To clarify some poor wording on my part: when I say that The Roots were "hip hop outcasts" what I mean is, especially for the time, a hip hop band was uncommon (though not unheard of). They were doing things very differently than the East Coast, West Coast, and South scenes of the time. This isn't a sleight against The Roots - It's just explaining the problem that reaches it's climax at the Source Awards. This idea is in line with the quote below: Another clarification: "hip hop was one thing, and then there was The Roots": I am NOT saying that I don't consider The Roots to be hip hop. I'm pulling this idea from Questlove himself from his book "Music is History". He explains in the chapter "1997" how around 2006 Nas saw the Roots play and was blown away, but Quest realized it was because he had never actually heard them before. "This was always my biggest fear, that we were Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and here was proof. Hip-Hop still hadn't listened to us." I should have explained this clearer, and included my source directly before making a claim that invokes such a knee jerk reaction. It's not about personal taste or me trying to say what is and isn't hip hop, so my apologies if that's how it came off. But The Roots were a different thing and didn't feel accepted by hip hop during this time.
Indeed the roots used to play instruments since a long time that's why they were outcasts Many hip hop artists didn't had musicians compose their beats
Nahh, I knew what you meant and you were spot on. They are still the "Outkast".😉 As in, different from all the rest. In a good way just like your video. Good stuff My Bro! Thank you for the effort you put in to this. I appreciate it as this was a great time for music for me.
Re the outcasts, was this in the time of the Digable Planets? Would you say there was a budding movement albeit not as commercial and well known? Or that The Roots pionered it?
I just discovered your channel and will definitely be catching up with your back catalog. Born in '92, I'm learning a lot. You are well researched, your passion for music and appreciation of hip hop is clear. Keep up the great work! I would love to see a video on street poetry's influences on early hip hop like The Watts Prophets, Gil Scott Heron, and The Last Poets. Or even the broader conscious hip hop movement happening before/around Soulquarians... ATCQ, Digable Planets, The Pharcyde, De La Soul, Black Sheep, Arrested Development, etc. Anything you drop will be great, keep up the great work!
I'm with you. I read a recommendation of Erykah Badu's debut album and my life has never been the same. That genre is the sweetest music movement I've ever heard.
He forgot about Raphael Saddiq who was also part of The Soulquarians. He produced some major classics for D'Angelo, Bilal, Erykah, Q Tip and The Roots.
True that. I had no idea they all recorded together. But it's awesome, because I just naturally gravitated toward those 4 albums when they came out; guess I never read the liner notes closely, I only remember seeing James Poyser across all of them. If they were tapes, they would have been worn out.
What I truly appreciate is how you have weaved musical context in with the hip hop historiography that is Questlove. Everyone should read his books. Because they are incredible.
Alright then! Across the Digging the Great's essays I've seen and these endorsements, I guess I got another run to the bookstore in me. Bought Dilla Time last week, lol. 'Cuz of this video. 😀
@@SithMirth dilla time is a brilliant biopic... Loved all the music but that book really sucked me into the stories behind it. Also highly recommend dj premiers TH-cam channel, he has videos where he talks about some of the classics he's made over the years
Without even realising it, I've accumulated a playlist over the years that involve all these people. I had no idea, while the indescribable yet familiar feeling it gave me, that they were this connected. A history lesson I very much appreciate, really cool to see.
This video was so well put together and entertaining. Huge fan of Dilla, Questlove, D’angelo and Badu but never knew about how all their stories weee this closely linked. Great video, defo deserves waaaayyyy more views!
Kind of a tangent, but I think it's cool how Korea has kind of taken the soul/R&B torch and kept it alive in the mainstream. So many amazing Korean R&B artists!
Exactly, I knew a song like untitled for years before finding out the rest of the album is actually waaaayy more awesome, like the roots and one mo gin
I remember my dad heard my playing Voodoo and he immediately fell in love with it. He was a huge Curits Mayfield fan. I think he was just happy my musical tastes went beyond Jay Z and Snoop Dog
Same. It seems to be personal for each person who listens, too. Its like you feel like or want to gatekeep the album because of this reason, it feels individually made just for you, yet that feeling is somehow universal for everyone.
I lived this whole movement. Meeting Questlove, Bilal, Jill, Musiq, Erykah has a painting of mines from back then, Common took the 1 photo i have with her. Dilla became a muse. I never got to meet him, but oddly enough me and his moms (Ma Dukes) are friends to this day. She even appeared in one of my music videos. I remember going to the concerts, and eventually performing at the Black Lilly. This whole time period birthed me. I feel so fortunate. Im a musician NOW because of it. I am forever grateful. Alot of great stories. Good job on the vid.
Weird night on the internet, I go seeking banjo strings and end up here. Love your presentation, style and energy! I noticed you have a new channel. I can say as someone who's worked on multi-year weekly-release creative endeavors, I hope you'll take the opportunity to smell the roses, and keep in touch with yourself through this wonderful process of content creation - it's clear that to me that you're incredibly talented and that this channel has huge potential, so I just wanted to be that voice for the times it might feel like there is none. Thank you for sharing your joy, and for being you!
