Questlove on D'Angelo's Voodoo | Red Bull Music Academy

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Questlove, drummer and co-founder of The Roots, talks about the sessions that led to D’Angelo’s Voodoo album.
Watch the full lecture for a deep dive on drumming, Dilla and D’Angelo.
► • Questlove talks Drums,...
#Questlove #DAngelo #RedBullMusicAcademy
Red Bull Music Academy is the educational pillar of the Red Bull Music program. It is a global institution that for 20 years has been committed to fostering creativity in music by collaborating with those who are shaping our musical landscape and creating spaces for music makers to learn and immerse themselves.
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[@RBMA]

Watch the full lecture for a deep dive on drumming, Dilla and D’Angelo. ► kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3Tbh615mpeBZ7s

[@faustiization]

I WOULD LIKE TO SEE A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE ALBUMS THAT CAME OUT IN NEO SOUL AND HIP HOP DURING THE TIME PERIOD HE DISCUSSES

[@MusiqTruth]

Yesssss

[@steevho5006]

Soulquarians......

[@idea1istic]

man especially those months in Electric Lady with D'angelo, badu, common.. jeeze..

[@TLOFL]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/e2S4nIFsZ91sbs0

[@tonistarksdale5114]

@@TLOFL That's cool but definitely need a full length doc with behind the scenes footage and interviews.

[@DavidDiMuzio]

What an incredible time in music.

[@curtmcgirt4207]

Questlove is the walking living Smithsonian of music culture. ✊🏾

[@cpressley57]

95-2000 was a crazy time in music . To be a fly on the wall during some of these sessions. Classics

[@Smoothways]

You can hear from his drumming immediately the signature groove of D'Angelo tracks on the Voodoo...I LOVE IT!

[@pyroseed13]

I know I noticed that too! I knew there was something interesting about the rhythms on that album. Glad to see it explained here.

[@patrickdavis3857]

All from J dilla!! If u watch this interview 5 min before this he talks about how hearing dilla flipped his whole style.

[@TheScunion]

That dragging the pocket thing was the first thing I loved when i heard Voodoo. I've thought for years that they simply knocked it back a few milliseconds with protools or some type of wave editor. To find out all these years later that Quest actually played it that way.....truly genius !!!!!!!!

[@familytreemusic]

TheScunion russel elevado, the recording and mixing engeneer don't even use pro tools... everything is pure analog vibes and great musical talent.

[@familytreemusic]

TheScunion russel elevado, the recording and mixing engeneer don't even use pro tools... everything is pure analog vibes and great musical talent.

[@aquamarine99911]

Honestly, I think music for the last 20-odd years has been doing itself a huge disservice with the Pro-Tools and the click tracks. I get it - they make things so much easier. I've had to overdub on top of a non-clicktracked song, and it was hard - but not impossible - to adjust to the slight variations in tempo. But you can spend endless, endless hours just fixing the kick drum or whatever on Pro-Tools. And is the track the better for it? Isn't the humanity, the magic, lost? Voodoo pointed in another direction. You just have to bring in musicians the calibre of Pino P. and Questlove, and they'll make it work.

[@ekzoX0]

I always wondered was that on purpose of were they fucked up while recording. Either way, beautiful music to my ears.

[@luisdelgado2386]

Andrew James well said sir, musicianship needs to look back to the old days

[@boriscontreras9460]

D'Angelo impact on rhythm is one most important in human History, such as Bach for scales temperation. I hope we will remember him as one of the greatest musician !

[@BossDrSample]

Dilla was the one that inspired D'Angelo

[@diegofreire537]

D'Angelo is awesome! But talking of impact on rhythm, I think that James Brown is the God... I mean, he is "the harder working man in show-business"!

[@2Chillyd]

@@BossDrSample it literally says in the video that’s not the case

[@Eddsucks]

@@BossDrSample they both sort of had the idea, dilla just refined it super hard

[@ole-mortenkristiansen5462]

Voodoo is one of my favourite albums of all time!

