Follow Hill-Freedman Records and others on SoundCloud.
Hill-Freedman Records launched the making of its 6th album by exploring and celebrating the music of artists and producers from diverse genres from Pop to Reggae and Country. These artists and producers, who included Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Bob Marley, and Charlie Pride spanned decades and represented a range of musical genres and cultures. As part of Hill-Freedman World Academy’s Music Technology course (an integral part of the school’s International Baccalaureate curriculum), and under the leadership of teacher Ezechial Thurman and WHYY Media Lab’s Lisa Wilk, 10th graders at Hill-Freedman created video documentaries about these artists, and researched their music to find inspiration for their own songwriting. From this research, and from the students’ own experiences and stories, the theme of “Growing Up Black” emerged as a theme for the album.
In the second half of the school year, Mr. Thurman and the students, were joined by a team of teaching artists from Hill-Freedman’s long-time lead partner, Philadelphia independent, non profit music organization World Cafe Live. WCL teaching artists Kristal Oliver, Bethlehem the Vocussionist and Andrew Lipke collaborated with Mr. Thurman, joined by a group of student producers–veterans of past Hill-Freedman Records albums. Working in the Music Technology Lab and the school's recording studio, this collective nurtured the creation of the 34 songs that make up this album.