Alternatively called “Neo-Soul” Truly one of the GREATEST period of music of all time! Also DJ Jazzy Jeff heavily influenced, discovered and produced many artist. PHILLY!! ✨
The Roots did come from somewhere, Philly and it's amazing music scene. This was the time of neo soul, also mostly all from Philly. Jill Scott, Musiq Soulchild, Vivian Greene, Jazmine Sullivan, Bilal, Zhane, and of course the Roots.
This is history. You did a short but comprehensive study on that movement. .....ahhh...my favorite time in Black Music. I used to go down to a club called the Five Spot in Philly. Mostly all the Soulquarians were there. The Roots was the house band. I remember seeing Diddy, isolated in a corner, bobbin his head. I met India Irie there....word got out, and soon you had to stand for hours to get in. It was amazing. Great video. subscribed.
The Soulquarians had to be the most Innovative Musical Collective in my time so far,and I'm going on 45. Probably the most exciting collective to ever record at Electric Ladyland Studios.
@@Kevinschart Oh Indeed! During HS I put everybody i knew who had a "good ear" on to them,literally having to explain who everyone was and what connection they had with each other!! LOL! good times good vibes.😅
Crazy, I was at that show at the HOB. Didn't even know this happened there. This was probably one of the most epic shows I've seen. The lineup was The Roots, Fugees and Goodie Mob. Great video and series. Nice to see true appreciation of the craft and culture. Thank you. Oh btw, would be dope to see an episode on Hiero.
In the late 90's there was a club in Barcelona called Jamboree that exclusively played Soulquarian, Slum Village, and Dilla records after the live jazz finished by midnight. I went with three of my friends who all ended up drunk and falling out with each other over who was hooking with me later on. Hearing that music you knew it was on a level you just hadn't heard anywhere before it was sonic. Looking back now i feel lucky to have caught that moment as it was happening.. even if it did involve friends getting a bit too turned on by it.
@@hugobecookin Sorry I live in the UK now. For the past several years the London Jazz scene that's appeared has similarities to that Soulquarian vibe mixed with UK Broken Beat. If Alfa Mist, Yussef Dayes, or Joe Armon Jones ever perform in Barcelona then definitely worth checking out.
Wait what??? These artists impacted my life tremendously and I can't believe they were connected thru Quest. Never stop documenting this history my guy
Roy Hargrove’s ‘Hard Groove’ is a criminally underrated Soulaquarians record. It has D’angelo, Common, Pino Palladino, James Poyser and more. One of the best tracks, ‘Poetry’ has Q-Tip and Erykah Badu in it
I don’t think it’s underrated at all, RH Factor was a pretty big deal. ”Pastor T” is just nasty! Coming from a jazz perspective, I was kind of disappointed that Roy didn’t solo that much (he was one of the greatest modern era jazz trumpetists)…but this was a different type of project.
It feels like Christmas to find a great TH-cam channel like this one. The love that you put into this video is so evident and is greatly appreciated. You have an enthusiastic new subscriber!
This channel is gonna be huge - your appreciation and understanding of the depth of the culture surrounding all of the come up stories for these artists is amazing. ❣️❣️❣️
Great pull quote from Charnas' "Dilla Time" (a must-read!): "Neo-soul was a revival of soul's analog heyday by its digital children." That one jumped out to me as well. This video does a great job of contextualizing some of Charnas' info regarding those Electric Lady sessions!
This video is actually perfect! So engaging, entertaining and informative. I'm such a massive fan of all of these people but I had noooo idea how closely interlinked they were and how central QuestLove was to them all. Crazy! You learn something every day, man! This video was lovely. Keep it going 💃🏽👏🏽
Man you are turning me into a super fan by digging so deep into the most interesting points and subjects of some of the most amazing music ever created.
I've seen almost all the groups you mentioned at the Montreux Jazz Festival where I worked backstage shooting video. Had the pleasure of meeting a few of these Soulquarians. Saw The Roots perform twice. Amazing! The musicianship was amazing. They even broke into a Led Zep tune. They killed it! Great stuff on your part man. Thanks
This was a great video. I'm a little sad they didn't mention Jill Scott as part of that movement other than the block party. I mean although she didn't record in Electric Lady Studios she was and is closely linked to the Roots as practically a member. I mean she wrote the "You Got Me" hook for the Roots and Erykah sung it. They sing it together in the block party. She also uses The Roots as an opening for introducing her on her debut album which came out during the era. This still was so amazingly nostalgic for me as I was coming of age during this time. My 1st concert i paid for and went alone to was the SpitKicker tour with many of those same artists back in 99. Common surprised us with Erykah that night and I even got to see him after the show. It was such a beautiful time.
comments like this definitely make me feel old. I was in high school when voodoo dropped. There were two types of kids back then. Those that leaned towards the roots and those that leaned towards Biggie. If you liked the roots then you were tapped into all the Dilla/Neo Soul artists. For me it goes back to Tony Toni Tone and Raphael Saadiq. He was really the catalyst for me.
Honestly one of my favourite videos ever. Some of these are my favourite artists and albums and I didn’t even realise how connected they all are. Great job 👏
They also recorded The Roots "Phrenology" and Common's Electric Circus, which are both great and insane records. I know Electric Circus is not ranked high in his discography but i love everything about it.
I love those albums. I don't even care that Electric Cicrus isn't highly ranked. In the liner notes, Common even recognizes that it wouldn't be for everyone. But I thought both of those albums were experiments that worked extremely well.
