West Philadelphia has 2 chances at Oscar Gold, Will Smith and Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson this Sunday

Will Smith and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson grew up in the same neighborhood and are both hoping for their first Oscars.

Smith has swept the awards round so far this year, and is considered the front-runner for best actor for his performance in “King Richard.”

Despite the high expectations, Smith remains humble.

“You know, I don’t even think about it like that,” he said. “I find my attention is more on the hearts and experiences of those around me than on whether or not my name is mentioned,” Smith added.

He is one of two West Philadelphia natives set to win Oscar gold this Sunday.

“Just saying, am I the big story on Action News today? what a life man I couldn’t, I couldn’t ask for anything better. And it’s getting better every day,” Questlove said.

Summer of Soul is his directorial debut.

A historian, the founding member of The Roots dusted 47 reels of unreleased footage from the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, a star-studded event that was never televised.

“I wanted to restore history, do a really good job, and hopefully a college or two would show it,” Questlove said.
Instead, his first shoot of a documentary would take the world by storm, and it was a rousing awards season.

When he heard his name during the nomination, Questlove couldn’t help himself.

“That’s an old reference but I ran in the door like the Kool-Aid man, I just ran into the hallway of my apartment and yelled and woke up every neighbor at 6am and then apologized and shut the door but I was happy,” said Questlove.

When it comes to writing speeches for the big night, he wants to speak from the bottom of his heart.

“Hopefully you have two success stories from Philadelphia. You know, Will and I talk about it every other night. And you know, this is a moment for West Philadelphia right now,” Questlove said.

The 94th Academy Awards will be broadcast live on ABC on March 27 from 8pm ET/7pm CT/5pm PT. Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes are hosts.

Check out the full list of Oscars 2022 nominations here.