SLurg

SLurg

T Love (born Taura Taylor ) is a female rapper from Los Angeles. She was the main MC for the hip-hop group Urban Prop, alongside Sugar B aka BJ. Growing up just east of Crenshaw in LA’s South West/Central community she later moved to Europe, first to London then to Paris.

History

Early Days

While she has been writing rhymes since she was a child, T-Love has had different careers in the music industry besides being a rapper, she has been a journalist, a promoter, a publicist, an artist manager, a radio host, a label manager and a performer. Her first public appearance was at the age of 15 on KDAY, the first all hip-hop radio station around 1986, her 2 minutes on the mic reappeared years later as a skit on her album Long Way Up.

The Good Life era

T-Love was one of the first regulars of The Good Life hip-hop workshop in the early 90's. That's where she met Sugar B with whom she form the group Urban Prop. They soon got signed to Capitol Records, but due to conflicts with their production company the Urban Prop album was never completed. Only a few songs had been recorded for their album including a freestyle that was the follow-up to the Freestyle Fellowship's Heavyweights from their second album Innercity Griots. This track where they invited Freestyle Fellowship, Nefertiti, Sin, Ganjah K and Volume 10 was later used on the Project Blowed compilation album. Urban Prop is also featured on the Motown compilation State Of Emergency - Society In Crisis with the song Worry Free. Like other Good Lifers signed to Capitol at the time (think Mikah 9 or Abstract Rude) their album never was released.

Film

T-Love is featured prominently in the award-winning documentary "This Is the Life," chronicling the music movement that was birthed at The Good Life Cafe in South Central Los Angeles. She is also one of the main characters of the documentary "Nobody Knows My Name" by Rachel Raimist about women in hip-hop which covered the tribulations of six women in hip-hop. The movie was named after one of her songs.

Writing

After the fallout with Capitol, she began writing for various magazines. She was the music editor for URB, and frequently wrote for RapPages, The Source, HHC, LA Weekly and Vibe for which she did the first ever interview with Snoop Dog. More notably she co-wrote two books It’s Not About A Salary [Verso] with photographer B+ and Girl Power [Warner Books].

Industry

T-Love was the publicist for the now-defunct Correct Records, but left quickly to start her own company, with some friends she formed Gyrlz On Wylcox, a PR company which was responsible for breaking Notorious BIG, Craig Mack, Black Moon, Jeru, Company Flow, Siah and Yeshua DapoED on the West Coast. They where the first to bring Ultramagnetic MCs to Los Angeles for a memorable gig. Later on she went solo to build Rumble/Pickininny Records and Picki People management. As a manager she was responsible for launching the career of Cut Chemist, while as a label owner she released his group's classic debut in 1998, the Jurassic 5 EP and right after her own record Return Of The B-Girl EP, both records were praised by the underground hip-hop press and Djs.

Influence

After the EP she signed to Virgin Records for her first album. That's when she relocate to London where she recorded most of the album. She had productions by Jay Dee, Herbaliser, Dwele, Frankenstein and Beyond There among other. The Long Way Back album as the name suggest is a nod to the many people and influences who contributed to T-Love’s eclectic style. “When Malindy Sings” and “Oh-So Suite” hark back to Abbey Lincoln and Billie Holiday, who seem to be her main inspiration as a singer. T-Love is known as one of the few rappers who experiment with unconventional time signatures on songs such as “What’s My Name” which is in 3/4, or “Oh So Suite” which switch from 4/4 to ¾ and 5/4.

The album, released in 2003, is a piece of work rarely seen on a major label release in the 2000 rap scene. The album runs a circular structure with the first song being a cover of “When Malindy Sings”, with a reprise of that same theme repeating at the end of the album.

While her style has nothing to do with Gangsta rap, her lyrics are often a reflection of the life in the Crenshaw neighbourhood, only with a feminine twist. Most of her songs rely on story-telling and a lot of those stories are based on the criminal activities that she saw everyday around her.

Present

After a hiatus, T-Love came back in 2008 with a second album released in Europe and Japan called Long Way Up. This record combine some of her old demos from the 90's and more recent tracks like “Foolish Pride”, “Bottom Out” or “On My Mind” that display her new style, half rap, half singing. Besides she is now part of a french live band called Vidableu.

Discography

• Return Of The B Girl EP (Pickininny, 1998)
• Long Way Back LP (Astralwerks/Pickininny, 2003)
• Long Way Up [The Basement Tapes] LP (Brawl/Pickininny, 2008)

External links

• |The Word Is Love : Interview published in Apeman, 1998
• |Urban Prop article in RapPages, 1993

• |T-Love biog on Astralwerks.com, 2003