Recording at Electric Lady Studios:
Russell Elevado:
Questlove was the one who started bringing people there. He told everyone what was happening. He was the original Twitter before Twitter. [laughs] He brought Common and Erykah into the studio. He had a vision for Common’s album, Like Water for Chocolate. The same applied for Erykah and James [Poyser]. He wanted them to catch the vibes he was getting at Electric Lady. It was this super organic, soulful, psychedelic vibe that he was getting. Electric Lady brought out a certain type of psychedelic vibe in D’Angelo and everybody else, including me.
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.”
BILAL
I remember meeting Prince at the studio one day. He played on Common’s album, Electric Circus. When I met Prince, he was a Jehovah’s Witness, and I didn’t know he was a Jehovah’s Witness. Back then, I used to cuss a lot. Ahmir was behind me yelling, “NO! NO! STOP!” [laughs] He didn’t like to hear cursing, but he was cool about it. Ahmir thought he was going to kick me out of the session. After a while, I realized what was going on, and I stopped cursing. When I was growing up, my mother was a Christian and my father was a Muslim. I don’t know what happened, but out of nowhere, Prince and I were having a religious discussion. It was a bit surreal.
Did you know? Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite was also recorded at Electric Lady!
Common feat. Macy Gray – Geto Heaven
Erykah Badu – Live medley (this is great!)
Common feat. Bilal – The 6th Sense