When we first started the Dean’s List, we didn’t exactly know what to expect. 300, 000 downloads later, we are experiencing something we never even dreamed of happening. However, the road to 300,000 downloads has been a unique journey full of twists and turns and unexpected obstacles. Nevertheless, we are humbled by the positive response we got from all the songs we’ve made, but it was never something we planned for. We just made music and worked on improving our sound everyday.
A couple years ago, the Dean’s List wasn’t even the Dean’s List. It was just DJ Mendoza and Sonny Shotz making music and writing rhymes. We were building a small local buzz in the Boston music scene. Mendoza and Sonny it was key to work as a duo yet continue to work as solo artists to grow and build as your own artist. So, while Sonny Shotz was getting solid solo artist attention, Mendoza continued to DJ in the Boston and New York club scene through his first year Berklee College of Music.
During his freshman year Berklee College of Music, Mendoza met up with Mik Beats (Mik Beltran), a producer from Edison, NJ. Mendoza and Mik Beats began to collaborate and together they produced a new sound neither had created before. It wasn’t long before Sonny, Mendoza and Mik got together to make full songs. This was the birth of “The Dean’s List.” Sonny Shotz would handle all of the songwriting as the lead MC. Mendoza would produce hip hop/pop tracks in addition to handling management, promotion, and marketing. Mik Beats had a great talent for production and a self-taught sound engineer.
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As the group’s manager, Mendoza began to promote The Dean’s List as a group of college kids that created feel-good music. The response was overwhelming, as our buzz built up quickly in the blogosphere. Thousands of people were downloading The Dean’s List songs online, and before we knew it, there was a huge demand to see us perform live at colleges and venues on the east coast. It’s been a long journey, and in between the twists and turns we managed to put together a mixtape called “Undeclared.”
“Undeclared” was created during a period of time in which we we’re doing a lot of experimenting and searching not only musically but also personally. It allowed us to really get an idea of what type of music we want to make, and artist we want to become.
Our next mixtape, “The Drive-in” will be more themed around the concept of us becoming comfortable with who we are and what we do. It will also show how much we’ve grown as a not only a group but also as individuals, which we think is really important as artists. Furthermore, we look at themselves as more than just a music group, but like to look at themselves as more of a coming together of uniquely talented indivi
