Questlove finances his old schools musical

Musician Ahmir Khalib Thompson, often known as Questlove, has offered to assist to fund the once a year musical at his school, the Philadelphia High School for Inventive and Performing Arts (CAPA), it is now discovered this week.

Questlove, who plays drums for this Grammy-award winning Hip Hop band ‘The Roots’ (the crew presently occupying the spot as the house band for US talk show ‘Late Night with Jimmy Fallon’), can be a highly asked for record producer, music journalist and DJ.

The 42-year-old drummer heard that his school was being pushed to cancel their 2013 musical due to budget cuts and opted to ensure that next year’s show wouldn’t suffer an identical destiny.

Thompson it appears that called the school’s principal, Johnny C. Whaley, JR and offered a “sizeable donation” to make sure that the show would go ahead next year.

Because of Questlove’s generosity and the efforts of other donors (like local lawyers Charles Peruto and Abe Kasbo) the school’s annual musical custom is expected to resume in 2014.

Whaley told KYW Newsradio that Thompson has “reached out to our school before and given us goods”, he went on to say that “you have to know that we’re a very close-knit organization, when our alumni see things changing, as long as they have the economic ability to help you, they reach out to us.”

The annual event, that is a necessary showcase both for CAPA as an establishment and for young talent inside the Philadelphia district, costs about $65,000 (approximately £42,000) to provide, but isn’t a part of CAPA’s annual budget. “There’s a certain standard of brilliance we have,” says Whaley of the cost, “We don’t concede when it relates to production”

The previous show had been funded by The Home and School Society, following a contribution from The William Penn Foundation.

CAPA is noted to the fostering of imaginative talent and many of the school’s graduates have gone to successful careers in arts and leisure. Notable alumni include record-breaking RnB vocal set ‘Boyz II Men’, author and ‘Scrubs’ co-producer Angela Nissel and former James Brown and Sting bassist Christian McBride also numerous more.

Questlove met and befriended MC and fellow ‘Roots’ cofounder Tariq Trotter (better known as ‘Black Thought’) whilst both were students at CAPA.

Sources:

http://www.okayplayer.com/news/questlove-saves-capa-high-school-play.html

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/05/06/questlove-steps-up-to-ensure-next-years-capa-musical-will-go-on/

http://articles.philly.com/2013-05-06/news/39044128_1_questlove-capa-the-roots