A first-year undecided student released his first album of original alternative songs in November.

Bennett Terhune, who goes by dj tetrapod, said he has been into music since a very young age. 

“I’ve been doing music since, like, elementary school,” Terhune said. “I started with saxophone, and then guitar, because my dad played guitar, and then, like, you know, producing and stuff …  I’ve just been doing it for a really long time.” 

Terhune has played drums for two bands, an experimental hip-hop group called Mob Mental and a hardcore punk band called Slag Dump. According to Terhune, Slag Dump has played shows at small venues in Washington and Baltimore for “anyone that will let us play.”

The name dj tetrapod is “kind of a joke,” Terhune said.

“It’s a pretty stupid name,” Terhune said. “Me and my friend, we made like two albums in high school together, and I still didn’t really have, like, a solo name. … But finally [I] decided on that one.”

Terhune added: “Tetrapod is … literally just like an animal that has four limbs. But I guess when I say tetrapod, I’m mostly talking about, like, the ancient tetrapods that [humans] evolved from.”

Terhune categorized his music as alternative hip-hop.

He also added he’s not an actual DJ, but uses the initials in his stage name because he samples music.

“I sampled some sounds from the old [Super] Smash Bros. game, ‘Melee’ for, like, two of the songs,” Terhune said. “I feel like I sampled, like, kind of random stuff more than actual artists’ music.”

Terhune said he takes a lot of inspiration from various artists and genres, like Memphis rap and Ethiopian jazz.

“I was thinking about, like, what I would consider my inspirations, and there’s so many, I don’t know,” Terhune said. 

Terhune released his album, “tpod planet,” on Nov. 9, his 20th birthday. “I knew that I needed to put it out,” Terhune said. “I was spending just so much time working on it.”

Terhune added he is making music videos for some songs on “tpod planet.”