From sidelined to headlines with a doughnut rap: The story of Studdard Sports
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Tevin Studdard is now known around town as the dude who drops rhymes about doughnuts.
The Indianapolis-based artist decided to write a rap about Long’s Bakery reopening after shutting down for the coronavirus pandemic, and the video went viral hours after the release. But, Studdard does not normally spend his days singing about glazed doughnuts.
He said, “I would just say that the process comes from just looking at a roster. I can look at a roster and just write the song like that.”
Studdard is the cousin of American Idol winner Ruban Studdard, so music is in his blood. But, Tevin’s true love is sports. When he realized playing pro ball wasn’t in his cards, Studdard threw together the perfect mix tape, the best of both worlds.
“It’s tough to do music without sports. It’s tough to do sports without music. I work with high schools and colleges around the nation to do theme songs,” Studdard said. “It started when I was in high school at Cathedral for our football team, and they played it at our game, and then someone on the other team started singing it, and I was like ‘What? That’s so cool.’”
Later that year, Studdard wrote a song about the Indiana Fever. It caught the attention of WNBA All-Star Tamika Catchings, and, before he knew it, he was performing pregame at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
“I’m in high school. She’s a professional athlete. This is Tamika Catchings. She’s not only embracing you, but giving you an opportunity to do your thing,” Studdard said. “And then from there it’s just been from school after school after school, from IU to Notre Dame, just everywhere doing music videos … at least 100 schools is 33 states, so I got 17 more. I’m coming.”
Studdard has stayed the course, and, ironically, the biggest break of his career may have happened during a time when there were no sports at all, but from a rap inspired by doughnuts.
A few days after his viral doughnut video, Studdard was getting requests from other organizations and people around Indianapolis. His latest hit is an original about former Colts player Robert Mathis.
Doing a project for his hometown team has always been a dream of Studdard and it’s his next goal.
“It’s definitely going to be the Colts. I grew up a Colts fan. I’m a football player. Already performing at Bankers Life, you’ve got to do it big. Go to Lucas Oil”Stadium,” he said.