Ludacris has been handing out blessings this week in the name of music education. The rapper visited Hialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High School in South Florida on Wednesday to give students a very special surprise. Met with screams of excitement from the student body, Luda took the stage during an assembly and announced that he has donated $75,000 worth of music equipment and instruments. "I understand the importance of music education,” he told them. “It’s very important to me.”
Luda partnered with StubHub to make the generous act possible. The donation was part of StubHub's #TicketForward program, a collaborative initiative with The Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation that aims to invest $3 million in public school music programs. The school's band director, Kevin Segura, explained why initiatives like this are so important. “We have instruments being held together with tape, they don’t move, they’re banged up,” Mr. Segura revealed. “So these instruments are going to improve our sound and motivate kids to want to do band so hopefully I can build up this program to what it once was back in the day.” Ludacris also had a surprise for Mr. Segura himself. To thank him a for all his hard work in teaching music and motivating students to get involved in the program, Ludacris surprised Mr. Segura with two tickets to the Super Bowl LIV on Sunday. “I’m really, really excited that I’m going to the game,” he expressed. “I didn’t think I was going so this was a nice surprise for me.”
Luda himself just performed at the EA Sports Bowl at Bud Light Super Bowl Music Fest on Friday night as part of the Super Bowl weekend festivities in Miami.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for EA Sports Bowl at Bud Light Super Bowl Music Fest
Along with his charitable contributions to the school, Luda also took the time to answer some of the students' questions. During the Q&A session, he ended up offering some important advice. "If it weren’t for individuals reaching back and giving me that confidence, I wouldn’t be here today," he explained. "If you get knocked down nine times, you get up 10. Just keep going."
