RaneRaps:
We all are one & the same.
One that goes through a series of different situations or outcomes yet it ties back to us.
In light of this, RaneRaps seems to just get it.
With a pocket full of sunshine he's able to take the world by storm.
Besides using upliftment as a mean of connecting with his audience, RaneRaps also digs deep into himself & relays his own experiences through an expansive vocal range.
Notably his sound has an influx of gospel melodies, soul & funk.
He fills your plate with a food for thought & hypersonic flows that gnaw at your ear-chords.
For this reason, RaneRap's music will go to great lengths for an all around positive change.
Etching his truth so that others can see the bigger picture, RaneRaps uses imagery & vocal tones to deliver the raw & real "without completely surrounding the listener in desolation or despair." As a teen, RaneRaps spent hours playing MMORPGs (Final Fantasy XI) online & so one day as he grew impatient with the process of starting the game, Thus, RaneRaps wanted to make a story for a name & added "Rane" as the first part of his stage name because it really captured his skill level. "With the combination of 1) the hype surrounding FFXI & 2) AOL dial-up taking more than a full day to download all the updates I needed to play," RaneRaps says "Naturally, I chose the first name to come to mind. I didn't end up as Lil' Inkjet, AOL Boi 2002, DAREfailedUS or any other name that just wouldn't have my type of pizzaz. And with that, I brought my URL self into the IRL realm of rap, keeping Rane & adding Raps."
Though he says that music is life , RaneRaps creates it for himself (first), cathartic purposes & the world at-large. "I'm all about positivity, love & sobering truth - even if my truth comes at the cost of a song NOT being upbeat or extremely light-hearted. That being said, I think my secret sauce is finding ways to speak on the worst evils of my life." he adds.
He'd like for authenticity to become normalized again in the current era of hip-hop because there are more people who can relate to life & not the street life. He finds it better to speak on being flawed than whatever the template heroic tale seems to be these days. "I'm a middle class Black male who grew up in a household with both parents and have two siblings. Fortunately, I didn't have to struggle much growing up and as a result of my parent's preparedness for my future - I was able to realize opportunities that some of my peers could not." he goes on to say "I've never been afraid to acknowledge my privilege, make songs about the life I live, lived & what I know. I hope that those like me understand you don't have to become a created player built on a fake thug life to gain a fanbase, nor do you need to brand yourself as a saint. It's an easy fact to get - just be yourself & you'll be fine but there's a lot of willful ignorance perpetuating stereotypes & smoke in mirrors. It can only be a net positive when everyone tells their story."
Similarly he's moved by artist who are fearless in doing so (& even when his first introduction to hip-hop was Will Smith's album Big Willie Style it helped RaneRaps learn how to make music that's designed to celebrate life & get people moving.) According to the star, A Tribe Called Quest got him hooked more into hip-hop. "I woke up in the wee-hours of the morning to their Scenario (Remix) playing on MTV. I couldn't remember the name of the song for the life of me but I searched Busta Rhymes "the charcoal chicken" & went deep into the rabbit hole of New York rap," RaneRaps proclaims "To this day, I still have the mix CD of ATCQ, Gang Starr, Eric B., Rakim & even Drake's So Far Gone." Rane says that these MC's helped him to understand different cadences & styles of rap. Yet he couldn't envision RaneRaps until he discovered Outkast. "I absorbed all of their country funk twist. The messages in their songs, the vocal inflections, the atypical beats an song structure spoke to me & I felt validated in wanting to be myself, whatever that may be."
Nowadays (as in 2014 to now), RaneRaps finds inspiration from artists who carry their own energy & are openly themselves. He says that he's written gospel songs after bingeing Robb Banks' 2phoneshawty mixtape, wrote one of his favorite songs, "Broken Window Theory" after singing along to Lil Peep, & he's still learning how to create narratives from his realities from the likes of Maxo Kream, Dave East, Nipsey Hussle & Anderson.Paak but out of everyone he's ever heard, RaneRaps would love to work with Duckwrth! "Our sounds & aesthetic are very similar & to be from LA with this sort of musical direction has proven quite rare in the year that I've moved back." RaneRaps adds. "Duckwrth's message fits my brand - truth-seeking & positive. So, a collaboration would be highly beneficial for us both, even with a difference in the size of our fan bases. Honestly, I've always wanted to open for the guy & set up his show with my wild stage performance. I think we would make one hell of a duo on the concert circuit!"
Overall expect RaneRaps to make his mark in the next 5 years. He's going to brand "RapSoulFunk" as his signature sound, release a 2 full-length albums with my producer, Hirsh, a mixtape of soulful jams from before & after discovering his "sound", tour with a live-band that supports him & use his earnings to invest in other income streams & environmental education programs for inner-city youth.
After all, It's always intentional that he's out to be the best.
Rane Raps: "For any upcoming artist out there sign up for a monthly subscription to Indepreneur.io & start collecting the data to run your career. Everyone says "You don't need a label these days." but then what? Drop that hit song & you're set right? Not at all. The Facebook pixel has changed my life & I can wake up any day of the week & know 1) how to gain new fans of my music at the push of a button, 2) sell tickets to shows from my own website without handing away percentages to other platforms / venues, 3) run sales promotions that can generate LARGE profits, etc. The music business is AT LEAST 70% of where your time will go as an indie, so if you learn it, you just need decent at best music & you can get the ball rolling for yourself. Getting ahead of the competition is MUCH easier than you think!"
By: Natalee Gilbert
Fun Facts:
A word of advice that stuck with him was "Don't Suck." Through this advice, RaneRaps was able to develop an unapologetic quality control for himself & became obsessed with chasing the feeling of "YES, THIS IS THE ONE!". One he felt could replicate that. After that he started to release music regularly & stood firmly in his art.
Link(s):
1. Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/raneraps
2. Instagram: @raneraps
3. YouTube + Spotify: Search "RaneRaps"
