Amadi Magazine interviews Gowhere Hip Hop

Sgt. Tibs & Max G.

We are proud to present another very unique interview today as the good folks at Amadi Magazine conducted an in-depth interview with us for their website and magazine. Amadi Magazine is a D.C. based online publication meant to empower, educate, and entertain the urban community. They are positively affecting culture with their outlet that covers a breadth of topics from beyond music to business, fashion, and art.

This was an interesting experience for us as we’re usually the ones asking the questions; we greatly appreciate Kanika T. at Amadi for providing us an outlet for our readers to get to know about how we got to where we are today, our future goals, and a little about ourselves in general. So without further adieu, the interview can be read below and in its entirety after the jump!

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Gowherehiphop.com is run by Max Gutnik (Max G.) and Tim Hanrahan
(Sgt. Tibs). Max G. is the designer and editor of all GWHH related
artistic content, as well as a frequent contributor and strategist for
the company. Sgt. Tibs is the chief contributor and editor. Together,
we are entrepreneurs, our own public relations, and sponsors of an
upcoming hip hop/pop duo from Chicago: LA & Mr. Music. Max G., 22,
is a student at SAIC (Art Institute of Chicago) majoring in Visual
Communications/Design. Sgt. Tibs, 21, is a student at the University of
Minnesota majoring in Architecture and minoring in Environmental
Design. We have been best friends since the 3rd grade and grew up
together liking the same music that has influenced us to this point
today.

AMADI: Can you explain to everyone the journey of Gowhere Hip Hop (GWHH)? How did y’all get started?

SGT. TIBS: Back in June of 2007, a friend of ours,
Go Katayama, started an informal hip hop blog so he can share the music
he loves with his friends. Later in the summer, Go left the States and
asked me to keep the blog going; I became very passionate right away,
sharing my old favorites and posting new material inspired by Kanye
West’s Graduation that was released that September. Max joined that
month and worked on the design for our first official website where we
then transferred from Blogspot to gowherehiphop.com by October. After
developing and building the new site we upgraded and transferred our
old content to the wordpress engine with the help of Brian Moschel (of
Jabbify.com). After more hard work and success we had just recently
transferred under the Chicago Tribune’s new umbrella company Chicago
Now, this summer. With this new merge, we hope to achieve more success
in the online and local Chicago market.

AMADI: “GOWHERE HIP HOP comes from the question of
where hip hop is going.” -(GWHH)- So where do you think Hip Hop is
going? Is it in a good direction?

MAX G.: Hip hop is definitely moving into a
positive direction. It’s constantly changing and transforming itself
into something new and innovative. We hope to become the biggest
platform that instigates such thinking, because we feel that the only
real valuable thing is intuition. It is intuition that evolves and
transforms hip hop into something fresh, real, and exciting. We’re
happy to see that hip hop is moving away from the dumbed-down crunk and
violent imagery that used to define the genre. Don’t get me wrong, that
used to be what was fresh, but it definitely got old and outplayed as
the industry only marketed what sold. Following this cycle, the
industry ended up marketing what used to sell by only allowing a
certain sound to pass through the funnel. Feeding people imitations of
what the innovators and trend setters came up with originally, really
diluted and hurt our mindsets. Now with the internet, the industry is
losing the power it had to control what sound the people will hear to
blogs. There are those industry blogs that may conform, and recycle
what is already out like before, but there are others that will provide
insight into talents that no one would have a chance to hear before. We
pride ourselves in our intuition and innovation to be the best by
providing the most unique content, and exposing unheard talent with new
sounds. Hip Hop is all about capturing our current mindset in the
present we now live in. If the music lies, we lie to ourselves. In
conclusion we are starting to become more aware of these phenomenas,
knowing that we hold the power to shape our culture and future no less
than the billion dollar man. By focusing on the positive, complex, and
unique music we transform our citizens to reciprocate these behaviors,
which is a much better direction to move in than that of violence,
materialism, and mindless chatter.

Sgt. Tibs

AMADI: I see that Gowhere Hip Hop (GWHH)’s strategy
is to focus on true talent and the underground artists. Why do you make
an effort to focus on those individuals?

SGT. TIBS: Gowhere Hip Hop is an aggregate urban
music blog that selectively focuses on true talent and underground
artists because they deserve to be heard by a wider demographic that
would otherwise have no knowledge about them. The latest mainstream
content that we post has attracted an internationally mainstream
audience. Naturally, Gowhere Hip Hop has become a platform for talented
underground artists to gain exposure from an audience who would
otherwise never pay attention to them. Our loyal readers have come to
respect our opinions and taste in music that they would check out our
recommendations, which leads to new fans of the talent.

MAX G.: We hope that this talent will bring
something new to the genre and bring about a change that best reflects
our current society. These underground artists are what society is
really feeling as opposed to what the industry knows will sell, so by
revealing the true unheard artists we will continue to feel happy as
the music we hear will reflect our current culture and mindsets.

AMADI: Tell us about your clothing line Limited G? Any new updates? Where can we view and purchase Limited G clothing?

