Bilal Channels the Spirit of the Soulquarians at Antone’s
Music’s ability to connect to our humanity can be the ultimate handshake to someone across the aisle. Music isn’t created in isolation. It absorbs and exudes the histories of our world.
Fifty years ago, Antone’s became a musical highway, linking the heart of Chicago blues with the cultural melting pot of the South. In 2025, platforms like Spotify and TikTok built digital roads, connecting the music of everyone’s world. But these new highways often make us forget that we still have the option to slow down.
Sunday night at Antone’s offered that chance. It showcased the enriching music of the Soulquarians collective through DJ P-Funk, Austin’s own Sketch, and Philadelphia singer-songwriter, Bilal. Slowing down was on the menu. Each performance pulled us away from today’s quick singles and trending audio’s. We swayed along with deep musical rhythms that drove through nostalgia.
Sketch. Photo by Shunya Carroll
When I first stepped into the venue, DJ P-Funk was spinning “Bag Lady” by Erykah Badu on the turntables. He scratched and mixed in East Coast soul, R&B and Hip-Hop until Sketch began. He connected the strings between Bilal’s friends, musical inspirations, and their influence on today’s music.
“This is the foundation of all [today’s music],” said Jabbar Sheffield, founder of Music is on the Menu, the promotion company that brought Bilal and Sketch to the Antone’s stage.
“They got Muddy Waters, B.B. King and now they got Bilal,” Sheffield said.
The 250-capacity venue created a personal connection with Bilal’s performance. His setlist spanned from his 2001 debut album, 1st Born Second, to his latest record, Adjust Brightness. The crowd sang along to nearly every song as Bilal’s church-raised vocals bridged past, present, and future.
“You know I do it,” Bilal sang to the crowd before taking off his jacket and dancing with audience members in front row, who seemed to have followed his whole career.
Bilal. Photo by Shunya Carroll
Bilal is one of many artists who created with the Soulquarians collective. The trio of D’Angelo, Questlove and J Dilla brought artists to the east coast to innovate. Erykah Badu from Dallas, Q-Tip from New York City, Common from Chicago, Jill Scott from Philly, and others would visit Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios in New York repeatedly to record together.
Sheffield gave Bilal the 2000 lead single, “Something to Hold” and swore it was recorded at Electric Lady, but Bilal insisted it was actually at Sony Studios.
The group quietly disbanded in 2015 over various commercial reasons, but members continued collaborating. The sound of the late 90’s and early 2000s was shaped by their musical ideas. And it’s those ideas, not necessarily the sounds, that continue to define the eras, even if they haven’t broken into the mainstream like Sketch.
He jumped between jazz and rock like it was second nature. His performance was playful and fun. At one point, he filtered screeching vocals through a voice modulator that brought out some chuckles from the audience—it was weird, but it worked.
He sounded modern in a way that you could listen to him 25 years later and it still feels fresh. We can only wait to see if his musical ideas stand the test of time.
Like Sketch, Bilal’s Sunday night performance strafed into rock with a standard setup: Joe Blacks on drums, Tony Whitfield on bass and Randy Runyon on Guitar. This could have been a lineup for heavy metal, blues, or country band, depending on how the instruments were played.
Sheffield was amazed that Antone’s showcased many of the greats – and now Bilal. This year marks their 50th anniversary, and they plan to host performances that reflect on their past while imagining their future. Sheffield hopes Bilal’s performance will pave a new road for other East Coast artists, like Questlove, to stop by. With their track record, the 1975 venue, might just make that wish come true.