[@PreachaTim]

Mine too!!! Real art!! No gimmicks!!

[@NPGmember]

`Listen 2it alot ! :D

[@dilpher]

I agree,it's one of my favorite albums too

[@drumtravelfun]

Fuckin eh.

[@PHlophe]

Ole-Mo, You surprised me , frankly

[@psychoshamrock]

my favorite record ever. 18 yrs on and I still play it at least 3x a week. It's like vitamins for my ears.

[@brewcity3178]

Voodoo is top 10 albums of all time and D'Angelo is a top 5 artist.

[@ezzong]

@Joseph quality not quantity

[@bp8300]

@Joseph In 3 Decades. Crazy🙏🏾😩🔥

[@aldavis6409]

Coming from a family of drummers this video clearly shows. Why Quest is the most experienced drummer in the world and by far the best!

[@okcomputer1982]

Dude, the Roots influence on american music period can not be understated.

[@marloncampbell4708]

This guy is a Legend! This shows how D was just light years ahead! Feel the music not follow status quo!

[@brandonlara5375]

Gotta say "Voodoo" is one of my all time favorite albums ever. Definitely top 5 of all time!!!!!

[@rodrigosalad]

Just amazing how Dilla till this days inspire so many..... heaven's gift fosho

[@SeVinKru3ger]

I love that "Voodoo" album, I still play it like it just came out. It's hard to drag a beat in any DAW, live drums are life. That's what they do in JAZZ.... it ain't new.

[@lmp9726]

EVERY drummer needs to watch this. Very courageous work, pushing the boundaries.

[@Paperbagman555]

This is such a great story, Quest and D'Angelo are true artists

[@catboyzee]

After Voodoo, all R&B/Soul/Gospel drummers started playing behind the beat. It was both a good and bad thing.

[@amplifiedbible07]

Any notable songs?

[@joe3489]

Hey guys, Questlove's in the house?

[@notsure4746]

You're nowhere...

[@SomeoneJr]

+Phil Lucio im everywhere... im really fuckin fat

[@TakarangiLove1998]

Oh haiii

[@bluegatorade358]

Questlove...you're not in the house......

[@bluegatorade358]

Someone Something wwwwoooosssshhhh

[@Smoothways]

'96-'99 he tried to lose his timing...HAHAHA!!!!! Just how he comes across: the coolest guy on the planet!! Doesnt get upset and has a clearest pair of brains you could ever wish for!

[@victorhokey]

Axel Baumgarten the actual voodoo album was recorded in 1998 and 1999 At the end of 1996 and in 1997 D'Angelo would just collaborate with other artists and do covers

[@mattryan6886]

Devil’s pie 🥧 sooooo good. It’s got the dilla rub with the drums in best way possible. Love playing that song on drums.

[@DeadPoolLilCuzin1567]

Dj Premier & D'angelo produced Devil's Pie

[@Smoothways]

"How did you make this sound so messed up?" Hillarious! I swear, this idea was started on a night high on grass - D'Angelo is well known for smoking one or the other. And this sense for draging fits just like a glove into the world of "highers".

[@djcoolcliff]

Had the pleasure of opening for The Roots back in 96 in RVA! Questlove is cooler than a fan and made sure that I met DAngelo! At The Floor Zone! Mad Skillz was Black Thought hype man! Epic show! Nat Smith was there in the wings too!

[@brandoninu7140]

D'Angelo was so amazing he didn't make sense 😂😂😂

[@Pibscu]

is

[@edennard1]

It wasn't that he didn't make sense, it was that he was that far ahead of the curve than his contemporaries.

[@toneyclayton485]

Creativity

[@pandaberries3430]

That's genius for ya.

[@christhedemocrat]

I noticed that the beats were dragging behind. It all just seemed to kinda work in a weird way

[@TonyMontana-bv7bx]

Quest Love.. The Style InFormant... Best Friend To The Appropriator..

