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From Left to Right: Talib Kweli, Common (kneeling), Mos Def, James Poyser, Erykah Badu, Questlove, D'Angelo, Q-Tip, J Dilla (kneeling), Bilal
The Soulquarians was a neo soul-informed hip hop musical collective with members from Philadelphia, New York, Detroit, Richmond, Chicago, Dallas, and Oakland. The collective formed roughly around the late 1990s, continuing into the early 2000s, and produced a number of critically acclaimed albums. Previously during the 1990s, Soulquarians Common, Blackstar and Q-Tip were members of Native Tongues Posse.
[edit] Background
The name of the collective is derived from an astrology sign — most members of the collective share sign of Aquarius. Founding members Ahmir Thompson a.k.a. Questlove from The Roots, D'Angelo, James 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, a connection was established between D'Angelo and Welsh bassist Pino Palladino over their mutual love of Motown and other classic soul music, and Palladino became active in the project (although Palladino was never an official member of the Soulquarians, he plays on the majority of their discography and was also a member of the Soultronics touring band that supported D'Angelo's Voodoo tour).
Being a collective, they included a rotating list of members, including Common, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Q-Tip, Erykah Badu, Bilal, and Raphael Saadiq. In a 2003 interview, 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 continues to exist.
[edit] Members
[edit] Discography
Albums produced wholly or partly by the Soulquarians:
[edit] External links
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