By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — The lessons were familiar but this time they came from an unusually credible source – Sha Money XL, a Queens native who rose from humble beginnings to become one of the biggest record executives in hip-hop.
Born Michael Clervoix of Jamaica, Queens, Sha, 35, made his name as the producer behind 50 Cent and the rap group, G Unit, which he said began in his basement.
On Thursday, he spoke to a group of 19 middle school students who packed into a professional recording studio at the School of Audio Engineering (SAE) in Herald Square.
"My mother gave me two choices," Sha told the students, sixth, seventh and eighth graders from P.S. 318 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. "I could play a sport or I could play an instrument, and I chose an instrument."
Sha said he spent his childhood commuting to twice weekly piano lessons at a woman's apartment on 29th Street in Manhattan. At 11 years old, his love of music was solidified when he had the opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall. But there was still plenty of hard work ahead.
He later got a job at McDonalds, enrolled in a marketing program at NYU and moonlighted at recording studios to fine-tune his craft. Eventually he landed an internship at Def Jam Records, where he was introduced to 50 Cent through hip-hop legend Jam-Master Jay.
"I used the struggle as fuel to be better," Sha, who is now a senior vice president at Def Jam, told the kids at the Herald Square event on Thursday. "People that put millions of hours into one thing are gonna be successful."
Ed Healy, who runs the music after school program that the students all attend, said he believed Sha's words had special resonance coming from a rap mogul who had pulled himself up by his bootstraps.
"Sometimes they think that these big time people just magically become successful…they don't know about the hard work and the failures," Healy explained. "I can tell them that, but [from me] it's just words."
After the talk, four of the students got a chance to record a song in the studio under Sha's guidance.
One of them, Andrew Shinnick, 14, of Greenpoint, said listening to Sha's story gave him hope for what his own future might look like.
"He lived in Jamaica, Queens — a lot of us come from tough places. If he can do it, anybody can," Shinnick said.
"If you have a goal, don't stop leaning into it," guitarist Angelo Walton Manatu Jr., 13, added, reflecting on what he'd learned from the talk.
While Sha's background is in hip-hop, the event drew students from many genres of music.
Bart Piech, 14, who hopes to be a bassist when he grows up, said he's especially passionate about heavy metal and Scandinavian folk.
"If I'm looking for something more brutal, [I listen to] 'Cannibal Corpse' or 'Dying Fetus,'" Peich, who also plays guitar and drums, said.
The eighth grader mentioned that he was in the process of forming his own band, which he had considered calling "Vital Remains," until he realized that the moniker was already taken.
Healy, the music teacher, noted all of the students who came on the trip regularly skip lunch so that they can practice their music.
He said he hopes to give them the skills that will enable them to study music independently in the future, since many of the high schools they'll attend are unlikely to have extensive music programs.
