[]its not about that at all.

what it is about is a family vibe.

-most of the artists here run in the same artistic circles, they run the black lily, they are a musical family, for dilated explanation check the lesson archives, last page post by k_orr

-that artistic family vibe carries over to the staff, how many websites do you go to where you could give all the names of the staff, and an amusing fact or three about each one.

-and all of that gets pushed onto the boards, b/c they and the artists post. it makes the posters(or at least it used too) feel a little more connected to each other than other message boards.

So now what happens if you add an artist who already has his own musical family?

It will just be odd, i mean i'm not saying its bullshit b/c Jigga wont post to the boards, i mean most artists dont anymore. But at least you can look at the artists and see like bonds between them.

If you add Jay as i said before, its like hanging out with your friends from that cousin from out of town. WIth you he feels out of place and is all quiet. Take him back home and he is perfectly at ease with his own friends doing his usual thing.

HOWEVER with the number of internet hip hop sites decreasing i think okayplayer does have a choice. It can move away from this family vibe/close knit thing and expand. Take on more artists from all walks of hip hop and become not only the home of Roots, D', Commmon and the Jazzies but ALL hip hop. I just dont see though how they could keep the vibe and go that level.