This week I was blessed with the opportunity to work the Mike Stud and Skizzy Mars concert at the Convocation Center. At first, the plan was for me to shadow the Student Activities Board president Jess Crosson during the post-concert interviews with the artists, but I never expected my role to change into being somewhat of a utility man before and during the show.

The night before the concert I had helped house DJ, Trevin Keteles, make his concert setlist of songs he’d play before and between acts. I had made an agreement with him that I would find a place to store his equipment while he was setting up the stage and attending his classes during the day. I also had the honor of being Trevin’s assistant for the day which mostly consisted of helping him during his setup time. Keteles is a freshman at Cal and is a really good disc jockey. My day started off around 8:15am by meeting Trevin in front of the Natali Student Center to help him store his gear in the CUTV/WCAL media suite. I didn’t have classes the day of the show so I was just hanging around campus waiting to go to the concert and complete my shadowing.

Around 11:30am I couldn’t stand waiting anymore and decided to walk down to the Convocation Center and ask if there was anything I could do to help. I immediately started helping set up stage lights and eventually moved on to helping unload stage speakers. Setting up the stage was no simple process, setup went on from about 9:30 to 1:30. It took a group of around 20-30 people about four hours to setup the stage. After the stage got setup Trevin and I stepped out to grab some lunch and prepare ourselves for our roles at the event. We ate our meal in the media suite where his equipment was stored and he pulled out his equipment and he started prepping his music and playing some tunes for everyone in the office. One thing led to another and Trevin asked me to be on stage with him during his set to feel the crowd out and make suggestions on which songs to play at what times.

After I helped Trevin transport his equipment and get it sat up there was a lot of downtime and at that moment the nerves were slowly starting to set in. This was one of the more important moments of my life up to this point and I was absolutely psyched about it. In a few short hours I was going to have the opportunity to interview a national act and someone whose music I’ve been listening to for quite some time. Around 6:30 I went out and helped SAB put bracelets on fans who were rewarded floor access for the show. After that was taken care of it was time for the show. Trevin and I got up on stage and started playing some preshow music. We stuck to our game plan and started out with some slow paced songs and slowly started to build up the energy as it got closer to Showtime. My favorite experience of my night working with Trevin was when right before Mike Stud came out we had decided to play rap songs “Mo Bamba” by Sheck Wes and “No Hands” by Waka Flocka Flame one after another. This got the crowd really amped up and it was a solid transition into Mike Stud’s set.

After the show I met up with Jess and waited in the media room until Mike Stud was ready for the meet and greet, along with interviews for CUTV and the Cal Times. Mike entered the room, took a few pics and then sat down and did his interviews. He did his interview with CUTV and then sat down with Jess and I for our interview. Since I was shadowing Jess, I didn’t get to ask all the questions. Instead, I sat and watched how she conducted the interview and learned a lot from the experience. A lot of the questions Jess asked were music related and it was pretty interesting to hear the answers Mike gave. Stud dropped the bomb on us that a surprise album is on its way and that a second album was in the works. He explained that this was the first time in his musical career that he has had time to do surprise projects and make multiple albums at once. There were a lot of Marcus Stroman Toronto Blue Jays jerseys spotted at the concert, so I asked Mike what his relationship with him was like and how he actually knew Marcus. He went on to explain that he was one of the key reasons Stroman chose to play baseball at Duke University and that he considers Marcus to be his best friend. He then explained that Marcus will eventually blossom into an MLB star and that the best is yet to come from him.

I wanted to take the time to thank Mike Stud as he put on an awesome show and was really helpful during the interview portion of my night. He was very generous and relayed the message to believe in yourself and to never give up. I also want to thank the Student Activities Board for booking two of my favorite rappers and creating a top ten life experience for me. Thanks to Trevin Keteles for being generous enough to give me the opportunity to work with him at the show and possibly beyond. Lastly I want to thank Jess Crosson for giving me the opportunity to shadow her interview with Mike Stud and for being a huge part of bringing Mike and Skizzy Mars to Cal U.