This is probably one of the best videos I’ve ever seen. Seriously! As a musician, this was super informative, eye-opening, and entertaining :) keep it up man! Keep going, I’ll be watching!
I’ve always felt like the true end of the Soulquarians was J. Dilla’s death. Questlove may not want to admit it, but the fact that their collective profiles were raised in the years afterwards would have made it too hard to resist getting Q, James Poyser, D’Angelo, Dilla and everyone back together to see what would happen.
This makes my heart sing! Every reference, the D’Angelo/ Questlove lore, and than the passion and knowledge you have! Well done sir! Can’t wait to read that book you recommended. ❤️🔥🥰❤️🔥
This entire video was so fascinating! The 19 minutes went so fast and I’ve now got a few new albums to dive into, thank you so much for creating such a great video Brandon! 🤍
Like Water for Chocolate to me will always be the most underrated hip hop album of all time. It was so fantastic with no filler! It was the epitome of where hip hop was suppose to go after 1999 before pop and crunk took it over.
@@jamesduckery that trumpet solo, chants and kick drum sequence had me flying in the friendly sky with no other help needed ;) Def one of the best intros
No joke, I’ve watched 3-4 videos in succession now and i absolutely love the knowledge bombs you drop! Hope you stay the course, digging into the origin and history of music is good for the soul, it’s a universal language and you’re speaking to us all. Thank you. 🙌🏼🤙🏼
My man, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Just discovered your channel and this video blows my mind. I was learning to express myself through music and instruments while listening to all these amazing artists in the late 90s. Focused on the music and not living in the US, I did not know much about them aside from their records. But now I learn that this family I pictured in my musical pantheon is an actual cultural movement and they all jammed together?! That is dope AF.
Saw Pino play for the John Mayer Trio about 20 years ago and was blown away at his range. This Channel is opening new thoughts in my mind around music.
Hey man, thank you. The love, care and respect you have for the music and the craft is tangible and translates into your videos. You are exactly what is wonderful about TH-cam. ♡ Keep it up!
Have a metalhead friend who swears by this. He’s been to dozens of the heaviest shows you could ever imagine, but will always say roots have the best one he’s ever seen
This is such a great video!! As a breaker, 90s era music will always be my favorite to get down and dance to - A+ vibes and so much complexity to hit on in movement
Always been a fan of the artists from this circle and never knew they were so closely linked to each other. Absolute gem of a video! You got a new follower from now on! 🔥
Wow. Just wow. I new the whole story already, but! There's soooo much effort and soul behind the video that same story shines like an alien spaceship. You really love what you do, please do not stop, please proceed!
I love seeing videos, podcasts, articles, and just any form of media on the Soulquarians and D'Angelo. Your videos on this subject are some of the best I've seen. So well done and unique. I'm a fan.
I’m impressed, u did a great job here man! I love anything and everything from that musical collective, I’m hoping they will eventually release more tunes/jams from those electric lady sessions. 🙏
Just found this channel via your jDilla video . Without a doubt the greatest period in hiphop for me . I was lucky enough to tour with The Who 2007 playing 14 shows supporting them . At the time Pino was playing bass . From the very first day I met Pino he was wonderfully graceful and generous with his time and every single day we would hang out and talk about this period . The sessions, how they got those grooves and funny enough he mentioned some of the ideas you explained in the Dilla Vid. I got to play the now infamous red 62 P Bass which is unbelievable by the way. Each day he’d say hey scouse as we arrived ( Scouse because I’m from Liverpool UK) since then I’ve met Pino numerous times and happy to say he still remembered my name even after 5 years. Great man great player . I’m not a fan of the who at all really but watching Pino play those songs every night literally sat 10 ft from him was amazing . I learned so much in 14 shows I couldn’t begin to explain it all. Anyways great vids .
Thakyou for this!!!! I grew up in North Philly as a child in the late 90s and I always find comfort in the music of my neighborhood. This is music is part of who I am!!!!
As a life long percussionist, I dont feel like it is so hard to play push pulls, but I also think playing to a click is harder than people give it credit for. Music is pulse IN A time, not THE time. Pushes and pulls happen when you shuffle and groove. Feeling it and jamming out is always different than playing a click. Tracking is tough. Its awesome the sounds they got from those drum mixes and bass sounds. absolutely classic.
Dude I love your videos! Ive slowly been falling in love with this generation of music, Dilla Badu Denagelo all one by one. But to find out they were all simultaneously collaborating on their albums together! Love shit like this. Thank you for capturing this moment of time where these geniuses came together
In high school, one of my teachers was cousins with Proof who used to be good friends with J Dilla. He showed me so many of his music and I've expanded out since then, he was great
This was so interesting! I was only 18 in 1999 so I didn't fully grasp the inner-connectedness of all of these artists. I have enjoyed their music individually without knowing about this solid thread. Thanks for this video and looking forward to seeing more content from this channel.
Great video. I was in my first couple of years of college during this time. These artist, and those 4 albums in particular, were the soundtrack of my college years. A magical time for music indeed! “Can’t imagine goin’ through it without soul music.”
