3x GRAMMY Award-Nominated Alphabet Rockers Raise Children’s Voices for Change on New Album, The Movement
***For Immediate Release***
3x GRAMMY Award-Nominated Alphabet Rockers
Raise Children’s Voices for Change on New Album, The Movement
“It’s music with a message – making the world better, one beat at a time.”-CBS Mornings
“A Kids Hip Hop Collective Is Helping American Families Become Anti-Racist” –Forbes
“The Grammys’ wokest act? Meet the Alphabet Rockers” –LA Times
Oakland, CA – Wednesday, September 7, 2022 – Alphabet Rockers have captured the attention of families and the music industry with their authentic voices for change since the influential group’s first GRAMMY Award nomination in 2018. Alphabet Rockers raises the bar – and ante up for big moves – with their fifth album, The Movement, featuring the children of Alphabet Rockers as songwriters, lead vocalists and the compelling voices of our times. Building on their mission to produce music that creates change, Alphabet Rockers crafted 13 new songs with a clear message – we have the power in our community to build a world of justice and belonging. Alphabet Rockers will tour The Movement in selection markets across the country, including an appearance at Austin City Limits in October 2022.
When the world shut down in March 2020, the Rockers were coming off their second GRAMMY-nomination for “Best Children’s Album,” and persisted with their intergenerational anti-racism work online through free community workshops, curriculum (We Got Work To Do), and virtual creative sessions with their core group of youth artists. The seminal work caught the eye of CBS This Morning who ran two national features on the significant positive impact the Alphabet Rockers had on children during these challenging times. The COVID-19 global pandemic was a racial reckoning across all industries, including children’s music and the GRAMMYs; Alphabet Rockers worked to transform family music by centering Black voices into the conversation and dismantling racial bias within the industry as co-founders of Family Music Forward. 1 Tribe Collective, a Black artist collective, emerged from this work and recorded the album All One Tribe, bringing Alphabet Rockers their 3rd GRAMMY nomination.
Alphabet Rockers utilize important questions to drive its creative process, including how to create justice in a country facing its racist truths – this led the group to an artist fellowship at the Othering & Belonging Institute at U.C. Berkeley supporting their early development of The Movement. The collective of children and adults asked questions, as simply as “when do you feel powerful, and when do you feel powerless?” and as complex as the tween writers asking, “how can people see that someone has changed?” and “how can the government use its resources to support the people, not just its systems?” The songs that came from this creative process on The Movement are bops — with a depth that serves their intended audience – children wanting for everyone to be treated fairly and feel loved.
The Movement opens with an invitation to “connect the head and heart” as “when people connect — that’s how we find unity.” The songwriters reflect on real moments from their lives, and lean on the conversations and interviews they conducted with restorative justice practitioners from Oakland and leaders like Angela Y. Davis. As writer Maya Fleming says in her song, “Our Turn”: “I’ve got a voice and I’m using it /And its way past time that you’re hearing it /You can find a lot when you listen up.” The voices of Alphabet Rockers are the balm for the reckoning of 2020. The Movement helps the whole family to understand their power, break biases, disrupt systems of oppression, and find community care. And “When it’s all said and done – the word is LOVE.”
The Movement will be released on all platforms on Friday, September 9.
The Movement – Alphabet Rockers
The Movement is a soundtrack for a reimagined world of belonging and justice from 3x GRAMMY Award-nominated Alphabet Rockers. Building on their mission to make music that makes change, Alphabet Rockers crafted this 13-song album with the children in their collective, sparking listeners to connect their heads and hearts as we find unity in community. The songwriters reflect on real moments from their lives, and the youth ask the world to listen: “It’s our turn to speak up and be heard. Because our voices matter.” It’s a vibe, it’s the heart. It’s The Movement. (LINK).
About Alphabet Rockers:
Led by Kaitlin McGaw (she/her) and Tommy Soulati Shepherd (he/him/they), Alphabet Rockers create brave spaces to shape a more equitable world through hip-hop, as three-time GRAMMY Award nominees, Othering & Belonging Institute Fellows and industry leaders for change. The intergenerational collective features high school-aged artists Kali de Jesus (he/him), Maya Fleming (she/her) and Tommy Shepherd III (he/him), alongside DJ Roza Do (she/her), Samara Atkins (she/her), and among others.
As touring and resident artists, Alphabet Rockers has been featured by The Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture, SXSW, Lollapalooza and festivals around the country, in addition to 50+ schools each year. Their performances, media and artistry include an impactful and diverse line-up of artists, including DJ Roza Do, Choreographer Samara Atkins, and dancers Arayah Fleming and Marj Ortiz.
During the pandemic, Alphabet Rockers created We Got Work to Do, an anti-racism musical curriculum as seen on CBS Mornings and YouTube Kids. The collective offers performances and workshops for young changemakers that use imagination and art rooted in self-acceptance as tools for change, inspiring generations of empowerment.
Alphabet Rockers’ first picture book, You Are Not Alone (Sourcebooks 2022), reflects the group’s values and storytelling, deemed “Exuberantly affirming and infectiously joyful” by Kirkus Reviews.
The Movement, Alphabet Rockers 5th album, is available September 9, 2022 on all platforms.
In all projects, Alphabet Rockers work in partnership with community and industry leaders to create media that reflects the culture of belonging needed in the world. Reaching over 5 million families since 2007, Alphabet Rockers inspire American kids and families to stand up to hate and be their brave and beautiful selves.
Alphabet Rockers are available for interviews upon request.
For more information on Alphabet Rockers, please visit:
Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Spotify
Media Contact: Jesse P. Cutler, JP Cutler Media, 925.253.3163, jesse@jpcutlermedia.com