Sitting in her math class at the University of Southern California, Glenbrook North alumnus Ashley Cohn (‘14) watched the clock, impatiently waiting for the scheduled release time of rapper Hoodie Allen’s music video for his song, “Act My Age.” When the clock reached 5 p.m., Cohn opened her laptop to see that she was the thumbnail of the video.

“I started watching it and I was dying [of laughter] in the back of the classroom,” Cohn said, who is majoring in Biomedical Engineering.

According to Brad Simpson, producer of Allen’s music video, the Sigma Nu Fraternity had previously reached out to Allen to perform a concert on campus. The concert was unable to be scheduled, but a few months later, Allen asked a family friend at Sigma Nu if the fraternity would be interested in hosting the party scene for his music video. Cohn, a member of the Alpha Phi Sorority, was invited to the fraternity party scene by a friend at Sigma Nu.

Cohn said she stuck around at the fraternity throughout the first night of filming, and talked to an unknown man wearing an earpiece who happened to be Simpson. He mentioned to Cohn that a certified lifeguard was needed for the second day of filming and Cohn, being a “strong swimmer,” was able to fill the part.

The second day of filming occurred at the house of one of Allen’s family friends in Santa Clarita, Calif. Cohn was selected to have a role in the pool scene of the music video where she is featured swimming underwater with Allen.

While on set, Cohn was able to hang out with Allen, who she said is “very nice and down-to-earth.”

Cohn, knowing Allen is Jewish, asked about his Bar Mitzvah and when she told him she was a Bat Mitzvah, Allen said, “We’re basically the same person.”

The underwater scene, which features Cohn, was shot with “a giant underwater camera.” According to Cohn, the camera had a live feed so  the production crew could watch what was being filmed as it was happening in the pool. The camera could also replay the scenes in slow motion.

Although she was only in part of the music video, Cohn said the filming took a long time.

“There’s a lot you don’t see [in the video],” said Cohn. “Out of the 15 seconds that I’m in it, we were in the pool for like an hour and 15 minutes.”

Cohn said Allen took pictures with many of the extras on set, including her.

“[Allen] was cool,” said Cohn. “He was very normal, and he didn’t seem like a celebrity.”

After talking to Allen multiple times throughout the filming process, Cohn said she still keeps in contact with him by sending pictures back and forth through the app, Snapchat.

Allen, whose real name is Steven Markowitz, attended the University of Pennsylvania where he was a member of the Alpha Epsilon Phi Fraternity. Upon graduating, Allen got a job working for Google at its headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., but quit to pursue his career as a rapper.

According to Simpson the filming took place on Sept. 6 and 7 and had to be completed by Sept. 23, when it was posted online.

Since “the whole video was kind of designed to be done quickly,” Simpson said it was limited in terms of visual effects.

Simpson also produced the music video for the song, “All About It (feat. Ed Sheeran),” which is on Allen’s newest album, “People Keep Talking.”

Allen was contacted but did not respond to interview requests.

Though Cohn said being featured in a music video is not too big of a deal at her school, she is still glad to have gotten the opportunity.

“When I sit in a circle and am asked to share a fun fact about myself, it’ll be my fun fact,” said Cohn. “I’ll say I was in a music video with Hoodie Allen.”