First of all, as a fellow dj, I love the way you made this video! I love what came from the collective of the Soulquarians. I wonder if there are some other extended musicians who could be considered to be part of the collective, like Lauryn Hill, or Raphael Saddiq. I’ve always considered Soulquarians to be sort of an evolution of Native Tongues (especially with Q Tip’s involvement in both). Imagine if they were all coming up in the same era! And one more thing. I would’ve NEVER guessed that “Doin it” sampled “Give it to me baby”. I can figure out a lot of Dilla samples, but not this one at all, ever! 🤩
Keep making that content, man... This was such a beautiful essay. It feels like I'm hanging out w my friends, nerding about music. Much success to you!
this is an extremely well-put together video, i loved it. These are some of my favorite albums and artists and i never knew about this connection , that's so fascinating. I love shit like this
First of all, you have an amazing, entertaining as well as educational way of storytelling! It was lovely to join your channel, which I accidentally found on TH-cam! Great, great video indeed! Thank you!
I love this. Thank you. Helped educate me. I feel like I know a lot compared to the random person but compared to you and some fans in the comments, I know nothing. And I go through life assuming I don't know. It helps humble and gain perspective. Learn. And I appreciate for teaching me something today. I love Hip-Hop and its deep, rich history.
To clarify some poor wording on my part: when I say that The Roots were "hip hop outcasts" what I mean is, especially for the time, a hip hop band was uncommon (though not unheard of). They were doing things very differently than the East Coast, West Coast, and South scenes of the time. This isn't a sleight against The Roots - It's just explaining the problem that reaches it's climax at the Source Awards. This idea is in line with the quote below:
Another clarification: "hip hop was one thing, and then there was The Roots": I am NOT saying that I don't consider The Roots to be hip hop. I'm pulling this idea from Questlove himself from his book "Music is History". He explains in the chapter "1997" how around 2006 Nas saw the Roots play and was blown away, but Quest realized it was because he had never actually heard them before. "This was always my biggest fear, that we were Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and here was proof. Hip-Hop still hadn't listened to us."
I should have explained this clearer, and included my source directly before making a claim that invokes such a knee jerk reaction. It's not about personal taste or me trying to say what is and isn't hip hop, so my apologies if that's how it came off. But The Roots were a different thing and didn't feel accepted by hip hop during this time.
Indeed the roots used to play instruments since a long time that's why they were outcasts
Many hip hop artists didn't had musicians compose their beats
Nahh, I knew what you meant and you were spot on. They are still the "Outkast".😉 As in, different from all the rest. In a good way just like your video. Good stuff My Bro! Thank you for the effort you put in to this. I appreciate it as this was a great time for music for me.
Who cares,that rap music sucks ass
Re the outcasts, was this in the time of the Digable Planets? Would you say there was a budding movement albeit not as commercial and well known? Or that The Roots pionered it?
I just discovered your channel and will definitely be catching up with your back catalog. Born in '92, I'm learning a lot. You are well researched, your passion for music and appreciation of hip hop is clear. Keep up the great work!
I would love to see a video on street poetry's influences on early hip hop like The Watts Prophets, Gil Scott Heron, and The Last Poets. Or even the broader conscious hip hop movement happening before/around Soulquarians... ATCQ, Digable Planets, The Pharcyde, De La Soul, Black Sheep, Arrested Development, etc. Anything you drop will be great, keep up the great work!
Neo-Soul will be forever my favourite R&B subgenre. Smooth, relaxed and genius.
I loved it and I miss it.
I'm with you. I read a recommendation of Erykah Badu's debut album and my life has never been the same. That genre is the sweetest music movement I've ever heard.
@@thornyback Erykah Badu is amazing but no one will ever surpass D'Angelo imo. Indisputed king of neo-soul.
And new jack swing. Love old school Guy, Johnny Gill, BBV etc
Good times
He forgot about Raphael Saddiq who was also part of The Soulquarians. He produced some major classics for D'Angelo, Bilal, Erykah, Q Tip and The Roots.
And also Joi
Super under rated bassist
Damn I didn't know that. And I love Tony from Tony Toni Tone
Raphael is the Man 👍🏾💯
@@DarkOmancer bruh, his solo album is the bomb, yo
What a moment in music history.
Soulquarians for life.
9:55 song? pls
@@samlivermore8709 what
@@samlivermore8709 Hater sucks
True that. I had no idea they all recorded together. But it's awesome, because I just naturally gravitated toward those 4 albums when they came out; guess I never read the liner notes closely, I only remember seeing James Poyser across all of them. If they were tapes, they would have been worn out.
Sasquatcharians
What I truly appreciate is how you have weaved musical context in with the hip hop historiography that is Questlove. Everyone should read his books. Because they are incredible.
Agreed! His books are fantastic! “Music is history” was a main source for this video
Alright then! Across the Digging the Great's essays I've seen and these endorsements, I guess I got another run to the bookstore in me. Bought Dilla Time last week, lol. 'Cuz of this video. 😀
@@SithMirth dilla time is a brilliant biopic... Loved all the music but that book really sucked me into the stories behind it. Also highly recommend dj premiers TH-cam channel, he has videos where he talks about some of the classics he's made over the years
@@cheef825 Cool, I'll check them out, thanks!
😊😊😊
Without even realising it, I've accumulated a playlist over the years that involve all these people. I had no idea, while the indescribable yet familiar feeling it gave me, that they were this connected. A history lesson I very much appreciate, really cool to see.
