Hi. My name is maT, also known as Stupid Hat maT. I’m a composer, songwriter, and musician, but most importantly, a great listener. I was never formally trained in music as a child. When my parents offered me piano lessons, I said no. Still, there was always music around. Early on, I was exposed to everything from Jimi Hendrix, to Googoosh, to Brittany Spears.
It all changed when I was 15 and discovered Virtual DJ. My childhood friend Mateen and I started messing around with it. One thing lead to another and DJ M2 was born. We were playing nightclubs around NYC before we were old enough to drive. This is where my curiosity about music and its impact on people was born. Mateen and I had been doing our thing for a few years, and we decided to start getting into music production. We didn’t know what a C Major scale was, but that didn’t stop us. We spent hours and very late nights in the studio, playing around, exploring, and most importantly, having fun.
When I was 20, I decided I was going to transfer to music school. I still didn’t know much music theory at this point and wasn’t able to sight-read or play any instruments. I had a friend take the music theory entry exam for me, and I got accepted to the Music Business program at NYU. I sat in class with kids that had been playing piano and violin since they were 3 years old, who understood this language like it was one they had spoken all their lives. Meanwhile, I was struggling with the basics. While this was disheartening, I noticed I had something that many of them didn’t, the ability to think outside of the box. My lack of musical virtuosity and theory knowledge lead me to compensate with creativity and experimentation. I embraced what I didn’t know and still do to this day.
Fast forward almost a decade later, and my passion for music has not dwindled. I continue to DJ, write music of all kinds, and play bass and sing in The Ehems. I’ve produced and worked on many projects like commercials, other artists’ albums and songs, and more recently, film & TV.
I feel lucky to have crossed paths with music the way I did. Music makes life more beautiful. It makes the mundane pretty. It is one of the only things that can instantaneously transfer you to another place. As cliche as it is, music is everyone’s language. I hope I can continue to share and impact people with my music.
