Last year, Business Insider released a list of the 25 Best Companies for Interns. On it, you’ll find the usual suspects: Apple, Facebook, Google… There’s no doubt that all are innovative companies that have changed the world and continue to do so. Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn even made a bad comedy movie about work experience at the latter. But, one Georgia State student landed an internship with the hip hop duo who’s cooler than a polar bear’s toe nails: Outkast.
Sam Mullman is like many GSU students. The 23 year old English major is an ATLien and a music fan. According to a recent profile piece by his university, Sam spins hip hop, R&B, and electronic tracks under the DJ pseudonym, “Sin Diesel.” In order to focus on school, he put his hobby on the shelf. But recently, he rediscovered his love of music when he found himself interning at Stankonia Studios, Outkast’s personal studio. It’s a place that, needless to say, has made the whole world shake it like a polaroid picture with hit after hit over the past few decades.
While a gig like this might seem like just an interesting line on a résumé, Sam played an instrumental role on Big Boi’s recent solo album. “Most people who work in a hip-hop environment are just pushing ‘play’ over vocals,” he said. “I got to see the creative process of making a real record as opposed to someone just bringing a beat in and then someone writing a verse.”
To further add to his street cred, Mullman got to be apart of Big Boi’s entourage at one of his shows in Athens, GA. “He would bring [the] interns on shows with him, and we would all just caravan,” Mullman said. “He really cared about the work we were doing because we weren’t getting paid. It was nice to see someone genuinely care.” Today, Sam is back to focusing on American Literature, but there’s no doubt his work experience was so fresh and so clean.
Chris Richards of the Washington Post recently wrote, “If you’re searching for rap’s nucleus, you go to Atlanta.” The reality is, almost all of today’s hip hop hits are coming from inside the perimeter. Established artists and producers, like Ludacris and Jermaine Dupri, put Atlanta’s music scene on the national stage in the 90’s. Rising stars, such as rapper Future and producer Metro Boomin’, have solidified the city’s status as the hip hop capital of the world. Not only is the music coming out of the ATL hot, but the local music technology scene is rising as well.
At Hypepotamus, we’ve covered local companies such as Muusical (seamlessly combines songs from YouTube, Soundcloud and Vimeo in one playable group), Liztic (lets you manage and synchronize your music library seamlessly across devices and operating systems), and most recently, EQIP (a tool for music producers to explore and purchase professional music production tools). All are doing incredible things with music and technology. There’s a serious opportunity for Atlanta’s rap elite and tech companies to combine forces.
