A freestyle video on YouTube takes second-year to Internet stardom
Over 300,000 views on YouTube; 740,000 views on World Star Hip-Hop; the front page of Reddit, and a feature on BroBible — Nate Schultz blew away the Internet with his freestyle rap to Drake’s instrumental “Uptown.”
You may know him as “that white kid that can rap,” but Schultz, 19, is a second-year visual communications student with big aspirations and undoubtedly the talent to match.
In his freestyle rap, Nate’s friends throw out various phrases while he quickly comes up with a clever rhyme to match the beat of the song. He is given everything from sports teams to celebrities to smoothly incorporate into his rap, never phased by the new topic. But, his ability to come up with fast, witty rhymes didn’t always come easy.
“I’ve been rapping since about 7th grade but it has taken constant, constant practice to get me where I am today,” Schultz said.
He said the music artist that first sparked his interest in rap in middle school, was Outkast. He also found Kid Cudi, J. Cole and Logic contribute to his interest in music and considers rapper Logic to be his biggest inspiration stylistically.
“My rap is very speedy, but I’m not into rap that’s ‘popular.’ A lot of rap today is just about popping bottles, and being in the club, you know. I like my raps to be meaningful and more poetic,” Schultz said. “I guess the best way to describe it is more underground.”
Nate has been overwhelmed by his overnight Internet popularity but he says he is not surprised by the amount of support he has received by his fellow classmates at USC.
“The USC community has been incredibly passionate and supportive,” Schultz said. “Everyone I met at South Carolina was so friendly and welcoming my first year at college. It is nice to see everyone banding together for my music.”
The USC community has certainly been instrumental in his increasing popularity. Students at South Carolina make up a large portion of Schultz’s fans. They have followed, liked, shared, tweeted, and re-tweeted, hoping to see one of our own make it big.
And we can definitely expect to see more of Schultz in the future. With the support of his fans and his quick rise in popularity, Schultz has attracted the attention of players in the music industry. He hopes to continue his work on his mix tape, “The Sun Down,” and get it out to his fans soon. And, to his fans that first found him through his freestyle rap, Schultz will be posting more freestyles soon on his YouTube channel, The World of Nate.
As for now, Nate has two songs on his channel “No Pun Intended” and “Keep Me Laughing.”
Schultz hopes his rap dreams will bring him success in the long run.
“My whole life I’ve always wanted to be a rapper but all of this has gotten me to a point, confidence wise, to get me where I need to go,” Schultz said. “No matter what happens, I definitely plan on finishing school at South Carolina, and I hope to help use my degree to benefit my career.”