Your soul was in control ✊🏾
This video was so well put together and entertaining. Huge fan of Dilla, Questlove, D’angelo and Badu but never knew about how all their stories weee this closely linked. Great video, defo deserves waaaayyyy more views!
🙏🙏🙏 an incredible period of music history!
❤️
Agreed - he is engaging and knowledgeable! This is amazing
Defo, bb!
Jill Scott, Mos Def, Qwali, and Common don't get enough love when the soulquarians come up
As a South Korean, D'Angelo was the gateway for me to find my inner neo-soul. Feel like makin' love and Untitled still hit me like no other.
Kind of a tangent, but I think it's cool how Korea has kind of taken the soul/R&B torch and kept it alive in the mainstream. So many amazing Korean R&B artists!
A_ who are some korean r&b artists you like?
@@lukeshen1661 Heize, LEEBADA, meenoi, SUMIN, Dean, and Zion.T are all great. Not to mention all of the Kpop groups with R&B tracks.
@@2m7b5 Zion T. 💪
@@2m7b5 th-cam.com/video/j_MgbYkJkag/w-d-xo.html
D’Angelo’s “Voodoo” is one of the greatest albums ever made. The music on that takes me to another place entirely
Exactly, I knew a song like untitled for years before finding out the rest of the album is actually waaaayy more awesome, like the roots and one mo gin
I remember my dad heard my playing Voodoo and he immediately fell in love with it. He was a huge Curits Mayfield fan. I think he was just happy my musical tastes went beyond Jay Z and Snoop Dog
😊🎉🎉❤❤❤❤❤
Agree. One of the most important albums ever.
Same. It seems to be personal for each person who listens, too. Its like you feel like or want to gatekeep the album because of this reason, it feels individually made just for you, yet that feeling is somehow universal for everyone.
I lived this whole movement. Meeting Questlove, Bilal, Jill, Musiq, Erykah has a painting of mines from back then, Common took the 1 photo i have with her. Dilla became a muse. I never got to meet him, but oddly enough me and his moms (Ma Dukes) are friends to this day. She even appeared in one of my music videos. I remember going to the concerts, and eventually performing at the Black Lilly. This whole time period birthed me. I feel so fortunate. Im a musician NOW because of it. I am forever grateful. Alot of great stories. Good job on the vid.
This is so cool!!
I actually lived it first, so yeah
.
Wait you're the singer jsoul?I use to see you in magazines and you were 🔥,are you still making music?my name kl the composer bro I'm a fan.much love
I wish this style of Hip Hop, R&B, Jazz and Neo Soul was still in style today. Soulful, Afrocentric and Conscious.
Weird night on the internet, I go seeking banjo strings and end up here. Love your presentation, style and energy! I noticed you have a new channel. I can say as someone who's worked on multi-year weekly-release creative endeavors, I hope you'll take the opportunity to smell the roses, and keep in touch with yourself through this wonderful process of content creation - it's clear that to me that you're incredibly talented and that this channel has huge potential, so I just wanted to be that voice for the times it might feel like there is none. Thank you for sharing your joy, and for being you!
Thank you for the kind words! That means a lot! 🙏🙏
This is an epic comment. From now on when I find a wierd video Ill drop a comment that I came here looking for Banjo strings...
This comment was really beautiful..damn..
😂😂😂🎉😮😊😊❤
Neo Soul is still my favorite music of the late 90's and early 2000's. Each artist had their own style, and the sound will never end for me.
Let me slap it down on that pebis 😮😊😅😅😅❤
Q-Tip and ATCQ's influence on not only Hip-Hop but on Neo Soul can't be overstated. It's one of the foundations that Neo Soul was built on.
Lenis 😮
Alternatively called “Neo-Soul”
Truly one of the GREATEST period of music of all time! Also DJ Jazzy Jeff heavily influenced, discovered and produced many artist. PHILLY!! ✨
😮
The Roots did come from somewhere, Philly and it's amazing music scene. This was the time of neo soul, also mostly all from Philly. Jill Scott, Musiq Soulchild, Vivian Greene, Jazmine Sullivan, Bilal, Zhane, and of course the Roots.
This is history. You did a short but comprehensive study on that movement. .....ahhh...my favorite time in Black Music. I used to go down to a club called the Five Spot in Philly. Mostly all the Soulquarians were there. The Roots was the house band. I remember seeing Diddy, isolated in a corner, bobbin his head. I met India Irie there....word got out, and soon you had to stand for hours to get in. It was amazing. Great video. subscribed.
The Soulquarians had to be the most Innovative Musical Collective in my time so far,and I'm going on 45. Probably the most exciting collective to ever record at Electric Ladyland Studios.
I'm with you. I'm 40 and this was the music I gravitated towards in high school. Can't shake off those teenage imprints.
@@Kevinschart Oh Indeed! During HS I put everybody i knew who had a "good ear" on to them,literally having to explain who everyone was and what connection they had with each other!! LOL! good times good vibes.😅
Pebis 😂
Crazy, I was at that show at the HOB. Didn't even know this happened there. This was probably one of the most epic shows I've seen. The lineup was The Roots, Fugees and Goodie Mob. Great video and series. Nice to see true appreciation of the craft and culture. Thank you. Oh btw, would be dope to see an episode on Hiero.
