University of Wisconsin –  Strategic Communications Benjamin Kimo Twichell, is always neck deep in a project or three. After his entrepreneurial spirit hit profitability at the age of twelve with an eBay business, Benjamin took the hint and continued to follow his entrepreneurial drive. Benjamin created The Metropolitan Jolt, or Metrojolt.com for the sake of rolling off the tongue, in [...]

University of California, Los Angeles – Media & Design Philip Scott is a design and media major at UCLA with a passion for motion graphics, interactive media, and pounding 4/4 kick lines. While he began listening to electro and big room house in 2007, Philip has since denounced these genres as they devolve into nothing more than formulaic nonsense in [...]

Emerson – Marketing Communications  After being introduced to jazz, rock, classical, blues and Hip-Hop music at a young age, Cyrus Wesson knew his passion for music was everlasting.  While his mother forced him to learn the piano and violin in elementary school, he always found himself gravitating toward the jazzy and bluesy samples in rap, and the constant 808 kicks [...]

Barnard College – Pre-Medicine Lily is a Bay Area native with a penchant for cats and bad top 40 rap. By day, she braves Manhattan. By night, she slaves away over 960×412 Photoshop documents. “12:51″ by The Strokes was her gateway drug into the world of indie music, and in 2008, she attended the same Justice concert as fellow Metrojolt [...]

University of California, Davis – Mechanical Engineering Brandon Whitney grew up to a childhood of Led Zeppelin classic rock.  After seeing Justice perform live in 2008 he fell in love with both the complexity and minimalism of electronic music.  He also claims to know a thing or two about indie rock.  Brandon currently studies engineering at UC Davis, but lives in a constant state of [...]

Georgetown University- Government, Minoring in Economics Marcus Byrd grew up in Oakland, California and fell in love with music at an early age. Ignoring his father’s requests to take up a real musical instruments or develop a love for Jazz, he embraced Hip-Hop mostly due to crackin’ middle school dances and the “Hyphy Movement”. Early 2000′s comercial classics such as [...]

Columbia University – Creative Writing, Minoring in American Studies and Chinese Julia grew up in Berkeley, California, raised to the tunes of Motown, Sting, and The Cure. She developed her love for Hip Hop around the time she had Two Short’s “Blow the Whistle” memorized word-for-word by the end of eighth grade. Some of her favorite artists include Danny Brown, [...]

Barnard College – Africana Studies/Spanish & Latin American Cultures, Economics Minor Growing up in Oakland, California exposed Gabrielle to every type of music from Afro-Beat to The Beatles and everything in between. Since then, music has been a driving force in her life and has led her to the experiences she’s loved most. With her first introductions to Hip-Hop from [...]

Emerson College – Communication Studies Cameron Holbrook first found his undying love of Electronic Music with the discovery of the UK Bass genre his sophomore year of high school, launching him into a whirlwind of musical devotion and curiosity ever since. Passionate about the innovative and the new, Cameron spent his summer of 2012 working for The Kitchen in NYC, a [...]

Northwestern University – Major Political Science Aswan Taylor was born and raised in Oakland where he quickly became influenced by power of music and the intersection between beats, rhymes, and life. More than a decade spent watching the rise of favorites like Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, and now Kendrick Lamar amongst others, has left Aswan with a particular appreciation for [...]

University of Washington – Business Major Birthed in the Oakland, Xhjyl has been musically inclined since day one. As a young child, he couldn’t be pried away from his father’s extensive vinyl collection. In the second grade, he joined the Pacific Boychoir Academy and has been making music and loving music ever since. When not listening to his favorite artists, [...]

University of British Columbia – Political Science For years, Martin would steal and listen to his father’s CDs, including classics like Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and Etta James. Come high school, he expanded heavily into hip-hop and Irish punk. He went on to work as a promoter for the entertainment company MSH Sessions during his first year at university, which [...]

Emerson College – Journalism A lifelong Bostonian and aspiring journalist, Dillon Riley is a passionate music listener, taking in all there is to hear both national and local, but with a special interest in indie. Raised on classic rock stations, it wasn’t until Dillon ventured out of the tiny confines of his native Watertown, MA that he began to immerse [...]

University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C. Canada  — Sociology  Born and raised in Berkeley, California, Adam’s mind was opened to extremely diverse genres of music while growing up. He had his Blink 182 phase in Elementary and Middle School, and his Dubstep / Top40 phase in high school. Though now, Adam has discovered more underground forms of electronic music listing some of his [...]

Pitzer College – Political Studies Lawrence McDonald is a Bay Area born child who learned that music was something he loved from an early age. Initially starting off as a noisy child who used to use chopsticks to bang on the bars of his crib, he received his first drum kit at 6-years-old and has been playing ever since.  His [...]

Vassar College – Neuroscience and Social Justice A Bay Area native, Osamagbe was born with headphones lodged into his ears.  Though his first musical loves  were Reggae and Soul-Funk, it was only a matter of time before Osamagbe realized his true passion, Hip Hop.  While not listening to music, some of his favorite acts being Blu, Al Green, and Erykah [...]