Photo provided by Christian Coleman
By Makenna Hall, Managing Editor of Content
Susquehanna alumnus Christian Coleman, 23, remembers walking through Benny’s during his first year and being shocked when he heard, “Hey, are you Khan?” Though aware of his music alias, “Khanthedon,” Coleman had not yet shown anyone on campus his music and was not expecting to be recognized and approached by a stranger because of one of his songs. This exchange proved to be quite momentous for Coleman as it sparked a friendship and showed him that the algorithms on streaming platforms could work, almost magically, to put his music into other people’s hands.
The majority of Coleman’s songs can be found on Soundcloud. He is starting to add his music to other popular streaming services, including Spotify and Apple Music, where he dropped one of his more popular singles, “When I See You Again” on Oct. 17. Coleman currently has two other songs and a feature already on Spotify and Apple Music.
According to Coleman, it can be difficult deciding what songs to add to these streaming services because of the licensing fees he would have to pay annually for his use of copyrighted beats. Fortunately, Coleman is planning to create an entirely original EP that he will release onto these streaming services. The EP was created almost exclusively on his phone, using GarageBand, an Apple music creation studio app. Coleman was able to add his vocals to the tracks once he got the proper recording equipment a while later.
Coleman hopes that the EP will be finished by the end of November and released a few months afterwards. Otherwise, at the moment, Coleman is taking his time creating music and putting it out when he feels confident in it.
Coleman grew up in Harlem, surrounded by a big family, including his older brother and younger sister. From his childhood on, music was omnipresent in Coleman’s life, whether it was his dad making his own music, his mom playing songs on the radio or himself singing in church. While Coleman grew up surrounded by music, pursuing it was not always his end goal.
Even as a kid, Coleman was very well rounded, playing sports, travelling with his aunt, but most importantly, reading encyclopedias and dreaming of a career being the next Steve Irwin, hoping that one day he would be able to travel the world and help save animals. When the famous crocodile hunter died in 2006, that dream was quickly shattered. “My dream died with Steve Irwin,” he said, “I didn’t see anything the same anymore.”
Luckily, music was still there for him and, eventually, Coleman realized that he was really good at it. “With music, I kinda saw that I got the sauce,” he said, explaining how he’s not going to pursue something he knows he is not good at, but he knows that his music can lead to something great.
According to Coleman, his music is really one of the few ways that he expresses himself, so his lyrics include both jokes and serious subjects, including loss and love. “The shit that I write isn’t bullshit… You put different energies out everytime you make a song,” he said, acknowledging that his lyrics can have an effect on the people singing them, especially when it comes to his listeners jamming to his more positive lyrics and happier beats.
Someone who only knows Coleman from hearing the more serious tones in some of his songs or having seen him around campus with his effortless cool style might find him a bit intimidating, but one conversation with him allows his easy going nature and humble confidence to take center stage.
“I don’t ever want to come off as cocky. I will literally tell you that everyone is learning: You are just another individual getting to where you’re trying to go. I’m just trying to get to where I’m tryna go,” Coleman said.
This vision he has of where he is going and who he is going to be is what inspires Coleman to keep at his craft.
When he started his journey at Susquehanna in 2015, Coleman knew exactly what he came to do: “My whole plan was to come to school. I always knew what I was doing, nothing faltered,” he said. But that did not mean obtaining his marketing degree was easy. “School beat my ass,” Coleman said, explaining the restless nights he stayed up in Blough-Weis Library, questioning what he was even doing there.
Coleman chose Susquehanna because he wanted to get away from the typical nature of his lifestyle. He wanted a change of pace and scenery from his life in Harlem, which four years in Selinsgrove, Pa. was certain to provide. For Coleman, college was not just about obtaining his degree, but it was about a period of transitioning to a new life of independence, learning and growth.
In terms of his education, Coleman said that his time at Susquehanna really changed his perspective and opened the door of marketing to him, allowing him to experiment within the subject, see the results and also learn from other people’s mistakes.
His time at Susquehanna also gave him the opportunity to meet and work with other artists on campus, including Zay Legend (Isayah Young-Burke ’19), JBands (Joshua Ralph ’18) and Cherry Rain (senior Eric Peterson).
Ralph and Coleman had an interesting, symbiotic relationship during their time at Susquehanna, and even afterwards. According to Ralph, Coleman is a more empathetic and emotional person, while he himself is more logical and straightforward, creating the perfect balance for creating art.
“He’s a fucking teddy bear,” Ralph laughed.
Aside from seeing his softer side, Ralph happily described Coleman as a combination of Rick James’ sex appeal and Michael Jackson’s innocence, of course with his own added pizzaz or “Christian Sauce.”
As JBands, Ralph focuses on managing, rapping, production and photography, and he has worked with Coleman in many of these areas. Along with taking photos for Coleman, Ralph is sure to give him his most honest feedback when it comes to music.
“If his music is trash I’ll tell him,” Ralph said, though he admitted this is not an often occurrence and in fact, Ralph has had the pleasure of seeing how Coleman has continued to evolve as a musician.
“His music is for the people,” Ralph said, “It’s not an acquired taste; it’s for everyone.”
Peterson’s EP, Kaleidoscope Eyes, was released in August of this year, including six tracks, one of which has a feature from Coleman.
“I decided to put him on my project because I really liked the music I heard on his Soundcloud and I wanted to work more with other Susky artists,” Peterson said. “Christian and I have fairly similar styles when it comes to making music and I knew he would sound great on the song.”
Though they were unable to work on the song, called “Evergreen,” together in person, Peterson was not disappointed. “His verse was exactly the kind of vibe I had in mind when listening to the beat for the first time,” he said.
Along with his degree helping Coleman market himself and his music, it has given him the tools to start his own small business called Fruit. The initiative aims to open people’s eyes to environmental issues through clothing, using only sustainable, biodegradable packaging products.
At the moment, Fruit has one design in the collection available: a Red Reds tee shirt. Coleman is hoping to have several more designs available for purchase. Each design drop will only include 100 shirts each, as Coleman’s goal is not to earn millions of dollars by selling a million shirts.
Coleman felt that there was a disassociation happening between people and the earth, making it easier to not be environmentally cautious in their day-to-day lives. Drawing from the sense of community he grew up with, Coleman is hoping that when people purchase the shirts they feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves and create a sense of oneness that acts as a reminder to do better for the earth and the environment in their daily life.
This project is just one way that Coleman hopes he can influence people to be better versions of themselves.
Coleman reflected on the people in his life that he looked up to when he was younger, people that he knew were cool and inspired him to be himself: “I felt like I was different. I don’t always find myself on the agreeing side of my peers,” he said.
Because of how grateful he was to have these individuals in his life, to guide and encourage him, Coleman wants to be this person for others.
“Without those people, the person you see wouldn’t exist, and I want to be the shining light in other people’s lives,” Coleman shared, “I want my vibration itself to be vast. I want people to feel like they can be better and do better just by looking at me.”
