Watch ?uestlove’s ‘Quest For Cuba’ Mini-Documentary

With his turntables and Serato in tow, ?uestlove traveled down to Cuba in April as an ambassador for hip-hop. Not wanting to miss out on the moment, Okayplayer TV sent a camera crew down with the talented musician to capture the experience. Along with playing club nights, ?uest took in the culture, mixed it up with the people, went crate digging and dropped by Cuba's famous EGREM studios. This was ?uest's first trip back to Cuba since 2002 when The Roots played a packed out show for the locals. During the 13-minute flick, ?uest has a chance encounter with Cuban hip-hop artist Brebaje Man, who opened for The Roots during that show over a decade ago. Check out the full documentary above.

in light of the highly-publicized cases of police brutality and deaths at the hands of police officers, ?uest has publicly called on artists to write protest songs to ignite change. "Anthems critical of the times are largely absent, even as demonstrators condemn the system that failed to prosecute the officers involved," the Philly native told Billboard. "I think a lot of it is just due to fear of being blackballed and not making a living." He also took to Instagram to call and challenge musicians and artists to be the voice of the people during these hard times:

I urge and challenge musicians and artists alike to push themselves to be a voice of the times that we live in. I know that many see what happened to Dixie Chicks' #NatalieMaines @mainesmusic (she bravely expressed her opinion/dismay on the Bush administration declaring war & was unjustly targeted....while in hindsight being CORRECT) suddenly there was an onslaught of radio silence from artists across the board (correction not everyone was silent, but the silence was deafening) although I'm kinda/sorta addressing the hip hop nation I really apply this challenge to ALL artists. We need new Dylans. New Public Enemys. New Simones. New De La Roachas. New ideas! But it just doesn't stop there!! We need outlets (hello #ClearChannel #RadioOne #Vh1) to balance the system. Yeah I'm just as guilty of feeling the high of all that I despise ("Devil's Pie" D'angelo) but the reason why this nation seems to be moving 3 steps ahead in some areas.....but then 7 steps backwards in every area is a lack of balance. I'm not saying every song gotta be "Fight The Power" but in times like these we need to be more community minded (taking a wild guess that "urban radio's" format didn't change much from the pre program stuff (using that word *politely*) we've been hearing for years. & when I say challenge I don't mean breathless race to the finish on who makes the more banging "Fuck Tha Police" sequel. I mean real stories. Real narratives. Songs with spirit in them. Songs with solutions. Songs with questions. Protest songs don't have to be boring or non danceable or ready made for the next Olympics. They just have to speak truth. I laugh & have fun w "Bitch You Guessed It" like everyone else. But my soul is aching man. Seriously just ONE or Two songs that change the course. This is something I feel the need and urgency to put out there. #EricGarner #MikeBrown #JusticeForAll #FeedMySoul #HandsUpDontShoot #ICantBreathe

A photo posted by Questlove Gomez (@questlove) on Dec 4, 2014 at 9:09am PST

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Happy Birthday, ?uestlove!
?uestlove Thinks Artists Won't Make Protest Music Because They're Afraid "Of Being Blackballed"