It’s that time in the semester when “How much caffeine is lethal?” and “What is the average income of a college dropout?” start to appear in our search history. Despite the constant encouragement to “stay in school kids,” quite a few up-and-coming artists found their passion outside of the classroom and left it all behind to pursue a life of fame and sold out venues. Read on to discover a few young DJs, boy bands, and artists that found their taste for music while studying at some of America’s most elite universities.
1. 3lau: Providing Wash U students with the perfect humble brag, our first artist is a former student of our very own university. The former b-schooler left the finance classroom behind in exchange for the stages of EDC and the companionship of huge names like Tiesto and Hardwell. Check out his interview with WUSTL econ professor Glenn MacDonald and his performance at WILD 2014.
2. The Heydaze: What’s the only thing better than your classic boy band? A smart boy band. Alex, Alex, Andrew and Jesse are students at Brown and the University of Pennsylvania when they’re not touring with Jesse McCartney and Timeflies. After discovering “Adderall” on Total Sorority Move I was addicted (pun intended). Check out “City Girl” and “Don Juan” and catch them at Gramercy NYC over break on December 19 for more.
3. Hoodie Allen: Another musically inclined Quaker, Hoodie Allen (Steven Markowitz) graduated from Penn in 2010 with a degree in marketing and finance and went on to produce hits like “No Faith in Brooklyn” and “No Interruption” to name a couple tracks. The bright artist juggled full work days at Google with writing music and replying to fans until eventually leaving his job behind to pursue music full time.
4. Timeflies: The self proclaimed “electro hip pop dub something” duo came to be in the dorm rooms of Tufts University outside of Boston. After vibing together during a night out, Cal and Rez procrastinated doing their school work by writing and producing their own music, only to realize they had little time to do any of their work at all. Thus came the name, “Timeflies.” Catch their remixes and covers every tuesday at 10:10 eastern time or 9:10 central time, as well as their original music in “After Hours,” “Warning Signs,” “One Night,” and “The Scotch Tape.”
5. Mike Stud: Keeping with the impressive streak of schools, Mike Stud played baseball at Duke University on a full athletic scholarship before launching to semi stardom. After being sidelined due to surgery, Stud channelled his energy into music and found his passion in the studio instead of the stadium. After graduating from Duke, Mike took his talents to Georgetown for graduate school and continued to invest in his musical interests. Check out “Closer,” his mixtape “#SundayStudTape” on iTunes.
6. Mike Posner: While most rising seniors enter their last year of college frantically trying to secure jobs, Mike Posner entered his senior year at Duke having already scored a record deal with J Records. Posner fought off senioritis and even graduated a semester early with an impressive 3.59 GPA. Try to suppress the feelings of inferiority and take a listen to “Drug Dealer Girl” and his mixtape “A Matter of Time” to name few.
7. Kap Slap: Jared Lucas, better known as Kap Slap, found discovered his passion for producing during his time as an Integrated Business and Engineering student at Lehigh University. The DJ got his alias from a mixed drink his Kappa Alpha brothers invented which includes a funnel of beer and a shot of rum at the end, which they called the Kap Slap. Kap Slap made his first track in April 2010 and then started DJing at parties on the college scene in 2011. You may have seen him on tour with Timeflies and The Heydaze earlier this year, and you can catch him on tour this January and February. Grab tickets here.
8. Asher Roth: What else would you expect from a college student than a song titled “I Love College”? Asher Roth entered West Chester University as an Elementary Education major and became a signed artist of Scooter Braun in the middle of his sophomore year after posting some of his music on Myspace and reaching out to Bieber’s famed manager. Roth immediately moved down to Atlanta to pursue a career in hip hop full time, and soon came every freshman’s favorite anthem, “I Love College.” The rest is history.
Article cover photo via theuntz.com