He is your not-so-typical fourth-year in engineering at Ohio State. If you watched his YouTube channel, you would never guess he is a teaching assistant, and you definitely wouldn’t think he’s from a small town in Ohio.

In his limited free time, Calvin Scruby works to promote his potential career as a rapper.

“To do the things that I do and to be a rapper is just not right,” Scruby said. “I keep tabs on my phone of stuff I do that says ‘Stuff that’s not gangster.'”

One of Scruby’s more popular YouTube videos, called “The Nation,” is about OSU with athletic undertones and has received attention from some big names on campus.

The song has about 20,000 hits on YouTube. Scruby has also seen an influx of Twitter followers, as his account, @SCRUbeats, now has 830 followers, as of Tuesday.

President E. Gordon Gee tweeted March 14 at Scruby in response to his video about, saying, “Fabulous school spirit! Go Bucks!” OSU men’s basketball sophomore forward Jared Sullinger took a picture of the video and shared it to his more than 7,500 followers on Instagram, encouraging them all to go watch it.

In eighth grade, while using a friend’s karaoke machine, Scruby discovered his ability to put rhymes together. It wasn’t until sophomore year of college, however, that he finally did something about it. “At the beginning … I showed a couple of my friends and they were just like, ‘You need to do this, you need to do this,'” Scruby said. “I committed to a mixtape.”

Scruby began working with LandSea Media, a management company started by two students, Paul Erlandson, a fourth-year in marketing, and Jordan Cohen. a fourth-year in finance and marketing. The mixtape came out in December, and through social media, word of Scruby’s talents spread.

“There’s definitely an exponential growth curve we’re hoping to hit with Cal,” Erlandson said.

To keep up the buzz, Scruby and LandSea Media have been releasing videos every Tuesday called “Scruby Tuesdays,” and random raw videos called “Scruby Snacks.”

“The Scruby Tuesdays, Scruby Snack thing is just kind of like the corniest play on words we could come up with that was just like something that people could remember, to stay relevant, you know?” Scruby said.

Scruby said he plans on dropping a second mixtape at the end of the school year.

“Cal’s new mixtape is going to be the next level sort of deal,” Cohen said.

Scruby said he hopes those who tune into his music become inspired to follow their passions, too.

“I think I’m a pretty normal person,” Scruby said. “I want people to look at what I do, and if you really want to make music, make music. People are going to judge you no matter what.”

Those who know Scruby are excited about what his talent might come to.

“Honestly, I think the sky is the limit. He has so much content in his brain and I think he takes writing more serious than engineering,” said Rafael Huezo, Scruby’s friend and a fifth-year in strategic communication and marketing. “The potential is there.”

Even Scruby said he is unsure of what lies ahead, but he is hopeful for his future.

“I guess if the question is, ‘Is (rap) what you’re going to do?’ I don’t know, probably not,” he said. “I hope so.”