Nestled amidst the flat, mundane cornfields of Kenosha, lies one of Wisconsin’s fastest growing and hardest working producers of hip hop and rap music. From the bedroom walk-in closet of his northside apartment, Tim Gardner, musically known as G-Love, masterminds beats, perfects sounds, and composes lyrics so profound, one might think he is operating his business, G-Love Productions out of a fully-equipped, state-of-the art, studio.
“I compress, I reverb, I delay and sometimes I sleep. Whenever an idea pops into my head, I just get out of my bed, and I am already in the lab and I go attack it,” G-Love said, sitting comfortably on his living room couch. This comfort was undergirded by an unwilling resolve to focus his attention from the business affairs of his mobile phone to his impending interview.
Though his studio does not lie in the halls of Def Jam or Interscope Records, the quality of his independent fruits may eventually provide veritable competition (or collaboration) for these music-making brutes.
Sneaking up on thirty years old in less than three years, G-Love, a Chicago native, possesses an unique energy, drive and optimism. This optimism is coupled with a wise business sense that has afforded him honor of rubbing elbows with management of national companies in the industry including Rockafella and Grand Hustle Records. Rockafella is responsible for the production of such acts as Young Gunz. Grand Hustle Records (also independent) joined forces with Atlantic Records to produce Atlanta’s, T.I. G-Love’s entertainment branch, Strong Arm Entertainment, recently helped showcase T.I. in Kenosha. Locally, Family over All (F.O.A), and Smoot (Rap Rock Records) are recipients of G-Loves melodic ear.
According to G-Love, essential qualities for his successes are respect for others in the national and local, hip-hop/rap industries, impeccable communication skills and plain old business savvy. Possessing a background in a related body of knowledge (he graduated from Kenosha Tremper High School and participated in their audio-visual program and obtained an Associate’s Degree in radio broadcasting from Gateway Technical College) hasn’t hurt him either. Currently, he is making plans to obtain his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in radio broadcasting.
“Technology is my number one passion. I can cut hair, play ball and Dee Jay, but I choose to make music with the best tools possible,” G-Love commented.
Having honed restaurateur skills as a cook for five years at Ron’s Place in Kenosha and polished his management technique for six years as a supervisor for the Kenosha Achievement Center, he said he feels adequately equipped for any task. Now he is utilizing that hospitality/customer service background, his stored financial resources from those efforts and his youthful passion and talent to do what he loves. And like any good artisan, his knowledge of the importance of those endeavors is driving him far outside the perimeters of “K-Town.”
“The first producer I ever really looked up to was Dr. Dre, he started like I did, as a Dee jay in a regular ghetto neighborhood,” G-Love chided. The Neptunes and Mannie Fresh are others from whom he grabs inspiration.
Family, however, has been G-Love’s truest motivation. His father was a deejay, as were his brother, and cousin. It is in honor of them and his children, especially his son whom he deems his “Idol,” that causes him to forage on, despite healthy doses of competition, and non-believers.
“I will show everybody, who felt like and said my success couldn’t happen, but not by being angry and bitter, but by working hard and being good at what I do,” he asserted. Not to be mistaken as an overly confident, pointless threat; he wants that comment to serve as a simple, verbal commitment by a prolific and hungry artist on the rise.
Like many other professionals, G-Love is eager to use his many tools and assets to produce for himself also. His album, “Vice Versa” is near release and will showcase his personal writing skills and lyrical prowess. “No Stress,” a single off that CD features R.N.S of Family over All (his first production project back in 1992) and playfully taunts and calls out “haters” lyrically. With an easy to follow chorus and whimsical beat, “No Stress” furnishes a light-hearted, but serious recipe for focusing on personal goals, and avoiding ignorant individuals who seek to deter you from success of any kind.
G-Love and his four person staff endeavor to be far-reaching and steadfast in the family they have diligently worked to create.
“If one of us moves, we all move,” he declared. “We network…kind of like a chain gang. I deal with managers and artists, staying in close, personal communication with every contact,” he closed. With that, the mobile phone that had waited patiently, silently throughout most of the interview, gave birth to a series of rings that put him back on the move.
“I am like a freight train, going full speed, I can’t be stopped. I won’t stop. I set a goal, and promised myself I’d keep going at a steady pace and let everybody else do their thing. But I will still be right here, doing my thing,” G-Love ended.
G-Love
By Yolanda D. White for HipHopHotSpot.Com
