T-Love

Rapper/Producer/Author/Manager and former Hip Hop editor of URB Magazine). by Wade Kergan One of many underground MCs to emerge from Los Angeles in the '90s that wasn't beholden to gangsta/hardcore styles of rap, T Love (real name Taura Taylor-Mendoza) was a part of the Heavyweights Crew that included members of the Pharcyde and Freestyle Fellowship among its ranks. In and out of recording studios and open mic battles, T Love landed a deal with Capitol in the mid-'90s as one half of the duo Urban Prop. The relationship didn't yield any releases, but certainly made the rapper more savvy about the music industry. Her debut EP, Return of the B-Girl, was released on her own Pickaninny label in 1998 and featured contributions from Kool Keith, Jurassic 5's Chali 2na, and Breakestra's Miles Tackett. Never sure of her chances within the music business, T Love kept a second, concurrent career as a freelance journalist, writing for several hip-hop magazines and contributing to the books It's Not About a Salary and Girl Power. Meanwhile, her EP had met with moderate praise in the U.S. but was better received overseas, prompting a successful visit and eventual relocation to the U.K. It was here that she worked on what became her 2003 full-length debut, Long Way Back.