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THE ROOTS TO LAUNCH OKAYPLAYER RECORDS
FIRST RELEASE SET FOR THIS SUMMER FEATURING THE HOTTEST UNDERGROUND ARTISTS
TWO UNSIGNED ACTS TO BE SELECTED FROM OKAYPLAYER.COM WEBSITE STARTING JANUARY 20
-Partnership with Decon and Red distribution will be the first in a series of albums-
- Unsigned artists entries can only be submitted from January 20 - Feb 13 -
The Roots have announced they will partner with Decon and Red Distribution to launch the new independent label Okayplayer Records. The first and yet-to-be named album set for release this summer will feature some of the hottest underground artists -- some of whom were part of the hugely successful "Winter Break" tour -- as well as two unsigned acts to be hand selected by the band from entries submitted to the Okayplayer website.
Between January 20 through February 13, Okayplayer Records will be accepting submissions from unsigned artists to be among the two chosen for a spot on the first album -- details can be found at Okayplayer.com. Thus far, the compilation includes tracks from members of the legendary Roots crew, Skillz, Jean Grae, Madlib, Aceyalone, Little Brother and Dilated Peoples. Roots drummer and founder Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson is the Executive Producer for the project.
"There is an array of untapped talent out there especially from the people who are members of the Okayplayer.com community. The Roots have always been a magnet for talented artists. This deal is important to us because we can now provide a vehicle for bringing deserving artists to the forefront. The Little Brother story is one that motivated us to put together this label," says Thompson.
Underground rap group Little Brother started out posting their music on the Okayplayer site and soon developed a following made up of Okayplayers (as the members are called) including founder ?uestlove. The band has opened for The Roots and was one of the featured acts on the recent tour, Also, Little Brother member and producer 9th Wonder was a featured producer on Jay Z's 'The Black Album.'
The deal further expands on the Roots' brand Okayplayer, which started with the website, founded in 1999 by Thompson to be the official website for the band. Okayplayer.com is now home to a number of artists including Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli, D'Angelo, Common, Dilated Peoples and Meshell Ndegeocello, and directly connects the musicians with the music consumer. With the support of the Okayplayers, the site also launched the first in a series of Okayplayer concert tours in 2000.
As a company, Decon brings together all the best in multi-media design and entertainment. Founded in 2000 by Peter Bittenbender and Jason Goldwatch, the company started as a small film production outfit and over the past 3 years, has rapidly grown into a successful design shop, independent record label and film/video production company Last year, Decon co-produced the Def Jux "Revenge of the Robots DVD" and a documentary for The Neptunes entitled "The Eighth Planet". During that same year, Decon signed hip-hop legend, Aceyalone, and released two albums through their deal with RED Distribution.
"Ernest Lee is Shorty. In the Little Leagues, he can front like he’s something important, but any attempt to move into the big time leaves him exposed, shocked, and utterly outclassed". - (taken from the Blowhard league archives)
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