When Jimi Hendrix threw the doors of Electric Lady Studios open, he strived to spark magic through its cavernous New York spaces. A visit to the hefty, opaque walls of Electric Lady Studios at the apex of the new millenium would find all three studios taken up by a single hive mind that stored some of the finest artists of its time. The compact journey of the Soulquarians began when D’Angelo and co-pilot Questlove moved into Studio A to record D’s follow-up album to 1995’s Brown Sugar, entitled Voodoo. Even though they were composing at the same piano used by Stevie Wonder and David Bowie, recording was arduous, with extended jam and vinyl-listening sessions making progress glacial, eating up 200 reels of tape in a single year. So, Questlove brought his band The Roots into Studio B so he could work on their album, Things Fall Apart, as well as Common’s 4th studio release, Like Water For Chocolate. Erykah Badu and Bilal were further stirred into the mix, who came into Studio C after catching an ear for the swelling musical environment, which consummated the albums Mama’s Gun and 1st Born Second respectively. Toss in James Poyser and J Dilla - who became in-house producers and composers, dipping their hands into every project and soaking in their vintage soul and caramelised, sample-heavy beats - and the result was supercharged creativity. Competitive crafting of sounds, intense recordings that bounced off each other, created a new, smooth sound for R&B, one that had been in development for years, but had finally swapped funk influences for hip-hop leanings, characterised by off-kilter rhythms and deliciously lopsided chord patterns. From this creatively prolific era spawned hugely successful releases, not just commercially, but artistically. The Soulquarians tree grew some of its artists’ best work, and albums that would become classics. Though a misrepresentative group photo published in Vibe magazine doomed the Soulquarians to only a flash in the sky, it shone with the true spirit of Electric Lady.