In the late 90's there was a club in Barcelona called Jamboree that exclusively played Soulquarian, Slum Village, and Dilla records after the live jazz finished by midnight. I went with three of my friends who all ended up drunk and falling out with each other over who was hooking with me later on. Hearing that music you knew it was on a level you just hadn't heard anywhere before it was sonic. Looking back now i feel lucky to have caught that moment as it was happening.. even if it did involve friends getting a bit too turned on by it.
u know anywhere in barcelona still playing that sorta stuff ?
@@hugobecookin Sorry I live in the UK now. For the past several years the London Jazz scene that's appeared has similarities to that Soulquarian vibe mixed with UK Broken Beat. If Alfa Mist, Yussef Dayes, or Joe Armon Jones ever perform in Barcelona then definitely worth checking out.
@@ManicallyMellow amazin cheers!! knew it was a bit of a reach haha
@@ManicallyMellow jamboree is awesome. Went in 2017 and surprised me with some redbone by gambino. Incredible memory.
My mum used to go there 😂😂😂
Wait what??? These artists impacted my life tremendously and I can't believe they were connected thru Quest. Never stop documenting this history my guy
This video was amazing. I love how artists like Robert glasper and terrace Martin are keeping the dilla and hip hop culture of that time alive
Dilla's drum composition style is here to stay. As long as people enjoy funky rhythms dilla's drums will always be a part of that.
Roy Hargrove’s ‘Hard Groove’ is a criminally underrated Soulaquarians record. It has D’angelo, Common, Pino Palladino, James Poyser and more. One of the best tracks, ‘Poetry’ has Q-Tip and Erykah Badu in it
Hell yeah that album is amazing 🔥🔥
One of the best albums dude
"who knows the way it goes, Ill show the way it goes."....Badu and Qtip killed it
I don’t think it’s underrated at all, RH Factor was a pretty big deal. ”Pastor T” is just nasty! Coming from a jazz perspective, I was kind of disappointed that Roy didn’t solo that much (he was one of the greatest modern era jazz trumpetists)…but this was a different type of project.
Your comment sent me down such a deep hole I was listening to Fela by the time I realized lol. Cheers!
I never knew but always had a feeling the "Questlove" name had some tie in to Tribe called Quest, glad you pointed out the facts!
It feels like Christmas to find a great TH-cam channel like this one. The love that you put into this video is so evident and is greatly appreciated. You have an enthusiastic new subscriber!
I just want my pebus to live inside the lady at the bank 🏦
This channel is gonna be huge - your appreciation and understanding of the depth of the culture surrounding all of the come up stories for these artists is amazing. ❣️❣️❣️
The biggest thing on this channel? This guys pebis
Great pull quote from Charnas' "Dilla Time" (a must-read!): "Neo-soul was a revival of soul's analog heyday by its digital children." That one jumped out to me as well. This video does a great job of contextualizing some of Charnas' info regarding those Electric Lady sessions!
This video is actually perfect! So engaging, entertaining and informative. I'm such a massive fan of all of these people but I had noooo idea how closely interlinked they were and how central QuestLove was to them all. Crazy! You learn something every day, man! This video was lovely. Keep it going 💃🏽👏🏽
You just *had* to show up and make it a party, didn’t you? *Didn’t you*
Man you are turning me into a super fan by digging so deep into the most interesting points and subjects of some of the most amazing music ever created.
The quality of this video is insane - hi from reddit!
Thank you! 🙌 Glad you enjoyed it! Stay tuned - lots more videos on the way
I've seen almost all the groups you mentioned at the Montreux Jazz Festival where I worked backstage shooting video. Had the pleasure of meeting a few of these Soulquarians. Saw The Roots perform twice. Amazing! The musicianship was amazing. They even broke into a Led Zep tune. They killed it! Great stuff on your part man. Thanks
Lol 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 you make me scream
This was fantastic. SO well done.
🙏🙏
Bepis 😂❤
A bunch of Aquarians came together and created arguably the “ chill” or “ vibes” music
Love it
Pebis 😂
A bunch of Aquarians and Pisces
This was a great video. I'm a little sad they didn't mention Jill Scott as part of that movement other than the block party. I mean although she didn't record in Electric Lady Studios she was and is closely linked to the Roots as practically a member. I mean she wrote the "You Got Me" hook for the Roots and Erykah sung it. They sing it together in the block party. She also uses The Roots as an opening for introducing her on her debut album which came out during the era. This still was so amazingly nostalgic for me as I was coming of age during this time. My 1st concert i paid for and went alone to was the SpitKicker tour with many of those same artists back in 99. Common surprised us with Erykah that night and I even got to see him after the show. It was such a beautiful time.
Very much this
I was born in the late 90s so it's such a treat to learn about this period of hip-hop from a historian like yourself, who lived through this time!
It was honestly one of the best eras of music and its what hip hop is sorely missing today.
comments like this definitely make me feel old. I was in high school when voodoo dropped. There were two types of kids back then. Those that leaned towards the roots and those that leaned towards Biggie. If you liked the roots then you were tapped into all the Dilla/Neo Soul artists. For me it goes back to Tony Toni Tone and Raphael Saadiq. He was really the catalyst for me.
Love everything about this video. These artists and those records were everything to me back in the early 2000s. Thank you for putting this together!
Honestly one of my favourite videos ever. Some of these are my favourite artists and albums and I didn’t even realise how connected they all are. Great job 👏
I really appreciate this video. These are all some of my favorite artists. Such an underrated sub genre.
