Class of 3000

Class of 3000 is an American comedy animated television series on Cartoon Network that is created, executive produced by and stars André 3000 of the hip-hop group OutKast as superstar and music teacher Sunny Bridges, set at Atlanta, Georgia's Westley School of Performing Arts. Mr. Bridges is a jazz and blues artist who occasionally lectures in Atlanta's Little Five Points neighborhood. The series made its world premiere (previously advertised as a live premiere with performances by Chris Brown) on November 3, 2006 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT with a one-hour special and came to Cartoon Network UK on May 28, 2007. The show was co-created and developed by Veteran Producer Thomas W. Lynch (South of Nowhere, The Secret World of Alex Mack, and The Journey of Allen Strange, The Jersey, Romeo!, and Kids Inc.) & Patric M. Verrone. Sunny and his students are all musical and always play musical instruments together (mostly the students). The show focuses on only 8 of the school's 3,000 students.

Class of 3000 was the last Cartoon Network series to be greenlit by then Cartoon Network President, Jim Samples. The show is no longer being broadcast in reruns due to its creator, Andre "3000" Benjamin, faced a serious lawsuit back in December 2008 when Timothy McGee claimed Andre had stolen his idea for a similar cartoon he pitched 10 years earlier. Although the lawsuit was eventually dismissed due to McGee's claims judged as insufficient, Cartoon Network cancelled the show and has removed all references of the show since then. The exact reason for the show's cancellation is unknown, while the lawsuit may have contributed to it, the show's high budget was likely another factor, due to the fact that an original song and art style was produced specifically for each episode. Although the show is available on iTunes and Google Play, Season 2's final five episodes are strangely not available and can only be accessed through unconventional means.

Sunny Bridges
The hometown hero of Little D, Sunny is a musical genius who left Georgia to become a recording artist. Over the years in the employment of his money-grubbing manager, however, he lost his passion for music and returned to his old neighborhood. He intended to go into permanent retirement; instead, Li'l D convinces him to become the new music teacher at Westley School of Performing Arts. Sunny is devoted to his students, but he is forced to keep a low profile in order to avoid media attention. Sunny is known to have a crush on Leela Lopez. While he can play many instruments, his favorite is the saxophone. He has mentioned that he owns over 65,000 shirts. His shoe closet was also mentioned to be able to be seen from space. Sunny's character is loosely based on Jazz Saxophonist Sonny Rollins, both in his appearance and personality, and strongly based on the show's creator & voice actor, André 3000.

Li'l D
Li'l D proclaims himself as the unofficial leader of the Westley School's music class, whether they like it or not. He is bright, talented, confident to a fault, and is incredibly tenacious when it comes to music. Through sheer determination (as well as breaking and entering), he manages to recruit Sunny Bridges as the class's new music teacher. Although Li'l D considers himself remarkably streetwise, his overconfidence often leads him into trouble. He is considered the shortest member of the class (despite being taller than Kim and Eddie if not for his hair), standing about 4'6". Li'l D has never met his father, although he doesn't seem bothered by it. He likes to say, "Then it's settled." after he thinks that a plan was agreed upon (whether or not it actually was) which usually results in something horrible happening, and on occasion he will say "Let's crank this thang up!" His instrument is the drums. In some songs, he plays a different instrument like in The Hunt for Red Blobtober. Lil'D and Madison seem to like each other unkown to the both of them. He is voiced by Christian comedian Sylvia "Small Fire" Holloway.

Tamika Jones
Voluptuous and aggressive, Tamika makes it her business to keep the other students in line, giving her the title of "Toughest Girl in School". She is also extremely stubborn; the slightest misstep is grounds for a threatening fist. "Prove It or Move It" is her trademark phrase, but is not sure what to do if someone chooses "Prove It." Despite her sharp tongue and threatening disposition, Tamika shares a close bond with her classmates and will protect them as often as she bullies them. Eddie is in love with her. Her instrument is the harp. When she has to walk during the song, she has a guitar. In throwdown, she also says she plays the guitar. She didn't mention her harp. But in the episode Tamika and the beast she shows a soft and sensitive side. She is voiced by Crystal Scales who is known for voicing Libby Folfax in Jimmy Neutron.

