I remember my friend Juan Tapia, from Miami Springs Sr. High first letting me hear DYWM on a tape he had in 11th grade during Graphics class.

It imploded my mind! I became more insular because I thought I'd come across music that existed only for me.

Anyway, an interesting story as far as i'm concerned and it made me wonder how the rest of the Okayplayers first came across The Roots music.

What's up novaburn1!

I'm 19 and I first got into The Roots when I was 15 (in 2010). I remember I was laying on my bed, researching hip hop because I was gaining an interest in alternative hip hop (one of my first favorites was Aesop Rock, sort of) sooo I googled and googled "alternative hip hop" and somehow came across The Roots. I was on Wikipedia (of all places) and came across the "Legacy" section, and read this:

"Many artists are now considered to be alternative/underground hip hop when they attempt to reflect what they believe to be the original elements of the culture. Artists/groups such as (great artists, blah) ...The Roots... (more great artists blah blah) and hundreds more emphasize messages of verbal skill, internal/external conflicts, life lessons, unity, social issues, or activism."

Aside from the 30 or so other names of artists/groups this section listed, the Roots' name stuck out to me. SO like I said I looked them up, and the first thing I did was listen to samples from DYWM on iTunes. (I like starting from the "beginning"... idk why I didn't check out "Organix" first tho, don't judge me lol I was young) I listened to all of the songs and since I had like $1 to spend, I was choosing between "Datskat", "Mellow My Man", "Swept Away", and "Essawhuman" because I was more interested in jazzy hip hop. I went with Mellow and to date I have bought The Roots' whole discography. And I was lucky enough to go to Philly on Friday the 31st during the unveiling of their Mural to get pics and autographs from ALL of them!! Whooooooo!!

Thanks for creating this post, lol

i came across the roots cuz this dude recommended it to me from the internet
then from there
jill scott
talib
mos
vivian green
back to common (i listened to him in the early 90s)
it was a cool branch of artists that stemmed from the roots

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