Lane-0 | Beautiful | Denver Film Festival
Directed by: Jeremy Pape | Denver Film Festival
Love Is the Answer for Denver Rapper Lane-O — and It's "Beautiful"
Written by: Kyle Harris | April 21, 2020 | Westward
When Lance Lang, aka Denver rapper Lane-O, was six months old, the car that he and his mother were in was hit by an eighteen-wheeler. They lived.
"I believe we both survived that accident because God had bigger plans for me," Lang explains.
Two years later, his sister died from a brain aneurysm and his parents split up. He was thirteen when his mother remarried and moved from Baton Rouge to Colorado, bringing Lang with her.
"It was a tough transition to leave behind all that I knew and relocate to a foreign place," he recalls.
He had nothing in common with the kids in Colorado. But instead of friends, he had music to comfort him. "I found peace in all the music I had come up listening to," he remembers. "I grew up with tons of exposure to music, from oldies, contemporary, gospel, R&B, blues — but hip-hop was my true love."
He started using hip-hop to express his emotions, and as he got older, he began to view music as more than just a way to vent. He realized he could use it to tell his personal truth, influencing other people and bridging the gaps between them with love.
"I want to make music that inspires people to do more and be more," he explains. "Rapping is my gift from God."
Despite Lang's lofty goals, for the first fifteen years that he was making music, he wasn't driven by professional aspirations; he simply wanted to spread a vision of love. It wasn't until 2019 that he started playing at venues, including the Soiled Dove, Live@Jack's, Cervantes' Masterpiece Ballroom and the Larimer Lounge.
Written by: Kyle Harris | April 21, 2020 | Westward
Meet Lane-O: Rapper
Interviewed by VoyageDenver Magazine | December 15, 2020 | ShoutOut Colorado
We had the good fortune of connecting with Lane-O and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Lane-O, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
The most important factor behind my success is the ability to customize what success feels like to me. Most times we as people base our success on what that looks like to other people. When truly success should be a personal experience in life. This has allowed me to pursue my passions in life with meaningfulness verses being expedient. Success isn’t a race against the crowd, but more of a marathon for self growth. This way of thinking has allowed me to grow as a person, father, husband and artist.
Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I express my love for creating and art through music! Ive been writing music for a few decades now. Music has always been a great way for me to express myself. It allows me to share parts of who I am with the World. In hopes that my stories can be a guiding voice for the hopeful and hopeless. The “thing” that sets me apart is my willingness to be vulnerable through my music. People want someone they can relate to in a world that makes us feel so far part from each other. I use my music to talk about bridging the gaps in my community. I most pride of being a Father, While still pursuing a career in music. I’ve made it this far by first figuring out what was going to make me happy. It hasn’t been easy at all, but overcoming challenges is how I measure my ability. No one trains/practices to not use the skills they’ve acquired. My faith in GOD and myself have always been a major factor in my approach when difficult times present themselves. One Lesson that has been crucial. Is to make a Plan! This year has been crazy to say the least, but having a plan for myself has giving me a since of security. Even though some plans get derailed, I found it easier to make adjustment to my plan verses having no plan at all. I want the world to know that my brand represents being an owner of your destiny. There are a lot of lanes on your road to success, choose one and own it!
Artists use downtown clock tower to spread their message
Author: Travis Khachatoorian |October 9, 2020 | 9News
DENVER — The 325-foot clock tower on Denver’s 16th Street Mall told passersby two things on Monday evening: what time it was, and why it was time for change in America.
A 22-minute video was projected onto multiple floors of the Daniels and Fisher Tower’s southwest face, showing stories of resistance against systemic racism as expressed by Black artists in Denver.
The “visual mixtape” was compiled by the organizers behind the Dream, Create, Inspire Tour.
“We wanted to be able to create a socially distanced performance that encapsulated talent from the city, but also addressing what’s going on with Black Lives Matter,” said DCI Tour co-founder Wayne Watts.
The DCI Tour originated in Denver in 2018 when a Kickstarter campaign raised thousands of dollars to create a group of traveling teachers, cultivating artists around the country through songwriting workshops and open mics.