Questlove Teases Soulquarians Reunion

Questlove has teased the possibility of a reunion of the beloved musical collective, the Soulquarians. The drummer/producer/director spoke about the idea during a recent episode of his podcast, The Questlove Show. The Roots star revealed that there are plans for a stripped-down Soulquarians project featuring the members of that acclaimed crew, including himself, Bilal and James Poyser. 

“James [Poyser], myself, Bilal — the fragments that are left of the Soulquarians… we spoke. The family’s going to get back together,” he said.

Members of the Soulquarians have passed away since the group’s late 1990s/early 2000s heyday. Roy Hargrove, J Dilla and most recently, D’Angelo have all died. Questlove said that D’Angelo’s death has motivated his desire to do a Soulquarians project. 

“Now that [D’Angelo] is not here, I feel that responsibility more than ever,” he said.

It has not been confirmed whether Soulquarians Common, Erykah Badu, Q-Tip, Talib Kweli and Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def) will be involved. Questlove has said that the attention the collective began receiving is what ultimately led to things falling apart. In 2015, he cited a 2000 VIBE article and photo shoot. 

“The VIBE magazine photo was the beginning of the end,” he told Red Bull Music Academy in 2015. “Because when that issue came out, motherf**kers were angry. [laughs] The issue started out as a feature about me. The people at VIBE had a clue that I was working on D’Angelo, Erykah, The Roots, Jill Scott, Bilal, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common, Slum Village and Nikka Costa’s records. At the height of everything, I was working with 17 different artists. I was really gun shy on any unwelcomed praise. I came from a commune. It wasn’t a one-man act. I was very uncomfortable accepting a title or praise. I insisted to VIBE that they could get the story, but they had to make it about the family and not one person.”