Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Khalangi Gayle. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Khalangi, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I am one of the blessed ones ! Everyday I am grateful for the opportunity to be able to earn a lucrative income while doing what I love. I remember at the age of 16 when I decided to pursue music professionally, there were many doubts and doubters since music was not deemed a stable profession. My immediate family, however were very supportive and adamant that I follow my dream and explore the music industry. My drive led me to pursue and earn a bachelor degree in Music and Audio technology. Since then it has been an uphill battle when dealing with the in and outs of the music industry but honestly if I suppose to do it again, I would not change a thing!

At age 23, I started my career as a full time musician/audio engineer in the year 2020. As you can assume that was one of the worst year to start a music career because of corona, quarantine etc. The first 8 – 10 months were really slow and rough, leading me to contemplate quitting music and finding a regular day job. It wasn’t until a year and a half in until things started to pick up. Clients started booking recording & mixing sessions more frequently and regularly, In addition, I started playing piano/guitar at different churches and even started teaching piano lessons at different establishments. Fast forward to today, I am as busy as ever ! Business is flourishing and it shows no signs of slowing down. The next phase is to expand and fully automate my business. I am truly blessed and grateful to be making a full time living doing what I love !

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hello, My name is Khalangi Gayle, but my stage name and the name I am most commonly known as is Langi. I was born in Kingston, Jamaica and raised in the parish of St. Catherine. I fell in love with music at an early age and began learning to play the piano, guitar, and steel-pan. By the age of fifteen I had already attained many distinctive honors in music theory and performing arts. At sixteen-years-old, I decided to leave Jamaica to study music abroad where I was admitted into the Sonic Art Program at CCNY. I graduated in 2020 with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Music and Audio Technology and have been working in the field ever since. To this date, I must have created/contributed to over 5,000 musical projects. In most of these songs, I have either recorded, mixed or mastered the audio. This does not include the countless amount of original musical pieces that I have created over the years. During the short time span working on these projects, I have gained a lot of recognition and a lot of success from local and international entities.
On the singer/songwriter side: my music has been featured all over the world on many different radio stations, including Jamaica’s esteemed Zip 103FM and NYC’s prominent hip-hop station, Power 105. My music has also found its way onto many established blogs like Earmilk, Canadian Yardie, and The Jamaican Star etc. My most recent accomplishment was getting my single “Backroad” placed in a HBO Max exclusive TV series called “Amsterdam”.
On the audio engineering side: I have recorded, mixed and mastered projects for multiple celebrities like Bobby Shmurda, FIvio Foreign, Skillibeng Etc. Alot of the songs I’ve mixed have actually made it to the top 100 on the Billboard Charts. I also have worked in some of the most prestigious studios in New York from Quad Studios to Engine Room to Jungle City Studios Etc.

The main thing I try to bring to every musical piece I create or contribute to is “Quality”. I take a lot of pride in what I do and I try to reflect that in every song I make, record, mix or master. I always say that it is better to work with 5 clients that produces amazing projects than 50 clients that produces average work !

Have you ever had to pivot?

From an early age I always wanted to do what I love and to get paid from it. When I started my musical journey as an artiste I believed the only way to achieve this was to act like or replicate other established artiste. So the first 4/5 years of my artiste career involved me copying topics, clothes, song ideas etc. from other artiste even though I did not necessarily want to do these things. My life then became heavily dependent on social media and was influenced drastically by everyones opinion. I found myself trying to please others instead of just being myself because I wanted everyone to like my music and to accept me as this exceptional artist.

It wasn’t until 2020 when the Corona virus hit that I got a chance to slow down and examine how the music business was affecting me. I noticed that I was not in love with music like I first was, and now was only doing it haphazardly in hope that I became famous one day. Although it was a tough year, 2020 was definitely a pivot year that gave me the opportunity to reset and to adjust my priorities on what is truly important to me. Since then I have taken a break from the music industry as an artiste and have been focusing on just falling in love with the craft again. I have turned my my attention to the audio engineering business as my source of income and I can honestly say that I have seen great success in this field.

I definitely will be returning to the artiste field in the near future but only with the correct motives in mind. I am actually excited for the great return as I know my music will be more spiritual, creative and more substantial than ever before as I will be doing it for the love and not just to become famous !

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative for me is the creation process of the art. I am heavily in love with the product once it is finished but I am even more infactuated with the process of constructing the piece. There is a joy and enlightenment that I believe I receive from a higher power while I am creating music. When I am fully engulfed in the process; time, fatigue, stress etc has no effect on me. It is one of my happy places, where I am allowed to be vulnerable, expressive and passionate all at the same time. This compelling and blissful feeling confirms that this is my purpose and this is what I will be doing for the rest of my life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://langi-music.square.site
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/langi_music/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Langimusic
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/langi_music
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LangiDiFuture

Image Credits
Shot by @photosbykeem