I Used To Get Hung Up On All The Time – Big Sean

Several hundred Detroit Public School Community District students got a break from their typical math and science lessons and started their school day rapping as a deejay spun Big Sean’s “One Man Can Change the World.”

On Monday morning, 400 middle and high school students packed the Gem Theatre in Detroit to hear billionaire businessman Dan Gilbert and rapper Big Sean share career lessons and advice. The event, called “Mogul-2-Mogul,” was part of the Sean Anderson Foundation Mogul Prep program, founded by native Detroiter Big Sean (Sean Anderson) and his mother, Myra Anderson, to expose students to career pathways in the entertainment industry.

Myra Anderson, executive director of the foundation and a retired teacher, kicked off the event, encouraging the students to pursue their passions.

“Quite frankly, not all of you are going to be rappers or performers, but if you love music, there’s hundreds of jobs in the music industry,” she said.

During the conversation, Gilbert and Big Sean addressed successes, failures and how losses are lessons in disguise.

“All the times you worked hard to have good grades, and all the times you failed a class, and had to come back and really boss yourself up and get it right, that’s what it’s all about,” said Big Sean, who attended Cass Technical High School. “It’s not looking at a loss as like a loss. It’s looking at it as like a lesson.”

The two moguls shared personal stories of how they started from nothing. Big Sean told the students that he worked summers and after school as a telemarketer selling prosthetic limbs.

“I used to get hung up on all the time,” he said laughing. “I got death threats.”

Gilbert, meanwhile, delivered pizzas during and after college to make money.

The point in relaying the stories was to show that making it to the top takes work.

“Anybody can do anything,” Gilbert said. “You’ll find your way as long as you’re willing to fail.”

While driving to Cass with his best friend every morning, passing iconic concert venues, Big Sean said he’d discuss his dreams.