Ahmir Khalib Thompson, professionally known as Questlove was born in Philadelphia on January 20th, 1971. Questlove was born into a musical family, his father being Lee Andrews of Lee Andrews and the Hearts and his mother—Jacquelin Thompson who was part of the soul group Congress Alley. His parents didn’t want to leave him with babysitters and that would set Questlove up for a musical career—drumming professionally when he was seven and being a music director by the time he was 13. Questlove’s parents would later enroll him at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts where he would start the band The Square Roots – later dropping square with his friend Tariq Trotter.

Quest began performing on South Street with drums while Tariq would rap over his beats. Thompson as a child created a style of “call and response” with pots and pans which would later translate into his drumming style where his drums and cymbals are about waist high. Questlove utilizes a very conservative style of playing, he isn’t flashy and is a true drummer meaning he sits in the pocket and lays out the beat. His conservative style is not only evident in his playing but also in his drum arrangement. He plays a very simple kit four drums, hi-hat, and two cymbals. That’s all he needs to be in the pocket! Questlove’s style can also be seen in his drum tuning, he goes for a very high and dry snare drum, big booming bass, and nice melodic sounding toms.

Questlove today is with The Roots playing as the house band for The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon creating fun tracks for games or skits that Jimmy has scheduled for the night. On top of that Quest is also a music producer and has several projects which included British singer Duffy and had been planning to work with Amy Winehouse before her untimely death as well as Jay-Z, Al Green, and John Legend, his most recent project being the hit Broadway hip-hop musical Hamilton.

Questlove is hands down one of the most influential drummers of the modern age and proves a point that drummers shouldn’t just keep the beat but should step outside of the box and think musically!