Coming from an artist whose songs have often sounded like soundtracks for a dungeon, Earl Sweatshirt’s new album Live Laugh Love, feels like an exercise in irony, but it’s actually a genuine shift in world view. After becoming a father, the former Odd Future member earned a proverbial new lease on life. “I think [Live Laugh Love] captured both parts of myself: being 16 and then also having a family,” Earl told The New York Times’ Popcast in a rollout interview for the album. “The ...| Okayplayer
Before Jamila Sams built her award-winning education platform, We Do It 4 the Culture, she was behind the lens capturing hip-hop’s early digital rise. In the late ’90s, she freelanced as a photographer for Okayplayer during its message board heyday, even getting shoutouts from Questlove. “I used to intern with Annie Leibovitz in New York City, and I remember helping to edit some of the photographs from when she shot The Roots for Vanity Fair,” Sams said. “Even though Amir and Tariq ...| Okayplayer
It all started with a walk on the beach. During the pandemic, when everyone was rediscovering the outdoors, Jessa Williams noticed a line of small children carrying surfboards into the ocean. Their tiny bodies against the endless blue mystified her. A transplant from Cleveland, OH, still adjusting to LA’s coastal rhythms, she couldn’t shake the image. “The kids [in LA] have this lifestyle growing up where they are introduced to the water at a very young age. And so that sparked the idea...| Okayplayer
The whole, “music is my only language” thing can ring through as gimmicky, but talking to Kee Nola, you get the feeling it’s not empty corporate storytelling. Quiet, collected and humble, the 22-year-old’s day-to-day self is much more subdued than the expressive crooner that’s racked up millions of Spotify streams on his way to becoming an emerging star. A master of moody melody, the multi-instrumentalist channels his emotions through punk-inflected tracks that make you think of Jui...| Okayplayer