MIKE POSNER & OUR OWN SONG
Do I leave for “the pros” or hold off and complete my senior
year? It’s a question that a number of Duke Basketball players
have had to answer, including Gerald Henderson this past off-
season. G wasn’t the only Devil on campus facing the tough
question, though.
Mike Posner, a rising star in the music industry as a producer,
singler and songwriter, inked a deal with J Records (Sony) over
the summer and many people in the music industry assumed
the Michigan native would leave Duke to focus entirely on his
music. However, Posner opted to return to Duke to graduate, he
says, “to make my parents proud.”
Posner also knows he is different, and that helps his brand.
His music is different (a unique sound that isn’t hip-hop but isn’t
rock either), his story is different (a Duke student making it big
in the music business) and his ambitions are different (He says,
“People are going to respect me as a producer, musician and
songwriter. In the end, I wanna be -- I’m going to be -- one of
the biggest pop stars in the world.”).
For now, he’s back on campus, leaving every weekend for
concerts all over the country while still sporting a 3.5 GPA. He
has been featured in The New York Times, was meeting with
Jay-Z during exams last spring, and made his first national TV
appearance recently on NBC’S The Carson Daly Show.
Posner is hugely popular on campus and proud of his asso-
ciation with Duke, always quick to suggest that Duke’s national
Nolan on Mike Posner...
student body helped get his music out to the rest of the coun-
“It’s a great song (that he wrote
try. His fans here at Duke include Jon Scheyer, Nolan Smith and
the rest of our team. for the team) and Mike Pos-
This summer, we reached out to Mike to see if he would have
any interest in producing a song for our team. Within 30 min-
ner is a great artist. To have
utes of an email sent on a Friday evening from someone who
someone so talented here in
hadn’t met Mike (me), the busiest student on Duke’s campus
had called back, offered to write a song just for us, invited our
school, it is great for Duke. He
guys to travel with him to NYC for a performance with 50 Cent,
has put on a couple concerts
and said he wanted to help however he could.
Over the next month, Posner wrote and produced Bring Me for the students here and ev-
Down, a song we incorporated in our annual hype video that
debuted at CTC and now introduces our team before games in
erybody loves his music. He
Cameron. The song has been a huge hit and the hype video had
is not a hard-core rapper and
over 25,000 total views in it’s first week on
DukeBluePlanet.com, YouTube and iTunes. he’s not trying to be someone
Meanwhile, Posner released his second mixtape, One Foot
Out the Door, on October 28th, also earning rave reviews. He
fake, he just makes great mu-
may have “turned pro” and signed with an agent, but this Blue
sic. I am honored that he was
Devil won’t have to worry about his draft stock. At age 21, in
one of the toughest industries to find work, Sony has already
able to make that song for us
made him a top pick.
and we will be listening to it
all year long. He and I have
become good friends. He and
Jon are good friends, so we
met through Jon and also had a
class together. He has a studio
in his house so I like to go there
and mess around in the studio
with him. He’s a great dude --
really laid-back, chill and hum-
ble – The type of person I like
to hang out with.”
After filming our hype video at the outdoor courts on
Central Campus, Mike challenged Nolan to a game of
one-on-one (and displayed some athletic moves!).
32 DUKE BASKETBALL
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