Kaelyn Collins and Kianna Harris

Free Press special writers

It took months of producing, mixing, practicing and singing inside the studio tucked inside Detroit's Cass Tech High School, but students there finally saw — and heard — the fruits of their labor Tuesday as the studio completed and released its first student-led album.

Dubbed "The Infinite Project," dozens of students worked to produce the album that features 13 songs, including one that salutes the efforts of the Black Lives Matter movement.

It all started in 2015 when hip-hop megastar Big Sean (Sean Anderson) announced his partnership with Adidas and presented the school with the Big Sean Infinite Possibilities Studio. Big Sean, who is a 2006 graduate of Cass Tech, has topped many hip-hop charts over the years, and has won numerous awards from BET and MTV and shared a 2016 Grammy.

Next came talent development expert Brandon Smith, who began working with a group of students to make use of the studio by developing a recording industry curriculum. Smith, who owns Star Factory, an entertainment and talent marketing firm in Oak Park, held auditions for students to be a part of the studio's productions. Over 100 students auditioned, and 50 were selected to work as producers, engineers, writers, executives and singers. A student was even named CEO of the project.

Smith, 34, has worked with entertainers such as the Backstreet Boys and Trey Songz and was tapped to be the director of Cass Tech's recording music industry curriculum, called music industry mock program.

“I found out that the studio was here, but they weren't really using it. And I found out that all they really needed was like a curriculum to kind of utilize the studio. So I took some time to think about what will be the best use of the studio and I put together the music industry mock program, which basically mirrors how the music industry works,” said Smith.

Then they got down to business. And over a course of months, students like Natayai Collins honed their skills at the studio.

Collins, 17, a 2016 graduate of Cass Tech, worked as a student producer on "The Infinite Project."

“Brandon helped out a lot. I remember when I first auditioned he made the program seem really easy and smooth,” said Collins.

Collins, who coproduced a beat for the song "You Ain't Got 2 Lie to Kick It," has also been working on some projects outside of the curriculum and says she has an album coming out at the end of this month.

Some student-artists used the studio as an outlet.

Tamia Welch, 18, a recent Cass Tech graduate and a resident of Detroit’s east side, records the artists and masters their notes.

“Without Big Sean putting the studio in here, I would have never gotten my emotional stress out,” said Welch.

The 784-square foot studio was donated by Big Sean, Adidas Originals and the Sean Anderson Foundation. The foundation works to serve disadvantaged youth from Detroit and across the country in the areas of education, health and safety.

"The studio offers students applied learning on the most up-to-date production tools. The program is led by a local production veteran and challenges students to collaborate on projects," said Duran Brown, a spokesman for Adidas. "The studio helps bridge the gap on the defunding of music programs in public schools and gives students a head start on future career aspirations within the entertainment field."

On Tuesday, the students, Smith and representatives from Adidas launched a special listening party in Cass Tech’s Black Box Theater. Though Big Sean was not in attendance Tuesday, his mother, Myra Anderson, who is also a Cass Tech alum and a member of the Sean Anderson Foundation board of directors, did attend the party. She told the students she expects great things from them in the future because of the foundation they are getting at the school.

Also present was Shayla Card-Nowlin, the student CEO of the project. A recent Cass Tech graduate, Card-Nowlin will be attending Eastern Michigan University in the fall, majoring in business. She sees the program as a stepping stone for her career.

“I’ve been into hip-hop since I was a little girl and I used to always watch specials on NWA, old school hip-hop, Death Row (Records), everything like that. So when I got older I wanted to be in the industry. It was a passion. I write poetry myself. I write music and I want to be part of a creative process,” said Card-Nowlin, who also helped write the song "Last Words."

“When I get older I want to have my own label, this is just practice. It is about to get real in a minute,” she added.

Songwriter Aaron Robertson said he feels he has grown from his involvement in the program.

The rising senior helped write "Last Words," which was written to address police brutality in the wake of the death of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La.

“From the program starting, my songwriting has went up to a whole different level as far as what I can write about and how I reach to other things," he said. "Before I was only writing about personal things. Now I can put myself in other people's shoes and write about it,” said Robertson.

Students own the rights to their songs, Brown said.

Singer Mariah Mays-McBurrows, 17, recalls being extremely nervous and shy during her audition. But she made the cut.

Mays-McBurrows, who sings "You Ain't Got 2 Lie to Kick It," continued to push through with the project as others dropped out because, she said, Smith, her friends and other students encouraged her and gave her the space she needed to open up to them.

“Brandon saw something in me that I couldn't see in myself. Something that is quite amazing now that my shell has been broken,” said Mays-McBurrows.

Cass Tech Principal Lisa Phillips said the studio is popular among her students and is aptly named.

“Infinite Possibilities. I don’t ever want my students to think that there are boundaries," Phillips said. "I want them to know anything you dream of we can make it happen.”