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LOL ...
(1) QUESTLOVE
First up to bat was Common. Common was like, “I’m just trying to get some scraps off of the table. Even I know the scraps off of the table are better than anything that anybody is doing out here. What other people are doing out here sounds regular, but the shit y’all are doing feels futuristic and urgent, and I want a piece of it.”
(2) But what Common didn’t know was that D’Angelo said to me, “Yo, man. I can’t let him have that funk track y’all did. Common doesn’t know what to do with that song. That’s the funk I need. You know good and well that’s the funk I need. Common doesn’t know what to do with that funk.” So I had to broker a peace deal. I said, “If you give him that song, he can take “Chicken Grease,” and you can have “Geto Heaven.”
(3) QUESTLOVE
I remember that Common was going to audition for this hip hop opera movie called Carmen that Beyoncé was starring in. All day long, he was saying he was going to get the lead role, and she was going to be his leading lady. But he ended up losing out on the role to Mos Def. I remember we were making fun of him that night. I remember James Poyser kept playing a refrain from Destiny Child’s “Bills, Bills, Bills,” and I was playing a refrain from “Umi Says” as a joke. After three or four minutes, it was jokey-jokes, then after seven minutes, Bilal came walking in and started singing. We were like, “This is dope as shit.” When people listen to “Sometimes,” they ask, “Why does the beginning sound like “Bills, Bills, Bills?” Well, that was just the premise of the song. We were fucking around and making fun of Common for losing the role to Mos Def. In the process, we wrote one of Bilal’s most famous songs.
(4) QUESTLOVE
I always knew that James Poyser and I were born in January. It was really J. Dilla that made me pay attention. One day, Dilla said, “Wait a minute. I was born on February 7th.” Then D’Angelo said, “I was born on February 11th.” Then James said, “I was born in January, and I’m an Aquarian, too!” I said, “Well, I was born on January 20th.” Also, the late great guitarist of The Soultronics, Jef Lee Johnson said, “I’m an Aquarian, too.” Then Common and Erykah came in, and Erykah said, “I’m a week late for being an Aquarian. I’m a Pisces, but at least I was born in late February.” She was a week off from being an Aquarian. Common didn’t want to be left out. He said, “I was born in March. I’m like you guys, so I’m sort of like an Aquarian.” We realized six or seven of us were Aquarians. We felt like we were a unit. ----------------------------------------
"Fuck aliens." © WarriorPoet415
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