On the night of Tuesday, April 10, the lights shone bright upon Bello Field. As the stars came out and the final seconds ticked off the clock in Tufts' 11?5 defeat of Endicott, the Jumbos rushed the field and collapsed into a dog pile in front of the cage. In the middle of the scrum was backup goalie Mike "Cheese" Maggiore, a sophomore who had just seen his first minutes of collegiate play.
But that wasn't the top moment of the night for Maggiore. As the Jumbos lined up to shake hands with the Gulls and fans assembled along the fence, a familiar song came blasting through the loudspeakers. It was Maggiore's own voice, and all of a sudden even the goal he'd let in that night couldn't wipe the toothy grin from his face. The song, ironically, was called "Smile," a track on the rapper's second studio album, "The SKLife, Volume Two," which he released this month.
Dubbed "Cheese" in middle school by his brother Matt because of a scene in the film "Old School" (2003), Maggiore prefers these days to go by his artist name, "CheddaSK." And while his imprint on the stat sheet may be small, he has his eyes on something bigger: giving a voice to Tufts by representing himself and his team through music.
Last spring, Maggiore debuted his musical talent with his first mixtape, "The SKLife, Vol. 1," and in April, his sophomore album, a 10?track collection of studio quality recordings produced by local talent Mike Irish, hit the Web.
"I grew up around Tufts my whole life. I went to a bunch of camps when I was little, and I loved it," Maggiore said. "I have a lot of pride for Tufts, something that I feel our school lacks, and I want to bring that to our school. I want people to rally through my music and be like, 'That's a Tufts kid, he's repping hard for us, he's putting us on the map."
Both Maggiore's lacrosse and musical careers developed relatively late, and in some ways both were serendipitous effects of happy accidents.
"I didn't start playing lax until eighth grade, and at first I was a d?pole," he said. "Then halfway through eighth grade ... our goalie was so bad that one day at practice I was like, 'I bet I could do this better than you,' and he was like, 'All right, prove it.' So I just started playing goalie from there and then all throughout high school."
"I went to coach [Mike] Daly's camp for like four or five years in a row, and I just got recruited by accident," he continued. "I was like, 'Hey, can I give you my transcript?' And he [said] 'Sure,' and then, 'You have good enough grades to get in on your own, so you're all set.'"
Maggiore's music career began as a late?night hobby back in high school, where he boarded at Kimball Union Academy in New Hampshire.
"I used to play instruments when I was really little. I played the piano and the flute, but I obviously gave that up because it was lame to play instruments back in the day," he said. "I really started rapping in high school, my sophomore year. ... Me and my roommates were bored one night and just did a rap on GarageBand and made a bunch of those."
"Then I got really into it, and I came to Tufts, where it was more acceptable to be into the arts and into music, so I tested the waters with my first mixtape last year," he said. "That was more low?budget, low?quality, low?resource, and then I just stepped up my game this year, really getting serious with the music game and expressing myself through my songs."
The middle child of a professional ballroom dancer and a former BU hockey player, Maggiore perhaps inherited his musical genes from his grandfather, a lifelong accordion player and band member for 40 years. In fact, Maggiore said, he still plays today.
"We all know how to dance - it's just in the blood. So we can feel the music real well," he said.
But of course, more traditional musical influences also played a role in the development of Maggiore's musical career.
"In rap, I'm heavily influenced by Lil Wayne, who was my favorite artist growing up. He's crazy, so I try to go out there and be different just like him," he said. "Other than rap, Something Corporate, Jack's Mannequin, Dave Matthews Band, Jimmy Eat World. ... I [also] like a lot of old school. I dig James Brown, and the oldies - my dad's got me hooked on that."
But perhaps Maggiore's biggest influence of all has been his hometown. A Medford native, he embraces the "townie" role and draws from his local roots - and especially his experiences with the Tufts lacrosse team - when he sits down to write and record.
"Definitely a lot of the philosophies we have in lacrosse I try to take into my music career," he said. "Every day we talk about going out and attacking, being dialed in for every practice. And I feel that every time I go into a studio session or into writing a new song, when I sit down with my headphones at my computer, I just have to be dialed in so I can produce the best quality music possible."
