The preeminent band leader in hiphop, the ring-leader for the Soulquarians (?uest, Dilla and Poyser), omnipresent in hip-soul/soul-hop. Here's the essential nuts-and-bolts for why ?uest should be viewed with same esteem as every other board-genius on this list, even if he may not be their equal as stripped-down beatmaker: ?uest is a TRU producer. ?uest reigns over projects. For instance, Dilla produced much of Like Water, but ?uest was the executive producer and executive producers in hop are different than movie exec-producers. In Hollywood, exec-

producers give money and that’s usually it. In hop, they reside over the whole projects as, essentially, the creative arbitrator. They yes-no songs, offer advice/critiques on album directions/sounds. Only two other dudes do this better than ?uest and they happen to be Nos. 1 and 2 on this list.

Putting ?uest’s prowess and, therefore, career in perspective starts and ends with his work with The Roots. From Do You Want More?, when The Roots’ sound was practically all live-instrumentation, to Illadelph Halflife when they moved to a very crisp studio sound, to Things Fall Apart, when they melded the two sounds and also began expirementing with with abit of electronica and then Phrenology when they began an exploratory onslaught that almost predate Bridge, in many ways, ?uest was on that dippa. If Pete Rock has the deepest crates, ?uest had the most authoritative grasp on music. That breadth gives his projects a completeness and substance that’s not seen anywhere else.

I remember a concert at the 9:30 Club in D.C. – one of the many Roots shows I’ve attended.  I think it was the Okayplayer Tour, and during an intermission, ?uest came out and played DJ for about 20-30 minutes. You'd never heard a more seamless quilt of musical genres thrown at you from every angle…it was ridiculous. That type of command (and love, might I add) shines through in his music and the artists that work with him – from D’Angelo to Common to Erykah Badu to Black Thought – recognize this and allow him to steer the ship in true producer fashion.

It pains me that people (even true music lovers that claim to be aficianados) don't acknowledge how incredible, classic and landmark Electric Circus  is. Hip-hoppers – the narrow-minded ones – panned it because it didn’t sound like One Day It’ll All Make Sense and was an even further departure from that core-sound than Like Water For Chocolate, but musically it was important. The direction that ?uest and Common took music on that album was quite seminal. Like The Love Below and The New Danger  they were basically making a "music" album, rooted in hiphop.  We now know that kind of music as Bridge, but back in 2002 there weren’t really any precedents set – Electric Circus was a precedent. And, there's no way Common makes that album without ?uest. That’s obvious, since Common’s previous and later works were always made in his producer’s personalities. Think about it: One Day sounds like NoID, Like Water sounds like Dilla and Be basically sounds like Kanye. Well, Electric Circus was unapologetically ?uest, directing an album with a like-minded artist who was seeking to explore music. That album would have been in a shambles without someone with impeccable vision and a relentless grasp of music. That dude was ?uest.

?uest continues to do that for The Roots – his main canvas that he paints the prettiest on. And he's done so for countless soul artists like Bilal, Badu and D'angelo. In fact, the two greatest soul albums since the Neo-Soul movement (excluding Omar-efforts, since he's from the UK) were Voodoo and Mama's Gum, which Soulquarians (primarily Dilla and ?uest) directed.

The annoying thing about hip hop is that it doesn’t take us places anymore – at least not often. We need to create some type of ?uest emblem (the silouhette of his ‘fro seems logical) and cast it on an evening sky one of these days, calling out for his rescue-efforts like a hip hop Batman. Dudes are staying put too much, when we really need them to be exploring and tapping in to some creative recesses. When that’s the goal, there’s only one kat I’d want leading the way – yep.

Doin’ The Knowledge

To grasp ?uest’s genius, study these two albums: Do You Want More? and Electric Circus. Pay as much attention to the ideas and vision behind the music as you do the crack of the snare drum.

-- Music Dude

musicdude@thisisrealmusic.com