KRUNK Movement students release original album with Earth Day theme

Climate change and the environment are issues that students of Hazelwood’s KRUNK Movement aim to help with, one song at a time.

“Su(Stained) Reality,” an album created by the students, is an examination of social and environmental justice, climate change and health. Featuring 10 original songs, the album was released on Earth Day, kicking off Earth Week and offering a close-up look at the environment through the eyes of those experiencing it firsthand.

The album is available on Spotify and Apple Music and has had close to 1,000 streams since its release. All of the students who participated aspire to careers in the music industry.

Aryana Booker-Gamez, who goes by Aryana Kapree, 17, is an emcee, vocalist and student at Westinghouse Arts Academy. She has two songs on the album, “One Will” and “Money to Me,” and is featured on “Stained Melody” and the collaboration song “Change in Me.”

“Sustainability means a lot to me to spread messages about sustaining oneself and community and sustaining the earth,” Booker-Gamez said. “I personally don’t liter, I’m big on being more environmentally friendly. It means a lot to me to be part of a project pushing such positive messages.”

The teens were tasked with taking inspiration from the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

“Their energy and resolve have really given us hope around what they will do in the future to address the impacts of climate change and the environment in their communities,” said Dionna Reynolds, senior director of social impact at Green Building Alliance.

The album took a little more than four months to complete. KRUNK, which stands for “Kreating Realistic Universal New School Knowledge,” is a program at Center of Life, a nonprofit in Hazelwood celebrating music and arts. The KRUNK Movement is student-run and teaches teens skills to be successful in the music industry.

“The importance of releasing the album on Earth Day was to remember how we impact the planet and the environment and how we impact one another through community,” Reynolds said. “They have done an outstanding job of giving us a very thoughtful, exciting, relevant sustainable message for now and in the future.”

Green Building Alliance and KRUNK have had a successful 15-year partnership. Reynolds thought of the idea last year and collaborated with music and arts program manager Shundeena Beard to bring it to fruition.

“It just made sense thinking about how to engage and have this conversation around environment and social changes and then let them share that perspective through their gifts, which is music,” Reynolds said.

Hanae Rayzer, 18, a student at Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA), turned her poems into lyrics. She also has two songs on the album, “Sustained” and “Food and Water.”

“(One is about) social sustainability and the other is about human sustainability. I wrote about how that affected people and how it affected me and that is really how it came together.”

In May, the teens will head to Nashville’s recently-opened National Museum of African American Music.

“They will get the chance to be part of history,” said KRUNK movement coordinator Albert Anthony Felipe.

“I’m elated and enthusiastic,” said vocal coach Naomi Allen. “The kids have worked fervently. To see it all come together is amazing. I am very proud of them. It was much more tangible for them. There’s a lot of things that they deal with socially, the state of the economy, and how things are environmentally.”

The teens’ understanding and implementation of sustainability practices have grown since the beginning of the project, Allen said.

“Our message is important and is something people need to hear, especially in this environment. Unsustainable ways affect this type of community the most,” said Micha Pinnix, 17, an emcee and student at Pittsburgh Science & Technology Academy.

Tim Smith, CEO and founder of Center of Life, said that Nashville won’t be their last stop and anticipates the students taking the album on tour, possibly to Europe and abroad. When he began Center of Life, he knew something like this was possible.

“The potential of young people is enormous,” Smith said.