Benin’s own Angélique Kidjo took the stage at the Okayplayer Holiday Jam at Brooklyn Bowl as one of several acts reppin’ the Okayafrica side of things. Africa’s premiere diva showcased her incredible chops as The Roots threw down an interpolation of Curtis Mayfield’s “Move On Up.” Jump here for LargeUp fam’s re-cap of Shaggy and Patra. Watch the Angélique live clip above, and stay tuned for a whole bunch more from the jam.
Video shot and edited by Jay Sprogell.
It’s here! The Okayafrica Store is now officially open for business. Step in and browse our collection of OKA original t-shirts, Questlove-curated vinyl collections, Fela Kuti albums, Freetown market necklaces and more!
Our store launch is in conjuction with the release of The Roots‘ newest LP undun — grab it now and enter our contest to win a signed copy! And while you’re at it, peep the Okayplayer Store.
If you want the full play-by-play head here, this one’s for the visually inclined. Here’s a photo re-cap of last week’s Okayplayer Holiday Jam with The Roots, Gary Clark Jr., Big Daddy Kane, Shaggy, Rahzel, Angelique Kidjo, Bajah + The Dry Eye Crew, Patra, Big Freedia, Mr. Eazy, Red Fox, Rayvon, The Wurx, Ray Angry, Robert Glasper, plus DJs ?uestlove, Chief Boima, LargeUp fam Gravy, and OKP’s own Eddie “STATS.” Check out the albums above and below. All pictures by Mel D. Cole.
Rahzel + Shaggy tearing it up, free apple cider shots for the ENTIRE club from our main man + Brooklyn Bowl owner Pete Shapiro, and Big Freedia and her “Azz Everywhere” – you know, just another legendary Okayplayer Holiday Jam with The Roots. What else was amazing? Free dranks thanks to Heineken, aerialists doing the splits above The Roots, and opening DJ sets from OKP Editor at large, Eddie “STATS” and OKA’s own Chief Boima, along with LargeUp‘s own DJ Gravy and so much more. Warming up the stage, the Music Unites Youth Choir opened the show, followed by Black Thought co-signees The Wurx who brought fresh Philly-style raps.
Next up, godfathers The Roots took the stage for an extended jam with a laundry list of Okay family and friends. Throughout the night special guests included Gary Clark Jr. who graced the stage and flexed his guitar chops, Big Daddy Kane who spit classics alongside Black Thought, and Rahzel who showed why he’s the human beat box extraordinaire. Angelique Kidjo and Bajah + The Dry Eye Crew tore it up, repping Okayafrica all the way. And LargeUp kept shit bombastic with Shaggy and Patra the Dancehall Queen, along with Mr. Eazy, Red Fox, and Rayvon. We also got some instrumental goodness thanks to Ray Angry and Robert Glasper on keys, repping for Revivalist. And after all that, DJ ?uestlove brought it home on the 1s and 2s with a Bowl Train after-party. Check out the photos below c/o our dude Terrence Jennings!
Our 5th Annual Okayplayer Holiday Jam is coming up quick! If you wanna join us and throw down with The Roots and a slew of special guests (trust, you do), we’ll be giving away 50 guest spots, each with a +1, to the party. Complimentary brews from Heineken from 7-8 PM! All’s you gotta do is head here and sign up for the Okayplayer/Okayafrica newsletter — if you already receive our newsletter, just enter your info again (we’ll never spam). Get to it and make sure you’ll be in the New York area Dec. 15!
ENTER TO WIN AN INVITE TO THE 5TH ANNUAL OKAYPLAYER HOLIDAY JAM WITH THE ROOTS
With a simple DNA test people of African descent can now trace back exactly where their ancestors came from on the continent – down to the country and even the specific ethnic group. *WILD* ?uestlove and Black Thought got cheek-swabbed and now know their real roots. Does Black Thought come from the tribe he guessed? Will they go back to Africa to meet their people? Check the video for the answer, and if you wanna know your real roots as well, go to African Ancestry and order your kit.
Video shot by Kevin Ornelas, edited by Allison Swank.
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CONGRATULATIONS to Ryan Trinidad, Tawanda Shannon, Cedric Reynoso, Starr Lopez, and Marcus Keys for winning our contest — they’ll each get a signed copy of undun!
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undun is coming (12/6!), you can pre-order it on iTunes now but if you wanna one-up your homies (we all do) the Okay fam is giving you a shot at winning one of 5 signed copies of The Roots‘ brand new CD.
All’s you gotta do is sign up for the Okayafrica and Okayplayer e-mail lists, below. Don’t fret, we don’t spam — we’ll only send the best in music cuts, album releases, tour dates, special concerts, and contests (like this one). We’ll email the winners on 12/7 — make sure to check your inboxes!
We finally got our paws on a video recap of Questlove’s Afro Picks — a tribute to African music history by Questo and the Afro-Picks Big Band, featuring Tony Allen, Macy Gray, Black Thought, Mamani Keita, and Amp Fiddler, as well as members of Antibalas, the David Murray Big Band (whose leader provided the night’s arrangements), The Roots, and FELA! musical. Catch highlights of the A-team cast tearing down the Red Bull Music Academy show in Paris, above and below. (via RBMA, FunkIt)
50 Cent has been very involved in Africa lately. Last week we wrote that he will donate a portion of his beverage sales to hungry African children. This week, he’s involved in a heated legal dispute with the Chinua Achebe Foundation over the proposed title of a new biopic that he wrote and stars in (trailer for the film above). 50 planned to name his film Things Fall Apart, which the foundation saw as an infringement on Achebe’s key African novel of the same title. When the film’s producers offered the foundation $1 million for the title, they scoffed and told the producers: “the novel with the said title was first produced in 1958 (17 years before 50Cent was born)… and will not be sold for even One Billion Dollars.”
Dang. That’s rough. Especially because The Root’s Grammy Award winning album, Things Fall Apart was given the thumbs up by Achebe. So what is it about 50 that Achebe doesn’t like? Is it because you can find him in the club with a pocket full of bud? Probably.
We wish 50 luck with the reported new title of the film, All Things Fall Apart, putting 50 all in the clear.
Okayafrica TV: Vernon Reid’s ‘Artificial Afrika’
Things you may or may not know about Vernon Reid: Rolling Stone accurately listed him among their top 100 greatest guitarists of all time, he’s the guitar player in Living Colour, he’s a mentor and inspiration to The Roots‘ own guitarist Cap’n Kirk, he’s got bands (see Masque and Yohimbe Brothers), and a plethora of projects he either spearheads, participates in and/or collaborates with (see Burnt Sugar, Ronald Shannon Jackson, James Blood Ulmer, and more). What you probably don’t know about is a piece of experimental theatrical performance and video art that Reid has been crafting for years entitled “Artificial Afrika – A Tale Of Lost Cities.”
And you should. Luckily the piece is still up in NYC this weekend (Feb. 24 + 25) at Dixon Place. Watch our exclusive OkayafricaTV piece above where Reid explains his attempt to explore “the Africa of our minds” – the idea of a mythical Africa that exists parallel to the “real” Africa, a space that he delves into with video art, song, guitars, banjos, text, conversation, language, dance, and more. Then, go see it for yourself.
Shot and edited by Chinisha Scott, sound by Greg Scott.