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“D’Angelo said, “We’re going to Electric Lady…it has the blessings of the spirits. We have to go there. It’s only right.”
Formation
In early 1996, D’Angelo started to work on his sophomore album, Voodoo, with Russell Elevado, a frequent collaborator at the time. Unhappy with recording at Battery Studios, D’Angelo was listening to his record collection when Russell noticed Stevie Wonder’s Talking Book and Music of My Mind, which were both recorded at Electric Lady Studios. Russell states, ”This was when he was really starting to get into Jimi Hendrix. I told him that we should go to Electric Lady Studios to record it.”
Shortly before Jimi Hendrix passed he founded Electric Lady Studios. Acts such as AC/DC, The Clash, David Bowie, Hall and Oates, and Led Zeppelin all recorded here during its heyday. After some time, however, the studio was forgotten. D’Angelo and Russell were blowing the dust off of the Fender Rhoades Stevie Wonder once used. Equipment at Electric Lady stayed, and basses from the 50’s and a drum kit from 1968 were used during the Soulquarians’ recordings.
In early 1997, the Voodoo sessions at Electric Lady were in full effect. It got tiring with Questlove playing drums on D’Angelo’s album in New York and for The Root’s album in Philadelphia. Eventually, he relocated The Root’s album, Things Fall Apart, to Studio B of Electric Lady. These respective album sessions attracted stars such as Mariah Carey, Lauryn Hill, Rick Rubin, Chris Rock, and eventual Soulquarian member, Q-Tip. D’Angelo and Questlove would spend hours watching Prince concerts and Michael Jackson, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, and Soul Train episodes. As another way of studying influences, D’Angelo and Questlove would spend thousands of dollars on records, then go back to the studio and begin listening. Questlove gave praise to Prince, Al Green, and Joni Mitchell as the main songwriting influences during this era.
The Peak of the Soulquarians
As Questlove put it, ”I’ll say that activity at Electric Lady went full throttle in early 1998.” At this time, the Electric Lady sessions had attracted more collaborators to work on these projects as well as their own. Questlove was known for being the one to introduce others to what was happening at the Electric Lady Studios. Eventually, Mos Def was playing bass during jam sessions with D’Angelo, J Dilla and Questlove were having beat battles in which J Dilla won every time, and Common and Erykah Badu began making their albums in other studio rooms.
Common’s album Like Water for Chocolate started recording in 1998, as well as Erykah Badu’s Mama’s Gun. James Poyser was working the keys on all these projects, Pino Palladino on bass, and Roy Hargrove on trumpet/horns. All while Questlove played the drums for all the albums being recorded at this time. J Dilla was credited with taking the lead on Common’s album sessions, working on his group Slum Village’s album Fantastic, Vol. 2, and producing several tracks on Erykah Badu’s Mama’s Gun. Questlove was seen as the face and leader of the group, while J Dilla served as the heartbeat and engine.
Since all these albums were being worked on simultaneously, songs were passed around the studios, ending up on other projects. “Chicken Grease,” which is now on Voodoo, was originally for Common’s Like Water for Chocolate. However, Common’s song ”Ghetto Heaven,” was made for D’Angelo’s Voodoo. D’Angelo thought that Common didn’t know what to do with the funk on “Chicken Grease” so Questlove brokered a peace deal to give “Chicken Grease,” to D’Angelo and to give Common “Ghetto Heaven.”
Bilal was also working on his debut album, First Born Second, in addition to contributing to the others being recorded. ”I had a sleeping bag there because I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to live there.” The energy of these Electric Lady Studio sessions were rapidly spreading as these projects were nearing completion. Things Fall Apart by The Roots came out in February of 1999, and focus began to shift to D’Angelo, Common, and Erykah Badu’s albums.
D’Angelo’s Voodoo was an album created based primarily on jam sessions that turned into songs. Russell said, “It was just straight jamming and recording. We went through 200 reels of tape that year.” D’Angelo, Questlove, and Pino would go into the studio and jam for hours and then play back the tape to find something they could turn into a fleshed-out song. Honing in on this experimentation was the spirit of the Soulquarians. D’Angelo was an orchestrator for the “Soultronics” band he was putting together. He made Questlove drum in a sloppy, behind-the-beat way that was similar to how J Dilla was producing his drums. Also, he wanted the basslines played by Pino to have a James Jamerson quality.
The name Soulquarians came from the fact that ”6 or 7” of them were Aquarius’. Erykah and Common were born a couple of weeks too late but didn’t want to be left out. After finding this out about each other they decided the name was an effective way to call the group between each other.
The Collapse
Voodoo was released on January 25, 2000, and Common’s project was released in March of that year. Erykah Badu’s Mama’s Gun was released in November 2000, cementing it as the final album recorded at Electric Lady during the Soulquarians’ era. As the conclusion of the Soulquarians’ era came to fruition, fingers were pointed at several reasons.
Questlove stated, “The Vibe magazine photo was the beginning of the end. Because when that issue came out, motherf—ers were angry.” Questlove agreed to do a story with Vibe in September 2000 as long as they made it about the community he was working with rather than just himself. Questlove puts it, “The thing was we never had a title, but because the journalist was hanging with us the whole time, they were like you guys keep saying Soulquarians all of the time. I explained the difference. I said that the Soulquarians were me, James, D’Angelo, and J. Dilla. The Soultronics was the group we were putting together with D’Angelo. So when we took the photo and then I saw the Vibe cover it said The Soulquarians.” Having a title put on those not officially in The Soulquarians made it seem like they were working for Questlove, which they weren’t too happy about. Another factor in the cessation of the group was J Dilla’s rapidly declining health.
An unfortunate turn was J Dilla experiencing a mix of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (a rare blood disease) as well as lupus. He was diagnosed in 2003 and was later hospitalized and began to drastically lose weight, which dramatically changed his output and the Soulquarians. He passed away in 2006, three days after the release of his album Donuts, which is viewed now as the perfect culmination of a renowned career.
Legacy
The “Electric Eight” (Common, Mos Def, Bilal, D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, James Poyser, Questlove, and J Dilla) performed at the filming of Dave Chappelle’s Block Party in 2004. This was the last time the Soulquarians, or Electric Eight, performed together on stage. When speaking back on this performance, Questlove says, “I knew that was our funeral. I knew that the next renaissance wasn’t going to be Roots-centric. Seeing Kanye [West] with the marching band from that movie, I knew I wasn’t going to be central to the next movement anymore.”
Today, this era of music-making and creativity is renowned as one of the most important in recent history. Artists today such as Frank Ocean, Thundercat, Beyoncé, and Kendrick Lamar are directly influenced by the work released during this era by the Soulquarians. Also, the rejuvenation of Electric Lady Studios can be credited to D’Angelo and Russell Elevado with artists such as Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, and Daft Punk recording albums here. Now the Soulquarians, or Electric Eight, are a story of the past, as most members haven’t collaborated since the early 2000’s. A movement of neo-soul, R&B, hip-hop, and soul music is one way to view their era, while you could also see it as a movement of artists expressing themselves surrounded by like-minded creatives through their most spiritual work to date.
Essential Soulquarian Tracks
Untitled (How Does it Feel) - D’Angelo
Didn’t Cha Know - Erykah Badu
Dooinit - Common
Send it On - D’Angelo
Double Trouble - The Roots
Bag Lady - Erykah Badu
Soul Sista - Bilal
The Light - Common
Fall in Love - Slum Village
Chicken Grease - D’Angelo
Funky For You - Common
Dynamite! - The Roots
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