The Roots’ ?uestlove Detained by DEA at Buffalo Airport

 •  XXL Magazine  •  by XXL Staff  •  26 Comments

questlove_.jpgAhmir “?uestlove” Thompson, the drummer for The Roots, was detained by the DEA sometime last week while attempting to board a plane at a Buffalo airport. ?uestlove wrote about the altercation on his MySpace blog, which he described as “possibly the most humiliating hour of my life.” The incident occurred when ?uest purchased his plane ticket 24 hours before the flight, automatically placing him in a special security line. When his luggage was checked, authorities found with a Louis Vuitton bag containing money from various countries. “Thing is, I absolutely forgot that I was carrying around all of my post Roots show DJ ?uestlove gig money,” he wrote. “It was there they discovered my DJ money stash from countries all around the world.” ?ueset claims he forgot to deposit the money before boarding the plane and was subsequently transferred from the airport security to the DEA. Authorities then questioned ?uest about his bag full of “$100,000 in China money.” When the heavyset drummer tried to convince security he was a Grammy award-winning artist, they picked up an issue of XXL out of his luggage and asked, “Where are you in this magazine? You said you were in a rap group, huh? How can a rapper not be in a rap magazine?” Security then forced ?uest to remove his pants, which he describes as “single handily the most embarrassing moment of my career.” To read all of ?uestlove’s story, visit http://myspace.com/questlove.

  • Holla

    LMAO! Why did this fool have a bag full of money anyway. Idiot.

  • The DJ Formerly Known as N-CREDIBLE

    Holla Says:

    April 27th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
    LMAO! Why did this fool have a bag full of money anyway. Idiot.
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^6
    because he earned it dick…this is another reason why I dont cooperate with the law…

    racial profiling

    if it was a white guy they would ask him if he needed a security escort to make sure he is ok

    we were looting

    they were trying to survive

    what ever happen to a brother being innocent and treated as such until otherwise can be proven

  • rec

    nobody’s safe no more…f the police

  • sATaLyte

    Damn…A bag full of money is suspicious, but being black on top of that just made his situation a whole lot worse.

    Nobody recognized him? Unbelievable.

  • deestarbuckz

    The Roots now have the “street cred” that’s been so elusive.

  • EReal

    LAWSUIT!

    Or at least I hope. Fuckin Bullshit, ?uest love out of all people!? WTF?!

    Byron is gonna be pissed!

    1 hunned.

  • http://XXL LYCAN BEATS

    damn

  • gb

    it must be nice to be able to ‘forget’ to deposit 100k, lol

  • 11kap

    He shoulda strip searched the DEA gay asses. faggots.

  • J.A.M.E.S.

    shit dude, airport security will do that to you just for being a foriegner travelling in the US, you don’t need a bag full of drug money to get similar treatment.

  • http://www.okayplayer.com Questo

    mama i made it?

  • stoneyisland

    Why is he acting suprised? a big black man with a wild ass unkept afro gets off a all white plane in Buffalo, shit I’m pointing the nigga out for a search cause he looks suspect:) shiiit 9-1-1 is over we are back to being public enemy number 1. That why I always make sure at leats one pakistani or arba is on my flight so he can divert all the profiling shit away from me:)

  • J Millz

    Im from buffalo, damn. Anyway fuck the dea, ” why aren’t u in this Magazine” If he had straight hair and white skin they probably would have let it go. Fuck Law Inforcement. Trust me, Buffalo cops are all dicks. They highfive each other when they arrest somebody with a dub sac of cronic.

  • john cochran

    You should be smarter than that. Put your money in the bank fam. And while Im givin you advice, Produce a full length album with Peedi, he crazy over your drums.

  • outya’self

    ? where’s the love! haha!

  • J.R.O.

    “When the heavyset drummer tried to convince security he was a Grammy award-winning artist, they picked up an issue of XXL out of his luggage and asked, “Where are you in this magazine? You said you were in a rap group, huh? How can a rapper not be in a rap magazine?””

    LOL! That’s some cold shit , but damn, it’s hilarious!

  • BIGNAT

    black man with alot of money and that fro it must be a problem thats fucked up. they took a rap magazine and said where is he in the magazine thats fucked up. quest should sue these fools

  • Tre

    Stoney Island is a clown man. Dude you just bitched about Common apologizing and how he sold out, but Questlove gets profiled on some bullshit and you’re like thats what he gets? You are real ass backwards homie

  • Lesley

    it happens to the best of us as well as the rest of us….

  • fly memphis hustla

    fuck tha police

  • Gizzmo

    FUCK THE POLICE, DEA, FBI, CIA, SECRET SERVICE AND THE DAMN PRESIDENT

  • gerald n the birdman

    OK. This dude has a Muslim sounding name and is carrying around over 100k in cash of a foreign currency. This dude is lucky he is still not detained. This dude is stupid as fuck if he makes it a racial issue. Also, most of the security at the Buffalo airport is black.

  • http://cameuprecords.com A-Town Hustla

    If y’all would have had him in the magazine it would have defused the situation. It’s all XXL’s fault…

  • Pingback: the langenfeld : Neulich in Buffalo

  • stoneyisland

    TRE fuck you black man, you obviously got waaay to much time on your hands, if all you do is sit up at night and search for my entries….Damn bro, stop that shit for a get a restraining order against your bitch ass:) quest love situation aint the least bit funny seeing as I have been stopped while rocking a conservative suit and tie, but this fool with a huge nappy ass fro and baggy jeans gets off a plane with god knows how much cash on him and all of a sudden that gets your panties up in a bunch??? come on dog, niggas always got excuses,, first of all anything over 10 Grands you HAVE TO DECLARE. Haver you ever heard of Bill Gates, Jigga or Puffy being stopped at a airport carrying that kind of cash? hell no. Why because law abiding muthafuckas deposit thier cash, they dont walk around tryng to impress folk. I got sympathy for the incident but not he so called victim. A 40 year old dude shouldnt be walking round in baggy ass jeans and a unkept as fro. Hell I aint never seen a real African walking around with a nappy ass humungous fro. And I been to south africa and all over europe.

  • lee

    stoneyisland: i was with you until the nappy ass humungous fro comment. lol but yea he should have been a bit more conscious of carrying around that much money. i feel for the brotha though. he seems like a good dude and that’s hella embarrassing.