 Kim Chin She is Kam's twin sister and his polar opposite. She and Kam are the youngest of westley side school first repution "as the shortest member of class". Kim sometimes feels that fashion is more concern than music and loves to follow fashion trends. She is very energetic, sometimes to the point of mischef, sleeps with stuffed rabbit due to her fear of the dark, and loves to tormet her more old-fashioned sibilng, generally though,she has the better common sense and is extremely creative. she was born in Columbus Ohio. Kim can be desrcibe as brash, impuslve, rebellous despite on her brother Kam or her classmates in her cantonese chinese decent. Her insturment is sometimes the marimba and other precussion insturments. She also plays the turntables in (throwdown). She is 12 or 11. She is voiced by Janice Kawaye who is known for voicing Jenny Wakeman from My Life as a Teenage Robot and Ami from Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi.

Kam Chin
He is Kim's twin brother and her polar opposite, born in Columbus, Ohio and is of Korean decent. He and his sister are the youngest of the Westley Side School 1st Years and he is considered to be the smartest in school. He generally projects an air of refinement and class -- or so he would like to think. He is the most mature of the Westley kids (and often the most ignored). Kam tends to be interested in many dull things such as high-grade bread. He is very eager about learning to the point that if Sunny is late to class, his brain is hurting from not learning. It was apparently pressure from Kam and Kim's father that forged Kam's uptight attitude. Kam has an irrational fear of hang gliding into a flock of angry mallards. He has had heartburn, head lice, and a caterpillar once laid eggs in his ear canal. His head lice is explained by him going to the same barbershop that Philly Phil goes to. He has also been bitten on the head by a mountain goat. He does not have any sweat glands (and doesn't take showers because of this) and he goes insane whenever he is too hot, as shown in Study Buddies. His instrument is the keyboard or the piano. In Love Is in the Hair...Net, he plays the accordion! Like Kim, he is also voiced by Janice Kawaye.

Philly Phil
Brilliant and imaginative, the only known teen and oldest of the group at 13 tends to stand out for his unusual fashion sense. He can invent useful devices on the spot, although they often malfunction. Though Li'l D and the other students do not fully understand Phil's many eccentricities, they are willing to accept him as one of their own. Philly Phil has an appetite for any type of food, particularly sweets such as chocolate. His height doesn't seem to be consistent from episode to episode (He was about as tall as Principal Luna in The Hunt for Red Blobtober and only a few inches taller than Madison in Funky Monkey). On Eddie's Money, he is shown to have a decent singing voice. His instrument is the double bass, also with the bass guitar. On Free Philly, it is revealed that he is very weak and needs the help of technology. He is voiced by Phil LaMarr who has also voiced the titular character of Samurai Jack, Wilt from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Hermes Conrad from Futurama, and Static of Static Shock.

Edward "Eddie" Phillip James Lawrence III
The richest kid in the school, being the heir to the Lawrence fortune (according to the first episode, his father is the head of the Earth division of "Coca Cola"). A cultured aristocrat, he has something of a high-and-mighty attitude concerning the other students, naively believing that all problems can be solved with money. However, he is not above using his wealth to help his friends. He is not completely spoiled, either. When Philly Phil's machine tells him he should never have a job because his dad is rich, Eddie says, "But I want to get a job!" He is the only character to have ten fingers at any time (he will usually have eight, but for at least one scene he has had 10. Eddie's explanation for his 10 fingers is that it is due to his wealth). He is in love with Tamika, as suggested in Home and Westley Side Story and confirmed by Tamika in Love is in the Hair...Net. Eddie has spoken of having Swiss ancestry. His instrument is the clarinet. He also plays many horns and woodwinds such as the Trombone seen in The Devil and Lil'D. He is voiced by Tom Kenny, a very famous voice actor who has done a plethora of voices, including the titular character of SpongeBob SquarePants.

Madison Spaghettini Papadopoulos
She is cheerful, upbeat and extremely ditzy as is evidenced from her perpetually vacant smile, and has a bit of a Southern drawl like Eddie; however, her flower-child appearance belies the perceptive mind behind it. She is always happy or thrilled no matter what happens, even if she gets hurt. Madison has a huge imagination and usually can't concentrate on what's really supposed to be done. She loves the company of many animals and small creatures. She claims to get frizzy hair when love is in the air. In the pilot episode she mentions that she has a grandmother who is of Colombian descent. She has a crush on Lil' D. She is voiced by Jennifer Hale.

