The Soulquarians are a little-known, but highly influential group in the neo-soul genre. Despite core members D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, ?uestlove and J Dilla being big names synonymous with neo-soul and hip-hop, little has been written about the Soulquarians, unless you carefully examine liner notes.
Back in the late 90s, as the neo-soul movement was taking shape, there was a brief but important renaissance occurring amongst a small group of hip-hop and soul artists, and from it some of the most celebrated albums of that era in hip-hop and neo-soul emerged — D’Angelo’s Voodoo, Common’s Like Water For Chocolate and Erykah Badu’s Mama’s Gun. The Soulquarians are the production force behind each of these iconic albums.
Some say it all started with yet another classic hip-hop album, Things Fall Apart by The Roots — which was in itself a landmark album. Not only did Things Fall Apart demonstrate that a hip-hop band could evolve their sound and be sustainable, but it really illustrated both lyrically and sonically the types of conversations that were taking place within the circles of “conscious” heads with songs like “Ain’t Sayin’ Nothin’ New,” “The Next Movement” and “You Don’t See Us.”
During its production, Things Fall Apart brought together some of the core members of the yet to be named Soulquarians — Roots drummer ?uestlove, keyboardist James Poyser, legendary hero of hip-hop production James Yancey (aka Jay Dee aka J Dilla), as well as extended member Mos Def. In the liner note from “Act Too (Love of My Life)” Soulquarian founder ?uestlove tells the story of working with Poyser on Baduizm back in ’96, Erykah Badu’s breakthrough album, and later on Common’s “All Night Long” and “Retrospect for Life.” Further still, on The Roots previous album Illadelph Halflife, D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, Q-Tip and Common are all featured, which possibly marks the germination of the seed for the Soulquarians.
Readers who are familiar with the phenomenon of astrology might know that the star sign of Aquarius, known as one of three air signs in the western zodiac, is famous for a long list of important thinkers and artists, which include Charles Dickens, James Joyce, Anton Chekov, Mozart, Angela Davis, Virginia Woolf, Germaine Greer, Oprah Winfrey, Jackie Robinson, Gertrude Stein, Carol King, Charles Darwin and Bob Marley (to name a few). According to various accounts from Common and J Dilla, it was ?uestlove who noticed a similar thread amongst some instrumental players in the renaissance, and that was that he, D’Angelo, James Poyser, guitarist Jef Lee Johnson and Jay Dilla were all born under the sign of Aquarius. This shared astrology combined with each of the artists’ use of “off-beat rhythms, unorthodox chords and stacks of harmony” is what ultimately led to the naming of the “Soulquarians.”
Extended members include Erykah Badu, who was born a few days too late (Feb. 26), making her a Pisces and not an Aquarius, however, she is prominently known as the female member of the group. Other artists such as Pino Palladino, Common, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Q-Tip, Talib Kweli and Mos Def are not actually Aquarians either, however, all are associated with the Soulquarian movement, and, with exception to Palladino and Muhammad, were all included in the Vibe magazine iconic photo shoot of the Soulquarians back in 2000. That photo shoot and the liner notes from Mama’s Gun and Like Water for Chocolate, which include the tag “Soulquarian” on practically every song, are just about the only print evidence that the Soulquarians ever existed.
Brief as the renaissance was, the Soulquarians sound is undeniable. Each of Voodoo, Mama’s Gun and Like Water for Chocolate possess the ardently nuanced keys of Poyser, the eclectically complex rhythms of both ?uestlove and Dilla and the signature layered harmonies of D’Angelo, creating a warm vibe that invokes visions of earth-tone tapestry and smoky, dimly lit speakeasies. You feel the soul oozing out of the speakers and into the air when listening to any of those three albums, the culmination of the brief but brilliant Soulquarian era.