?uestLove Hopes To Enlist The Help of Jay-Z For Broadway Play

The Roots, Hip-Hop's eclectic alternative band, have seen their success come full circle with a Grammy award and a stint on ‘Late Night with Jimmy Fallon' as the house band. The band is venturing out of their usual musical productions however, this time through their enigmatic drummer, ?uestlove.

?uest is in the works of helping to bring a musical to life on Broadway. The percussionist from Philly is an associate producer for a new production called Fela!

Fela!, described as “the most original play on Broadway” ,tells the story of Nigerian musician Fela Kuti. The musical uses Afrobeat music to tell the story of Kuti whose political activism and stirring musical feats changed his country. ?uest is hoping to add a lineup of other industry insiders to the roster of producers, most notably Jay-Z.

He's optimistic about the possibility of getting Shawn Carter to sign up for the project, telling the Wall Street Journal that both Mr. & Mrs. Carter were impressed with the play after catching it in a small New York theater last year.

"This play really hit Beyoncé in the gut, which in turn really hit [Jay-Z] in the gut, and he was excited about it,"

He also added that it's his job to build buzz around the production and give it a “cool factor”

“My job is to be the mouthpiece," he says, adding that he hopes to bestow the show with "some sort of cool factor that can at least catch the ear of a power player for Hollywood and the industry."

 

Fela! opens up on Broadway November 23.