What To Do In NYC This Weekend
As the hot girl and city boy days of summer start to cool down, the food scene and cool weather activities start to heat up. Afrobeats parties, food festivals, and roller skating park jams are taking...
View ArticleEight Everyday Wellness Tips for Artists and Music Industry Professionals
For this week’s Wellness Wednesday, we are tackling physical and mental wellness within the music industry. Our guide for this journey is Marni Wandner, a former music executive turned health and...
View ArticleHow Black Sitcoms Built Sneaker Culture From the Ground Up
The ‘90s era was by far one of the most iconic in recent times. With many of its trends still being recycled regularly, this period fostered a sense of style and creativity that can not be imitated....
View ArticleHymns To Hip-Hop: How Gospel Music Influences Modern Music
Looking back at the painful and difficult history of being Black in America, religion has always been an important cultural and spiritual backbone — constantly sustaining and replenishing the...
View Article'MJ the Musical': A Celebration of Michael Jackson’s Brilliance & Unmatched...
This page contains content sponsored by 'MJ the Musical.'It’s impossible to leave the theater after seeing the high-powered Broadway musical, MJ without feeling completely exhilarated and entertained....
View ArticleBart Oatmeal is Baron Davis 2.0
Who the heck is Bart Oatmeal? You may have seen the name popping up randomly on underground tracklists and heard his verses alongside the new crop of bubbling West Coast emcees: Jay Worthy, T.F.,...
View ArticleKeyon Harrold celebrates Vulnerability on 'Foreverland'
The supremely gifted trumpeter and vocalist, Keyon Harrold has blown away audiences on several global stages and worked with powerhouses like Beyoncé, Jay-Z, 50 Cent and John Legend, just to name a...
View ArticleHow 'The Color Purple' Evolved Past Black Trauma
Alice Walker’s award-winning novel, The Color Purple, has been at the forefront of conversations about Black trauma since its initial release in 1982. The story, about a young Black girl living in...
View ArticleFirst Look Friday: Rahiem Supreme
Hip-hop is at a really interesting juncture at this particular moment in time. It really does feel that we went from a place where there weren’t enough seats at the table to a table overflowing with...
View ArticleOur Favorite Moments From the 66th Grammy Awards
We’re only two months into the year, and we’ve already witnessed major music history be made! Yesterday evening’s 66th Grammy Awards were chock full of moments for the record books with stellar...
View ArticleBlack History Month: Essential Books to Add to Your Reading List
From ancient myths and fables to modern societal criticism, Black authors have been a driving force in the preservation of culture, stories, and identities from all walks of life. While their presence...
View ArticleThe Hip-Hop Guide to NYC’s Best Restaurants
The bustling neighborhoods of New York City are home to some of the biggest names in music, past and present. With natives like Jay-Z, RUN-DMC, Nicki Minaj, and too many more to name, there’s no...
View ArticleNYC: The Ultimate Date Night Playground
New York City is alive with endless possibilities for date night. Looking for romance or something out of the ordinary? The city has you covered with its diverse range of spots. Imagine soaking in the...
View ArticleOkayplayer Presents Respect the Architect: Quelle Chris
Quelle Chris exists in his own, self-contained galaxy in the hip-hop universe. He knows no other way.The unconventional rapper, producer, and songwriter has developed an impeccable resume over a...
View ArticleOkayplayer Celebrates 25 Years With 25 Essential Artists From the OKP Boards
Okayplayer started with Amir “Questlove” Thompson much like Def Jam started with Rick Rubin. If you swap out the NYU dorm room with a Philly bedroom, Russell Simmons for Angela Nissel, and a hip-hop...
View ArticleShout Outs From the Okayplayer Extended Family on Our 25 Year Anniversary
Okayplayer is lucky to hold such a special place in music and culture. As we hit the quarter-century mark, here are some heartfelt words and memories from our extended family explaining what...
View ArticleOKP 25-Year Anniversary: The Exclusive Questlove Interview
“People always ask, ‘Why is Ahmir everywhere?’ And I just tell them that the gateway to everything is always Okayplayer,” Questlove said in an interview with Okayplayer for the site's 25-year...
View ArticleThe Masterful and Calculated Rise of Boldy James
It has never been easy to be a successful and skilled rapper, regardless of how rap fans tend to behave as if one-of-one talents grow on trees. Few understand the patience and wherewithal the job...
View ArticleIs ScHoolboy Q's 'Blue Lips' The Most Important Album of His Career?
The pace and amount of rap albums that drop per year have increased drastically from the 1990s, which has helped the genre become as huge as it is. On the flip side, albums don’t really feel like...
View ArticleJ. Cole’s Biggest Competition is Himself
J. Cole’s position in the pantheon of hip-hop has certainly been earned. With over 17 years in the game as a rapper and producer, he has notched six platinum solo albums and countless hits. However,...
View ArticleThe Most-Memorable Album Rollouts of the Last Decade
The artistry behind executing a good album rollout is a skill that not many artists of today can say they have mastered. While one may argue that an artist’s abilities should be gauged solely by the...
View ArticleFIRST LOOK FRIDAY: Asha Imuno’s Experiential Debut
Within the margins of a 16-track album, Asha Imuno defies the limitations of sound through a genre-bending storytelling experience. His debut album, PINS & NEEDLES, is most simply described as a...
View ArticleThe Fab Five: Our Most Anticipated Albums From Female Artists
Women move every needle — whether it’s entertainment, entrepreneurship, activism, or culture in general. March is Women’s History Month, a time to celebrate women’s contributions to history and to the...
View ArticleThe Love Hard Tour: An Unforgettable Night In Brooklyn With Keyshia Cole &...
As hoards of people poured out of Barclays Center on Sunday evening, it was clear that the events of the night had been made into everlasting memories. Keyshia Cole’s Love Hard Tour was a hit with...
View ArticleMissy Elliott Has Always Been A Time Traveler
Sampling in modern hip-hop has been a point of contention, with some rap fans feeling the samples are either too obvious, not flipped enough, or not different enough from the source material. That...
View ArticleWhat You Missed from the Viral Shannon Sharpe and Steve Stoute Interview
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Shannon Sharpe, the NFL Hall of Famer, has made himself a media superstar, through his work on Fox Sports, ESPN, and his own podcasts. On his hit...
View ArticleAll Hail The Queen
Hip-hop’s 50th anniversary was just last year; it was a time to celebrate our legends, from the early days of the genre to present day. One of the most important people in hip-hop is Queen Latifah,...
View ArticleBlack-Owned Bookstores in NYC to Check Out
We might be biased, but we know that New York City is one of the best cities in the world, and with such a bold statement, we’re backing it up with proof! We’ve always been big supporters of Black...
View Article'Hell's Kitchen,' Always Remember Where Dreams Begin
(This page contains content sponsored by the Broadway musical, Hell's Kitchen)The rousing new Broadway musical, Hell’s Kitchen, is a sensational production befitting the chart-topping catalog of...
View ArticleFirst Look Friday: tg.blk
Music reverberates everywhere, as it is a medium for conveying emotion. Much has been made about rap’s recent decline in popularity, but it’s as global as ever, with each region having its own version...
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