Meet Aakeem: Yale’s YouTube star turned Sig Nu hype man

Santa Monica native, Aakeem Allahjah walks into Blue State and immediately offers to pay for my drink, an act of chivalry almost unheard of on campus.

He sits down at the table I’ve claimed as my interviewing studio, motions to his spiffy white button up and says, “I just want you to know, I never wear this. My friends have been asking me about my outfit all day, but I wanted to look nice in case you took a picture!”

My curiosity was instantly piqued: who was this kid, who has over 34,000 Twitter followers and 43,000 Instagram followers, but still apologizes profusely when he spills ice on the table while mixing his macchiato?

This, people of Yale/Summer Break fanatics, is The Tab’s sit down with Aakeem:

So what exactly is Summer Break?

Summer Break is a YouTube reality show funded by AT&T. It basically takes students from Southern California (mostly from the Santa Monica/Palisades area) and it films us in our last summer before we go to college. So some of the kids are actually rising seniors in high school, but most of the them are going to be freshmen in college. So I did this two summers ago now. It’s kind of crazy to think of how long ago it was!

It was pretty legit, though, there was a huge budget for it and we had a bunch of producers, sound guys, cameramen, etc. It was really intense.

How did you get involved with it?

I was actually in the second season and I had a friend from high school who was on the first season. We were pretty good friends and got closer as he was on the first season. Not because of Summer Break, though, we just naturally became closer friends. So the beginning of my senior year I got a text one day in class saying, “Hey Aakeem! Your friend Ray Ray told us you were dope, we think you should come audition.”

I talked to Ray Ray and asked him if I should try and he said, “yeah, man, it was super fun!” So I went in and I auditioned!

https://instagram.com/p/58UucALjMw/

What was the auditioning process like? ‘Do you look good on camera? Check yes, check no.’

It’s kind of weird, it was pretty much like that! Basically it was a guy asking me questions wanting me to hype myself up. So, for example, he’d ask me, “what social group would you be in? Are you a jock or are you a nerd?” It was mostly just typical high school stuff like that: seeing who you are, how you look on camera, your personality type and stuff like that.

Some people told me to totally hype myself up and sound like a douche because they’d love it, others told me to play it cool. But I didn’t want to pretend just to get the part, I just went in and answered their questions the best that I could. They just wanted California kids who were interesting to the rest of the world.

What was it like having a camera follow you around all the time?

It was kind of intense. It was really weird because it makes you more conscious of the things you do and say, but at the same time it’s so easy to get caught up in being with your friends. The cool thing about Summer Break was I knew all of the guys that were on the cast except for one and two of the girls, so it was pretty much all my friends. And the ones I didn’t know, I got to know really quickly. So it would be really easy for us to get caught up in stuff and then realize, oh wait I can’t do that! There’s a camera right there!

I actually went on a date in one of the episodes and we were sitting across from each other, and there was a camera facing me, a camera zoomed in on her, a sound guy and one other person. So it was 10 people in this room as this girl and I were trying to go on a date. It was kind of intense, but I was just thinking that if I can do this, I’ll be good on any date I ever go on for the rest of my life!

Yeah, you can’t spit any game, can you?

I managed to sneak in one good line! The waiter brought out a fish, compliments of the chef, and he said that this type of fish symbolized longevity. So I said, it was our ~love~, which I thought was pretty smooth!

What are your best and worst memories from the Summer Break experience?

The best memories happened once they put the cameras away. The cool thing about Summer Break was that they took us on a bunch of really cool trips, one of which was to a house boat in Arizona. We were there for three nights, I think, but the first night we were just hanging out and having a good time and I remember realizing that this was the first trip we’d taken as a whole group. We were up until 5am. swimming, looking at the stars and just chilling. Moments like that were the best ones, you’d just wish they’d go on forever. Some of the happiest times of my life were on that show!

