Moving his head back and forth, swaying as he stands, he sets up his equipment and begins to play his own creations to the crowd. As the tempo gets quicker, he sees people beginning to dance, and soon he’s dancing along himself.

Senior Carson Kennedy had the opportunity to perform at Austin’s South by Southwest, an annual musical festival held in March, with the rapper known as Felly on March 12. He landed the gig with Felly after Felly’s team tweeted out that they needed a DJ, and one of Kennedy’s friends mentioned it to him. Felly’s team later saw and listened to Kennedy’s music and contacted his manager.

“I’ve met him [Felly] before,” Kennedy said. “He’s a super cool guy and extremely down to earth. When I got word that I would be performing I just felt really blessed and excited and so ready to capitalize on the opportunity.”

After performing with Felly, Kennedy had the opportunity to make personal connections to Felly and his record label, 2273 Records. The venue at Southby, The Marc, has already emailed Kennedy, asking him to come back next year.

“I had an awesome time being the final opener for Felly,” Kennedy said. “I got an awesome chance to play some of my favorite songs along with my own music. It was an incredible feeling to be on stage and see and feel the energy. You might just catch me at South by Southwest next year. I had the time of my life, and it was such a blessing.”

Kennedy gives a thank you and a shout out to his friends Rohan, Sydney, Noah, Tommy, Kaden, and Nolan from EyeCaptureEnt.

“Thank you for all of your support and helping make this happen,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy began his interest in creating music when he heard DJ Dr. Dre’s album titled “2001.”

“I always knew Dr. Dre was a producer, but while I listened to the album, I was captivated,” Kennedy said. “As soon as the album ended, I was like ‘I need to do this,’ and so I started producing.”

As Kennedy continued to make instrumentals using an app called Periscope, a live stream for Twitter, his now sponsor, Forever Blessed, had seen one of Kennedy’s periscopes, liked what they saw, and contacted his manager.

“It’s honestly kind of surreal,” Kennedy said. “I just feel very blessed to have such awesome people in my life to help make things happen.”

Along with having a manager, Kennedy also has been able to sell some of his instrumentals, ranging from $30 to $250. In the month of February he sold around $1,000 worth of his music. Kennedy even has his own website in the making: carsonkennedy.co.

“I’ve always wanted the music to get me this far,” Kennedy said. “However, this is just a really good step in the right direction I want to be going. We can’t just settle at the point we are at right now; we’re always striving to grow and get bigger.”

According to Kennedy his music is just a passion, but his other interests include business and orthodontics.

“I’m going to college to study orthodontics,” Kennedy said. “After I receive my undergraduate, it’s at that point where I will have to decide to dedicate myself to music or orthodontics. A lot can happen in four years, so I will see where I am with both options when I reach that point down the road.”