A lot of Maggiore's work is drawn from sheer pride for Tufts and dedication to his teammates. On "The SKLife, Vol. 2," Maggiore includes a track, "Jumbo City Pt. 2," that references "baby blue and brown," referring to Tufts' school colors. "Tell the 'Cac 'get back,'" he raps, referring to the NESCAC conference. "Believe this year we're coming for the 'ship."
Maggiore followed up the Soundcloud release of his second album with a single, "Cac City," released on YouTube on April 19. The song references all 11 NESCAC schools and even includes new addition Hamilton: "Hamilton's real lucky that we added another, so that kind of makes you the NESCAC's little brother," he says.
Within 24 hours, the video received over 1,000 views on the site, and the buzz is only growing: Maggiore was recently profiled on the student?run website "In The 'Cac," and online bloggers have started to pass his work around.
The second album, Maggiore says, was a huge evolution from the first, which featured solely beats and instrumentals he found on the Internet. "The SKLife, Vol. 2" features more mature vocals and unique instrumentals.
"Progressing, I try to get better every time I write a song," Maggiore said. "I probably have 50 songs that I've written that I've thrown out. I'm not about to put anything out there that I don't like, that's not my best quality."
So what exactly is the SK life?
"A lot of people ask me what the SK stands for," he said. "The two letters themselves don't actually stand for anything - it's not [senior co?captain] Sean Kirwan, by the way."
Ultimately, it is about the approach that Maggiore tries to take in his music and everywhere else.
"I truly believe in going out there and being positive every day," he said. "Life is too short for the negatives."
This is the philosophy that Maggiore brings to the field and the studio, and not surprisingly, his teammates are his biggest fans.
"Cheese is definitely the heart and soul of our team," sophomore midfielder Matt Montgomery said. "He's so passionate about everything he does, from school to lacrosse to music, and his energy gives our team a huge lift whenever we need it."
As a backup keeper, Maggiore embraces his role as one of the lacrosse team's loudest voices, even from the sidelines.
"When it comes to my own role, I don't have a very big one stepping in between the pipes come gameday - I play backup goalie and I love it," he said. "[Sophomore] Patton [Watkins] is ... a great goalie and one of my best friends here. But my role is more that of a motivator. It's more of just pushing my teammates to be the best that they can be through example."
Maggiore's graduated teammates are just as quick to support him as those still on the team. Attackmen D.J. Hessler (E '11) and Ryan Molloy (LA '11) have continued to support his career even after their departure, a testament to the lifelong brotherhood he and his teammates share.
"It definitely means a lot for guys like Ryan and D.J. to support me," he said. "It shows that even after people graduate and their time playing on the team is gone, it still is a family and a connection you'll have for the rest of your life."
The connections Maggiore has made as a member of the team also stand to push his career forward in a more direct way. Recently, he has been in talks with Drew Innis - the producer of the wildly successful "Tufts Lacrosse Documentary: Road to the Championship" (2011) - about producing video content.
Maggiore is looking to grow his brand, but as a student and an athlete too, it's not always easy.
"It's hard for me to balance," he admitted. "It's a lot of sleepless nights, as my roommate [sophomore midfielder] Peter Bowers will attest to. It's hard to juggle all of the things I do, and lacrosse is definitely up there on my list of priorities."
"Cheese works incredibly hard on his music - it's actually unbelievable to me sometimes," Bowers said. "One time, we had just gotten back from a game and it was probably close to midnight, and I was about to go to bed when I saw him packing up his backpack to go to the studio to record some songs. It's not unusual for him to stay up until four or five working on a music video or writing lyrics. It's the only time he has between school and lacrosse."
But if the sleepless nights, the brutal practices, the frustrating recording sessions and the loads of schoolwork ever feel like too much, Maggiore thinks back to the Endicott game to remember that he has no reason to complain.
"That game was probably a dream come true for me," he said. "Everyone was so loud cheering for me, being so supportive. Then the whistle blows and the whole team's trotting out to come get their goalie after the game, and sure enough [music supervisor] John Dame put my song on, and it was just all smiles from everyone I saw coming towards me. It was something I'll keep with me for the rest of my life."
On Saturday, the Jumbos, who clinched the No. 1 seed in the NESCAC last weekend, will host the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament. You can bet that the pregame playlist will feature CheddaSK's anthems, dedicated to his teammates.
"Everyone on the team is into his music," Montgomery said. "We play his songs in the locker room, and a couple of us got to star in his music video [for "Smile"]. He works hard for it, and it pays off. I can't wait for his third album."
