Hey everyone, the Entrepreneurship program is here to report on a great experience that happened recently. On, January 19th we had the honor of accompanying Cogswell’s Entrepreneur professor Bret Sweet as he took L.A. local rapper Nick Carter A.K.A. MURS throughout the halls of our college to meet our students and professors. MURS has been in the rapping/hip-hop business ever since he was 14 and since then has been a part of more than 20 albums, created many singles and EP’s, and even has his music played in various video games that have been released in the last 5 years. He started out as an independent artist going to rap battles routinely, which gained him the title of “The guy you don’t beat…you hope he doesn’t beat you.” He even has run the annual Paid Dues Festival for independent hip hop and rap artists since 2006. He has dabbled in other musical media such as a punk band out of Jacksonville, Florida named Whole Wheat Bread.
While here, MURS was looking for well versed animators for a future project and when Bret informed him about our school being one of the top digital arts schools in the country, he couldn’t resist. As we walked around the campus, Bret explained that this school had all the things that he and MURS wished for in their youth such as a safe environment to learn about the digital entertainment medium and where students don’t have to hide who they are. MURS lit up with joy with every corner that we passed where artwork from students, both past and present, decorated the walls. He even said at one point that he was a bit of a nerd himself, being into many different comic book series, cartoons, movies and dabbling in the digital medium for his own projects.
MURS was lucky enough to catch Project X Director Michael Huber and discuss their professions and share some stories about their struggles in their media. MURS had watched Project X’s first film, The Offering, and fell in love with what our students could do and had nothing but praise for Michael. MURS also got to meet with our comic book expert, Dave Perry. They became friends quickly just throwing out topics on comic books, having a great back and forth, MURS letting Dave know about his own comic book that he wanted to make into an animated film. Both Michael and Dave were very impressed with the ideas that MURS had expressed, which prompted everyone to exchange contact information for future projects.
It turns out that even our students were huge fans of MURS and anticipated his arrival. Needless to say, our students are unique so the talks that went down with MURS definitely made him laugh. It was definitely not as crazy as some of his performances where he has fans cheering for him and his lyrics, but the excitement was still present. MURS really loved that he was well known around the school but was still humble whenever Bret tried to speak of his great work within the music industry. It did surprise a few fans around campus that he was a very relaxed and approachable person since he puts so much passion into his music. One of our most excited students was Dashiell who had been told MURS was going to be visiting days before and was eager to meet him. When MURS came around, Dashiell was almost speechless but still shook his hand and started talking about the different things he’s done while here at Cogswell. It was quite the experience for the both of them since MURS had expressed much love for what we do here at the college and hearing a student speak so passionately about it made him smile.
MURS really seemed to enjoy his time here at Cogswell as much as we were to have him be here. Bret and MURS even found time to catch up being friends from the past and all. We enjoyed MURS’s company and hope he comes back soon to visit and possibly join us in future projects. We wish Nick a safe trip back to L.A. and success in his future endeavors!
Murs Urban Dictionary Definition: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Murs
Murs Music Video HUSTLE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kQzUCkY9l4
Murs PUNCH OUT Music Video: http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/14345
