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Though at heart he's just a harmless rapping frat boy, G. Love touches on nasty racial stereotypes with disconcerting obliviousness, singing exaggerated send-ups of black music with a mush-mouthed drawl. I kind of hate the guy, but I'll resist making the obvious "damn, so close" joke as I post this snippet from a press release about how he almost lost his voice:
After a long, hard tour in January 2008, G. Love suffered complete voice loss. A visit to the doctor revealed he was suffering from acute vocal hemorrhage, an injury known to rob musicians of their careers and sideline others. He was forced to cancel a handful of shows and after 10 days of complete voice rest, the difficult decision was made to soldier on and perform the remainder of the shows on his schedule. To adapt to care for his strained vocal chords, G. Love switched to in-ear monitors, stopped smoking, drank Gatorade instead of whiskey on stage and continued voice lessons with his vocal therapist.I couldn't resist bolding the part I found really obnoxious. Anyway, G. Love takes his jammy minstrel show on the road this February and March, but no nearby dates have been announced.
After over-performing at a benefit show in the early summer of 2008, his vocal chords hemorrhaged again, doing further damage to the original injury. The timing could not have been worse, as G. Love and Special Sauce were poised to start the biggest headline tour of their careers just weeks later. Doctors urged him to cancel or permanently risk the loss of his voice, but he refused, and remained on complete vocal rest when not on stage. In early November, G. Love underwent surgery to repair his vocal chords, a procedure that did not guarantee full recovery. After remaining on vocal rest into December, he was relieved to learn that the surgery was a success.
