Amazon Teams with The Roots For Animated Series

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Amazon announced Thursday it will jam with hip-hop band The Roots on two children’s-targeted series.

An animated series, South Street Sounds, will follow the exploits of friends who form a band in a very musical-oriented neighborhood, said Amazon. The series, written by Becky Friedman (Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood) will feature music by The Roots.

Details for an upcoming live action series have yet to be announced.

Both projects will be executive produced by The Roots’ Tarik Trotter and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, along with their manager Shawn Gee for Philly Films, and Brian Sher for Category 5 Entertainment. 

“Driven by The Roots’ passion for music and the arts, these projects are perfectly aligned with our mission to inspire kids to think creatively and musically about the world around them,” said Tara Sorensen, Head of Kids Programming, Amazon Studios in a statement.

R. Thomas Umstead
R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.