Questlove has uncovered a rare demo from Common‘s Like Water For Chocolate to coincide with the album’s 25th anniversary.
Posting a snippet of the musical treasure on Instagram, the Roots drummer and Soulquarians skipper — who executive produced the project — explained that the song is an early version of “Geto Heaven Part Two” with vocals from Bilal instead of D’Angelo.
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“Took me a min to rummage through the treats but I found a gang of cassettes from the @electricladystudios era in time for @common’s Like Water For Chocolate 25 celebration,” he wrote in the caption. “This was the Geto Heaven demo w @bilalmusic singing D’angelo’s parts. Fun times.”
The unreleased track got a raptorous reception from some of Quest’s peers, with DJ Premier commenting: “Wowwwww” and Pete Rock writing: “jeeeeeez.”
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De La Soul‘s Posdnuos also reacted with: “The treasure chest of demos.”
Listen to it below.
Common also celebrated the seminal album’s birthday, writing on Instagram last week: “A blessed and Happy Anniversary to Like Water For Chocolate. I go back and forth on what my favorite album that I have made is and this one always seems to be in my top 2.
“Whether it’s my favorite or not, I do know this album changed my life. Not only did it come at a time where I had just moved from Chicago but I had just got off my first label so everything was a new start. It was a rebirth.”
He added: “Though I had already been friends and collaborated with Jay Dilla, Questlove and James Poyser, it was truly the beginnings of what would end up bring life-long musical relationships and brotherhood.
“It was the start of me working with Bilal. It was the culmination of influence and inspiration of Black Thought, Slum Village, Mos Def (Yasiin), Talib Kweli and Fela Kuti. It was the first time I ever got to rock on a Preemo beat and the first time I got to do music with D’Angelo – who to this day is still one of my favorite artists of all time. It was the collaborations with MC Lyte and Jill Scott that made me realize this album had so many colors.”
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The Chicago MC concluded his reflective post by saying: “Like Water was the album where I went from being an underground MC to a soulful musician whose path to artistry is Hip Hop. It’s been 25 years and I thank each and every one of you for listening and rocking with it while also honoring everyone who contributed to this album and my life at that time.”
