>i guess the "logical" thought is that the first draft of 19-24
>year olds we attracted in 99 are now 29-34 years old and if
>the rep of our fan base is indeed the upper echelon college
>edumuhcated type then that class of 99 draft are now smart
>responsible adults who have these things called "jobs" to tend
>to in the morning.

Correct.


>at least i hope this is the answer instead of what always
>lurks in my head which is "yall have been abandoned".
>clearly there is an audience out there. all the jams are sold
>out til july.

Wait, so you wondering if you've been abandoned when all the shows are sold out FOR THE NEXT TWO MONTHS? And I've been wondering why I can't get tickets...


>for the non hip hop based groups we are always paired with i
>notice their fan base stick to their groups. DMB/phish/phil
>and friends/et al never "re-up" on their fanbase like we do
>factory style. they just add on and add on......

Points to bear in mind:
*DMB, Phish, and Phil ain't pooling fans from three different ponds. It's one big pond they're pooling from. All three's fanbase = the same fanbase. Do you really know anybody who likes 1 but not all 3?
*Their music is openly more accesible. A lot of their fans are people who are or were scared to go down the rap aisle in FYE. That's why they've got more fans, they're attracting new listeners who won't listen to hip hop.
*You make a point of changing direction every album. You even say so in the interviews. Hip hop ain't the form of music where you can expect fans to understand that. Are hip hop fans stupid? No. But name another hip hop group that changes direction every album? Name another hip hop group that puts out enough albums to even CONSIDER the notion of changing directions? Hip hop fans suffer from only being able to eat what they're fed. And they damn sure ain't fed enough artists capable of changing direction every album.
*As for hip hop fans...Hip hop fans are bred a little differently. Inclusive, opinionated, at best honest/at worst disrespectful. It's one of the lesser traits of hip hop I can't say that I'm proud of. But then again, when most rappers can't make 3 decent albums, can you blame us? I'm afraid The Roots are A+ students in a room full of D students. It's going to be a loooooong semester.


>for some strange reason we can't "add on"---they chill like
>its a 4 year rest stop on the turnpike and then create some
>excuse for why they aren't interested anymore

"THEY" as in The Roots fans who you have to re-up? See my comments above.
"THEY" as in new Roots fans? I've been here since Kolby Kolb played THE SILENT TREATMENT BT REMIX on the Power 99 show RADIOACTIVE, so I can't speak on new heads any more than above.
"THEY" as in hip hop fans in general? I sincerely believe they're fully formed humans force-fed baby food.
"THEY" as in the white college crowd? I feel as though the white college crowd do their "slumming it" years when they're in college. Music, movies, experiences, thought/intelligence, dating. The ones who "create some excuse for why they aren't interested anymore" in their mid 20s become boring people by their 30s. The fact you're the only hip hop group still doing it that they've been turned on to is the reason you're noticing that. If Outkast was still together, they'd notice the same thing. And those "create some excuse..." heads aren't DMB/Phish/Phil fans STILL, they just keep playing the same records over and over again. They'll be those people who listen to the same old shit, only "supporting" as a form of nostalgia.


>(and yet the new
>discoveries speak of us like "we could kick ourselves for not
>being down with yall earlier....and then they do the same.)

A lot of those new discoveries are, in fact, that white college crowd, so in essence you're referencing the same group twice thinking they're two different groups.


>as long as we add on im not that worried.

You're on a major network five nights a week.
You're one of the only hip hop groups to consistently put out above-the-grade material since 199WHAT?
Hip hop is (slowly) losing its negative stigma, bringing with it new listeners.
Hip hop fans, in a strange majority, seem genuinely tired of wack shit.
You make fresh music without the big labels in an era when the big labels matter less and less.
"Those who doubt will soon believe." (c) some midwest rapper you helped make a superstar.


>i mean i got more followers on my twitter page than the
>website of my so called home.---its borderline more productive
>for me to announce shit there than here.

To be fair, this is true of just about everybody on the internet with a home. The fucking head of facebook uses Twitter.


>i mean--the roots keep the lights on over here....but i hardly
>see this place as a support system for the roots.

So much good stuff that's come to pass because of OKP, don't be the disgruntled doorman. Don't turn into Kevin Costner at the end of Field Of Dreams, mad because somebody else gets to walk through the cornfield. Be happy you built the field, even if all you get to do is watch the game.




"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams