https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyPj6G22kss
Musicians are the kings and queens of cool. While some may secretly yearn to strum the essential chords of a guitar riff or belt lyrics into a mic, few get the opportunity.
Three Oak Park and River Forest High School students, inspired by Emery Lehman’s journey to the 2014 Winter Olympics, decided to apply their musical talent and have produced a tribute song to Lehman called “The Olympian.”
The singing of OPRF senior Niklas Carson, interwined with the rapping of Luke Gawne, comprise the composition of this newly released single.
Carson, Gawne and another collaborator, Nick Rohner, released the song on Feb. 5, using an online music distribution site called TuneCore.
“[TuneCore] charges $10, then they send [the song] out to different stores where people can buy it,” said Carson.
The site charges $9.99 a year to distribute a single, $29.99 for the first year of an album, $49.99 every year after that, and $19.99 a year to distribute a ringtone.
Interested buyers can purchase the tribute song on iTunes for $0.99. They can also listen to the single on YouTube for free.
Carson did not really know Lehman aside from school. Born in the United States, Carson grew up in Sweden, and last summer he decided to spend a year living in Oak Park with his aunt, Sheila Carson, going to school and focusing on developing his music.
Gawne knew Lehman a bit better. The two went to the same middle school.
Now the 17-year-old Olympic speed-skater is immortalized in a 3-minute song that the creators place in the hip-hop genre.
The two speed-skating events Lehman will be competing in, the men’s 5K and 10K, are scheduled to air, respectively, on Saturday, Feb. 8 on NBC between 1:30 and 5 p.m. CST, and on Tuesday Feb. 18 on the NBC Sports Network between 9 and 11 a.m. CST.