Secondary Characters

 * Principal Luna: has a tendency to over-use the word "fantastic" and is always trying to make all the characters do their best. He is voiced by Jeff Bennett.
 * Cheddar Man: Also known as Charles, he is one of Sunny's friends. He specialises in selling cheeses, fixing helicopters, doing teeth, and being a Con Artist. He's something of a shady character and is often seen selling contraband goods and services out of his car, like "Mr. Bristle" action figures they are really used toothbrushes, and bootleg moovies which he shoots and in which he plays every part.
 * Petunia Squatenchowder: The new lunch lady at Westley's known for serving the grossest lunches ever. Principal Luna has a crush on her but she has a developed crush on Sunny also. Then she falls in love with Luna after a fight with Sunny. She also owns the missing 37th spatula from Principal Luna's collection.
 * Leela Lopez: Another teacher at Westley. She has a crush on Sunny while Sunny has love interest in her. Leela teaches the Westley modern dance class, but unfortunately always has no luck in teaching her unskillful students.

Season 1

 * Life Without Music (Home) Life Without Music Video
 * Throwdown (Home) Throwdown Music Video
 * Oh, Peanut (Peanuts! Get Yer Peanuts)
 * We Want Your Soul (The Devil and Li'l D)
 * A Richer Shade of Blue (Eddie's Money)
 * Fight the Blob (The Hunt for Red Blobtober)
 * Banana Zoo (Funky Monkey)
 * U.F.O. Ninja (Brotha From the Third Rock)
 * Kim Kam Jam (Westley Side Story)
 * Luna Love (Love Is in the Hair...Net)
 * Crayon (Am I Blue?)
 * Cool Kitty (Prank Yankers)
 * My Mentors (Mini Mentors)

Season 2

 * Farm Song (Too Cool for School)
 * Clean Up (Nothin' To it But To Do It)
 * Philly Phil, Come Home (Free Philly)(music video)
 * Beast Love (Tamika and the Beast)
 * Rapunzel (Safely Last)
 * Study Buddies (Study Buddies)
 * Fashion Your Business' (The Cure)
 * Robot Boogie (Big Robot on Campus)
 * Hike A Go Go Go (Take a Hike!)

Season 1 CD Track
The first season CD featuring songs from the show was released July 3, 2007.


 * 1) Class of 3000 Theme Song
 * 2) Life Without Music (Home)
 * 3) Throwdown (Home)
 * 4) Oh, Peanuts (Peanuts! Get Yer Peanuts)
 * 5) We Want Your Soul (The Devil and Li'l D)
 * 6) Banana Zoo (Funky Monkey)
 * 7) A Richer Shade of Blue (Eddie's Money)
 * 8) Fight the Blob (The Hunt for Red Blobtober)
 * 9) U.F.O. Ninja (Brotha From the Third Rock)
 * 10) Kim Kam Jam (Westley Side Story)
 * 11) Luna Love (Love Is in the Hair. ..Net)
 * 12) The Crayon Song (Am I Blue?)
 * 13) My Mentor (Mini Mentors)
 * 14) Cool Kitty (Prank Yankers)

Lawsuit
In December 2008, the Boston Herald reported that Timothy McGee, a former art student, filed a lawsuit against the creators of the television show for plagiarism, breach of contract and misappropriation of trade secrets. He alleged that in 1997 he proposed a similar show to Michael Lazzo, who at the time served as a vice president of operations for Cartoon Network. McGee intended that "The Music Factory of the '90s," as the program would be called, feature Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds as its host.

However, U.S. District Judge Douglas Woodlock dismissed the case in Boston, finding that “the general feel and themes of the two works are so different that no ordinary observer would consider them substantially similar.” Additionally, the mood and tone of the series are very different,” the 35-page decision states. “‘Class of 3000’ is a children’s cartoon that is fast-paced, ‘whimsical,’ and laden with traditional cartoon slapstick comedy. By contrast, Music Factory is aimed at an adult audience, serious in tone, not comedic, and uses more slang. Moreover, ‘Class of 3000’ is full of fantasy and magic (for example, Sunny lives in a magical forest with a bear who drives a convertible and a boombox-toting rabbit), whereas Music Factory is grounded in reality.”

Any “Music Factory” ideas that “Class of 3000” copied are not protected, the judge found. “For example, an animated television show that incorporates music, musicians, or original songs is not copyrightable,” he wrote. “Nor is it, in any event, original: as McGee explains in his treatment, his cartoon format is itself based on ‘Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids’, which also incorporated music and an original song into an animated series.”

Appearances in other media
Sunny Bridges appeared in the end credits of the Codename: Kids Next Door crossover special, The Grim Adventures of the KND.

Lil'D appeared in Cartoon Network's 20th anniversary poster.

Sunny made a cameo in the OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes series finale, Thank You for Watching the Show.