Love George: “I had a moment reminding myself of what I can actually do — if I love this sound and I trust my ear as much as I do, I don’t think there’s any stopping me.”

The Lichfield-based musician speaks to Jonathan Coste about his musical journey and inspirations, finding his voice as a performer, and what his stellar debut EP — “Whatever Happens, Happens.” means to him.

Love George is a lot more than just a rapper.

“I don’t want to just say I am a rapper, because I value my producing just as much as my vocal work.”

But to anyone aware of George’s presence within the UK underground rap scene this would come as no surprise. In fact, George’s rapping is a newly-acquired talent; he previously worked solely as a producer under his birth name, George Armstrong, until 2023.

Love George then, represents a new musical endeavour and the evolution of his artistry, and most pertinently the reshaping of his identity. Within the music industry the transition from producer to rapper is a well-trodden path, but George tells me that finding his voice was not exactly seamless:

“I have always wanted to make my own music, but it never felt like I had got to that level or had the confidence to do so.”

His work as a producer actually led to his career-altering decision to rap himself, although he had always experimented with music production since childhood:

“When I was a kid I used to indulge in a lot of experimental drum and bass but I used to make songs for fun with my friends.”

When he was 16 he started making beats more seriously, but it was during his time at university in Nottingham, when he began to craft his sound and develop as a producer:

“In Nottingham I found quite a niche — of like Knucks-type beats, it was a pocket. I took inspiration from that to make my own sound. Champagne Shots, by Sainte, was another that showed me the sound that I had been missing. From there, I started to fuse jazz with trap beats and electronic drums, and then more relaxed chords of R&B and neo-soul. Once I honed that it was like an epiphany and my YouTube started popping.”

From his time there he met collaborators who he still works with today: El Londo and Jaycen Spades just to name a couple. His return home has also coincided with a change in mindset:

“Back then it was just about making beats and making a living from it, without thinking too much. After university it just snowballed, and ever since it’s been a beautiful progression.”

His career-altering decision to become a rapper was a similarly organic and rewarding process:

“I have always enjoyed rapping and freestyling for fun. When I was producing for artists it just made me realise that I can give a lot to the scene. Yet, the main thing was just enjoying doing it, to take a beat and rap over it and make something that’s yours is such a beautiful process.

“I have always wanted to make my own music, but it never felt like I had got to that level or had the confidence to do so. Then one night I listened to a beat I had made for hours and hours, and in that moment, I reminded myself of what I can actually do, and what I am capable of: if I love this sound and I trust my ear as much as I do, I don’t think there’s any stopping me.”

One thing that is strikingly apparent from our conversation is the joy and passion that George exudes when he talks about music. His fantastic debut EP (seen above), “Whatever Happens, Happens.” released in March, is imbued with similar dedication and the clear love of creating his art. He beams recounting how much its release meant to him personally, and in turn, how it fulfilled a childhood dream:

“It was definitely one of the best times I have ever had creating, bringing together a lot of things I have been working towards. As a kid I always made songs and mixtapes for fun, but I have always wanted to make an EP. It all happened so organically and making it was one of the best weeks of my life.”

Despite the EP’s success, the recording process was unintentionally unorthodox, after the Macbook, which George makes all his beats on, unexpectedly crashed:

“I took it to the Apple shop, where they kept it for a week. I went home and I didn’t know what to do, because I do everything on there, and it’s my source of income, my job.”

A fateful late-night walk around his hometown of Lichfield served as the sonic inspiration and creative catalyst for the project’s realisation:

“I always find inspiration in the solitude of the night: it’s a very quiet rural place, like a ghost town. It was a snowy, frosty night and I was listening to Burial by Untrue, an early UK dubstep album; it’s got a beautiful melancholic vibe. This night those sounds really resonated with me. So, when I got home, I took my Mum’s computer which was slow as hell, I used the software, Audacity, and cut some beats on there and just saw what I could do.”