They also recorded The Roots "Phrenology" and Common's Electric Circus, which are both great and insane records. I know Electric Circus is not ranked high in his discography but i love everything about it.
I love those albums. I don't even care that Electric Cicrus isn't highly ranked. In the liner notes, Common even recognizes that it wouldn't be for everyone. But I thought both of those albums were experiments that worked extremely well.
Me too! Come Close is still a very memorable song. Dope album. Loved where he went sonically
Electric Circus is a great album.
Not at the time, but I think history is going to be very kind to Electric Circus. There are some classics on there.
Come close and Heaven are all time classics
This is probably one of the best videos I’ve ever seen. Seriously! As a musician, this was super informative, eye-opening, and entertaining :) keep it up man! Keep going, I’ll be watching!
I’ve always felt like the true end of the Soulquarians was J. Dilla’s death. Questlove may not want to admit it, but the fact that their collective profiles were raised in the years afterwards would have made it too hard to resist getting Q, James Poyser, D’Angelo, Dilla and everyone back together to see what would happen.
Beautifully done. This video is packed with in-depth knowledge on the soulquarians while also not overloading. Superb job! Earned a subscriber!!!
This has all been my favorite music & I had no idea they were all so closely related. .. D'Angelo is so underrated and he chooses to be
This makes me completely spurt out of my ears 😂😂😂
This makes my heart sing!
Every reference, the D’Angelo/ Questlove lore, and than the passion and knowledge you have!
Well done sir!
Can’t wait to read that book you recommended. ❤️🔥🥰❤️🔥
This entire video was so fascinating! The 19 minutes went so fast and I’ve now got a few new albums to dive into, thank you so much for creating such a great video Brandon! 🤍
Like Water for Chocolate to me will always be the most underrated hip hop album of all time. It was so fantastic with no filler! It was the epitome of where hip hop was suppose to go after 1999 before pop and crunk took it over.
Nah you trippin lol, crunk go hard
Hip Hop for grown folks. A combination of gangsta and intellectual.
One of my favorite albums and has one of the coldest intros...Time Travelin!
@@jamesduckery that trumpet solo, chants and kick drum sequence had me flying in the friendly sky with no other help needed ;)
Def one of the best intros
@@clarencekeller7684 Roy Hargrove did his Thang on that album! My favorite is Thelonius w/Slum Village, Dilla & Com blacked out on they verses!
brother this was SO rich of a video, musically, culturally and as means to upheave my favourite movement in history from the US. big props!
No joke, I’ve watched 3-4 videos in succession now and i absolutely love the knowledge bombs you drop!
Hope you stay the course, digging into the origin and history of music is good for the soul, it’s a universal language and you’re speaking to us all.
Thank you. 🙌🏼🤙🏼
Loving all of these! Cannot wait for the Dilla deep dive and then some! Really love the “how a song/beat was made” videos too 😁
6:19 - That's a magical beat, used to bump it on repeat in high school. That drunken kick you talked about was heavily done by Madlib as well
My man, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Just discovered your channel and this video blows my mind. I was learning to express myself through music and instruments while listening to all these amazing artists in the late 90s. Focused on the music and not living in the US, I did not know much about them aside from their records. But now I learn that this family I pictured in my musical pantheon is an actual cultural movement and they all jammed together?! That is dope AF.
Saw Pino play for the John Mayer Trio about 20 years ago and was blown away at his range. This Channel is opening new thoughts in my mind around music.
Fascinating video, perfectly paced! Can't wait to stream that playlist and check out those books. Immediate subscribe.
Hey man, thank you. The love, care and respect you have for the music and the craft is tangible and translates into your videos. You are exactly what is wonderful about TH-cam. ♡ Keep it up!
Bro I'm an Upcoming artist and I must Say This ish is Hella informative makes the Study of Past Greats easier Appreciate You keep on
Many won’t know this but the Roots had THE best live sets you could ever attend.
Have a metalhead friend who swears by this. He’s been to dozens of the heaviest shows you could ever imagine, but will always say roots have the best one he’s ever seen
😮😮😮😊❤
i'll never forget their amazing rendition of i still love you by 702
I went to many concerts of soulquarian artists, The Roots bar non was the most amazing of them all, blow my mind 😱🤯
I remember this exact moment. 99-2000 was such great years for music and concerts. Thanks!
The story telling is amazing! Thanks for the video 😊❤
Can’t thank you enough for this channel! I’ve binges them all this week. Keep em coming!
I love this kind of soulful mix of hip hop and r&B and with a good amount of retro funk too.
This is such a great video!! As a breaker, 90s era music will always be my favorite to get down and dance to - A+ vibes and so much complexity to hit on in movement
Always been a fan of the artists from this circle and never knew they were so closely linked to each other. Absolute gem of a video! You got a new follower from now on! 🔥
Wow. Just wow. I new the whole story already, but! There's soooo much effort and soul behind the video that same story shines like an alien spaceship. You really love what you do, please do not stop, please proceed!
This is such a great video detailing the weirdly niche genre I'm in love with. Such a great video.
The story of The Soulquarians is amazing. Thank you for sharing this video.
Great video man, this channel should be bigger
please never stop making these videos & thank you for your contribution to HIP-HOP!
