Tour bus brings music education, surprise rapper to Philadelphia students

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- In the lot across the street from Strawberry Mansion High School, a large tour bus with a famous musician's name on it probably turned a lot of heads.

It's called the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus and it goes around the country teaching students about the music industry.

High school junior Christian Freely was a big fan of the idea.

"It's kind of bad I can't experience meeting John Lennon. That would have been a great honor, but sadly he passed away," said Freely.

While it may not have been John Lennon waiting on the bus, the tour group did have another surprise for the kids-- rapper Kevin Gates, who was in town for a concert over the weekend and decided to stick around to give back to the community.

"When I was young, I looked up to a lot of people in my neighborhood who did a lot of the wrong things with the right intentions and a lot of times if I would have had someone to tell me to just tell me something positive and give me that positive reinforcement. I think it would have speared me in a different direction," said Gates.

Senior Stephen Blakeney said he learned some valuable lessons from his one-on-one time with the rapper.

"Just stay focused and keep going, slow and steady, not to rush the craft," he said.