Voodoo

Recorded at Electric Lady Studios in 1998 and 1999 with a large line-up of musicians from the Soulquarians collective, and produced mainly by D'Angelo. Questlove was his co-pilot, and Russell Elevado recorded and mixed it using analog equipment. Pino Palladino played bass lines D'Angelo had composed and sequenced for him, and Charlie Hunter played guitar and bass together on an eight-string instrument on The Root, Greatdayndamornin' and Spanish Joint. Roy Hargrove played flugelhorn on Send It On, Method Man and Redman appear on Left & Right, and DJ Premier produced Devil's Pie. Most of it was recorded live without overdubbing, with Untitled (How Does It Feel) the exception.

Questlove said the group spent 1996 and most of 1997 watching videos and jamming, and found about 4,000 Soul Train episodes in Japan in late 1997 before recording properly began. Elevado said he first played Electric Ladyland to D'Angelo on the way to breakfast in Virginia. The Ringer's Justin Sayles called it the first great musical endeavor of the young millennium. It entered the Billboard 200 at number 1, sold more than 1.7 million copies in the US, and won the Grammy for Best R&B Album. Rolling Stone ranked it 28 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums.