The Musical Movement We Don’t Talk About Enough
In the late 90s, Questlove helped found a collective of musicians and artists including D’Angelo, James Poyser, J Dilla, Erykah Badu, Common, Bilal, and others like Q Tip, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and Pino Palladino.
They were dubbed, somewhat accidentally, the “Soulquarians” and this collection of albums is some of the best music ever recorded and has influenced so much music, in completely other genres since.
Today I’m talking all about the Soulquarians, D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, Common, J Dilla, The Roots etc, diving into specifics of their recording process, some of the albums, their influence since, and how all throughout Questlove knew what he had to do to make it big: build a music scene
Stream the Listening Guide, which includes every song mentioned in this video: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5sIqVFtXp9Xz5cld3S1Pzr?si=bca3a80b47fd4237
Here’s the Kanye Video I mentioned in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUz2t2L32yE
SOURCES
Here are the primary sources I consulted for the facts of this video:
https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2015/06/the-soulquarians-at-electric-lady
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/08/arts/music/playing-changes-excerpt-soulquarians-dangelo.html
https://theboombox.com/the-soulquarians-changed-hip-hop-soul-music/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
Dan Charnas’ book, “Dilla Time”: https://amzn.to/3JXrAcP
Questlove’s book “Music is History”: https://amzn.to/3phQfiW
Get the vinyl of these albums:
Like Water for Chocolate: https://amzn.to/3zPA4xX
Voodoo: https://amzn.to/3C1EqEU
Things Fall Apart: https://amzn.to/3SMIL4H
Mama’s Gun: https://amzn.to/3C21bZh
In regards to the Questlove/D’Angelo/House of Blues story – there are two versions of this story that Questlove has told. They’re both the same, but the song is different. One version features Questlove playing the beat from the song “Four” by Madhouse (a Prince side project). The other, more recent telling of the story is Quest playing in the looser Dilla style. That version of the story is told in his recent interview with Talib Kweli: https://youtu.be/r_nmfs-TgGQ?t=3148
That interview also features Questlove talking about the fact that other groups had music scenes around them, and The Roots didn’t.
One other correction: Questlove’s moniker doesn’t trace back to A Tribe Called Quest. Re-reading through his book, I realize I misunderstood the wording.
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Topics:
Soulquarians
Questlove
Erykah Badu
Common
The Roots
D’Angelo
Voodoo
Like Water For Chocolate
Mama’s Gun
J Dilla
Jay Dee
Things Fall Apart
Neo Soul
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