The Tunes Behind SU Student YouTube Series "Struggle Bus"

A mix of Syracuse University sophomores, juniors, and seniors have recently started a scripted YouTube series called Struggle Bus. Their two (which have already garner over 2,000 combined views) are relatable to all college students, and are made even more so by the interesting and eclectic music selection. I got the chance to sit down with creators Jonathan Wigfall and Cadie Obeng to talk about the show and their music selection process.

Alright so what is the Struggle Bus?

CO: The Struggle Bus is a scripted YouTube series that follows the lives of 56 college students. It branches out to different stories, and it’s like a comedic drama where we poke fun at college relationships. It's about the issues with them and how typically they don’t work.

I know music plays a big part in TV shows and movies, so what was the idea behind the music in the show?

CO: Well we definitely wanted the music to be an opportunity for underground artists to be shown and we wanted the music to be different. We have really cool people who make that possible.

JW: We have a person named Donna that serves as music supervisor, and a guy in New Jersey that does the audio and post production, but Cadie and I oversee everything that happens and sometimes pick some of the songs.

So it’s a full process? It’s not just like some bullshit iMovie where you throw in some background music.

JW: [laughs] No, we definitely put thought into the songs we pick.

Yeah I’ve noticed you used music from people like Raury, Kehlani, and Gambino who usually make music that caters to our age group. Was that on purpose?

JW: I think you can really thank the artist for that because they make music that’s so relatable — it’s like when we pick the music it almost makes sense to pick these songs. And since we wanted Struggle Bus to come off as realistic as possible, we wanted music that matched that.

Is Struggle Bus at a point where campus artists can submit their own music to use?

CO: That definitely could be a thing.

JW: Yeah we’re definitely open to anything. Obviously we want stuff to be a certain quality, but we’re not going to say no to anybody.

CO: Maybe later. [laughs] I mean it’s Syracuse University Struggle Bus so we want as many contributions from SU people as we can. We would love for them to be the first people we pick instead of people outside the school.

What has the reception been like for the music from the show?

JW: People honestly love the music we’ve been choosing. College students love underground music and I think a lot of people like when we pick artists like KYLE or Raury, they’re like “Holy shit, people listen to them other than us,” which is kind of dope because we’re sharing new music.

Be sure to check out the first two Struggle Bus episodes if you haven’t already and follow them on Twitter @SUstrugglebus for updates on new episodes.