Layne LV wrote his first song when he was eight years old. He didn't start taking music seriously until about four years ago. Now his debut album, Hollywood Dream$, is finished: three years of recording across Southern California, Lake Tahoe, Austin and the road, with his closest friends on the features.
Full disclosure: Layne founded Hussle Media, the company behind this site. That's also why he's first up in our features series.
01Who is Layne LV?
"I'm a free thinker. I'm a dreamer. I'm a grinder. I will out-hustle anyone," Layne says. "I love to help my people. I'm a businessman, a risk taker, a nomad, a visionary. I'm a complex human being that's constantly evolving."
He describes himself as someone with massive goals who pushes toward them every day, doesn't waste time and doesn't take anything for granted. He's grateful for the wins and the setbacks alike. "Two L's make a W," he says. "Lesson learned."
His sound is hard to pin to one genre, and he likes it that way. "It's pretty uniquely me," he says. "It's myself at its truest form, with the seasonings of all my influences over the years. I've been obsessed with music since I was a child."
02From Palmdale to Austin
Layne was born in Palmdale, California, and lived around the LA area until he was about nine. Those years were hard. His mom was struggling and was pretty much homeless, and his dad was in prison. When his dad got out, he was shot, and Layne was taken from his mom and moved to the Austin area.
He grew up between Austin and San Marcos, then spent years traveling all over. Somewhere along the way, Texas music got its hooks in him. "I was obsessed with Texas music growing up as a kid," he says. He remembers listening to Z-Ro's chopped and screwed tracks after he moved to Texas at nine. Z-Ro is still his favorite artist.
03The camera was the hard part
A lot of people know Layne's work before they know his music. He's a creative director, shooter and editor who has spent years behind the camera for artists and brands. He says that was harder to learn than making beats or rapping.
"Being behind a camera was a lot trickier than picking up how to make beats or sing or rap."
"It was one of the more challenging things I had to pick up," he says, "and I feel like I'm still a student, learning more every day." Today he does almost all of it himself: shooting, editing, color grading, making beats, engineering, singing and rapping. "It gets pretty crazy."
04What Hollywood Dream$ means
"I feel like there's a lot of people that lost their dreams, and that's one of the saddest things in life," Layne says. "Your dreams can constantly morph and change. But as long as you have something you love that you aspire towards, that's really important."
The title also speaks to the duality of the industry: the good, the bad and the ugly, and the way things aren't always what they seem. Much of the album was made in LA, and the title track was written at a turning point.
"I was sitting in my Benz looking at the Hollywood sign, writing those lyrics, knowing I needed to make a positive shift in my life."
One of his best friends, Ea$e, is on the title track and engineered it, capturing the energy Layne was going for. Chxse Bank made the beat. "It's one of the best beats I've ever heard," Layne says. "The song means a lot, and the album means a lot."
05Three years in the making
The album was recorded all over: SoCal, Tahoe, Austin, and some of it on the road. Layne's core collaborators were Dutchboy, Chino, Ea$e, Pat Ron, Chxse Bank, PilotKid and Beats by J Black. Babygap, an up-and-coming Nigerian-born artist from LA, is on it too. "He's awesome," Layne says.
It took three years, and Layne is open about why. "I had a lot of life stuff going on in those three years," he says. "Just like anybody else, I had to find the harmony and the balance. I could have put it out early, but it wasn't done."
He doesn't remember which song was the last one finished, only how it felt. "After that last song was done, I knew it was done, and I had that weight lifted off my shoulders. Now it's about getting everything else ready behind the scenes. But sonically, I know it's where I want it."
06Inside Adult$wim
"Adult$wim" was one of the first songs made for the album, at least two years ago. Beats by J Black sent Layne the beat, and Layne and Ea$e recorded a rough draft on it about a year later. Then Pat Ron kept hitting him up, saying he wanted to get on it.
"I sent it to legendary Pat Ron. He's one of the best rappers in the world, in my opinion, if not the best," Layne says. "He did his thing, probably one of the best verses I've ever heard him drop."
Layne then took the stems to Dutchboy for the final mix. "He's the GOAT, and I wanted it to have the full energy of everybody," he says. "You got the drums and the melody from Beats by J Black, the cadence and lyricism from Ea$e, Pat Ron's swagger and impeccable bars, plus Dutchboy's mix."
"It's just me and my best friends on a song. That's pretty dope for me."
07The story the album tells
"Life is not always what it seems, and it doesn't have to be," Layne says. "If you stay locked in and chase your dreams, you can make a positive shift in your life, get closer to that dream life, and potentially manifest it."
He wanted the album to be a statement piece that people can look at and think, if he can do it, I can do it. He also wanted to start his career on his own terms. "I could have rushed it. I could have signed. I could have reached out to managers or gotten collabs," he says. "I decided I wanted to make something from the heart that truly meant a lot to me. That's why I wanted it to be perfect."
Singles after this will move faster, he says, without three years of obsessing over each one, but the quality will stay top tier and keep getting better. As for how he wants people to feel after the last track: "Wow. I want them to feel like they too can go create what they want to create. And I want them to know I'm putting on for ATX."
08Who it's for
"Anybody out there with a dream, or anybody out there that lost their dream and needs that spark reignited," Layne says. "I'm doing this for Austin, Texas. I'm doing this for Texans in general. And for anybody with a dream who's willing to not care what the world thinks and relentlessly push towards it."
09For Zee
Asked about self-doubt, Layne doesn't spend long on it. "I'm pretty delusional with what I'm going to achieve," he says. What's driving him right now is loss.
Two of his friends were recently shot. A-List survived; he's still recovering and in good spirits. Their best friend Zee did not make it.
"That's been a huge well of fuel, of motivation and inspiration," Layne says. "I've never felt this driven. I'm working 12 to 18 hour days, grinding relentlessly, and I don't even feel tired, because I feel like he's standing right beside me telling me to go. Out-hustle everybody, show what I'm capable of, and make my dreams a reality regardless of what anybody thinks."
"I have a lot of love for Zee. I pray for him and his family, and I'll continue to do everything I possibly can to help them out." He's praying for continued healing for A-List too.
10What's next?
"I guess you'll have to just patiently wait."
11Rapid fire
- Favorite track on the album"Adult$wim," because it has all his best friends on it. Sonically, it might be "Big Bag Get It."
- Dream collabZ-Ro, the Mo City Don. Also Kid Cudi, Lil Wayne and J. Cole. Outside the genre, Fred again.. or Subtronics. "I love collaborating. I want to collab with anybody that wants to make something fire."
- One Austin spot everyone should know"All my favorite spots are hidden gems I don't want anybody to know about," he says. The one he'll share: Connoisseur Smoke Shop on East 6th. "They have the best prices, the best stuff, the best workers, and the owners are solid. That's my favorite spot to be chilling." NADC Burger is right there too.