On Thursday Republic founders Monte and Avery Lipman delivered a commencement speech at their alma mater, Montclair High School. Along with providing some "Tubthumping" wisdom, the Lipmans surprised the grads with an appearance by fellow N.J. native and rising Republic star Coi Leray.

The school presented Leray with an honorary degree, which she posted about here, stating, "It's never too late."

Said Monte: "The spirit of Republic Records started right here in Montclair, New Jersey. Avery and I grew up in a single-parent home right down the street on Valley Road and used to walk to school every day. Like you, we were raised in a community where both teachers and coaches believed in us and taught us about discipline, focus and competitive spirit."

Avery explained: "Monte and I started the company on our dad’s kitchen table with about $800 from selling our baseball-card collection. And while it may look very glamorous from the outside looking in, the road to success has not been an easy one. As a matter of fact, it’s been the failures and disappointments that have served as our greatest and most constructive lessons... Those situations that didn’t work out, where we made mistakes, where we got fired (in Monte’s case, three times)—each of these were learning experiences, where we took the negative and frustrations and flipped that into inspiration to keep moving forward."

Continued Monte, referencing "Tubthumping": "One of the songs Avery and I built our career on was from a band called Chumbawamba with a very simple lyric: 'I get knocked down but I get back up again/ You’re never gonna keep me down.' This has become our mantra for the past 25 years."

The Republic rulers joined Leray for a TikTok dance to celebrate the occasion. It's already racked up more than 1m views—will they be the first chief executives to go viral?

Surprise guest @coi_leray crashing the Montclair High School graduation pic.twitter.com/FypAqFXpS2
— Dalton Ross (@DaltonRoss) June 24, 2021