChesnuTT will grace the SOB’s stage on June 13th along with Okayplayer Records’ own Jennah Bell!  Both shows start at 9pm, with doors opening at 7:30.

Tickets are available now via TicketWeb.  Buy yours now:  Bilal | Cody ChesnuTT

Or….

Enter to win a pair of tickets to both shows below!

This contest has ended!

The post NYC: Win Tix To See Cody ChesnuTT & Bilal! appeared first on Okayplayer.

Daru Jones took a break from his stint as drummer for both Black Milk and Jack White to record some new joints with his sister, Rena.  As Daru & Rena the pair just unleashed two brand new joints from their forthcoming album #Honey and gave ‘em to Okayplayer first! Rena’s gentle vocals float effortlessly over spaced out synths and an Isaac Hayes breakbeat on “Masterplan Pt 2″ while she sweetly commands you to say her name on “Honey,” produced by Marc Mac of 4Hero.

Check out these new joints below, and grab free downloads over at the Rusic Records website. Listen to some of our favorite Daru & Rena joints plus a new video from Daru’s other band The Ruff Pack (featuring Daru, Stephan Kondert & Matthias Löscher) on the next pages!

The post Daru & Rena “Masterplan Pt 2″ & “Honey” [Audio] appeared first on Okayplayer.