[@stykstykman7354]

Questlove ......i love yo man .....big fan ...drummer of 25 years ...from Saskatoon

[@roninblax]

Toontown has some easy hoes. Used to roll into town and get laid within an hour. Hidden gem.

[@leibweiss]

We knew them before they were famous amir the drummer now they’re really famous good for them very happy for them

[@johnrivers6252]

The life of a musician seems so exciting

[@sheilaspaulding8812]

Fascinating! Thanks for sharing!

[@markmartin2853]

A golden era of soul music

[@markalexander7310]

D'angelo and JB reinvented the off beat track and funk/soul was never the same.

[@manikimoloi4386]

When he touched those drums first time I heard chicken grease. Legendary

[@Screw064]

Had no idea he was on the jawn makes sense now

[@zacharykingston1046]

I would love to just hear Quest love talk longer the better..he'd be perfect for a podcast....even just a couple episodes

[@dlynkirk84]

I believe he has one.

[@yommish]

He has a podcast where he talks to musicians about music in depth. (also some actors, comedians, etc). Called “Questlove Supreme”. In. Depth.

[@drstew1]

“Music is a Republic, the kinda free form that dictates, da blues lay down the law, while jazz disobeyed it ,while rocking roll tried to muscle in,the almighty funk jus played, it so go on D’Angelo say it ! “ that’s my contribution. So said Capt rugged

[@el_mal_de_ojo]

If you're even a cursory fan of listening to music, you owe it to yourself to dive into D'Angelo's discography. He came out the gates swinging, 'Brown Sugar' is one of the strongest, most self-assured debut albums of all time, 'Voodoo' is a masterpiece in every conceivable way, and 'Black Messiah' accomplishes the impossible- nearly a decade and a half long hiatus and he still outputs a latter-year masterpiece, evolving the sound but still maintaining the essence of what makes him the genius that he is. You could confidently argue that he's 3 for 3, 3 masterpiece albums in their own right, with 'Voodoo' quite literally changing the trajectory of where one genre of music was heading.

[@downesdesign]

Love me some Questlove

[@CHAD-bw7tu]

the holes in the redbull logo is making my Trypophobia act up

[@OscarSuhRodriguez]

Interesting. From other interviews about this album, I've heard the drum performances were mostly even dragged out of time/back in Protools to create that feel, rather than performed that way.

[@breezzy86]

Questlove is Genius

[@kennysmith9929]

Voodoo! A great album!

[@paypaplanejayne]

So dope

[@catpylon1768]

wow! amazing drummer!

[@priestmorrison6564]

MasterClass....

[@colinmakhubela]

Awesomazing!

[@cy9105]

QuestLove the drummer, QuestLove the historian.

[@rickitann8406]

noooo. He did dat shit!!!! big ups to D

[@marshacreary2442]

Informative

[@malibuestudio2064]

what is adam neely doing in the lower left corner of the video ?

[@nerchebiz6356]

Is he playing his signature set on this?

[@ocean457]

Where can i hear more from this interview?

[@amorejohnson4647]

Diego Saresu red bull music academy channel has the full interview ❤

[@sergienation]

Quest voice sounds like Dave Grohl's.

[@2oohonest]

dude in the back @ 3:12 looks so bored. Pay respect to the talented ones.

[@onceitisover]

+LexyAAA maybe he was so overwhelmed by the talented ones that he couldn't move and was just in shock and couldn't breathe. and such

[@Masaru_kun]

why does questlove say 'its not like d'angelo knew dilla' when dilla produced a bunch for d'angelo... lol

[@KardiFan2000]

He means BEFORE they met...

[@yingtianfu]

4:29 !!!

[@LeekLone]

Bob Power you there? (Yeah)

[@jusweYT]

the holes on the logos just makes me cringe

[@charlese.duncanjr.2341]

Majical!

[@federeeco3198]

“Use the force man” Lol

[@rmanS2C]

Why did they call the album voodoo?