Truly inspired, every night that week, he made a new song for the tape, all whilst meticulously minding his surrounding environment:

“I was just in the zone, I was wearing this hat that I had never worn before (as featured on the EP’s cover art) just to keep this energy that I had alive, so I wasn’t deterred or distracted and I just never looked back. I was laser focused during this week. I stayed away from social media, and I was very selective about the music I was taking in, I was only listening to cold, atmospheric, wintery, electronic stuff.”

Photo: @millettzz — Scarlett Mills

As a result, sonically the EP is hauntingly stirring, ethereal and moody. Yet George tells me this distinctive sound evoked on the project is similarly mirrored by the recording process, done largely without his Macbook:

“Because this laptop and software was so slow, the experience taught me to forget everything that I knew, and I approached producing in a completely different way. I think that adds to the tape’s grittiness: there are engineering flaws, muddiness, some of the snares will cut off, just little things because I wasn’t mixing them. So, it taught me to let go of the technical process and create based on feeling.”

Lyrically, the tape is introspective and personal. Thematically the difficulty of making certain decisions, and learning to choose the best path amidst uncertainty are explored by George conveying his own authentic feelings, thoughts and stories, which ultimately lie at the heart of the EP:

“Every single line on the tape is said with meaning. They are experiences I am relaying. It’s a lot about risk taking, and surrendering, and accepting certain life situations. I am very blessed, and I am so thankful for my family. I can depend on people, and I have got a real team around me which is so important in everything that I do, and I wouldn’t be here without them today. But at the same time, I am able to see my blessings.”

Furthermore, whilst there is an air of vulnerability to the openness in which George paints these experiences. However, towards the end of the project, such uncertainties and doubts are gradually supplanted by a growing confidence and assurance.

“I feel like the tape encapsulated my entire mindset since early 2023 when this journey really began. Because it’s the beginning of my work, it’s very much about making every second count — throughout this journey, the message has been about getting it done, which is the culmination of that feeling on the tape. From that has come self-belief and confidence, I never doubt myself, but my mind was tested, and doubt challenges you exactly when you are closest to that next step; taking risks is bold and your mind fights you on every move. The whole project was massive to me, because by making this decision, I was changing my life, not caring what anyone thought and doing something because, well, I love it. It was just perfect synergy with how it was made; my whole mantra that week was: whatever happens, happens.”

Photo: @millettzz — Scarlett Mills

Moving forwards, George insists on spending little time dwelling on the release, with the groundwork very much meticulously laid out for the rest of 2024:

“The most rewarding part of this job is making new stuff and getting to hear it for the first time. As a creative, I am never going to hear my stuff as a finished product, but I have the vision for what it is at the start, and it’s exciting to move on to the next part of that. That in itself is another form of catharsis, giving what you have created to people and seeing how they respond to it.”

George is also keen to return to his producing roots alongside continuing his rapping, and looking towards newer and bigger projects:

“I’m excited to get back into producing, I have missed making beats. Last year I would make something like 8 or 9 beats a day. I want to go back to that for a bit, but we have got bigger projects we are now working on. We are working on a tape now around the summer period, it’s very fresh and exciting, and something new. The sounds we are tapping into aren’t what we have been doing previously, so going into summer it will be reflecting that.

“We have some nice concepts in the works, it will have nice chords, and be melodic and blissful. Which is funny because what we have been making up to now has been dark and cold and grungy. As artists, ultimately our music is very much the product of our surroundings — we just say back to the world what we are experiencing.”

It is clear the release of such a solid debut EP has set George in good stead for the next step in his artistic and sonic evolution, and his ambitions about where his sound can take the UK underground rap scene, and his own career as a result are clear:

“I am thinking of dropping a single that’s very stripped back. The EP is very thematic and focused on my storytelling, and now I want to release something that is more just “fun.” Now I feel like I am starting to establish where I am standing right now, it is very cathartic, it feels grander and bigger.”

“From the tape I have been able to incorporate sounds that I have always wanted to use: drum and bass, dubstep, electronic. To me, that sound has been infused in a way that meshes so well with what I am doing. Those sounds I am tapping into are a completely new thing for the scene, I’m taking it and making it my own. I feel it’s a gold mine, I can see it and I’m just waiting for it to blossom.”

Photo: @e.oxley_ - Ewan Oxley