Okayplayer Tour ready to rock the mic at State

Courtesy of Geffen Records

The Roots are headlining the Okayplayer Tour, which hits Detroit on Sunday.

By Jacarl Melton

Daily Arts Writer

The year 2000 has seen its share of good hip-hop oriented tours. The Lyricist Lounge, Spitkickers and the Goodvibe tours were just some of the more memorable. Continuing with this trend is the Okayplayer tour, headlined by the Roots, which comes to Detroit this Sunday.

The basis for the tour is the website www. okayplayer.com, which started in 1999 as the Roots' homepage. Since its inception, however, it has grown to include other artists and groups considered on the cutting edge of urban music. Present occupants of the site include Common, D'Angelo, the Jazzyfatnastees, Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek and Dilated Peoples in addition to the Roots.

So far, the tour has included a number of acts. For the Detroit show, the advertised acts include Dead Prez, Bahamadia, Talib Kweli, the Jazzyfatnastees and Slum Village among others. It's important to stress that these are the advertised acts. In past Okayplayer shows, special guests have made appearances, an element that organizers of the event hope will draw more attendants.

However, drawing fans shouldn't be that difficult. Every act on the tour has a strong following, especially the Roots. Coming off the Grammy winning 1999 release "Things Fall Apart," members of the crew took a short hiatus from each other to pursue different works. Drummer ?uestlove toured with D'Angelo as well as contributed to the production of several albums, including Common's "Like Water For Chocolate." Rahzel, the "Godfather of Noyze," released his own album and Black Thought is set to drop a solo recording in the near future.

Part of the Roots' appeal is their use of instruments, a rarity in a hip-hop world ruled by turntables and digital audiotapes. Also, they are extremely energetic and keep crowds involved through standard segments and attractions like "Hip-Hop 101," which features performances of classic and contemporary hip-hop and funk classics, and either Scratch's or Rahzel's vocal antics. All in all, they are one of the most innovative groups in music today.

It's important to remember, though, that the other acts on the bill are no less able to rock the mic. On October 17th, Talib Kweli and DJ Hi-Tek released their highly anticipated full-length debut, "Reflection Eternal." They've spent the last several months in a constant state of touring, appearing with Dilated Peoples and on the Spitkickers tour. Although Kweli is often overshadowed by his Black Star cohort Mos Def, he can hold his own and should be viewed as one of the best MCs out currently.

In late 1999, the Jazzyfatnastees released their album "The Once and Future." However, this R&B duo is probably better known for the background vocals they've provided for the last few Roots albums. They buck conventional R&B trends by using instrumentation and not talking about "Bills, Bills, Bills," or other things of that nature.

Goodvibe label mates Slum Village and Bahamadia bring more even more flavor. Slum's lyrics and music put the fun back into hip-hop while at the same time celebrating their hometown of Detroit. Bahamadia is one of the best female MCs around with her somewhat monotone flow and good lyrical content.

To say the least, the Okayplayer Tour is special. The quality of the acts is impressive as well as the fact that one show could accommodate them all. If everything goes according to plan, this may go down as one of the best hip-hop tours in a year that featured a number of them.