[@NickyV]

So what exactly is going on...is the snare pushed and the kick drug out? I know thats a gross oversimplification of this whole feel but is that funamentally what the rest is built on?

[@poerava]

Come on now quest. Brothers been dragging the beat since lead belly. D would infuse the drag from the beat, right through his harmonic percussive insertions and exits (each layered vocal) with such nuance that made the best make sense. Also dragged the horns. This made the best drag sound perfectly positioned. Also keys. Which is actually a percussion instrument. You talk yourself up a bit my dude. You dope as hell but you didn’t make this up.

[@dizmix]

That shit came from Battle Cat...

[@AganeandAgane]

arguably

[@strono]

Brad Rheinberger

[@davidstorm2029]

look at all the black man fans below you would think of all this imitation & flattery black men would be more loved and respected

[@davidstorm2029]

ABSOLUTELY

[@grapistwithhiv]

GRACE? Lol, you can have 'swag', but black people are the furthest thing from graceful. You're constantly claiming your God's gift to humanity, grace implies an understated humbleness, not going around in gold chains talking about how great you are. Enough of this WE WUZ KANGZ shit, get over yourself.

[@willygarciadrums3521]

Cartoonist Jim Morton Speaking of lacking grace, your comment was borderline racist, my friend. I don't know how many black people you interact with but not every black person looks or acts like Migos or Flavor Flav. There is indeed a grace to how a strong black man or woman carries themself. You can have pride and grace at the same time. Just look at Aretha Franklin, or Nat King Cole, etc.

[@ladyluckradio305]

Chicken grease anyone?

[@vonroretz3307]

Why isn't Jagermaester also not making a bid to take over the world?

[@aldavis9136]

I used to be a drummer I understand exactly what quest is talking about

[@childrenofbodom33333]

Me too

[@BenNCM]

He sounds like my young niece picking up the drumsticks for the first time. Am I missing something here?

[@TastyChevelle]

I hate that Red Bull cheese thing in the background

[@donnatoots]

ANGRY DOESNT EVEN BEGIN TO CUT IT 😒 😑 😡💔💔💔💔💔💔💔 LIVING DEAD IN THE HOUSE

[@Goatchild90]

♒♒♒

[@ljcfusion9503]

yaaaawn...

[@c.l.368]

Dilla feel is cool and all, but performing it live means you have to pretty much wing it, because there's no logic behind it that's accessible to humans, definitely not for this guy at least. Every time he "demonstrated" the dilla feel he didn't play a single identical bar. The notes were all displaced by different amounts. If you can record one using a DAW and then loop it, then you'll get the real Dilla feel, but this live shit is quite unbearable imo, just a guy winging it. Doesn't sound very good unless you edit the shit out of it so that all the notes are displaced by the same fraction.

[@ReegusReever]

It's saddening to see companies like Red Bull expand into areas under the guise of community betterment. Even the medium close shots of Questlove are dominated by the huge logo.

[@ALIENjoy]

Ryan Mayne idk about you but I am never gonna buy a red bull in my life regardless how often I see the logo haha

[@kesadiq]

You should do a little research on the Red Bull Academy, because for many years they have been doing amazing things related to culture of music arts.

[@mbf6160]

dude on the couch at times does not look interested lol

[@chrisleggio5220]

The bustling rugby resultantly name because fruit desirably pedal including a fearful fearless fedelini. flawless, efficacious wave

[@MaggillaKutz71]

Why did he have the drum set for , once again my theory is correct , this guy is overrated

[@SuperMikeHull]

Because he’s a drummer dum dum

[@Mr.Hardgroove]

meh.....

[@cassandrarichardson5509]

I wish he would take that pick outta his hair...This 2018, Not 1973.

[@cassandrarichardson5509]

That's my image and i don't have a problem growing hair, so mind your business fool...Everytime i make a comment, a nigga alway's got to reply.

