Alumnus raps

Andrew Hart, '07, took his daydreams during Clare courses and made them a reality.Hart performs in Akademy, the band that opened for Sean Kingston last night. The group consists of four members: Hart, known as "Big Dwam;" Tom Simard, "xyzstance;" Tom Condemi, "Na'ledge;" and Brian Watters, "Akademical." The group formed in 2002 in a high school physics class at Longwood High School on Long Island.

"I guess it kind of started as we all liked hip-hop, and it was fun," Hart said.

While at St. Bonaventure, Hart majored in history and minored in Spanish. He didn't focus on his music.

"I kind of put (music) to the side," Hart said. "The one thing I did was I made a Bonaventure song every year. I played tennis, so I'd make a song about the tennis team."

Upon graduation from St. Bonaventure, Hart began working as an insurance agent for Aflac, where he continues to work.

According to Hart, Akademy came together as a serious group in 2004, creating its own sound.

"We stay true to what inspired us, which is like Biggie, Tupac, all those guys," Hart said. "But we kind of do a bit of everything. We make some dance-type songs, some underground songs. We just take every aspect of music and try to incorporate it into our songs."

The group has since taken off, performing in shows all over New York City and Long Island, Hart said.

"We're always working. We always have something going on," Hart said.

The members of Akademy hope to ultimately make a career out of doing what they love.

"We feel like we're pretty close (to signing with a record label)," Hart said. "We've been talking to a couple of labels, and we're just trying to get a couple of things together, like get our album done and get some things ready and go to different labels."

Long term, the group wants to share its musical talents globally.

"We can't wait to get in the studio and perfect (our songs) and show them to the world," Hart said. "Long term, we want to tour and perform. We all love being on stage. We would love traveling around the world and seeing different cultures all at the same time doing what we love."

Being asked to perform before Sean Kingston at his alma mater was a dream come true for Hart.

"It is such a great feeling," Hart said. "When I went to Bona's, I saw the Goo Goo Dolls in the Reilly Center. I only ever dreamed of performing on such a stage. This is the kind of thing that we always talk about. Doing this show proves to ourselves that our dream is an attainable goal."

e-mail: gradyea09@sbu.edu