2007 Okayplayer Holiday Jammy Recap, The Roots For Prez in ‘08, Waiting For Act II Just Like You, Jay-Z Steps Down.
Ok, we admit it. We had a SMALL Holiday party in NYC last week. The first ever Okayplayer Holiday Jammy was held at an exclusive and secret location in the lower east side of Manhattan. DJ ?uestlove set the mood as attendees trickled in. The hour arrived for the live music portion and host Black Thought welcomed the crowd of 200 to the “jump down” before The Roots (minus Kamal and Knuckles and featuring Tuba Gooding Jr, Robert Glasper and James Poyser) broke into the unreleased “Please Don’t Go.” Next they debuted the Hammond B3 and funk infused “Rising Down,” the title track off their upcoming album in stores April 29th on Def Jam Records. Let that be the first mark on your brand new calendars!
After The Roots came the Go Get A Late Pass trio who performed their signature 12 minute Dylan cover, “Masters Of War.” Okayplayer’s featured artist Amanda Diva took control of the mic to perform “Supa-Woman” off her one week old Life Experience release. Bilal and the Witness Protection Program closed out the night in style running through a ruckus medley of Led Zeppelin’s “Since I’ve Been Loving You,” Radiohead’s “Everything In It’s Right Place,” and Bilal’s own “Sometimes.” The soundboard recording of the medley comes compliments of ?uesto. Merry Christmas.
We had some photographers in the house to capture the performances including Big Mell (thanks for everything this past year) and man about town, TONE (scroll down to the third gallery). Special thank yous to Rachel Goldstein, Serge Becker, Simon Hammerstein, Mara Ingrim at Metromix, Sonya Freeman and Cadillac, Efrem Jenkins, Jon Cooper, Ariel Palitz, Gingerlynn, Andrea 3000, Jessica, Yayal (I hope that’s the spelling), Richard Nichols, Nelson George, Corey Smith, DJ Soul, ?uestlove, Black Thought, all the artists mentioned above, and all who were in attendance.
2008 is going to be a HUGE year for The Roots. Rising Down is shaping up to be another masterpiece and ?uesto is quoted as to saying that he’s getting TFA sized goose bumps listening to the roughs. Many cuts I heard are well suited for the live setting as well as to the improvisational element The Roots have been embracing more and more with each tour. The band is changing. In August, after 17 years and thousands upon thousands of miles, the Legendary Hub, the eldest member of the group, retired. Holding down the low end in his place are Owen Biddle & Tuba Gooding Jr. This year also saw The Roots with a steady horn section lead by the incredible Jeff Bradshaw. It was a big touring year for the band but the first since 1993 with no physical release. 2008 is about to see A LOT of both. This is with or without the help of Def Jam or its former president*. In general, spirits in the camp are very high so if you like what you’ve seen so far, you ain’t seen nothing yet!
A few more things before I sign off. It is Christmas, after all.
First up… regarding Jay Electronica. Netiher myself (a relatively new associate to Jay) nor fwmj have spoken to the man in about a week. Earlier he had said “Act II” would be revealed on Christmas day. From the looks if it, seems like that’s not happening. OH WELL. We can all wait patiently until Jay is ready. If and when we hear anything, we’ll let you know. It doesn’t help that dude’s myspace page has taken a hiatus. As far as we are concerned, we welcome the hype and the mystery that surrounds Jay Electronica. We just hope he doesn’t mind when we add to it 
RIP Oscar Peterson. Watch one of his solos then act like you know.
-dantana
*?uest and co. perform with Jigga on 12/29 in Vegas. In a crumbling industry, it’s hard to gauge the performance of Hov as label Prez. Def Jam did sell more records than most labels during his tenure and Rhiana and Ne-Yo became two of today’s latest superstars under his watch. Will his being gone result in any different situation for The Roots, for better or for worse? That remains to be seen. Did he do a good or bad job? Many of you guys out there seem to have an opinion. It seems very subjective considering the climate. Nowadays we need label executives who understand technology and teams of people who can devise new and exciting ways to work with it. As much as he spoke on it, Jay didn’t seem to bring any new ideas to the table. We’ll see if his replacement does… but tend to doubt it.