An artist for the people, full of love and joy

Tequila, gelato and mosh pits seem to have little in common besides being sources of fun. For Sumit — an artist who puts fun at the center of his music and personality — tequila, gelato and mosh pits aren’t just seemingly unrelated things, they’re all titles for energetic and playful hip hop songs within his discography.  

A junior majoring in arts, technology and the business of innovation at the Iovine and Young Academy — Sumit is an example of how all three disciplines come together. But to truly understand him as an artist, you need to start at the beginning.

Sumit was born in Cleveland. He then moved to Orlando when he was five, then to Shanghai and finally to New Hampshire where he finished high school before coming to USC. Growing up, Sumit said he loved to play basketball and listen to music.

“I would always just memorize lyrics,” Sumit said. “I would know the whole new Eminem or Lil Wayne song by heart.” 

He always knew he wanted to make music. That path, though, wasn’t always clear cut. 

“My dad was an engineer, and my brother [is] an engineer,” Sumit said. “In high school, I was really, really good at physics and math and everything like that. And everywhere, except USC, I applied as an engineer, but I just knew that it’s not really what I wanted to do.” 

After getting accepted to IYA, Sumit felt free to figure out what career he truly wanted to pursue. In his time at USC, Sumit has released eight songs on his Spotify profile, which has accumulated over 9,000 monthly listeners. 

Sumit’s music is energetic, fun and easygoing. That’s intentional. His approach to making music is very performance driven, so when he makes a song, he constantly thinks about the way the tune would sound to a live audience. 

“I knew that performance was something I wanted to do, so it kind of shaped how I started making music for years, even before I started performing,” Sumit said. 

Providing a source of escapism is another drive to his approach, and it is one Sumit has also found consolation in. He hopes his music and performances can cause that same solace for others. One way that he’s sharing his love for music and performance is through his brainchild “Tiny Dorm,” which was inspired by NPR’s “Tiny Desk.” 

“Tiny Dorm” is an intimate performance series that Sumit started last year with Contains: Eggs, a student-run media and production company. 

“Even though the idea isn’t brand new — of having an artist in an intimate setting — I think it’s really, really special and the people that have gone to them in person… can attest to that,” Sumit said. 

“I know a lot of artists are like, ‘this is mine that I want to do in my way,’” Sumit said. “But ultimately, I make music for people to listen to and enjoy.” 

Although Sumit is an independent artist, he doesn’t work alone. He describes his creative process to be very collaborative because he wants everyone to enjoy his music. He sends demos back-and- forth between his friends for advice on how to maximize the excitement in his songs. One person that has helped him with this process is Simon Cantor, a junior also majoring in arts, technology and the business of innovation. 

“Sumit and I met our freshman year of college, and it was the first week of school,” Cantor said. “I’d already been making music just for fun for about two or three years, I was like, ‘yo, come over I want to show you some beats, see if you can do anything with it.’” 

Cantor said they eventually made “Moshpit,” a trap song with booming basses and a rapid lyrical flow, together in his dorm room. Since then, Cantor has produced most of the songs on Sumit’s Spotify, such as “Cholula” and “Gelato.” Mya Davis, another frequent collaborator of Sumit’s, is also a junior majoring in arts, technology and the business of innovation and helped create “Moshpit” in Cantor’s dorm room. With so many people collaborating on one song, issues might arise deciding what the final product should look like, but Davis describes a different story. 

“I mean, it comes so easily working with him, because he’s a friend first,” Davis said. “What I see in Sumit is just a constant, overflowing abundance of love and joy for other people, and himself. The boy’s really, really confident, and it’s contagious.” 

Cantor shared similar sentiments and called Sumit the “biggest goofball ever.” Sumit’s good energy isn’t exclusive to his songs, but a part of him that he shares with the world. 

“I really just love cheering people on, making people laugh, making people smile, making people dance,” Sumit said. “That’s kind of what I’m about, just energy and happiness, and I think it radiates if I spread it to four people, they’ll spread it to four people each, and it’s just like, exponential.”