Damn near twenty years ago when the Soulquarians came together and tried to change the world, beginning in 1997 when D’Angelo and Questlove began planning the production of Voodoo(released in 2000), the Soulquarians began a five-year jam session that became the musical bedrock for The Roots black shock-wave Things Fall Apart (1999) and Phrenology (2002), Badu’s fierce Mama’s Gun (2000), Common’s soulfully stimulating Like Water for Chocolate, Bilal’s stellar debut 1st Born Second (2001) and Common’s blackadelic bug-out Electric Circus. The vibe and aura also spilled over into Mos Def’s urban jungle boogie Black on Both Sides (1999), Res’s debut gem How I Do (2001) and Talib Kweli ‘s dope-as-hell Quality(2002).

Looking like b-boy hippies, boho gypsies and hardrock flower children, the Soulquarians were a rotating rhythmic collective that included late beat-master J. Dilla, trumpeter Roy Hargrove, rapper/producer Mos Def, singer/producerErykah Badu, multi-instrumentalist D’Angelo, keyboardist James Poyser, rapper Talib Kweli, singer Bilal, bassist Pino Palladino and rap/producer Q-Tip, whose Native Tongues group A Tribe Called Quest had inspired them all.

http://www.soulhead.com/2015/03/19/love-peace-soulquarians