2020 has been a strange year for Tim Gent. On one hand, the Nashville rapper and songwriter has dealt with the year’s unprecedented difficulties: March’s tornado, nationwide protests for racial justice and the COVID-19 pandemic, the last of which has dealt a particularly tough blow to musicians. On the other, he’s flourishing professionally.
At the top of the year, Gent inked a publishing deal with pop powerhouse Prescription Songs, a partnership that has already netted him songwriting cuts and vastly expanded his network. In May, he dropped his first official new project since 2018, the four-track EP In Every Fall. In June, ESPN named Gent its Artist of the Month, and the rapper scored top-tier TV placement for his recently released single “Teammates.”
“I did not plan for the year to be taking place this way,” Gent tells the Scene via phone, laughing. “I miss doing shows the most. I’ve done a couple of virtual shows, which have been fun but feel more like rehearsing. … I have been spending more time with my family, which is a positive thing from this madness.”
While Gent is eager to get back to performing for an audience, he’s made use of his time in quarantine to work on new music and plot future plans for his quickly rising career. Right before the COVID lockdown, he set up a home studio and has been able to record his own music whenever inspiration strikes.
“That’s been a blessing,” he says. “Usually I would outsource to record or go do sessions. So being able to have my own setup has definitely given me some peace of mind, being able to tap in and work on the rollouts.”
Gent is currently sitting on a treasure trove of new and unreleased music, some of which he’ll include on a deluxe version of In Every Fall, slated for a Sept. 4 release. Leading up to the rerelease, Gent plans to drop a series of new singles, beginning Aug. 7.
One of those new songs is “Twelve,” a gauzy, introspective track built on the refrain, “99 problems / The police is one of them.” Gent wrote “Twelve” in 2016, but notes that the track’s message resonates deeply with current events. He explains that he never wants to capitalize on tragedy, and was reluctant to release the song amid protests against systemic racism and police brutality. But he decided to do so at the urging of those in his inner circle.
“Being sensitive to other people’s feelings and opinions, in the midst of expressing yourself freely and creating art, can definitely get a little sticky,” he says. “But I’m getting a little older. And I have a son. I’m very honest with my son — he’s 4 — while still respecting and understanding that he’s a child. With that in mind, I try to go with my gut. If it don’t feel right, I don’t do it.”
“Twelve” draws from Gent’s experiences in a way he describes as being newly vulnerable and more personal than his earlier work, including his acclaimed 2018 project Life Away From Home. One verse describes “police pulling up to my mama’s” and leaving “the house in shambles.”
He’s been working at the process of opening himself up, and you can hear it in more recent work that’s already out. The final track on In Every Fall, the powerful “What I Think Of Pt. 2,” also draws from real life in its frank depiction of what Gent felt when his younger brother was shot (not fatally, thankfully) last year. Gent was again hesitant to share the track, but ultimately decided it was a story worth sharing.
“It flowed out like water, as far as writing,” he says. “But recording it, and the emotion I get from it, it’s tough sometimes. … But that was a step for me. Even the music I’m writing now, I look at my life, and things I wouldn’t have said a year or two years ago, I’m a little more comfortable saying. Since I did that, it’s been easier for me to pull from my life and be a little more vulnerable.”
Since signing with Prescription, Gent has grown more open to co-writing and adopting a collaborative approach to putting together projects. “I look on Drake credits, and there’s 20 writers,” he says jokingly. Despite his widening network, he still works closely with longtime collaborators like Bryant Taylorr and Jamiah, the latter of whom played a major role in the evolution of Gent’s sound.
“You’re gonna hear that in the new stuff: teamwork and Jamiah,” he says, laughing.
What the rest of 2020 will look like is still a question mark for most of us, but Gent is excited to get new music out and hopes to find himself performing for live audiences as soon as he can. He has several new projects on his radar — including two song placements in the upcoming Netflix film A Violent Heart — and is constantly writing.
“We’re definitely in limbo because of COVID,” he says. “So just letting the reins loose and unloading the clip, having some fun. I’m really excited for that, for sure.”
