Soulquarians

The Soulquarians were a rotating collective of experimental black music artists active during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Members of the collective included singer and multi-instrumentalist D'Angelo, drummer and producer Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, producer J Dilla, singer-songwriter Erykah Badu, trumpeter Roy Hargrove, keyboardist James Poyser, singer Bilal, bassist Pino Palladino, rapper-producers Q-Tip and Mos Def, and rappers Talib Kweli and Common. Prior to its formation, Q-Tip, Common, Mos Def, and Talib Kweli were members of the Native Tongues collective.
The collective's members often collaborated on each other's recordings, holding extensive and innovative sessions at Electric Lady Studios in New York, which produced several well-received albums. Questlove of the hip hop band the Roots acted as the "musical powerhouse" behind several of the collective's projects, including the Roots' "Things Fall Apart" (1999), D'Angelo's "Voodoo" (2000), Badu's "Mama's Gun" (2000), and Common's "Like Water for Chocolate" (2000). Reflecting on their recordings, Common told "Spin" in 2008: "It was one of those time periods that you don't even realize when you're going through it that it's powerful".
Background.
The name of the collective is derived from an astrology sign. The founding members of the collective—Questlove from the Roots, D'Angelo, James Poyser, and J Dilla—share the sign of Aquarius. Questlove, D'Angelo, Poyser, and J Dilla came together after discovering they had a common interest for the unconventional—offbeat rhythms, irregular chords, and other traits often exhibited by the underground urban music scene. Also around this time, D'Angelo and Welsh bassist Pino Palladino developed a connection over their mutual love of Motown and other classic soul music, and Palladino became active in the project, playing on the majority of their discography and serving as a member of the Soultronics touring band that supported D'Angelo's "Voodoo" tour.
Recording at Electric Lady.
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, members of the collective held jam sessions while recording their respective albums at Electric Lady Studios in New York. This began in 1997 when D'Angelo and Questlove prepared to record the former's "Voodoo" (2000) album at the studio. The collective's sessions there over the next five years resulted in the Roots' albums "Things Fall Apart" (1999) and "Phrenology" (2002), Badu's second album "Mama's Gun" (2000), Common's "Like Water for Chocolate" (2000) and "Electric Circus" (2002), and singer Bilal's debut album "1st Born Second". According to music journalist Michael Gonzales, their sessions were marked by an experimentation with "dirty soul, muddy water blues, Black Ark dub science, mix-master madness, screeching guitars, old school hip-hop, gutbucket romanticism, inspired lyricism, African chats and aesthetics, pimpin' politics, strange Moogs, Kraftwerk synths and spacey noise". The musical approach also influenced the collective's associated musicians, including Mos Def's "Black on Both Sides" (1999), singer Res's "How I Do" (2001), and rapper Talib Kweli's "Quality" (2002).
Questlove served as what Jim DeRogatis called "the musical powerhouse" behind the colective's sessions at the studio. "I tried to do all in my power that I could to bring people together – to bring Common to Electric Lady, have him record here whenever so that he could record with some of these other artists", Questlove explained in 2002. "You'd just come into [the studio's] A Room, you don't even know who has a session, but you call me: 'Who's down there?' 'Common's in there today.' So you come down, you order some food, sit down and bullshit, watch a movie, and then it's, 'Let's play something.' And I say, 'Who wants this [track]?' And it would be, 'I want it!' 'No, I want it!'"
The Soulquarians' period at the studio ended due in part to the experimental nature of some of their recordings becoming commercial liabilities. Bilal held improvisatory jam sessions at the studio for his second album, "Love for Sale", but its experimental direction alienated his label from releasing it. Common's similarly experimental "Electric Circus" sold disappointingly, which discouraged MCA Records, Common and the Roots' label, from letting the artistically-free environment at the studio continue.
Legacy.
In 2003, Questlove unequivocally stated that there were no plans for a Soulquarians album release for the foreseeable future. This was interpreted as a silent breakup of the outfit. However, according to an interview with Common (circa 2005), the collective continued to exist. In 2006, Bilal's "Love for Sale" leaked and was indefinitely shelved by his label, although it developed an underground following and wide acclaim over the years. Reflecting on the collective's impact since then, Gonzales writes in 2015:
Discography.
Albums produced wholly or partly by the Soulquarians: