1.
Riverside, California
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Riverside is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, located in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. Riverside is the county seat of the county and named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire and in Riverside County and it is also part of the Greater Los Angeles area. Riverside is the 59th most populous city in the United States, as of the 2010 Census, Riverside had a population of 303,871. Riverside was founded in the early 1870s and it is the birthplace of the California citrus industry and home of the Mission Inn, the largest Mission Revival Style building in the United States. It is also home to the Riverside National Cemetery, the University of California, Riverside, is located in the northeastern part of the city. The university also hosts the Riverside Sports Complex, in the late 1700s and early 1800s, the area was inhabited by Cahuilla and the Serrano people. Californios such as Bernardo Yorba and Juan Bandini established ranches during the first half of the 19th century, in the 1860s, Louis Prevost launched the California Silk Center Association, a short-lived experiment in sericulture. In the wake of its failure, John W. North purchased some of its land, in March 1870, North distributed posters announcing the formation of a colony in California. North, a staunch temperance-minded abolitionist from New York State, had formerly founded Northfield, a few years later, some navel orange trees were planted and found to be such a success that full-scale planting began. Riverside was temperance minded, and Republican, there were four saloons in Riverside when it was founded. The license fees were raised until the saloons moved out of Riverside, investors from England and Canada transplanted traditions and activities adopted by prosperous citizens. As a result, the first golf course and polo field in Southern California were built in Riverside. C, the trees came from Bahia, Brazil. The Bahia orange did not thrive in Florida, but its success in Southern California was phenomenal, the three trees were planted on the Tibbetts property. One of the trees died after it was trampled by a cow during the first year it was planted, after the trampling, the two remaining trees were transplanted to property belonging to Sam McCoy to receive better care than L. C. That tree still stands to this day inside a protective fence abutting what is now a major intersection, the trees thrived in the Southern California climate and the navel orange industry grew rapidly. Many growers purchased bud wood and then grafted the cuttings to root stock, by 1882, there were more than half a million citrus trees in California, almost half of which were in Riverside. The development of refrigerated cars and innovative irrigation systems established Riverside as the richest city in the United States by 1895
2.
Harvard University
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Although never formally affiliated with any denomination, the early College primarily trained Congregationalist and Unitarian clergy. Its curriculum and student body were gradually secularized during the 18th century, james Bryant Conant led the university through the Great Depression and World War II and began to reform the curriculum and liberalize admissions after the war. The undergraduate college became coeducational after its 1977 merger with Radcliffe College, Harvards $34.5 billion financial endowment is the largest of any academic institution. Harvard is a large, highly residential research university, the nominal cost of attendance is high, but the Universitys large endowment allows it to offer generous financial aid packages. Harvards alumni include eight U. S. presidents, several heads of state,62 living billionaires,359 Rhodes Scholars. To date, some 130 Nobel laureates,18 Fields Medalists, Harvard was formed in 1636 by vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1638, it obtained British North Americas first known printing press, in 1639 it was named Harvard College after deceased clergyman John Harvard an alumnus of the University of Cambridge who had left the school £779 and his scholars library of some 400 volumes. The charter creating the Harvard Corporation was granted in 1650 and it offered a classic curriculum on the English university model—many leaders in the colony had attended the University of Cambridge—but conformed to the tenets of Puritanism. It was never affiliated with any denomination, but many of its earliest graduates went on to become clergymen in Congregational. The leading Boston divine Increase Mather served as president from 1685 to 1701, in 1708, John Leverett became the first president who was not also a clergyman, which marked a turning of the college toward intellectual independence from Puritanism. When the Hollis Professor of Divinity David Tappan died in 1803 and the president of Harvard Joseph Willard died a year later, in 1804, in 1846, the natural history lectures of Louis Agassiz were acclaimed both in New York and on the campus at Harvard College. Agassizs approach was distinctly idealist and posited Americans participation in the Divine Nature, agassizs perspective on science combined observation with intuition and the assumption that a person can grasp the divine plan in all phenomena. When it came to explaining life-forms, Agassiz resorted to matters of shape based on an archetype for his evidence. Charles W. Eliot, president 1869–1909, eliminated the position of Christianity from the curriculum while opening it to student self-direction. While Eliot was the most crucial figure in the secularization of American higher education, he was motivated not by a desire to secularize education, during the 20th century, Harvards international reputation grew as a burgeoning endowment and prominent professors expanded the universitys scope. Rapid enrollment growth continued as new schools were begun and the undergraduate College expanded. Radcliffe College, established in 1879 as sister school of Harvard College, Harvard became a founding member of the Association of American Universities in 1900. In the early 20th century, the student body was predominately old-stock, high-status Protestants, especially Episcopalians, Congregationalists, by the 1970s it was much more diversified
3.
Parks and Recreation
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Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, the series aired on NBC from April 9,2009 to February 24,2015, for 125 episodes, over seven seasons. It was written by the writers and uses the same filming style as The Office. The writers researched local California politics for the show, and consulted with urban planners, Poehlers character, Leslie Knope, underwent major changes after the first season, in response to audience feedback that she seemed unintelligent and ditzy. The writing staff incorporated current events into the episodes, such as a government shutdown in Pawnee inspired by the global financial crisis of 2007–2008. Several guest stars, such as Jason Mantzoukas, Kathryn Hahn, Sam Elliott, Bill Murray, Paul Rudd, and Jon Hamm, have been featured in the show, and their characters often appear in multiple episodes. Parks and Recreation was part of NBCs Comedy Night Done Right programming during its Thursday night prime-time block, the series received mixed reviews during its first season, but, after a re-approach to its tone and format, the second and subsequent seasons were widely acclaimed. In TIMEs 2012 year-end lists issue, Parks and Recreation was named the number one television series of that year, in 2013, after receiving four consecutive nominations in the category, Parks and Recreation won the Television Critics Association Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy. Parks and Recreation focuses on Leslie Knope, the deputy director of the Parks, local nurse Ann Perkins demands that a construction pit in the abandoned lot beside her house be filled in after her boyfriend, Andy Dwyer, fell in and broke his legs. Leslie promises to turn the pit into a park, despite resistance from the parks director Ron Swanson, later, Ann becomes furious to learn Andy had his cast removal postponed for two weeks so Ann would pamper him longer. Meanwhile, a drunken and lonely Mark takes Leslie to the pit and kisses her, an embarrassed Mark accidentally falls into the pit and injures himself. Ann breaks up with Andy and begins dating Mark, with Leslies approval and it is revealed that Toms marriage to pediatric surgeon Wendy is actually a green card marriage, which, to his disappointment, eventually ends in divorce. The pit is filled in, after which Ron is visited by his horrible ex-wife Tammy Two. April becomes attracted to Andy, but he remains fixated on Ann, just as Mark plans to propose to Ann, she reveals she no longer has feelings for him. They break up, and Mark leaves his city hall career for a private sector job, meanwhile, a crippling budget deficit leads state auditors Chris Traeger and Ben Wyatt to shut down the Pawnee government temporarily, much to Leslies horror and Rons delight. Meanwhile, Andy develops feelings for April, but she fears he is hung up on Ann. Ann later kisses Andy due to conflicting emotions from her break-up with Mark, the season ends with Toms shocked discovery that Ron is now dating his ex-wife, Wendy. Leslie decides to bring back the defunct Pawnee harvest festival, the success or failure of which determine the financial future of the department. While working on the festival, Leslie and Ben begin to develop feelings for each other, after weeks of planning, the festival becomes a tremendous success through Leslies efforts
4.
NBC
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The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcast television network that is the flagship property of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The network is part of the Big Three television networks, founded in 1926 by the Radio Corporation of America, NBC is the oldest major broadcast network in the United States. Following the acquisition by GE, Bob Wright served as executive officer of NBC, remaining in that position until his retirement in 2007. In 2003, French media company Vivendi merged its entertainment assets with GE, Comcast purchased a controlling interest in the company in 2011, and acquired General Electrics remaining stake in 2013. Following the Comcast merger, Zucker left NBC Universal and was replaced as CEO by Comcast executive Steve Burke, during a period of early broadcast business consolidation, radio manufacturer Radio Corporation of America acquired New York City radio station WEAF from American Telephone & Telegraph. Westinghouse, a shareholder in RCA, had an outlet in Newark, New Jersey pioneer station WJZ. This station was transferred from Westinghouse to RCA in 1923, WEAF acted as a laboratory for AT&Ts manufacturing and supply outlet Western Electric, whose products included transmitters and antennas. The Bell System, AT&Ts telephone utility, was developing technologies to transmit voice- and music-grade audio over short and long distances, the 1922 creation of WEAF offered a research-and-development center for those activities. WEAF maintained a schedule of radio programs, including some of the first commercially sponsored programs. In an early example of chain or networking broadcasting, the station linked with Outlet Company-owned WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island, AT&T refused outside companies access to its high-quality phone lines. The early effort fared poorly, since the telegraph lines were susceptible to atmospheric. In 1925, AT&T decided that WEAF and its network were incompatible with the companys primary goal of providing a telephone service. AT&T offered to sell the station to RCA in a deal that included the right to lease AT&Ts phone lines for network transmission, the divisions ownership was split among RCA, its founding corporate parent General Electric and Westinghouse. NBC officially started broadcasting on November 15,1926, WEAF and WJZ, the flagships of the two earlier networks, were operated side-by-side for about a year as part of the new NBC. On April 5,1927, NBC expanded to the West Coast with the launch of the NBC Orange Network and this was followed by the debut of the NBC Gold Network, also known as the Pacific Gold Network, on October 18,1931. The Orange Network carried Red Network programming, and the Gold Network carried programming from the Blue Network, initially, the Orange Network recreated Eastern Red Network programming for West Coast stations at KPO in San Francisco. The Orange Network name was removed from use in 1936, at the same time, the Gold Network became part of the Blue Network. In the 1930s, NBC also developed a network for shortwave radio stations, in 1927, NBC moved its operations to 711 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, occupying the upper floors of a building designed by architect Floyd Brown
5.
Aziz Ansari
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Aziz Ansari is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is known for his roles as Tom Haverford on the NBC series Parks and Recreation and as Dev Shah on the Netflix series Master of None, which debuted in 2015 and Ansari created, writes, and stars in. The New York Times called the show the years best comedy straight out of the gate. Ansari began his career performing comedy in New York City during mid-2000 while attending New York University. In 2007, he created and starred in the MTV sketch comedy show Human Giant and this led to acting roles in feature films, including Funny People, I Love You, Man, Observe and Report, and 30 Minutes or Less. In addition to his work, Ansari has continued to work as a stand-up comedian. He released his debut CD/DVD, entitled Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening, in January 2010 on Comedy Central Records, in 2010 and 2011, he performed his Dangerously Delicious tour. This tour was self-released for download on his website in March 2012 and he completed his third major tour of new material, Buried Alive, in the summer of 2013. His fourth major comedy special, Live at Madison Square Garden, was released on Netflix in 2015 and his first book, Modern Romance, An Investigation, was released in June 2015. Aziz Ansari was born in Columbia, South Carolina, to a Tamil Muslim family from Tamil Nadu and his mother, Fatima, works in a medical office, and his father, Shoukath, is a gastroenterologist. Ansari grew up in Bennettsville, South Carolina, where he attended Marlboro Academy as well as the South Carolina Governors School for Science and he graduated from the New York University Stern School of Business with a major in marketing. Ansari frequently performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, as well as shows such as Invite Them Up. In 2005, Rolling Stone included him in their annual Hot List as their choice for the Hot Standup, Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado. Around the summer of 2005, Ansari began collaborating with fellow comedians Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer, the first series created by the group was Shutterbugs, which followed Huebel and Ansari as cutthroat child talent agents. This was followed up by the Illusionators, which starred Ansari, in mid-2006, MTV greenlit a sketch series from the group, which debuted April 5,2007. The show completed two seasons and the group was offered a season, but it opted to pursue other opportunities. In June 2008, Ansari was announced as the first cast hire for NBCs new comedy from producers of The Office, the show, Parks and Recreation, debuted in April 2009 with Ansari portraying government employee Tom Haverford. His character was a government official with extreme self-confidence and dreams of being mainstream
6.
Netflix
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Netflix is an American entertainment company founded by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph on August 29,1997, in Scotts Valley, California. It specializes in and provides streaming media and video-on-demand online and DVD by mail, in 2013, Netflix expanded into film and television production, as well as online distribution. As of 2017 the company has its headquarters in Los Gatos, Netflixs initial business model included DVD sales and rental, although Hastings jettisoned DVD sales about a year after Netflixs founding to focus on the DVD rental by mail business. In 2007, Netflix expanded its business with the introduction of streaming media, while retaining the DVD, Netflix entered the content-production industry in 2013, debuting its first series, House of Cards. It has greatly expanded the production of film and television series since then, offering Netflix Original content through its online library of films. Netflix released an estimated 126 original series or films in 2016, in January 2017, Netflix reported having over 93 million subscribers worldwide, including more than 49 million in the United States. Netflix was founded on August 29,1997, in Scotts Valley, California, by Marc Randolph, Randolph worked as marketing director for Hastings company, Pure Atria Corporation. Randolph was a co-founder of MicroWarehouse, a mail order company. Hastings, a computer scientist and mathematician, sold Pure Atria to Rational Software Corporation in 1997 for $700 million in what was then the richest acquisition in Silicon Valley history. Hastings, Randolphs mother and Integrity QA founder Steve Kahn invested $2.5 million in cash for Netflix. Randolph admired the fledgling e-commerce company Amazon and wanted to find a category of portable items to sell over the internet using a similar model. He and Hastings considered and rejected VHS tapes as too expensive to stock and too delicate to ship. When they heard about DVDs, which were available in only a few markets in 1997, when the disc arrived intact, they decided to take on the $16 billion home video sales and rental industry. Netflix introduced the monthly subscription concept in September 1999, and then dropped the model in early 2000. Since that time, the company has built its reputation on the model of flat-fee unlimited rentals without due dates, late fees, shipping and handling fees. In 2000, Netflix offered to be acquired by Blockbuster for $50 million, Netflix initiated an initial public offering on May 29,2002, selling 5.5 million shares of common stock at the price of US$15.00 per share. On June 14,2002, the company sold an additional 825,000 shares of stock at the same price. After incurring substantial losses during its first few years, Netflix posted its first profit during fiscal year 2003, in 2005,35,000 different films were available, and Netflix shipped 1 million DVDs out every day
7.
Taiwan
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Taiwan, officially the Republic of China, is a state in East Asia. Neighbours include China to the west, Japan to the northeast, Taiwan is the most populous state that is not a member of the United Nations, and the one with the largest economy. The island of Taiwan, also known as Formosa, was inhabited by Taiwanese aborigines before the 17th century. After a brief rule by the Kingdom of Tungning, the island was annexed by the Qing dynasty, the Qing ceded Taiwan to Japan in 1895 after the Sino-Japanese War. While Taiwan was under Japanese rule, the Republic of China was established on the mainland in 1912 after the fall of the Qing dynasty, following the Japanese surrender to the Allies in 1945, the ROC took control of Taiwan. However, the resumption of the Chinese Civil War led to the ROCs loss of the mainland to the Communists, and the flight of the ROC government to Taiwan in 1949. As a founding member of the United Nations, the ROC continued to represent China at the United Nations until 1971, in the early 1960s, Taiwan entered a period of rapid economic growth and industrialization, creating a stable industrial economy. In the 1980s and early 1990s, it changed from a one-party military dictatorship dominated by the Kuomintang to a multi-party democracy with universal suffrage, Taiwan is the 22nd-largest economy in the world, and its high-tech industry plays a key role in the global economy. It is ranked highly in terms of freedom of the press, health care, public education, economic freedom, the PRC has consistently claimed sovereignty over Taiwan and asserted the ROC is no longer in legitimate existence. Under its One-China Policy the PRC refused diplomatic relations with any country that recognizes the ROC, the PRC has threatened the use of military force in response to any formal declaration of independence by Taiwan or if PRC leaders decide that peaceful unification is no longer possible. There are various names for the island of Taiwan in use today, the former name Formosa dates from 1542, when Portuguese sailors sighted the main island of Taiwan and named it Ilha Formosa, which means beautiful island. The name Formosa eventually replaced all others in European literature and was in use in English in the early 20th century. This name was adopted into the Chinese vernacular as the name of the sandbar. The modern word Taiwan is derived from this usage, which is seen in forms in Chinese historical records. Use of the current Chinese name was formalized as early as 1684 with the establishment of Taiwan Prefecture, through its rapid development, the entire Formosan mainland eventually became known as Taiwan. The official name of the state is the Republic of China and it was a member of the United Nations representing China until 1971, when it lost its seat to the Peoples Republic of China. Over subsequent decades, the Republic of China has become known as Taiwan. In some contexts, especially ones from the ROC government
8.
Biology
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Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, evolution, distribution, identification and taxonomy. Modern biology is a vast and eclectic field, composed of branches and subdisciplines. However, despite the broad scope of biology, there are certain unifying concepts within it that consolidate it into single, coherent field. In general, biology recognizes the cell as the unit of life, genes as the basic unit of heredity. It is also understood today that all organisms survive by consuming and transforming energy and by regulating their internal environment to maintain a stable, the term biology is derived from the Greek word βίος, bios, life and the suffix -λογία, -logia, study of. The Latin-language form of the term first appeared in 1736 when Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus used biologi in his Bibliotheca botanica, the first German use, Biologie, was in a 1771 translation of Linnaeus work. In 1797, Theodor Georg August Roose used the term in the preface of a book, karl Friedrich Burdach used the term in 1800 in a more restricted sense of the study of human beings from a morphological, physiological and psychological perspective. The science that concerns itself with these objects we will indicate by the biology or the doctrine of life. Although modern biology is a recent development, sciences related to. Natural philosophy was studied as early as the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indian subcontinent, however, the origins of modern biology and its approach to the study of nature are most often traced back to ancient Greece. While the formal study of medicine back to Hippocrates, it was Aristotle who contributed most extensively to the development of biology. Especially important are his History of Animals and other works where he showed naturalist leanings, and later more empirical works that focused on biological causation and the diversity of life. Aristotles successor at the Lyceum, Theophrastus, wrote a series of books on botany that survived as the most important contribution of antiquity to the plant sciences, even into the Middle Ages. Scholars of the medieval Islamic world who wrote on biology included al-Jahiz, Al-Dīnawarī, who wrote on botany, biology began to quickly develop and grow with Anton van Leeuwenhoeks dramatic improvement of the microscope. It was then that scholars discovered spermatozoa, bacteria, infusoria, investigations by Jan Swammerdam led to new interest in entomology and helped to develop the basic techniques of microscopic dissection and staining. Advances in microscopy also had a impact on biological thinking. In the early 19th century, a number of biologists pointed to the importance of the cell. Thanks to the work of Robert Remak and Rudolf Virchow, however, meanwhile, taxonomy and classification became the focus of natural historians
9.
The Harvard Lampoon
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The Harvard Lampoon is an undergraduate humor publication founded in 1876 by seven undergraduates at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Harvard Lampoon publication was founded in 1876 by seven undergraduates at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts who were inspired by magazines like Punch. Without counting breaks during World War I and World War II, the organization also produces occasional humor books and parodies of national magazines such as Entertainment Weekly and Sports Illustrated. Much of the capital is provided by the licensing of the Lampoon name to National Lampoon. The Lampoon publishes five issues annually, in 2006, the Lampoon began regularly releasing content on its website, including pieces from the magazine and web-only content. In 2009, the Lampoon published a parody of Twilight called Nightlight, in February 2012, the Lampoon released a parody of The Hunger Games called The Hunger Pains. It is also a New York Times bestseller, the organization is housed a few blocks from Harvard Square in a small mock-Flemish castle, the Harvard Lampoon Building. The Lampoon is known for its parties, which can result in smashed plates. The Lampoons affairs are administered by Harvard Lampoon, Inc. whose Board of Graduate Trustees includes such people as James Murdoch, Ted Widmer, and Bill Oakley. Robert K. Hoffman, co-founder of the National Lampoon and major donor to the Dallas Museum of Art was a Trustee until his death in 2006, and was declared a Trustee Ad-Infinitum a year later. The Harvard Lampoon was first published in 1876 by seven founders including Ralph Wormeley Curtis, Edward Sandford Martin, Edmund March Wheelwright, in 1961, Mademoiselle offered the Lampoon staff an honorarium to produce a parody of their own magazine for the traditionally lower-selling July issue. The magazine also produced a 70-page spoof of Ian Flemings James Bond novels in 1962 titled Alligator and these projects proved popular, and led to full, nationally-distributed parodies of Playboy, Time, and Life, and later, Cosmopolitan in 1972 and Sports Illustrated. An important line of demarcation came when Lampoon editors Douglas Kenney, writers from these shows were subsequently hired to help create Saturday Night Live. An old copy of the magazine was shown in the finale of NewsRadio. Lampoon alumni include such comedians as Conan OBrien, Andy Borowitz, B. J. Novak, Greg Daniels, etan Cohen wrote for Beavis and Butthead as an undergraduate member. The Lampoon has also graduated many noted authors such as George Plimpton, George Santayana, John Updike, actor Fred Gwynne was a cartoonist at the Lampoon and became its president. Celebrities often visit the Lampoon to be inducted as members of the organization. A noted event in the history of the Lampoon–Crimson rivalry was the Crimsons 1953 theft of the Lampoon Castles ibis statue, on September 27,2011, the Lampoon stole the Harvard Crimson Presidents Chair and had it used as a prop on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
10.
RZA
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Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, better known by his stage name RZA, is an American rapper, record producer, musician, actor, filmmaker and author. A prominent figure in hip hop, RZA is the de facto leader of the Wu-Tang Clan and he has produced almost all of Wu-Tang Clans albums as well as many Wu-Tang solo and affiliate projects. He is a cousin of the late group-mate Ol Dirty Bastard and he has also released solo albums under the alter-ego Bobby Digital, along with executive producing credits for side projects. In addition to the Wu-Tang Clan and his releases, RZA was also a founding member of the horrorcore group Gravediggaz where he used the name The RZArector. Furthermore, he has acted in movies, including Coffee and Cigarettes, American Gangster, Gospel Hill, Life Is Hot in Cracktown, Ghost Dog, Funny People, Derailed, Due Date. He also appeared in the Showtime TV series Californication and his directorial debut is for the film he co-wrote and in which he plays the title role, The Man with the Iron Fists, also starring Russell Crowe. The magazine The Source placed him on its list of the 20 greatest producers in the magazines twenty-year history and he also made the Elite 8 in the search for The Greatest Hip-Hop Producer of All Time by Vibe. NME placed him on their list of the 50 Greatest Producers Ever, RZA was born in Brownsville, Brooklyn. He lived in North Carolina with his uncle from age three to seven, who encouraged him to read and study, RZA was introduced to hip hop music at the age of nine, and by eleven, was competing in rap battles. He relocated to Steubenville, Ohio in 1990, to live with his mother and he spent weekends in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his father ran a convenience store in the citys Hill District. RZA got involved with petty crime and drug-dealing, and was charged with attempted murder while in Steubenville and he was acquitted of the charge, giving him what he stated was a second chance. He is named after Robert Kennedy and John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his mother greatly admired the Kennedys, the RZA has called his given name an honorable name, given the legacy of both brothers Robert and John. Robert Diggs formed a rap group with his cousins Russell Jones and they enjoyed local success but never signed a record deal. Diggs later debuted on Tommy Boy Records in 1991 as a solo artist under the name Prince Rakeem, after a shoot-out in Ohio in 1992, he faced eight years in jail. When they said not guilty, my face stuck in a smile for three days, he recalled, I was just walking around town, thinking about my daughter and my wife. Right then I said goodbye to anything that would put me in that situation again, I was up on trial on an attempted murder charge. I was a fool, with all that knowledge in my head. Diggs formed a new group with his cousins and five other childhood friends and this group would be named Wu-Tang Clan, releasing their debut album Enter the Wu-Tang,36 Chambers in 1993
11.
Questlove
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Ahmir Khalib Thompson, known professionally as Questlove, is an American percussionist, multi-instrumentalist, DJ, music journalist, record producer, and occasional actor. He is best known as the drummer and joint frontman for the Grammy Award-winning band The Roots and he is also one of the producers of the Broadway musical Hamilton. He is the cofounder of Okayplayer and Okayafrica, additionally, he is an adjunct instructor at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University. He has produced recordings for artists including Elvis Costello, Common, DAngelo, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Bilal, Jay-Z, Nikka Costa, and more recently, Al Green, Amy Winehouse, and John Legend. He is a member of the teams the Soulquarians, The Randy Watson Experience, The Soultronics, The Beat Biters. Ahmir Khalib Thompson was born in Philadelphia on January 20,1971 and his father was Lee Andrews of Lee Andrews & the Hearts, a 50s doo-wop group. His mother, Jacquelin Thompson, together with his father, was part of the Philadelphia-based soul group Congress Alley. His parents did not want to leave him with babysitters, so took him on tour with them. He grew up in backstages of doo-wop shows, by the age of seven, Thompson began drumming on stage at shows, and by 13, had become a musical director. Questloves parents then enrolled him at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative, by the time he graduated, he had founded a band called The Square Roots with his friend Tariq Trotter. He attended senior prom with Larrieux, after graduating from high school, he took jazz and composition classes at Settlement Music School. Thompson began performing on South Street in Philadelphia using drums, while Tariq rhymed over his beats, Thompson and Jay Lonick, a childhood friend, were known for improvisational call and response percussion battles with plastic buckets, crates, and shopping carts. This style translated into Thompsons usual drumset arrangement, with most drums and cymbals positioned at waist level, the Roots lineup was soon completed, with Questlove on percussion, Tariq Trotter and Malik B on vocals, Josh Abrams on bass, and Scott Storch on keyboards. While the group was performing a show in Germany, they recorded an album entitled Organix, the group continued recording, releasing two critically acclaimed records in 1995 and 1996, Do You Want More. and Illadelph Halflife, respectively. In 1999, The Roots had mainstream success with You Got Me, the song helped fuel the success of their Things Fall Apart album, which has since been hailed as a classic, eventually selling platinum. He also served as producer for DAngelos 2000 album Voodoo, Slum Villages album Fantastic, Vol.2 and Commons albums Like Water for Chocolate. He played drums on Christina Aguileras song Loving Me 4 Me for her 2002 album Stripped, in 2002, he and The Roots released the critically acclaimed Phrenology, which went gold. In 2003, he played drums on John Mayers song Clarity from his second album Heavier Things and he also arranged and drummed on Joss Stones cover of the White Stripes Fell in Love with a Girl
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