Upcoming ICON Event: Native Tongues & Soulquarians w/ DJ MetroGnome & DJ Freddie Fresh
Old SOUL Entertainment presents ICON: Native Tongues & Soulquarians. Check out more specifics below and at the official Facebook event page here.
About the ICON party
ICON is a monthly deejay tribute, that takes place at The Jazz Kitchen. We use this night to pay homage to our musical influences. So far this year, we’ve reviewed the catalog of James Brown, Dr. Dre, Fela Kuti, Outkast, Notorious BIG, and most recently Michael Jackson and Prince.Who is Soulquarians and Native Tongues?
Soulquarians:
The Soulquarians is a neo soul and alternative hip hop-informed musical collective with members from Philadelphia, New York, Detroit, Richmond, Brooklyn, Chicago, Dallas, and Oakland. The collective, formed during the late 1990s, continued into the early 2000s, and produced several well-received albums. Prior to its formation, members Common, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, and Q-Tip were members of the Native Tongues Posse.Producer and drummer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson of hip hop band The Roots acted as the “musical powerhouse” behind several of the collective’s projects during the late 1990s and early 2000s, including The Roots’ Things Fall Apart (1999), D’Angelo’s Voodoo (2000), Erykah Badu’s Mama’s Gun (2000), and Common’s Like Water for Chocolate (2000). In an interview for Spin magazine, Common discussed the production of those albums, stating “It was one of those time period that you don’t even realize when you’re going through it that it’s powerful”.
The name of the collective is derived from an astrology sign. The founding members of the collective — Ahmir Thompson a.k.a. Questlove from The Roots, D’Angelo, James Poyser, and J Dilla — share sign of Aquarius. Questlove, D’Angelo, 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, playing on the majority of their discography and serving as 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.
Members
Questlove (Philadelphia)
Bilal (Philadelphia)
Common (Chicago)
Roy Hargrove (Dallas)
Erykah Badu (Dallas)
D’Angelo (Richmond)
James Poyser (Philadelphia)
Mos Def (New York City)
Q-Tip (New York City)
Talib Kweli (New York City)
Pino Palladino (Cardiff)
J Dilla (Detroit) (deceased)Associated acts
Blackalicious
Dave Chappelle
Cee-Lo Green
Cody ChesnuTT
Musiq Soulchild
Vinia Mojica
OutKast
Karriem Riggins
The Roots
Raphael Saadiq
Jill Scott
Slum Village
The Soultronics
A Tribe Called Quest
Zap Mama
__________________________________Native Tongues:
The Native Tongues is a collective of late 1980s and early 1990s hip-hop artists known for their positive-minded, good-natured Afrocentric lyrics, and for pioneering the use of eclectic sampling and later jazz-influenced beats. Its principal members are the Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, and A Tribe Called Quest. The collective was also closely tied to the Universal Zulu Nation.History
“The Native Tongues came about where, basically, we had a show together in Boston. [De La Soul], Jungle [Brothers] and we linked from there. We had a natural love for the art and a natural love for each other on how we put stuff together. So we invited [the Jungle Brothers] to a session, and when they hooked up with us, we happened to be doing “Buddy.” It wasn’t business; it wasn’t for a check. It was just trading ideas and just seeing what you’re doing. Bottom line, it was just having fun.” Trugoy the Dove“I remember Afrika [Baby Bam] called me that night, like, two in the morning. “Yo these kids, De La Soul, you gotta meet ’em! I swear we’re just alike!” I went there, met them, and it was just fuckin’ love at first sight. It was disgusting. In hip hop, it praises individualism. I think that’s the main achievement of the Native Tongues. It just showed people could come together. ” Q Tip
The New York-based Native Tongues crew was a collective of like-minded hip hop artists who would help bring abstract and open-minded lyricism that addressed a range of topics, from spirituality and modern living to race, sex, and just having fun to the mainstream. Together with the use of eclectic samples that would take on an increasingly jazzy sound, they would be pioneers of so-called conscious hip hop, alternative hip-hop, and jazz rap.
Fostered by Kool DJ Red Alert, the success of the Jungle Brothers would pave the way for De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest; together, these three groups would form the core of the crew and continue the spirit of Afrika Bambaataa and the Zulu Nation. By 1989 they had been joined by Queen Latifah and the UK’s Monie Love, and soon by the Black Sheep & Chi-Ali. Collectively, the members of the Native Tongues had a huge effect on the style and trends of hip hop during its most important period, the golden age of the late 1980s–early 1990s. A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul’s albums of this time are considered among the best and most important in the hip hop genre.
The song “Scenario” was the final track on the Tribe Called Quest album The Low End Theory and featured the fledging Leaders of the New School—Dinco D, Busta Rhymes, and Charlie Brown. This track simultaneously introduced and legitimized the concept of a new school in hip-hop music, and is arguably the most notable and significant single song of the era.
While featuring an extensive discography, the collaborations of the Native Tongues have been fairly limited: the collective never recorded anything under that name, and the number of notable crew cuts can be counted on one hand. The various groups grew distant with time, and, by 1993, De La Soul’s Trugoy the Dove proclaimed, “That native shit is dead.” The collective would, however, reunite in 1996 for the Jungle Brothers’ “How Ya Want It We Got It (Native Tongues Remix)”; collaborators in this period, such as Common,Truth Enola, DJ S.T.R.E.S.S., Da Bush Babees, and Mos Def, could be seen as latter-day additions to the crew. In 1998 on A Tribe Called Quest’s final album The Love Movement, the last track “Rock Rock Ya’ll” featuring Jane Doe, Mos Def, Punchline & Wordsworth. Q Tip states near the track’s end that “this right here is a family”.
There are several collectives today—with overlapping membership—that can be seen as the spiritual heirs to the Native Tongues crew: the Spitkicker crew (founded by De La Soul’s Trugoy and Posdnuos in 2000), the Okayplayers, and the Soulquarians. Chris Lighty—a member of the Native Tongues-affiliated street crew the Violators, who began his career carrying records for Zulu Nation DJs and later as the Jungle Brothers’ roadie—now runs the successful Violator Management company, which represents Busta Rhymes and Q-Tip, among other high-profile clients. It has influenced many other artists in the music industry.
Founding Members
A Tribe Called Quest (Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Jarobi White)
De La Soul (Posdnous, Trugoy, and Maseo)
Jungle Brothers (Mike Gee, Afrika Baby Bam, and DJ Sammy B)Core Members
Monie Love
Black Sheep (Dres and Mista Lawnge)
Fu-Schnickens+
Mos Def+
Truth Enola+
Chi-Ali
Common+
Queen Latifah
+according to De La Soul interview on MuchMusic’s RapCity in 1996.Affiliates
Prince Paul
Kool DJ Red Alert
Leaders of the New School (Busta Rhymes, Charlie Brown, Dinco D, Cut Monitor Milo)
The Beatnuts (Psycho Les, JuJu and Fashion)
Violator Management (Chris Lighty)
Vinia Mojica
Shortie No Mass
Lucien Revolucien
Punchline & Wordsworth
Da Bush Babees
Towa Tei
J Dilla
Brand Nubian
