‘Backroad’ featured in HBO series
Published:Thursday | April 7, 2022 | 12:05 AMSade Gardner/Staff Reporter
New York-based singer Langi always envisioned his music being part of the soundtrack for a television series or movie, and it’s now a reality.
His song, Backroad, is front and centre in episode six of the new HBO Original Latin series Amsterdam.
“It’s a super amazing feeling,” Langi told The Gleaner. “In the music game, it’s hard, especially with corona and everything happening, so it’s definitely a big encouragement and boost for me. It tells me that music transcends any boundary, country or genre, because everything in the show is Spanish. They have English translations, but all the actors are Spanish, the director is Spanish. All of them are from Mexico, so they probably don’t even know exactly what I’m talking about, but I guess the vibe of it fits the look or scene that they were going for. It also speaks to working and trusting the process. You have to keep going, no matter how hard it is; something will work… .”
Produced by Mari the Producer, Backroad was recorded in 2019, inspired by the infamous Port Henderson strip. Langi said he once lived close to the area.
“I’ve been to Backroad couple times, so we’re in tune with the vibe there and what’s going on,” he shared. “I wanted to kinda sing about something that’s real life to me, and I wanted it to have a cool title that people that know, knows.”
Backroad forms part of his A Present EP, also released in 2019 under California-based label Point Records.
“They were helping me do promotions, shopping it around,” he shared. “It fit the scene they wanted in Amsterdam on episode six, so they reached out to Point Records, then they reached out to me, then Mari, and everything else was history.”
He added, “Also, I feel like it was kinda based on the recent success we were getting with Dancing, another single I released in December which went number one on the iTunes chart in Africa; so it’s just a snowball effect which led to it.”
ORIGIN
Directed by Gustavo Taretto, the series follows actress Nadia and musician Martin, once madly in love but now on the brink of amicably breaking up, a process muddled by who gets to keep their dog, Amsterdam.
Langi is focused on leveraging the recognition he is receiving for the feat. He is also working on an EP, which he may title Past Participle. The potential title complements his EP catalogue which tells a story of his origin and evolution.
“When I was in Jamaica, everybody knew me as Langi Di Future, because they said my music was so futuristic and that I was kinda way ahead of my years, as I used to record myself,” he said. “I wanted to give them my whole timeline so people who actually do follow me from the jump can have the satisfaction of saying, ‘We had The Past, we had A Present, which I flipped to mean an actual gift instead of ‘the present’, and I want to have my debut album be Di Future.”
Given name Khalangi Gayle, Langi has music embedded in his DNA, being the son of dancehall veteran Little Hero. Raised by his mother, he learnt how to play instruments like the piano and guitar at an early age, and recorded his own songs while attending Ardenne High School. He left Jamaica at 16 to pursue music studies, ultimately being admitted into the Sonic Art Programme at the City College of New York. He now holds a bachelor of arts in music and audio engineering.
“When you’re younger, you try to explore different paths, and other people try to influence different things on you. I feel like, deep down, I always knew it was music or nothing else, and currently that’s all I do. I’ve been on the road with (rapper) Bobby Shmurda, recording with him and working with him as a creative and writer. Music is just my lifestyle, it’s my full-time job. I play instruments, I sing; I’m just a musician by nature and by heart.”