Hey Her Campus readers, it’s time to meet this week’s campus celebrity, DJ Aash Mehta. I’m sure you’ve already heard of him, but just to refresh your memory, Aash has recently collaborated on an extremely cool (and widely circulated) video “Let ‘Em Know (Wolverine Anthem),” which shows the best of our football Saturday extravaganzas here at U of M. While Aash may be busy remixing at a number of places on campus, he has found the time to talk to us. Let’s meet him!
Her Campus: First of all, tell me a little bit about your video. How did it come to be?
Aash Mehta: I met Jeff (J. Dutch) at a music event hosted by StampNation. He was there performing with another artist and I was there because I produced a couple tracks for a friend who rapped at the event, too. We met, talked for a bit, added each other on Facebook and that was that. After a while, we started sending each other our tracks on Facebook and getting feedback, and I asked him if he wanted to do a Hip-hop/EDM collaboration. When I started producing six years ago, most of my beats were hip-hop based with melodic progressions (before moving to the electronic scene), so this track combined my two musical loves. I made up a scratch layout of the track in a couple hours and sent it to him so he could start working on lyrics. This was back in summer 2014. From start to finish, this track, “Let Em Know,” took about 5 months or so.
We actually got an idea to make the video halfway through November, so unfortunately we only had one game day to film the whole thing. One of the largest complaints was that we only showed one location on campus but by the time we started filming that day, most other spots were already shut down so we did the best we could. We knew that the video would allow us to reach more people, and it really did.
HC: How do you think you contributed to its popularity?
AM: I’ve noticed that the majority of songs played at parties and tailgates are very pop, electronic, and most importantly – catchy. The toughest part to make the beat was to make the beat as catchy as possible, while still keeping that hip-hop feel. By combining hip-hop elements with things typically found in electronic music, I think I was able to make the track get stuck in people’s heads. It was definitely one of the more challenging projects I’ve taken on.
HC: What motivated you to describe this video as an anthem?
AM: The point of the video, plain and simple, was to show the students at U of M having the time of their lives! When we started, we didn’t really think to make it about everyone at school but rather more just a party track. But halfway through the process, we both thought, “Lets give back to our school.” So we did, and rewrote the entire track to fit Michigan with references to our athletes, bars, everything. While the video may not have showcased our entire student body, we truly believe the song itself is genuinely a Wolverine Anthem: for the students, by the students.
HC: Besides the fact that Michigan is a great school, would you say there is another message behind your video?
AM: Honestly, no! We really just wanted to give back. The main message is: “Hey, we’re in college, having the best time of our lives, let’s just enjoy it! Let’s live it up!”
HC: What other projects have you worked on, and what do you plan on collaborating on in the future?
AM: I produce a lot of electronic music. You may find me spamming the Michigan Facebook pages at least once a month (sorry everyone), but recently my last couple of tracks has done fairly well. I actually made an original track called, “The Wolverine,” which ended up being my most widely circulated track. I have also made remixes to Ariana Grande, Meghan Trainor, Disclosure, and various other recording artists. I also record a segment of live mixes I call, “A World Of Sound”, that I actually just released recently.
Jeff and I have another track in the working; however, it is very different than, “Let ’Em Know.” All I can say is that it is a lot more “real”. We are hoping that it will be done sometime in March and can’t wait to share it with everyone! One dilemma: we’re taking upper level computer science and pre-med classes, so it’s tough to get together and work on it!
Haven’t seen the video yet? Watch the video here!