Alumni Story

Go after what you want and not be afraid. At that age you have the time to make mistakes.”

Football brought Christopher to Catawba College. Music kept him there. “I played high school football for two years. The running backs coach at Catawba recruited me.” He played another two years at Catawba, with a 2007 conference championship ring to show for it. But music was always an interest. He saw Catawba’s music program, particularly the music business and popular music part of it, and made music his major. “Dr. David Fish was over that program. He taught me a whole new grind and work ethic.” Christopher got serious about music. His name was always on the sign-up sheet for the key to the recording studio. “I used to be in the recording studio all night, until I had to go to class the next day. I’d go shower, get breakfast and go to class.” Christopher also performed with ADP, and he, along with Dr. Fish and Dennis Reed ’06, started the Vernaculars group Urb'N Sol which continues today.

In music business, internships were required his junior year and students had to track down their own. “A lot of people were saying ‘I don’t know how to do this.’ Dr. Fish wanted us to learn, to figure things out. If you want to do something, you gotta go get it.” Christopher knew he wanted to intern in a music studio. He emailed inquiries to several, including in New York City where his uncle was living; he had housing if he landed an internship there. “I got an internship with JAMBOX Entertainment Studios and lived with my uncle. He was working at MTV. I learned so much working at that studio, and when I wasn’t at work, my uncle always had something for me to do. Through him I met recording artist Drake, who had just come out with his debut album.”

He explains the origin of the name, YUNG Citizen, which came about when he was a teenager. His friends told him he needed a name as a recording artist. He landed on it fairly quickly. “I thought about it and thought ‘I’m young. I’m a citizen. YUNG Citizen.’”

As a recording artist and music producer in Charlotte, he stays busy writing, recording, producing, and performing. Music is a career, but not his only one: he also works full-time as a business expert for Apple. He uses his remaining time productively. He has a routine of writing morning pages, which he started in 2020 during the pandemic. The process, based on the book “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron, is one he found transformative, helping his personal and professional life as well as his mental health journey. The practice inspired his recent EP titled “The Morning Pages”. When not at his day job, most of his time is on music, but not every second. “If I’m not doing music I love spending time with family, reading books, going to the record store or bookstore. Or playing golf, golf helps me rejuvenate,” he says with some amusement. “I actually played on the golf team my senior year in high school. My friends got frustrated with the team, I made the team, and I really enjoyed it.”

Considering his own student years, he offers a recommendation to students at Catawba, “I’ll say this, take advantage of resources, take risks, make mistakes, have fun. Go after what you want and not be afraid. At that age you have the time to make mistakes.”