This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at NCSU chapter.
Name : Tim Gunter
Grad Year : 2012
Major : Business Administration – Entrepreneurship
Hometown : Raleigh, North Carolina
Name : Edrick Scarvers
Grad Year : 2013 – UNC-Greensboro
Major : Media Studies
Hometown : Raleigh, North Carolina
How did “Eddy B & Tim Gunter” get started?
Eddy B & Tim Gunter started by chance, and oddly enough, was continued through Twitter. Eddy and I both attended a Mike Posner concert in December 2009 at Cat’s Cradle. At the time I was making beats for 9th Wonder’s (a prominent producer for Jay-Z, Drake, Ludacris…etc that lives in NC) artist Thee Tom Hardy. After the show, I hung around with 9th Wonder, Big Sean, and Mike Posner. Eddy stayed after the show to rap for Big Sean, ultimately starting a relationship with him and his crew that would help us a long the way. In the next few weeks, Eddy talked a lot to Thee Tom Hardy about being signed to 9th Wonder’s label. Seeing their conversation, I asked Eddy if he needed some beats, remembering him from the concert. We made our first song together called “Super Mario Flow” which can be found on the internet, and from then on we just started grinding. Our chemistry was so good that we would get together on the weekends and just make music for hours. We figured we had a good thing going, thus Eddy B & Tim Gunter began.
What type of music would you classify yourselves as?
We usually write that we’re a “hip-hop” duo but we don’t like to box ourselves at all. You can tell by listening to our latest project that we’re a very diverse group. Eddy doesn’t like to consider himself just a rapper, he’s got an amazing voice, and he’s a really good songwriting. My production style is very unique. I take influence from the classic boom-bap hip hop like 9th Wonder, DJ Premier, and Pete Rock, but I’m also influenced by electro-house producers like A-Trak, Boys Noize, and The Crookers. You can see the medley of genres I listen to when you hear one of my beats. Whenever we’re interviewed, we usually just like to say we make “good music.”
Who writes the music? How are they inspired?
On our first project, Eddy did 100% of the songwriting, and I was responsible for 100% of the musical composition. Now, and you can really tell, we both influence each other on our respective creative process, acting more like a band, rather than just a rapper and a producer. A lot of Eddy’s lyrics come from real life experience. A lot of people enjoy our music because we don’t talk about stuff we don’t do, like shoot guns, or sell drugs. As far as musical composition, whenever I make a beat, I like to take an emotion I’m either feeling, or want people to feel, and embody that in the form of music.
What is your personal favorite song or lyric from a song, and why?
That’s a really tough question. I’m going to choose lyric from a song, because it’s tough to say what my favorite song is. This lyric, from Wale’s “The Kramer” is a personal favorite of mine. “Make sure, everything you say, can’t be held against you in any kind of way, any connotation is viewed many ways.”
Who is your biggest influence in the music industry?
My biggest influence is probably A-Trak. A-Trak is a producer and also Kanye West’s official tour DJ. The reason I like A-Trak is because he grew up on the classic hip-hop sound, but has branched out to all different genres now. This is very similar to how I model my own career, and I consider A-Trak a good person to look up to in the music industry.
What made you guys put your music online and how did it “take off?”
We actually got the idea to put our music online from Xaphoon Jones, the producer for the popular duo “Chiddy Bang.” Big Sean had a concert in Greensboro and Chiddy Bang was opening. After their set, Chiddy Bang came back stage with us and I talked to Noah (Xaphoon Jones) about what we were doing and asked for some advice to get our name out. He told me all about the online music blogs, and a popular site called “Hype Machine” where people can find all their favorite music blogs on one site and favorite tracks thus creating charts. After that I started reaching out to blogs, the smaller the better, and sending them our stuff, little by little they would catch on and post, and we started to gain a little following. It wasn’t until about September of last year, when one of my remixes blew up on FratMusic.com that we gained a big following. After that, we started getting inquiries from people all over the world, and our first mixtape started getting tons of downloads on the internet.
How do you guys pay for producing music/recording/traveling?
One of the biggest benefits of being a producer/artist combo is that we don’t have to buy any studio time. I produce, record, and mix all of our tracks. You can really see my growth in this if you listen to some tracks from “Dear North Carolina, Welcome Back” and then listen to some tracks from our latest project “Insomniac Dreams.” As far as travelling goes, we have a guy, named Bo, who works as our agent. Whenever someone wants to book us, they hit up Bo and he lets them know our current rate, which includes travel, hotel, and any other expenses as well as a performance fee. All our expenses are covered by the people who book us.
What has been the best part of the experience so far – or the most surreal?
My favorite part of this experience is being able to meet people who enjoy our music. I will spend 30 minutes to an hour before/after our shows talking to our fans, getting to know them on a personal level, and making sure they know how much I appreciate their support. When it comes down to it, all an artist really has is their fans. One of the most surreal moments for me was opening for Three 6 Mafia in Dallas, Texas. The venue had a curtain in front of the stage. I always go out before Eddy to get the crowd hyped up. When they raised the stage current, I saw thousands of people screaming and jumping, and all I could think to myself was, Wow. I think I paused for like 10 seconds before I said anything because I was literally frozen from amazement. It was also cool to hang out with Three 6 Mafia and see how cool they were. We had the opportunity to go out to dinner with them in Dallas and they are great guys, really hilarious.
Do you have any plans for shows or appearances in the Raleigh area soon?
For the past month, we’ve been finishing our most recent project “Insomniac Dreams.” But right now we’re working with Bo and a few other people on a little Insomniac Dreams tour. We haven’t really looked into a Raleigh show yet, but we’re definitely down to do something here.
What do you guys think you’ll be doing in 5 years? Hope to still be the duo?
I think in 5 years, we will be exactly where we need to be. That’s what we like to say about everything. When we drop an album, we say, it’s going to take us exactly where we need to be. We’re always growing as artists and as people, and so far, things have come at just the right time relating to our music. I think Eddy and I will be making music together for a long time. I know we both want to branch out and work with other people, but Eddy B & Tim Gunter is definitely in it for the long haul.
Is it hard juggling college life like classes and tests with making music and traveling?
It is difficult, but we’re pretty good at making it happen. It’s a lot like having two full time jobs, school during the week, music at night and on the weekends. We usually try to focus on getting everything done for school during the week, that way, we can have the entire weekend to either travel for shows or record for a new project, or single. One thing we’ve had to sacrifice is sleep. That’s actually where we got the title for our most recent mixtape, Insomniac Dreams. We’re two college kids trying to live out a dream, but a lot of times we have to sacrifice sleep to make that happen.