MAX G.: Limited G is GWHH’s internal clothing line,
and Chicago’s premier limited edition apparel. The company was founded
by Max G. and is progressing slowly alongside the parent company GWHH
with help from business partner Sgt. Tibs. You can already find shirts
from Limited G in the premier Chicago urban boutique “St. Alfred” on
Milwaukee Ave, and over at the online store www.limitedg.com.
My goal with Limited G is to bring our online presence and company
image to life with art-inspired clothing that people can wear, and thus
represent what we represent. As we move forward, I envision Limited G
appearing in all of the urban boutiques across Chicago, however because
the line is very limited I would try and give those boutiques exclusive
clothing that can’t be found anywhere else. All of the clothing is done
by personally silk screening each shirt by hand; I enjoy coming up with
unique color alterations to the already available designs in order to
make it more limited and unique. It all started with the GWHH glow in
the dark tribute tees, but I hope in a few years we’ll have the
resources to move into working with more than just graphic tees, but
high end designer resources. In the meantime all of the designs that
are out and will be released are art inspired works, which all have
unique and coinciding photoshoots. If you’re interested in purchasing
any Limited G clothing, visit the online store or email us at limitedgsupport@gmail.com.

AMADI: What major music artists have you guys worked with in the past and who would you like to work with in the future?

SGT. TIBS: You know, I still have to take a step
back sometimes and count my blessings with the access we’ve had with
some of today’s hottest artists. We have interviewed the big names like
Twista, Chamillionaire, and Trey Songz, and upcoming talent in and
outside of Chicago like Matthew Santos, Melanie Fiona, Naledge and Mike
Posner, amongst others. Looking ahead to the future, we would love to
interview or collaborate closely with the city’s three biggest
mega-stars in Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, and Common. Not only the music
of all three, but the creative mindsets we see behind their music is a
chief inspiration in to what we do with Gowhere Hip Hop and to how we
live our everyday lives.

AMADI: Recently, I heard that Gowhere Hip Hop (GWHH) joined forces with the Chicago Tribune at http://chicagonow.com. Can you provide us more information about this new venture?

SGT. TIBS: The Chicago Tribune is launching a new
online venture with ChicagoNow.com that is a collection of Chicago
blogs about every topic imaginable. The idea is for ChicagoNow to
become the first place that Chicagoans go to for news, commentary, etc.
from Chicagoans who are passionate experts about their subject.
ChicagoNow also stresses its user-friendly features and is already
becoming an active place for Chicagoans and all visitors to voice their
opinion and interact with each other. This is a never before seen idea
that a major publication is trying to accomplish, to transition their
brand to an increasingly digital audience. ChicagoNow reached out to us
earlier this spring and we have since signed on and worked closely with
their team to build and customize the new website you see today. The
potential for ChicagoNow to succeed has yet to be scratched as the
Tribune Co. only just took off the beta tag on August 10th, and is now
beginning to promote the new venture to Chicagoans through all of their
outlets. Check out our ads in the complimentary Red Eye publications,
the Tribune paper, and on WGN TV and radio. We are excited to be
involved with a hard-working and intelligent team of visionaries at
ChicagoNow, and look forward to a bright future together.

AMADI: What advice would the Gowhere Hip Hop (GWHH) crew give to other inspiring entrepreneurs?

SGT. TIBS: Aspiring entreprenuers should above all
maintain patience. Ideas and business take time to develop and reach
the people. It is important to have a solid idea and business plan
before going forward. Once started, begin networking with people in
your field and genre so you can start working relationships that are
mutually beneficial to success. That said, make sure to have something
to offer. You may not have something the instant you start your venture
but you will. Finally, in addition to having patience, you have to have
the work ethic to go above and beyond, because you won’t achieve your
goals if you just go through the motions. Max and I are always up into
the wee hours of the morning, putting in extra work to get even closer
to our goals. Once you discover a unique niche and begin to brand
yourself as such, patience and hard work will lead you to where you
want to go.

AMADI: What is Gowhere Hip Hop (GWHH) crew’s long term goals and plans for the company and the brand?

SGT. TIBS: There are a lot of long-term goals we
have for Gowhere Hip Hop. With our recent ChicagoNow partnership, we
will effectively continue to brand ourselves in Chicago on top of our
already strong international audience. We pride ourselves on our
increasing amount of new features, coverage, and exclusives, which we
will only continue to post at an even larger scale. On top of our
digital influence, we hope to make a strong splash by managing and
hosting our own events. We plan to have unique events that will promote
music, art, fashion, theatre, and more to try and attract a variety of
demographics from Chicago. Gowhere Hip Hop is also the host to an
online music industry program in conjunction with Music Industry
Educators. We offer our readers the opportunity to enroll in
professional courses and learn about the music industry, whether you’re
interested in the business side of things or if you’re an aspiring
artist or producer. As Gowhere continues to get stronger, LA & Mr.
Music keep producing new material, gaining more fans, and performing
more shows, while Limited G continues to expand in Chicago boutiques
and online. All three aspects of our enterprise are in prime position
to make even more power moves as we continue to build our respective
resumes.

Max G.

AMADI: If AMADI Magazine viewers wanted to visit your websites, purchase clothing or contact you, how can they?

MAX G.: gowherehiphop.com – The #1 Chicago Hip Hop
Blog. It’s updated multiple times daily with the latest in Chicago
urban music and mainstream and underground content along with
perspective into other forms of art and entertainment with consistent
spotlights on art work, design, photography, sports, and anything
Chicago. You can find out more about our Online Music Industry Program
by visiting www.mu-ed.com/gowherehiphop
or by calling 888-432-3805. You can purchase the GWHH Tribute Tees and
more from Chicago’s premier urban fashion outlet from our clothing
line, Limited G, at limitedg.com. And of course, follow us on Twitter:
@gowherehiphop (Sgt. Tibs) and @limitedg (Max G.)!

AMADI: Would you like to shout out AMADI magazine? Are they DOPE and do you understand their passion?

SGT. TIBS: We got nothin’ but love for AMADI
Magazine! We hope our readers check out the great things you have
going. Thank you so much for the wonderful questions and keep up the
great work!