Grizzly jumps between track, rap

People know him as either "Zane the trackster" or "Big Shade the rapper," he raps in his single "What I Do."

You see, Zane Reneau has two unique passions: He's a walk-on triple jumper for the University of Montana track team, and he's a member of a Missoula-based hip-hop group known as Lyrical Motion.

The rap trio consists of Zane, his brother Sterling Reneau and his friend Michael Graef.

"We were kind of just goofing around and had this idea one day — ‘Hey, why don't we start rapping?'" Zane said. "It was for fun, but then it just kind of took off, and we started doing a couple shows and got in contact with people in Missoula that helped us get on our feet."

Since then, the group has had six live shows, including an opening for Hopsin, a rapper from Los Angeles.

Lyrical Motion's Facebook page has 729 likes, and its self-produced videos on YouTube have more than 16,000 views.

After getting its start producing beats on Garage Band, the group has since created songs with Anno Domini Beats and Beats 4 Legends with the artist Overtime at Wapikaya Records.

"To sit down and make a beat and write a story to it, it's just a lot of fun," Zane said, his black braids dangling below his UM flat-billed hat.

"It's not your stereotypical rap. It's just how it is, so a lot of people can relate to it and get into it. You look at mainstream stuff, and it's ‘Look at what I have: I have cars, women, money and all that good stuff.' Our (music) is just ‘Here's my life; here's how it is.'"

Graef, or "Focus," said the triad's product is something anyone can enjoy, even those who normally aren't interested in hip-hop.

"We want to inspire people as much as we can," he said.

Graef also noted the influence the group's oldest member has had.

"Zane helps bring out that weird and humorous part in us," said Graef, emcee of Lyrical Motion and a senior at Hellgate High School. "That part of him is really shown when we all hang out or work on anything behind the scenes."

Born in Seattle, Zane moved to Missoula at age 2 and has been here since.

At Missoula's Sentinel High School, he competed in six track and field events his junior and senior years and played varsity soccer. When it came time for college, he was not offered a scholarship at UM.

"I wasn't recruited, I approached the coaches myself," he said.

Zane made the team, becoming part of the 20-25 percent of the track squad members who are not on scholarship, said Adam Bork, Montana track assistant coach.

"My coach in high school had ran (at UM) and said it would be a good idea to talk to the coaches, so he put me in contact with them; they seemed interested, so I decided to walk on," Zane said.

Nearly three years later, Zane is part of a team hunting for a Big Sky Conference championship.

With two more meets at Montana State University in Bozeman, the conference tournament is on tap for Feb. 24-25 in Flagstaff, Ariz.

"I really just want to go in and jump well because I've definitely put some distance on my jumps in the past few weeks, and my approach is better," Zane said.

Two weeks ago at the Cougar indoor meet in Pullman, Wash., he took fifth with a career-best leap of 45 1/2.

For Zane, a faster approach is the key to being the top hop-step-jumper in the Big Sky, said Bork.

"He loves the sport, and he's just fun to have around," he said.

Bork was also recently introduced to Zane's other passion via YouTube.

"It was surprising and interesting to see that part of his life," he said. "It's not really my style. I grew up in Montana listening to country music, but I think they're pretty good."

Next up for "Zane the trackster" is an indoor meet in Bozeman next Friday afternoon. For "Big Shade the rapper," this Friday night brings a concert, as Lyrical Motion will perform live at the Palace Lounge at 9 p.m.

But maybe the two personas shouldn't be separated because rapping and jumping only account for a fraction of what makes Zane who he is; they're only characteristics of the man with the midnight-black shade cap, Graef said.

"Zane's two life avenues ---— track and rap — those are the two things he is known for doing, but Zane is after something bigger, some bigger purpose, but no one really knows what that purpose is yet."

dustin.askim@umontana.edu