In less than 12 hours, The Roots will release their newest CD, Phrenology, to retail stores -- and there is still much work to be done. An abundance of promotional gruntwork and media-blitzing wait ahead for the band and its label, MCA. But Brian Atkins sits comfortably in his Northern Liberties office, hesitant to reveal any personal apprehensions. "Everything is happening so quick you don't want to get caught up," says Atkins. "I don't want to lose focus." As the Host of Okayplayer.com -- the official website of The Roots and several other Neo-Soul artists -- Atkins is readying himself for the release of Phrenology with quasi-composure. "The album has been done for a few months now, so we've been able to sit back and prepare for its launch. We're excited for them in the office but it's not up to us anymore." Even though Okayplayer is a Roots subsidiary, at the moment the staff has more than Phrenology on their brains. Besides maintaining the official homepages for almost a dozen artists, including D'Angelo, Meshell Ndegeocello, and Jaguar Wright, their present docket includes promoting and designing new websites for Talib Kweli's Quality -- which dropped only a week before -- and Common's Electric Circus, which is due out a week later. "Three things at one time?" gripes Atkins as he slouches in his seat. "We're kind of spreading ourselves thin. But at the same time we're excited 'cause the time has come for each of these artists, so we try to dedicate as much time, energy and care that we can into each of those projects that they deserve." Additionally, Okayplayer has just relocated their offices to a bigger space across the hall. "Now we have windows," jokes Atkins, proud of their recent expansion. With the industrial aesthetic and freshly painted walls of their new offices, Okayplayer continues to lay the groundwork for hip hop culture on the internet. In the late 1990's, live hip hop collective The Roots helped trademark the Philly Neo-Soul movement, a musical backlash against commercialized art. It infused soul music with the so-called 'conscious' spirit of the hip hop generation, while igniting the careers of artists like Jill Scott and Musiq. It also ironically helped the Roots garner their first radio-friendly track "You Got Me," which also won the 1999 Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Group or Duo. At the same juncture, Okayplayer -- a versatile exclamation of Philly slang in of itself -- was spawned to give this musically conscious style an equally aware web destination for its followers. "Okayplayer didn't start as marketing tool, we started as a web community," says Atkins, a West Philadelphia native who came to Okayplayer shortly after the site went online in 1999. After graduating from Howard University with a degree in Film Production and a minor in Business, Atkins received a computer as a graduation gift, enabling him access to the internet. "Online, I met the girl who was starting this thing called Okayplayer.com with 'the guy with the afro from the Roots,' " gesturing his hands matter of factly. The girl was Penn graduate Angela Nissel (SAS '98). The creator and first webmaster of the site, Nissel, is currently a writer for the NBC show Scrubs, and originally contracted Atkins for work on Okayplayer because she needed someone to help her upload video footage. "She had a performance of the Roots and I just had to stick in some titles. Three months later she was like, 'Do you want a job making money for what you always wanted to do? And working for the Roots?'" Atkins playfully recalls. Working for the guy with the afro -- known regularly as Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, prominent drummer for the Roots -- meant helping to cultivate the official online sanctuary for Roots fans. But the mission soon changed, and the reach of the site expanded to cover other like-minded artists. As Thompson told the staff at TechTV's Audiofile last year, "The idea was to turn [Okayplayer] into more of an online hip-hop mall where other artists could buy stores." This concept was welcomed by the staff and the performers alike -- and definitely by fans. Where most musician's sites are cold and detached, Okayplayer veers itself entirely from this convention. "Nobody has access to the artists like we do," Atkins acknowledges. Project Manager Dan Petruzzi adds, "Being around the Roots, we've learned exactly what the artists need to get out of their websites." With that level of contact, Okayplayer has become a highly intimate site amongst scores of anonymous cyberspace locales. Perusers of the site can find the official homepages of the ten "Okayartists," as well as an ever changing line up of outside musical offerings in their "Featured Artist" and "Now Hear This!" sections. In the past, albums by spoken word poet Ursula Rucker and guitarist Cody Chesnutt have been introduced on the site. The artists are actively involved in the design of their homepages, which feature diaries or guestbooks to improve communicate with their fans. Along with the artists' sites, there are chat rooms, bulletin boards, streaming audio and video offerings, daily news updates, and Aaron McGruder's comic The Boondocks. One of Okayplayer's strong suits also comes from their refusal to use pop up and banner ads. "There will be times when we steer Okayplayer to be the way we want," Atkins says. "But it won't be too far off the realm of hip hop and just having fun." Unquestionably, the three-man staff -- consitisting of Atkins, Petruzzi and Head Designer Wreckk -- are indeed creators. While not as storied as the musicians whose sites they maintain, the trio are artists in of themselves, sculptors of one of the most unique entertainment websites on the internet. "We seem to have the formula," recognizes Atkins."We're cutting edge in that we are what's current and what's next." Petruzzi adds, "It takes dedication, 'cause this shit is hard."But for all of their toil, the music community is taking notice. "In this era of Hip Hop where 'money, ho's, cars, and guns' dominate the media, Okayplayer is an electronic antidote," says James Peterson, current media coordinator for the Harvard Hip Hop Archive and doctoral candidate within Penn's English department. "If you consider some of the artists that Okayplayer chooses to promote then you will understand why it is Hip Hop Culture's saving grace." The staff has also received accolades for their creativity, winning several local nods for their work. At the Online Hip Hop Awards, Okayplayer was honored for Best New Website in 2000 and for Best Overall Website in 2001. They also hosted a national Okayplayer tour in the fall of 1999 featuring the Roots, and plan to follow it up with a higher-profile sequel early this year. As Atkins glances at one of his Online Hip Hop Award trophies tucked away in his bookcase, he boasts, "We deserve a couple more."
