2019 IBSC Annual Conference

Selwyn House School

Montréal, Québec, Canada
June 26 - 29

Izzy Tamale

AKA T-Money
Selwyn House School (Canada) Old Boy '17

To open the conference on Wedneday, June 26, T-Money dazzled a standing-room-only ballroom at Fairmont the Queen Elizabeth packed with 600+ boys' educators from around the globe. His rap performance spanned ages and languages to unite the group in the shared experience of making music. T-Money graciously shared the lyrics to his song to spread his message.

Keep up with the latest from T-Money on Instagram and Soundcloud.

When I first heard about an all boys school

I was like “All boys and no girls? Cool!”

A place where I could mess around and act a fool

I didn’t know that it would be the place to gain the tools

to shape my future, make me a man

'Cause how to make it in the real world, I didn’t understand

But my teachers were prepared because they had a plan

So I wouldn’t be a boy forever like Peter Pan

My parents told me girls are a distraction

'Cause when they're around boys are slower to action

We get caught up in the drama and the fashion

Just stick with the boys, you'll have better interactions

So I did, I don't regret my decision

I spent 12 years in this school as a Gryphon

A whole new family with a whole lotta brothers

Makes a whole lotta love and a whole lotta ruckus

I made the best of all the school's facilities

And learned to express with my full capabilities

If you know me then you know I do a lot of things

Here's a quick rundown of all my activities

I’ve had an interesting acting career

Started doing musicals in my primary years

From Robin Hood to Alice in the Wonderland

Jungle Book to Charlie and the Candy Man

As I grew older the roles got bigger

The plays became more serious, the scripts got thicker

I knew I wasn’t gonna be no Denzel

But I thought I might as well do it, cause I enjoyed it

Some years I had more lines than I could handle

But I never got worried or stressed myself

Cause as long as I was doing what I wanted to

I was always told to

(EXPRESS YOURSELF)

In 7th grade, I joined the Glee club

The bomb dot com, the place you wanna be club

Back in middle school when everyone was worried ‘bout their image

I was part of the small percentage

That didn't care what other people thought

'Cause you shouldn't be ashamed of the passion that you got

My singing wasn't all that, my dancing wasn't great

But it didn't matter ‘cause I was having a good time with my mates

1 year, 2 years, 3 years gone

Before we finally won the trophy, 4th year's the charm

Finally showed them haters how we do it

In that moment we were cooler than Ice Cube

Ain't nothin' to it

I started rapping at the age of fifteen

Songwriting for me was such a big thing

Because at first it felt like I could be somebody else

Take my life story, make it cooler, put it back on the shelf

It soon became a way to express myself

Write my feelings down, better for my mental health

I was given the tools to find myself

And space and support to define myself

Selwyn got me engaged

And made me realize my love for being on stage

It made me a leader, made me an artist

Things that I've cherished long after I've departed

The Selwyn House promise is that we know boys

And Veritas encouraged us to always be true

They dealt with our rowdiness, dealt with our noise

To ensure that we were comfortable, just be you

Everybody's got a gift, everybody's got a talent

Show the world what you can do, don't compress yourself

So my message to you today is

Don't ever ever ever be afraid to