The worst moment was probably when I had a breakup on camera. The worst part was that me and the girl (who is the same one I’d went on a date on) had broken up two days before we had to film it. So the morning after we broke up, we each got a call from the producer saying, ‘Hey, we heard what happened… We need you to do it again on camera or else people will be confused.’ And so, she had actually crashed her car the day before we were supposed to film, so I had to pick her up and we got stuck in traffic for 2 hours. I tried to be nice and ask how she’d been and how her weekend was and she kept giving me one word responses. She was not having it.

I also didn’t know we were going on a hike, so I was wearing jeans, a long sleeve shirt and a snapback. So we go on this hike, we get to the top, and it was all downhill from there (no pun intended). She kind of came at me and portrayed me in a really bad way. She said, ‘I thought you were really nice and respectful until I got to know you.’

Oooh….

Yeah, I was like, damn! Cameras are here and people are going to hear this stuff! It was just a bad memory and I didn’t want to be in that position. But, you deal with it and move on!

What is the craziest fan story you’ve had?

I went to a Flume concert that summer with two other guys who were also on the show. And there was literally a pit of middle school to high school aged girls that found out we were there and circled us. It got really hot at one point so I took off my shirt and people literally screamed! That was the first time in my life I had experienced that! I immediately put my shirt back on and was like, no! That is not happening, I’ll sweat! I’ve never felt so objectified in my life!

Are there any crazy rumors you’ve heard about yourself?

Not so much. The girl I was with on the show was named Whitney, so sometimes people will still say that we’re back together. But we go to separate colleges and don’t really talk anymore! There’s nothing too crazy, though.

Oh, I did the Yale BMU “To My Unborn Son” photo campaign and posted it to my Instagram. I got about 100 comments saying, “Oh my God, he got someone pregnant!” and “Aakeem’s going to be a dad!” I didn’t know how to address everyone letting them know that I wasn’t going to be a father! So that was kind of funny.

Does Summer Break have anything to do with what you want to do in life? Or was it just something you did for fun?

Actually, not at all. I think that the TV and media field in general is a really cool field to be a part of, but I mean, I’m an Econ major and want to go into finance. It’s a lot less fun, I know.

I honestly was just like, you know what? This is a dope way to spend my summer before I leave. It was between Summer Break and playing baseball everyday. Because I decided to do Summer Break, I decided not to try out for the Yale baseball team, so that was a really tough decision for me. I’m really happy with my choice, though and am glad I took that once in a lifetime opportunity!

What clubs/groups are you involved in here at Yale?

I’m the treasurer of an organization called the Urban Improvement Core, which is a tutoring and mentoring organization on campus that helps disadvantaged, lower income, New Haven students anywhere from the elementary to high school age. We match them up with a Yale undergraduate and they spend two hours a week together tutoring. We also take them on trips and stuff; it’s just as much about personal development as it is about academic tutoring. So I’m really excited to be a part of that!

I’m in Sig Nu, The Nu as I like to call it. That’s my pride and joy!

I work at the Yale ticket office, so if anyone needs tickets, hit me up!

I’m also a part of the Native American Cultural Center and the Black Men’s Union. I don’t really do anything else, though…

That’s a lot, you just named five things!

Yeah I always get self-conscious about that stuff because kids here are ridiculous! But, good, it’s good to hear you say that.

What are your favorite Yale memories?

I’d say most of them happened at Sig Nu bonding with my pledge brothers. That was great!

Also, my sister was a senior here last year and was in Pi Phi. I remember feeling really cool because I was the only freshman guy invited to Pi Phi crush before freshmen girls joined the sorority. So I was like, yeah I’m the Pi Phi sweetheart, no big deal. I’ve tried to stick to that ever since then haha.

I guess, though, late nights staying up with my suite mates, hanging out with the boys, all that stuff was amazing. Freshman year was all such a blur. I don’t know what happened there!

What do you want the Summer Break fans to know about you?

I want them to know that I love it when they say hi to me. I always ask them who their favorite from the show was and tell them not to lie because if it’s not me, I won’t get offended. Because I like to FaceTime them so the fans can meet their favorites!

Finally, what do you want the people of Yale to know about you?

I want them to know that I’m not always at The Nu. I mean, I’m there 95.5 percent of the time, usually with just me and two other guys, but I do go other places!