Senior Calvin Hanson has had a passion for music since he was young. Now he’s ready to take the next step in his music career.

Over the past year, he has taken an interest in generating and performing his own rap songs. He records them himself and uploads them on SoundCloud so he can share his music and get advice and request from friends, family, and anyone else that enjoys his music.

“I’ve always been passionate about music but it wasn’t until recently that I really dove into rapping, it allows me to express myself in a passionate way that is relatable and acceptable to others,” said Hanson.

With his music he goes by the name of Calvin Stan. He often just makes up the lyrics to his raps by listening to a beat and just freestyling until he finds something he like and builds the rest of his song around that.

“Everyday life inspires me to write, things that cross my mind or I feel necessary to share with others,” said Hanson.

His sister Lainey is a big part of his music career. She helps him by getting his name out which helps spread the word of his songs. He currently has 16 songs on SoundCloud and 391 followers that continue to motivate him and look forward to his future songs.

“My sister, Lainey, helps me with all my album artwork and pretty much manages my marketing tactics,” said Hanson.

Right now Hanson has been working hard in school and is trying to become a better person overall, he hopes that five years from now he will be graduated from college and looking for a job even if it is not music related.

“My favorite thing about Calvin is that he is humble. In 5 years I think he will be selling out small venues and moving to large ones with a pretty big fan base,” said senior Camila Correa.

SoundCloud is a website that allows upcoming artists to share their music with other people and get advice from people with or without music experience to see how they can improve.

“SoundCloud is basically a platform for artists to debut their music for listeners, it’s a great way to gain fans and publicity. It has many nice features that allow an artist to stay in touch with their fan base, anything from checking notifications to direct messaging, overall it has a simple interface that allows me to easily share my music in an organized fashion,” said Hanson.

Calvin writes his own songs that he shares on SoundCloud, it is a way for him to express how he feels without having to tell other people formally.

“I’m into verbalizing thoughts while I’m making silent actions, I’m always chasing danger just to find my satisfaction, inspired by the fear of being below average although I’m underground my point is still of vantage,” Hanson said.

These are some of Hanson’s favorite lyrics that he wrote. They have to most meaning to him, these lyrics explain to others how he is and they allow him to express himself.

“These lyrics are just saying that I would rather speak my mind and make silent actions then be quiet and try and make my actions loud, then I go on to talk about how I always find myself living on the edge to find satisfaction, and how it keeps pushing further and further towards danger, then I talk about how I have solid ideas and points even though I am “underground” (unknown) with a play on words ‘point of vantage’ and ‘vantage point’,” said Hanson about his song lyrics.

Hanson will continue to pursue his passion of creating and performing as he finds himself and continues to work for a successful future with or without music.