Obviously ambivalent, Okayplayer is both modest and full of itself -- its swagger is met with humility, a balance that keeps its following faithful. Directly above the Okayplayer offices, an orbit of Roots-related enterprises subsist. The Studio, the building's plain-named center of creativity, is a recording facility that boats a broad clientele from Jill Scott to J-Lo. If The Studio is a hot spot for artists, Okayplayer is undoubtedly the place for the fans. The site gets over one hundred thousand visitors per day -- most of which also use the site's bulletin boards section called "The Writer's Block." With topics ranging from music to activism, the boards are a destination for multifarious dialogue. "If you are fan of it and you support it, you can come here and talk about whatever you want," says Atkins. Even though its content can be a bit untamed, he is also quick to defend the inflammatory nature of the message boards. "Okayplayer is important to a lot of people, so in that it's important to me... there is only room for interpersonal development, as well as getting [people] online to learn something." The participatory nature of the site -- along with its proximity to the artists it covers -- yields nuances never seen before in music. "They know where [the commentary] is coming from and it's coming from the general public," he says of how the site connects its artists to their fans. "That's the pulse of it, that's the beauty of Okayplayer; it's the blessing and the curse. This is your public; these are the people that are buying your record." Several months ago, as Common was still recording Electric Circus, he confessed to Atkins that he was considering changing the album's title to The Isness. Though not personally in favor of the change, Atkins turned to the site's community for a reaction. Shortly thereafter, many voiced their dissent concerning the amended title. "Several weeks later [Common] is in L.A., with the Neptunes producing his current single 'Come Close.' He gets online with Pharell from the Neptunes and sees the posts about The Isness." After Common viewed the messages left by his despondent fans, he describes the rapper's reaction: "He calls Ahmir and says, 'Tell those Okayplayer internet punks that the Circus is back.' Okayplayer apparently had an influence." But the site's and Atkins' own closeness to the artists does not always breed positive results. "I have to walk a fine line especially when it has to do with documenting things that can potentially reach the public." He adds, "I see I'm kind of walking the line between friend vs. the web guy; the guy who is a click away from putting your whole personal life on the web." And while part of Atkins' job description is to be a videographer of behind the scenes footage -- he produced a montage of Roots footage for a DVD that accompanies the Phrenology release -- he prefers to keep his camera on the periphery. "I don't want to be intrusive. I don't want it to feel like the camera is hawking them." Exhibiting his own uneasiness he admits, "It's like one degree of separation from what I see to what I can share, so I have to constantly watch myself." In fact, friction periodically creeps into the Okayplayer offices. "A few years ago, as soon as [Black Thought of the Roots] got his hair cut, -- he had dreadlocks for years-- it was the first day anybody had seen him with his locks off. I grabbed the camera and tried to lay low," recalls Atkins, recognizing that being secondary is often his aim. But the lead vocalist of the band seemed to have an irate response to Atkins' attempt to shoot. "'Why do you always gotta be taping shit, I can't get my haircut without everybody all on me,' " angrily imitates Atkins, and then pauses to recollect himself. "I'm thinking, 'oh -- he has a point.'" It's still Phrenology-eve, and the Okayplayer message boards are littered with fans clamoring with excitement over finally being able to hear the disc. One member, who goes by the name THEdirtyone, posts, "Where will it debut? Will most people get the DVD? How many new OKPs y'all think will sign up?" Others discuss such topics as how to get the CD in Canada and their favorite bootlegged tracks. Meanwhile, Atkins is reservedly skeptical. "It might be over their heads," he admits. Atkins says he hasn't heard the album in its entirety, but has heard a lot of the tracks simply because he was in the building through the course of its production upstairs. "To watch the music being made is like watching something get built brick by brick," Atkins recalls. "Websites are similar. It's like one image, one picture, and one page at a time. You must have a respect for your craft." In fact, work ethic is taken quite seriously in the office. "If I were to sit here and be idle, something would be wrong," Atkins says with a feverish intonation and a deep stare. "There's always something going on. We wouldn't have it any other way, we work late hours but we put it on ourselves." After tackling musician websites, the staff is now concocting fresh ways to broaden its own scope. With plans to reopen the online store and delve into fashion, Atkins also has a plan to utilize his film background to author more DVDs. His first full length project will document the upcoming 2003 Okayplayer tour. The site would also like to expand their Okayartist base, and Atkins mentions the possibility of hosting sites for authors, actors, and athletes. After guardedly dropping the name of Philadelphia Eagles Quarterback Donovan McNabb, he attempts to cover his tracks with a loud retort: "What the hell is a football player doing on Okayplayer?" Atkins' humor masks his moxie; Though he tries to portray these ideas as simple products of brainstorming, Okayplayer's plans for the future seem to have already been drawn. But for the present, Atkins must focus on the Kweli-Roots-Common trifecta. "The office hasn't been too frantic, but getting these three projects out at one time has been a bit much." And even with their anticipated online expansion and newly settled offices, Atkins reminds himself of the current reason to focus: The Roots' Phrenology site, which is still in need of final retouching before it can be put online. "It'll be up, it has to be up," Atkins promises, fully cognizant of the CD's increasingly impending release. As the sun set peeks through the windows at the Okayplayer offices, Brian Atkins is trying his best to pretend that tomorrow -- and for that matter the days following -- will adhere to routine: "We are going to just try and stay true to whatever it is that got us this far: Stay comedic, stay funny, stay fresh, and stay new. Keep reinventing ourselves but don't go stale and don't try too hard," and with a slight pause, "Don't change"
