What is Class of 3000
The Class of 3000 is a musical comedy animated cartoon developed by Andre “3000” Benjamin and Thomas L. Lynch. Show was aired in November 3, 2006 to May 25 ,2008 on Cartoon Network. The plot of the show is about a group of kids gets a new music teacher Sunny Bridges, a famous musician that quit to teach. Andre 3000 wanted to create a show that reflects on his childhood and setting of Bankhead, Atlanta. He was inspired by Dead Poets Society and his inspiration from Sunny is Sonny Rollins (who takes hiatus just like major character). Anyways, one of the characters Lil D, was the focus of the beginning episodes. Lil D is Sunny D biggest fan and leader of the group of students. His signuature instrument is drums and very bright young man. Lil D got that Captain Hat on but that’s his indentity.
Speaking of characters, let go down the list of major characters that appear in the show. Kim and Kam are twin sibling and they oftent fight with one other. Kim plays xylophone while Kam favorite instrument is piano. Fred is a son of a wealthy businessman and has a crush on Tamika, his instrument is Clarinet. Tamika is the tomboy and often buillies Lil D, her instrument is harp. Phillip Phil is the genius of the group and his instrucment is guitar. Madison is a cheeful and comedy reilef of the group, she plays violin. Madison is voice by Jennifer Hale who did Commander Shepard. Speaking of voice actors, there is Phil Lamar, Jeff Bennett, Tom Kenny and more. Each character have their own centric episodes and learn value lesson about music. There are other supporting characters like Principle Luna, Cheddar Man and Leela Lopez in the show.
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What can I saw about animation, it looks very dated and inspired by another CN show called “Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi”. Thomas Lynch stated that “I think my worst mistake was whent the cut came back from overseas animation”. “I look at it and said, okay I have some rewrities and get some retakes”. Meaning the studio had to cut backs some animation and save money to reuse scenes. Animation is more of a Jackson Polluck style with jazzy spotted backgrounds. At first, I was not used to this style but watching it for the first time. I am okay with it in some way. I love the music segments that uses different styles of animation. Also its very flashy and vibrant during music scences of the show. Each episode has a music cue and it set the show apart.
Speaking of episodes, I love how they symbolize things happening in the music industry. Such as episode went Lil D sold his soul to record company and make him put on a dress like Kid Cudi. Other one is about Sunny meeting his mentor Bullfrog and had to write a song about him. He felt small and insecure about how Bullfrog view him as a musician. The show also tackles issues like acceptance, working together and be grateful on you have. Class of 3000 has wild antic and references that 90s kids will remember. It also have slapstick humor that reminds you of Family Guy. Andre stated that other music artists was planned such as Snopp Dogg, Big Boi and Pharrell. I would love to see them in the show but sadly it was cancelled before that happen.
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Sadly, The Class of 3000 was cancelled due to low rating and Andre being busy with writing songs. Class of 3000 was not yet over. Sunny Bridges made some cameos on OK K.O. Let’s Be Heroes and The Grim Adventures of the KND. Andre 3000 express interest on bringing back the show during a interview at Camp Flog Gnaw Festival. He had a phone convenstation with Tyler the Creator but we don’t know that going to happen. I love shows with postive direction and teaching kids about music. There is another thing that show reminds me of movie “School of Rock” with Jack Black. I have yet to watch the movie but going to after this review. School of Rock was so amazing but I didn’t like the tv show that came out. This show doesn’t age well as far as animation goes but very stylish.
I have to say this one of the most well-made African American shows out there. There are more black shows with positive direction out there, I did a article about it. The show lasted for two seasons and I recommned watching it. If you are fan of hip hop Outkast group and not. Andre 300 is creative in his own way. I hope he reboots The Class of 3000. Its one of the good black shows that ever came out. The song was jamming as well and make you move to the beat. Let me know what you think in the comments. I only watch season 1 for this reivew but consider watching season 2. Thank you for reading this article and tune in for more. Note: You can listen to the soundtrack and buy DvD on Amazon.
