A few years ago, Canadian record producer Murda Beatz was accepting a SOCAN award in Toronto when someone stopped him in his tracks.
They questioned him about a basketball program at a private boarding school in his hometown of Fort Erie that was quietly producing some of the best young talent coming out of Canada.
Born and raised in the small town, Murda, also known as Shane Lindstrom, couldn’t believe it.
“I was like ‘What are you talking about? There’s no way,’” recalled Murda.
The 31-year-old did a quick search on Instagram and found the team’s account and sent them a message, eager to collaborate.
It’s what led to the birth of the newly announced partnership between Murda, Fort Erie International Academy and one of the largest sportswear manufacturers in the world — Adidas.
The partnership, which has been in the works for over a year now, will provide the Fort Erie program with Adidas uniforms, sweatsuits, backpacks and on-court and off-court wear. It’s a historic deal as Fort Erie becomes the first Canadian school to sign a U.S. based deal.
“We wanted to partner with the school to build a disruptive, region-forward platform that increases our footprint and supports their competitive success. They are the first select school out of Canada,” Adidas wrote in a statement. “They will help us build out the initiative and shake up the space.”
The basketball program has become a powerhouse in Canada, producing one NBA player, Scarborough’s Leonard Miller, and 30-plus NCAA division 1 players between both its boys and girls teams in just five years, with more on the way. The home of the program is the same building Murda and his mother previously went to high school, before it closed down and reopened as a private school in 2019.
“It’s crazy that Fort Erie is able to bring so many kids and give them a proper education and basketball and hockey development,” said Murda.
Murda visited the school recently, met the student-athletes and got to walk the same halls where he first started making a name for himself.
He sees the same dedication and belief he had in himself in the young talent coming out of Fort Erie. The school’s campus houses up to 400 students and includes two weight rooms, a swimming pool and an indoor basketball gym, just seconds away from dorm rooms.
“I never really had the support in school for what I wanted to do,” said Murda.
“When I was a kid, I sacrificed a lot of my childhood to make beats and I wasn’t really doing (anything else),” said Murda. “I was talking to some of the kids and they’re from Scarborough, 17 years old, sacrificing their childhood to come to stay in Fort Erie and not really doing anything but getting an education and playing basketball.”
Steve Houston, the head coach of the boys basketball team at Fort Erie, said Murda now holds the ambassador title of the program. He said Murda has been eager to help with player recruitment and even reach out to connections he’s made in the industry.
“Having the backing of someone like Murda is obviously huge for the program. It’s showing how big time we could become,” said Houston. “It’s helping build the program as if he’s a coach on staff.”
Murda has followed and often reposted some of Fort Erie’s highlight reel plays to his over 1.9 million followers on Instagram. Based in L.A., he plans to check out a game when the team travels for a tournament in California.
His mother has already attended one of Fort Erie’s first games at home in October. She loved the environment, and asked for the team’s schedule with plans to be a constant supporter.
“To have that community outreach, packed gym full of Fort Erie people, supporting us, it’s really good for us. It’s good for the town,” said Houston.
Murda has worked with some of the biggest artists from Drake, the Migos, Cardi B, Nicki Minaj and Travis Scott to produce songs known globally. He says this collaboration hits a little different.
“It’s definitely one of the more special things because I never thought that I would be able to do something like this in my lifetime for Fort Erie,” said Murda. “I spend a lot of time in America, but I never forgot where I came from so being able to partner up with my hometown and my home roots is very important to me.”