Great content man. Love to see videos like this, if u want to I would like to see more videos about the soulquarians, specially Mos Def
Wow, VERY well done…and with much personality!❤
This needs more recognition
Incredible music
The renaissance paintings killed me. Great video man. Super interesting, I should have clicked it sooner.
Those AI generated paintings would make for some sick album covers! Great video btw, almost unreal we get this quality content for free.
I love seeing videos, podcasts, articles, and just any form of media on the Soulquarians and D'Angelo. Your videos on this subject are some of the best I've seen. So well done and unique. I'm a fan.
I’m impressed, u did a great job here man! I love anything and everything from that musical collective, I’m hoping they will eventually release more tunes/jams from those electric lady sessions. 🙏
Just found this channel via your jDilla video .
Without a doubt the greatest period in hiphop for me .
I was lucky enough to tour with The Who 2007 playing 14 shows supporting them . At the time Pino was playing bass . From the very first day I met Pino he was wonderfully graceful and generous with his time and every single day we would hang out and talk about this period . The sessions, how they got those grooves and funny enough he mentioned some of the ideas you explained in the Dilla Vid.
I got to play the now infamous red 62 P Bass which is unbelievable by the way. Each day he’d say hey scouse as we arrived ( Scouse because I’m from Liverpool UK) since then I’ve met Pino numerous times and happy to say he still remembered my name even after 5 years.
Great man great player . I’m not a fan of the who at all really but watching Pino play those songs every night literally sat 10 ft from him was amazing . I learned so much in 14 shows I couldn’t begin to explain it all.
Anyways great vids .
Thank you for sharing this! Pino is the man!
Great video. Entertaining and informative. Love D'Angelo and didn't know that Amir was behind the scenes on Voodoo. All super talented cats.
Love this piece man. Really appreciate you showing love to these legends.
D Angelo over The Roots Dynamite would’ve been a sensory overload
🔥🔥🔥
Y'all got me cheesing over this shit damnb
Thakyou for this!!!!
I grew up in North Philly as a child in the late 90s and I always find comfort in the music of my neighborhood. This is music is part of who I am!!!!
As a life long percussionist, I dont feel like it is so hard to play push pulls, but I also think playing to a click is harder than people give it credit for. Music is pulse IN A time, not THE time. Pushes and pulls happen when you shuffle and groove. Feeling it and jamming out is always different than playing a click. Tracking is tough. Its awesome the sounds they got from those drum mixes and bass sounds. absolutely classic.
Dude I love your videos! Ive slowly been falling in love with this generation of music, Dilla Badu Denagelo all one by one. But to find out they were all simultaneously collaborating on their albums together! Love shit like this. Thank you for capturing this moment of time where these geniuses came together
In high school, one of my teachers was cousins with Proof who used to be good friends with J Dilla. He showed me so many of his music and I've expanded out since then, he was great
This was so interesting! I was only 18 in 1999 so I didn't fully grasp the inner-connectedness of all of these artists. I have enjoyed their music individually without knowing about this solid thread. Thanks for this video and looking forward to seeing more content from this channel.
3 of the best albums in their genres- Voodoo, Like Water, Mama’s Gun ✊🏽
Voodoo is just a perfect record, the strings of the universe vibrate to the tune of The Root
Great video. I was in my first couple of years of college during this time. These artist, and those 4 albums in particular, were the soundtrack of my college years. A magical time for music indeed! “Can’t imagine goin’ through it without soul music.”
You are an amazing storyteller. Keep going 🙏🏿
I'm not really used to leave comments but boy was this video great. Thank you for such a perfect lecture
First of all, as a fellow dj, I love the way you made this video!
I love what came from the collective of the Soulquarians. I wonder if there are some other extended musicians who could be considered to be part of the collective, like Lauryn Hill, or Raphael Saddiq.
I’ve always considered Soulquarians to be sort of an evolution of Native Tongues (especially with Q Tip’s involvement in both). Imagine if they were all coming up in the same era!
And one more thing. I would’ve NEVER guessed that “Doin it” sampled “Give it to me baby”. I can figure out a lot of Dilla samples, but not this one at all, ever! 🤩
Son, you getting me enlightened. Thank you,
Keep making that content, man... This was such a beautiful essay. It feels like I'm hanging out w my friends, nerding about music. Much success to you!
this is an extremely well-put together video, i loved it. These are some of my favorite albums and artists and i never knew about this connection , that's so fascinating. I love shit like this
First of all, you have an amazing, entertaining as well as educational way of storytelling! It was lovely to join your channel, which I accidentally found on TH-cam! Great, great video indeed! Thank you!
Pino is a SUPREME beast.
I love this. Thank you. Helped educate me. I feel like I know a lot compared to the random person but compared to you and some fans in the comments, I know nothing. And I go through life assuming I don't know. It helps humble and gain perspective. Learn. And I appreciate for teaching me something today. I love Hip-Hop and its deep, rich history.
Fun fact: A young and not yet discovered or signed J. Cole can be seen in the crowd of Dave Chapelle‘s Block Party film
This is, BY FAR, my favorite new channel in TH-cam. This video is so great.
All these albums changed my life. Before them I didn’t listen to hip hop. 🙏
I usually can't stand video essays on music and musicians, but your research is always top notch and eye opening
This is so well made!!!
Thank you 🙏 many more videos to come!