[@boshdodgers]

@@cassandrarichardson5509 sometimes we gotta read between the lines

[@cassandrarichardson5509]

Ok, You read btween the lines....I'm going to mind my business, and you should do the same.

[@boshdodgers]

@@cassandrarichardson5509 I sure will, with a pick in my hair

[@Dolph-Face]

I like it. And I hate carrying shit in my pockets

[@DoubleDowner]

Why would I listen to anyone with a thing in their

[@chuckybastard]

So basically, D’Angelo invented the lo-fi beat…

[@Martydoessykes]

J Dilla technically but yeah basically

[@yommish]

A lot of “lofi” beats now are just formulaically moving the hi-hat back a few ticks and adding some swing, moving things around the grid. It has the “off” sound but it doesn’t feel human. Dilla was the master of programming drums that sounded like the pocket of a human drummer. Lo-fi is like the Kenny G to Dilla’s Coltrane IMO

[@aquamarine99911]

The lesson is: just because you can quantize doesn't mean you should.

[@heckler73]

There's another lesson: Some people have shitty natural rhythm...and they got away with it.

[@bv6377]

@@heckler73 ??????

[@heckler73]

@@bv6377 Come back in another year, and it might make sense. 🧐😉

[@bv6377]

@@heckler73 could you clarify? without knowing you, your comment could be taken as a critique of mainsteam producers, or as a knock on the laid back, drunk feel of some of the artists in this video

[@ExtremeTG]

@@heckler73 its called pushing the envelope, when you make something unconventional work, you are the innovator/genius now, not someone "that got away with it"

[@ethanflynn1369]

Spanish Joint has possibly the best groove ever.

[@funkytomtom]

Ethan Flynn Agreed.

[@johnallen6991]

Ethan Flynn Hell yea! love that jam

[@GrimeGreem]

+Ethan Flynn I Agree also!!!

[@carlosalgarinjimenez6120]

+Ethan Flynn word bro

[@prettdboy]

+Ethan Flynn Word

[@ericfellner2689]

Use the force

[@isiahwilliams4646]

Dennis Chambers talks about this when touring with George Clinton. George told him to play the 2&4 behind the pocket "thats where the funk is."

[@MatthewSmith-ub2er]

Is it just me, or are the Roots this generation's funk brothers. They are so amazing.

[@97Andrewjs]

Just blew my mind dude holy fuck yes

[@sherryisa2003]

No it’s not you I agree

[@Shouzeegestof]

That red bull sign is giving me trypophobia

[@PcNdou]

I hear that man

[@tyharris3263]

Same my man same

[@davidrajkumar4896]

same here man. and never google "trypophobia"

[@patrickzelger1685]

@@davidrajkumar4896 scared the shit out of me

[@djhero0071]

That shit isn’t that bad. It reminded me of soda fizz more than anything.

[@amorejohnson4647]

At the last track of the album voodoo, at the end of the song Africa the whole album rewinds back to the beginning just like Kendrick Lamar's Damn album's last track Duckworth ❤🌹

[@tmdmedia6996]

Quest. My G. #musicianswilllaughatme

[@waynepayne864]

ive watched this video a while ago and was pretty inspired, but im rewatching it now and i sense great anger in questlove reminiscing on this time lmao. count the sighs

[@Icepacalapse]

D'angelo was already a fantastic "artist" but now he's a musician.

[@arealpieceofwork148]

The fuck you saying bro lol

[@Martydoessykes]

He was a musician first Lmao

[@VadimDaskal]

The colorful sculpture of the Red Bull is made by Laser Cutting Shapes. 350 layers of paper were used to make this unbelievably complicated paper sculpture.

[@andiuand6532]

Perfect @4:46

[@james12erby43]

That's a Chris Daddy Dave concept feel and tempo manipulation

[@cesarbaca]

How the fuk u never seen Star Wars

[@estebanb7166]

Black Messiah is a better album than Voodoo