CEE's Own Student Rapper

Josh Brickman, a senior in civil and environmental engineering (CEE), has one full semester left before he completes his undergraduate degree with a primary focus in structures. Applications to graduate school, however, are not the only thing that Brickman has been distributing as of late. 

On October 14, Brickman released The Music Man, his debut solo rap album. The album, available for free download, features 13 tracks that he wrote and recorded over his past few semesters on campus.

Brickman’s interest in rap began during his sophomore high school English class, where he would compose raps instead of formal papers on literary works like Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations. Now instead of rapping for a grade in class, Brickman finds his own influences and motivations.

"I can do it on my own time, and I can do it when I want,” Brickman said. “It’s my own passionate hobby.”

Throughout his life, Brickman has been heavily involved in band and music.  His parents encouraged him to begin playing the piano when he was 5 years old. In school, he learned to play the alto saxophone.  At Illinois, Brickman became involved in music through the Krannert Center Student Association. The student-run organization recruits volunteers who serve as ushers and tour guides for the performing arts center.  Brickman embraced this opportunity and worked with others to begin a new ambassadors program within the organization this year.

 The time requirements for Brickman’s hobby, along with his coursework and other commitments, require him to keep many aspects of his life organized. Brickman will often print out daily schedules outlining what he needs to do and when he needs to do it. He dedicates a few hours each week to his rap projects, either all in one chunk or over the course of a few homework breaks, and when he comes up with new material for a song, he will save the lyrics in a file within a group of folders on his computer. All of his ideas end up there.

Last fall, however, Brickman devoted a good portion of his rap project time to planning his CD release. With help from a friend in his fraternity, Brickman began promoting his music over social media outlets like Twitter and Tumblr. Brickman took on the remaining work alone.

“I had to do everything else, like printing my own CD labels and getting everything ready for the (release) party,” he said.

One song on the CD, titled Champaign State of Mind, had an accompanying music video that Brickman and his friends filmed over the course of six months in 2011. Three weeks after the CD release, the video had accumulated 16,000 views on YouTube and had gained the attention of WCIA, Champaign’s local TV station. Brickman described the filming as a very spontaneous process.

“(Sometimes) it would be a Saturday afternoon, and I would call my friends and say, ‘Guys, wake up, we need to work on this’,” Brickman said.

The video features scenes from different locations on campus and along Green Street, with Brickman frequently paying homage to his engineering roots: rapping in front of Engineering Hall and Newmark Lab, sitting outside of the Grainger Library, and posing in front of the Beckman Institute.

“I do see another U of I music video on the horizon,” Brickman said.  “I’ve gotten so much out of the school. I have had such a good time here, so I just want to give back.”

Brickman’s diverse interests often help create new material for his rap CDs, and he already has begun work on a new album.  One song he recently wrote reflects on the decision to close down the Space Shuttle. While the space program is typical rap material, Brickman grew up with space exploration as a key interest in his life, and such influences commonly show up in his music.

Within his engineering degree, Brickman said that his creative side has helped shape a better vision of what he wants to do beyond college. While he came to the school knowing that he had an interest in structures, he now has a more refined idea of what his goals are within that field.

“I like to see that these structures have a grander purpose,” Brickman said. “Beyond just saying, ‘Hey, I built that,’ I want to say, ‘Hey, I built that, and this world class orchestra comes and plays here once a year.’”

When looking for internships and job opportunities as an undergraduate, Brickman always searched for companies that showed more of a creative or “grander purpose” side. Before he begins to work full-time though, he will work towards a master’s in structural engineering, likely at Illinois.  Brickman will also continue to rap.

“The fun and success that I’ve had with this album—I would like to see it continue,” he said.
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Contact: Celeste Arbogast Bragorgos, director of communications, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 217/333-6955.

Writer: Dan Malsom

If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Rick Kubetz, editor, Engineering Communications Office, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 217/244-7716.