Mike Stud Album Hitting

STUD APPEAL: If you’re looking for the next Macklemore, look no further than Rhode Island rapper Mike Stud, whose debut album, Relief, drops tomorrow on his own Mike Stud Music label, and is currently ensconsed at #2 on the iTunes chart between The Great Gatsby soundtrack and Lady Antebellum’s Golden. Stud is a former relief pitcher for the Duke Blue Devils (real name: Michael Francis Seander Jr.) who had a viral hit in “College Humor” when he was still a student. He was a two-sport star in both baseball and basketball until suffering an arm injury which required Tommy John surgery, ending his playing career. 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, receiving over 1.3 million views. The following month, he posted a remix of the Justin Bieber hit song Boyfriend. which has also been viewed nearly 1.3 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 were included on his first mix tape, A Toast to Tommy, released in Oct. 2011. He has amassed a total of more than 18 million views on his YouTube channel. See a trailer for the new album below. (5/13p)