Teen Raps Money Management
It's both refreshing and unusual to see and hear a 16-year old girl trying to influence her contemporaries on the importance of personal finance and saving money. Syretha Shirley entered the Money Matters Music Mogul contest late last year and walked off with a $500 scholarship grant from the Charles Schwab Foundation. Her song Time is Money was produced by multi-platinum music producer Kevin (Khao) Cates, the founder of Bridge DA Gap.
The contest was an educational initiative to help youths understand the world in a way they are familiar with using music as a platform to get the message across. Syretha Shirely's winning song landed her an all-expenses paid trip to Atlanta where Khao professionally produced a three-and-a-half minute music video of her song.
Syretha Shirley of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Las Vegas raps all about her own personal bank account. Her lyrics are catchy and can make other youths her age appreciate the meaning of money and how to deal with it in smart way.
Contestants were given a simple goal to write lyrics that held a strong positive message about financial fitness. They then had to perform their songs with a choice of three background beats which were created by Khao.
There were over 50 entries and more than 142,000 votes were cast on the BGCA's website to choose the top 5 finalists. It was Khao who had the challenge of choosing the overall winner out of the top 5. The other four finalists were also awarded $500 scholarships each.
The point of the contest was to motivate youths of today into learning the basics of money management. Thinking 'outside the box' is a great way of doing just this according to Khao who believes being smart with finances is a fundamental necessity and character-building. If started early enough, youths get on the right track and this in turn means they can avoid the many financial pitfalls lurking out there.
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