The Dickinsonian sat down with Alex Schechter ’18, who is opening for rapper Hoodie Allen at the Fall Concert on Nov. 6.

“I have always had him in the back of my mind, so I just figured that now that we have a rapper [Hoodie Allen], it will be really successful and we should get Alex in on this,” MOB Concert Chair, Aaron Ammerman ’16 said on why they chose Schechter.

The Dickinsonian: Has rapping always been your passion?

Schechter: I’ve always been into music but never really as a performer until a little more than a year ago. I didn’t start writing my own lyrics until last summer. I did a lot of poetry beforehand but it wasn’t with a beat, just poetry on its own. But music has definitely always been a passion and that’s why I think eventually the two kind of combined.

TD: For our readers who haven’t heard your music yet, describe your sound in 5 words.

AS: Catchy, socially conscious, cinematic and true because I never sold myself out and that’s really important for me.

TD: How did this concert come together?   

AS: This past summer, I got a message from M.O.B. saying that they couldn’t tell me who the artist was, but they wanted me to open. And so I gladly said yes. Of course now it’s Hoodie Allen, so I’m super super psyched!   

TD: How are you going to prepare for the performance?

AS: I don’t know, I think I performed a decent amount now, so I have a general idea of what happens the day before the show. I started performing almost a year ago, this week. I did a lot of local shows in Boston, New York and Philadelphia. I actually am going to Boston, and I’m recording my new album and so a lot of those songs will be songs that I do during the show.

TD: You mentioned that this is a new album, have you put out an album before?

AS: Yes, in the past I put out one E.P., which has seven songs on it, and then a mix tape in February. This will be my first full-length album; I’m actually recording 18 songs in two days.

TD: Let’s talk about you a little bit. How did you find Dickinson?

AS: I found Dickinson when I did a whole Pennsylvania college tour, because I’m from Boston, so Pennsylvania is not too far, and I knew I wanted to stay reasonably close to Boston. So I did a whole tour, I went to Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg, and Dickinson just stood out. I knew right away that I wanted to go to Dickinson!

TD: What hidden talents do you have that people should know about?

AS: Probably not that many.… I was a high-level soccer player for most of my life, and I stopped playing soccer when I got to Dickinson for the music. 

TD: Lastly, is there a specific theme that you would like to carry through your performance?

AS: I don’t know about a theme, but one thing I want to convey is that music is my passion. A lot of people come up to me on campus, “Oh I know you do rap,” but I don’t think a lot of people understand how much time and effort I put into it. So with my performance I want to show people that this is something that I really love doing and performing is my absolute favorite part of music, so I’m really excited to just get out there and do my thing!