Recently Questlove, musician, author, and director, served as curator for the Grammys‘ tribute to 50 years of hip-hop, bringing together pioneers like Grandmaster Flash and newcomers like Lil Uzi Vert. While the transitions through the decades appeared smooth onstage, Questlove was falling apart behind the scenes. On December 7, during an interview on Grammy.com, Questlove claimed due to the sheer level of stress brought on by all of the planning, he lost two teeth by the end of the process.
“After the success of the thing that we did in March — that 12-minute revue thing — I’ll be honest with you,” he said. “For 12 minutes, that was like going through damn near, and I’m not even using hyperbolic statements by saying, coming out within an inch of my life.”
He continued, “When that moment was literally over, and I was on the airplane landing back in New York, two of my teeth fell out. That’s the level of stress I was [under]. Imagine landing in JFK, and I got to rush to ‘The Tonight Show,’ but then it’s like, Oh, wait, what’s happening? Oh God, no! My teeth are falling out! And going to emergency surgery. My whole takeaway was like: Never again.”
It looks like the culture owes Questlove a considerable debt and reimbursement for medical expenses.
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