to kick off this season Open Mike Eagle and El-P dig into El's early life leading up to his first recordings and the forming of the seminal underground rap group Company Flow. Along the way we hear the story of his first encounter with the music business and how that informed the ’independent as f*ck’ aesthetic of his early releases. We then explore the record label bidding war that lands the group at legendary underground label Rawkus Records.
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Company Flow part 1: El’s origin story

Season 4 of What Had Happened Was features host Open Mike Eagle in conversation with legendary drummer, band leader and Oscar winner Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson. Throughout the course of the season, Questlove shares the stories behind the first four albums of the Legendary Roots Crew. Along the way, we hear Questlove’s personal rise alongside legends like Black Thought, Dilla, D’angelo, Jill Scott and many more.

Music

Music Interviews

In our season 4 finale we conclude the story of The Roots' 4th studio album Things Fall Apart. In discussing the release and reception of that album we hear the story of the infamous Soulquarian photo shoot for Vibe magazine featuring Questlove, Mos Def, Q-Tip, Dilla, Erykah Badu and more. Where it may have looked like the start of a movement to fans of these artists, according to Questlove himself it was really the end.
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Season Finale: What is a Soulquarian?

In this episode of our season-long sitdown with Questlove we dig even deper into the creation of Things Fall Apart starting with the conclusion of the You Got Me sage then unpacking album highlights like Act Too (Love of my Life) featuring Common and Doube Trouble featuring Yasiin Bey fka Mos Def. The latter story containing a retelling of the moment Questlove knew he needed to level-up his production following a link-up with Dilla, Q-Tip, DJ Premier and The Alchemist.
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Things Fall Apart Part 3

In this episode of our season long interview with Questlove, we continue the story of Things Fall Apart. We hear the stories behind Table of Contents, Step into the Realm, Adrenaline featuring Beanie Siegel and the difficulty in constructing the hit single You Got Me. In the story of the latter we hear how The Roots encountered Jill Scott and the factors that led to her replacement on the song by Erykah Badu.
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Things Fall Apart Part 2

In this episode we arrive at The Roots' breakthrough album 1999's Things Fall Apart. With the success of the single and video for What They Do positioning them for stardom they begin to put together the Philadelphia open mic scene that would attract talents like Jill Scott, Musiq Soulchild and more for legendary jam sessions. Plus a superproducer from Detroit emerges as the guiding light for a new sound as Questlove is introduced to Dilla by way of a very expensive phone call.
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Things Fall Apart

In this episode Questlove concludes the story of The Roots' third studio album Illadelph Halflife with the fallout from the release of the single and infamous video for their breakthrough single 'What They Do'. The song's success was everything they wanted but the cost was unimaginable. This episode contains one of the greatest stories in What Had Happened Was history.
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Company Flow part 1: El’s origin story

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