#abbiehoffman

Remembering Abbie Hoffman who would have been 85 years old today. HB in heaven Abbie! Abbie at the Mobilization for Justice & Peace in Central America & Southern Africa, March and Rally, Saturday, April 25, 1987, Washington, D.C. (photo: Allen Ginsberg, courtesy Stanford University Libraries/Allen Ginsberg Estate )

*photo credits to: behindthelensjerm*

G-Tan:

From his rhymes to your eyes, G-Tan makes sure to construct a different message every time that he spits.

By definition the word articulate suits him most ("whatever makes sense" as he would say) yet there are other attributes that sum up G-Tan as a whole.

Aside from being a positive force of nature or an advocate for social change G-Tan is also one you'd want to keep around because let's face it...we all need someone who tells us to "get real."

He wants to see others succeed, achieve their dreams but he also makes sure that they are in-tune with what's going on around them.

In a whole his latest 13 L(E)P &(always)MORE! gets that point across. "The world is a reflection of ourselves. We have to be aware of everything." says G-Tan. Though &(always)MORE! is just his orientation. "I just wanted to get the message across. I didn't care about my cadence or delivery." he goes on to say. "In the last song off &(always)MORE! called Compassion of Mine, I leave a cliff hanger on purpose & it even makes me tear up when I listen to it. The change begins with our youth but really, we have to start with ourselves. We all are leading by example."

It all started for this wordsmith at the age of 6 in North Plainfield, NJ on Jackson Avenue. Across the street lived his best friend T.J. Once T.J’s father put on DMX’s It’s Dark & Hell is Hot the game changed forever. “I didn’t know the name, but all I knew was that I wanted to sound just like him.” G-Tan says “From there I took his lyric books & began writing what I saw.” Eventually G-Tan then followed with artist like Nelly, Jay-Z, Tupac, Dre, Snoop Dogg & even Eminem. “There’s a funny story actually behind a CD I received by Eminem.” he adds in “It all started through my aunt who took it from my cousin. She gave it to my mom & said “Listen to this.” Then my mom gave me the CD & told me to do the same & to tell her what I thought about it. Beforehand I was already deep into hip-hop so when I heard it I thought it was amazing!”

By the time he reached elementary school G-Tan was creating his own rhymes to those same beats he heard growing up. Then in the following years, he started to record. “In high school we [all the students] use to share a server & to advertise I would share my Apple Library.” G-Tan adds “I’d put my single in the title of a playlist I curated then add in “listen to the playlist!” The first tracks that G-Tan put on streaming platforms were Holiday Track & Letter to My Unborn Child but this was just the beginning.

G-Tan who abbreviated his stage name from his government name, Greg Tantaros also morphed it into Lines From The Sun, Tan Lines & From The Sun of God.

He’s his own everything. Manager, songwriter you name it & this is why he is so skilled at what he does.

For G-Tan music means to communicate through the soul, “It’s an expression without judgement & it can be about pretty much anything.” he adds.

While some people create music for money, G-Tan does it so he can make an impact. “I’m a deadbeat dad when it comes to this music so in the next 5 years I want to be able to say that I’ve reached everyone that I’ve needed to.” G-Tan says “Now we’re all just progressing.”

In the same way, legends like Lloyd Banks, 50 Cent & J.Cole did the same thing for him. But that’s not the only people he gives credit to, “If it wasn’t for my dad & my brother T.J I wouldn’t even be rapping.”

But for the record G-Tan will be found no matter how or when.

By being humble yet confident in his craft he’s going to take the world by storm & rain down on his competition (better grab your umbrella folks!)

After all, we can do anything with our power long as we don’t overuse or abuse it.

By: Natalee Gilbert

Fun Facts:

1. W(What) I(It) L(Look) L(Like) will sound different sonically & lyrically. The date of its release? TBA

2. His last performance was at Chamber 43

3. For his song Sunshine on &(always)MORE! He originally wrote it to “ Photograph by J.Cole which also influenced the song “I think K.O.D was a solid album. He broke through by dumbing it down & mocking flows. Yet he still got attention.” G-Tan says about J.Cole’s deliverance on K.O.D

Link(s):

1. SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/g-tan

2. YouTube: https://youtu.be/4FaXf9nKkUo

3. Instagram: @linesfromthesun // also make sure to follow his videographer @stealthisvision