User:Jeffdujardin/Smart Songs

'Smart Songs'

Smart Songs is an educational hip-hop group, founded by rappers Shoeless Jeff and Scott Free in 2008. These rappers describe their group as the "hip hop version of School House Rock." Some of their song topics include The Bill of Rights, Presidents, Fifty State Capitals, Political Parties, Constitution, Voting Rights, etc. Their songs and music videos are used in classrooms across the country.

Albums

In early 2008, Smart Songs signed a year-long contract with Highlights Magazine. Highlights distributed Smart Songs' first album, Trip to DC, through its nationwide catalog. After this contract ended, Smart Songs extensively updated and remixed the album with new beats and songs. It re-released the new Trip to DC on iTunes in July 2011.

Smart Songs is set to release its second album, Trip to Wall Street (which teaches topics such as The Stock Market, Money Management, The Great Depression, Plastic Money, Current Economic Storm, etc.) in the fall of 2011. Smart Songs also plans to begin releasing singles, such as Planets, The Revolutionary War, and Louis and Clark.

History

Shoeless Jeff and Scott Free met playing Babe Ruth baseball as teenagers and began writing raps together and recording them in a friend's studio. In high school, Shoeless Jeff wrote raps for Chemistry class and English class for extra credit. In college, Jeff and Scott helped form a live hip hop band that toured the East Coast, called Capitol Hill. All of their songs were non-educational but promoted positive messages. The band even performed a live show at a high school (Cathedral High School in Boston, Massachusetts). After this band dissolved in 2007, Shoeless Jeff and Scott Free formed Smart Songs.

Concerts

In October 2008, Smart Songs performed a concert at Providence Place Park in Providence, RI. The concert was part of the Gloria Gemma Foundation's breast cancer awareness weekend. An estimated 100,000 people attended the weekend. Smart Songs is currently planning its first nationwide school tour for the 2011-2012 school year.