Earlier this week, cereal manufacturer Kellog’s opened up a pop-up, health awareness themed “Recharge Bar” in New York City. The day after the location’s grand opening, Hip Hop group The Roots performed on location. Joined by several students from the former and now-struggling school that Questlove and Black Thought attended in Philadelphia, the band performed Kellog’s “Cereal And Milk” song.
Sitting down with HuffPost Live, The Roots’ frontmen detailed the partnership and shared stories from their high school experience.
“In a nutshell, the Recharge Bar, the collaborative effort between The Roots and Kellog’s, is about our love for Kellog’s products and cereal,” Black Thought said. “Us being cereal enthusiasts, we keep lots of cereal in our rider…So we had this kind of love affair that we’ve always had. They approached us to do something…but we had to do something that made sense with The Roots brand and with their brand. That’s where the High School For Creative And Performing Arts came into play.”
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Explaining his first experience at a public school, The Roots drummer recalled mingling with future stars.
“My fourth day of school, what would eventually become Boyz II Men, the first week of school, they were already in the bathroom harmonizing,” Questlove said. “That’s the only public school I ever went to. I had a real sheltered childhood and the kind of schools I went to there was only 20 students. This was my first high-school experience with at least six or seven hundred kids.”
“Right now the school is in a little trouble,” he added. “Someone just Tweeted me, ‘How come ya’ll ain’t saving our school?’ I didn’t know what was going on. I had to look up a few websites…to see that they were in trouble. I went to him and our manager and said, ‘We gotta figure out something to do.’ Partnering with Kellog’s is actually our first step in helping the school out, just for basic things that they need.”
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While on the show, both artists remembered competing for a top spot in talent shows against Boyz II Men.
“The talent shows were like huge man,” Black Thought said. “The production was an annual thing. They would call it Senitmental Journey. So, you know, it was all about who was performing at “Sentimental Journey” this year. Our rivals wound up being Boyz II Men.”
“They used to cheat with glitter,” said Questlove. ”Girls would start swooning. They would have glitter and the top hats.”
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