Mike Stud

Michael Francis Seander Jr. (born October 30, 1988), known by his stage name Mike Stud, is an American hip hop recording artist and former college baseball player. His first musical recognition came with the release of viral single “College Humor,” which was originally recorded on GarageBand as a joke by Seander,^[1] while he was a relief pitcher at Duke University.

Early life

In 2006, Seander graduated from St. Raphael Academy in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. At 6’2”, he lettered in both baseball and basketball. Also in 2006, Seander was named Rhode Island's 2006 Gatorade Player of the Year. In earning this title, he also won a Louisville Slugger and an athletic scholarship to Duke University.^[2] Seander earned 2nd team all-state honors in basketball after averaging 21 points and 7 rebounds as a senior. He would find even more success on the baseball diamond, earning an 8-2 record with a 0.72 ERA and 88 strikeouts for the Saints as a junior. In his senior season, he posted a 9-2 record, an ERA of 0.91 and struck out 107 en route to being named both the Gatorade Player of the Year^[3] and Louisville Slugger Player of the Year in Rhode Island.^[4]

Baseball career

After graduating, Seander attended Duke University in Durham, North Carolina to play baseball under head coach Sean McNally. His Blue Devil career got off to an impressive start, as he was named the team’s closer as a true freshman. Seander saved 9 games in 28 appearances and earned a 1.61 ERA (lowest in Duke baseball history).^[5] Those 9 saves were the second highest total in school history and was good for fourth best in the ACC that season. At season’s end, Seander was named to the Louisville Slugger and Rivals.com Freshman All-American teams. The Rhode Island native also spent a summer in 2007 as the closer for the Newport Gulls in the NECBL.

Unfortunately, Seander suffered from arm issues following his sophomore season that would eventually require Tommy John Surgery. After missing the entire 2009 season recovering from the surgery, Seander graduated from Duke on the All-ACC Honor Roll with a 3.4 GPA. He decided to use his final year of college eligibility at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.. He appeared in 9 games as a senior for the Hoyas, striking out 9 in 8.2 innings pitched. Off the diamond, Seander earned a graduate degree in sports management.^[6]

Music career

While recovering from Tommy John surgery, Stud turned to music as an outlet to pass the time.^[7] With a degree from Duke, he moved on to Georgetown to continue his baseball career and hone his musical talent.

In December 2010, Stud released a music video for “College Humor.”^[8] Stud stated that he originally made the track as a joke for his baseball teammates. Since its release, the video has been viewed over 1.4 million times (as of July, 2014). In March, Stud followed up his breakout hit with “In This Life,” which featured West Coast rapper and former Cal wide receiver Alex Lagemann (a.k.a. Loggy). The track chronicles the journey of the two rappers from athletics to music. The video has received over 1.7 million views. The following month, he posted a remix of the Justin Bieber hit song Boyfriend, which has also been viewed nearly 1.5 million times. Stud released a fourth viral hit with the music video for his track “Happy Ending” in January 2012. That video passed 1 million views in December of the same year.

All three hits were featured on Stud’s first mixtape -- A Toast To Tommy – which he released in October, 2011. The mixtape debuted at number 3 and number 2 on the worldwide and US iTunes Hip-Hop Albums charts. In August, Stud released another mixtape Click as a collaboration with fellow hip-hop artist Huey Mack. He then embarked on a sold-out 20 city nationwide tour – The Stud Nation Tour – which contributed to his growing buzz and popularity. The tour concluded in November 2012.

His presence on YouTube has been a major factor in Stud’s success as an artist.^[9] With videos ranging from official music videos to cover songs to tour footage, Stud has amassed over 47 million views on his channel (as of March 2015).

On May 13, 2013, Stud released his debut studio album Relief. Within hours of its midnight iTunes release, the album had reached #1 on the Hip-Hop albums sales chart^[10] and #2 on the overall album sales chart.^[11]

Stud continues to release videos on his YouTube page, including a remix of "Gas Pedal" by Sage the Gemini that has been viewed over 2.2 million times.

On July 7, 2014, Stud released his second album Closer. Following the release, he will set off on another nationwide tour, ‘The #StudSummer Tour,’ making stops in cities such as New York, Boston, Dallas, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Houston, San Diego, Seattle, Chicago and many others.^[12]

Discography

Albums

• A Toast To Tommy (2011)
• Relief (2013)
• Closer (2014)

Mixtapes

• Click w/ Huey Mack (2012)
• #SundayStudTape (2013)
• #SundayStudTapeVol.2 (2013)
• It's Spring Break, Homie (2015)

References

External links