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Tech N9ne Interview
Author: Adam Bernard
A lot of emcees like to make the claim that they're the most successful independent rapper in the game, but Tech N9ne is one of the few who has the numbers to back up such a statement. With the release of his most recent album, the double CD Killer, Tech N9ne and his Strange Music camp are estimating that his lifetime album sales will hit the one million mark. For an independent artist to be able to say they've sold over a million albums over the span of their career is an incredible feat and this week RapReviews sat down with the man who's about to accomplish that milestone to find out more about his latest work, as well as get the full story on his near death experience, how Keyshia Cole nearly ruined his city's Summer Jam, and the Tech N9ne technique for picking up women. Adam Bernard: Let's start by talking about the new album, Killer. What made you want to use the imagery from Michael Jackson's classic, Thriller?
Tech N9ne: I had to go that route. Not Michael Jackson's personal life, per se, but his status in music. When it comes to that album, Thriller, you think of fifty million sold, a hundred million sold worldwide, it's the biggest pop album. What I was trying to say with Killer is this is going to be my biggest selling rap album to date and it's all killer no filler, so I thought I'd pay homage to Michael Jackson because that was the hilt of his music and I think this is the hilt of mine. I thought the hilt would be Everready. I thought that OK, this is where I'm gonna stay, but no, it got even better. This feels like the hilt. The reason it's a double CD is I had a lot to talk about. I write my life and I had been doing a whole lot of livin.
AB: Judging by the album's content that's for sure. Two of my personal favorite songs are "Crybaby" and "Happy Ending." Start me off with "Crybaby." Was this a topic you felt you really needed to get off your chest?
T9: Totally, man. It needed to be said. I'm in the midst of all this stuff when I'm hearing all the emcees talk about Soulja Boy and people that's on television that they think can't rap. They talk so bad about these guys when in actuality, get your money, don't hate this cat. Do your thing, there's enough money for all of us, get yours. Why hate on the next man because he's making it big? "Crybaby" is talking about those people and I had to get it off my chest because I've been wanting to say it for a long time.
AB: I think there are a lot of emcees out there who would be better served by creating something unique than by bitching that there's nothing to listen to.
T9: Exactly, create something that the masses will love. Stop crying about the next man. I do me. I'm in my own world. I don't do what Soulja Boy does, but he does what he does well, I take it. People love the dances that he comes up with. It's young music, of course it's gonna sell. Understand what it's for. Understand it has a place and there's a marketplace for that and there's a marketplace for Tech N9ne, as we can see.
AB: Moving to "Happy Ending," which is a blues song if I ever heard one, I have to ask, what happened between 2001's "This Ring" and 2008's "Happy Ending" that created such a depressed feeling in you?
T9: Different things. Imagine in your mind that you're the illest emcee on the planet, but only a handful of people are getting that. When you know that your music is for the rest of the world it makes you want to talk like Scarface. I love where we're going but we're not where we need to be just yet, so like Scarface we were saying is this is it? Is this what it's all about? This ain't it, yet. This is wonderful, where we're going, because it's spreading like a forest fire, but just imagine being that talented and you're only getting to a certain amount of people when you know your music is supposed to be for the whole world. Where is my happy ending? It's supposed to be bigger by now. That's just me being real.
AB: You also go over some relationship stuff in that song, as well.
T9: Aw man, I'm forever going to have turmoil with women because I'm girl crazy, so you're gonna hear that in my music time and time again because I'm so into women. I'm so into women they call me Georgie Porgie and you know the rest of that. Georgie Porgie pudding pie, kissed the girls and made them cry.
AB: Now, if MC Lyte reads this you gotta do a "Poor Georgie" remix.
T9: (laughs) Totally, man. That fits me so wonderfully. That's me. I'm Georgie Porgie and I'm in love with pudding pie, you know what I'm sayin?
AB: I think most of us are in love with the pudding pie.
T9: Yeah (laughs). That's me, man.
AB: Does writing a song like "Happy Ending" make you change certain aspects of your life?
T9: When I'm writing something like that it's best for me to get it out so it won't consume me, because my mind is always on it. "Last Words" is similar. When you think of "Happy Ending," the second verse, "I put my life in the music inside out / I put my heart out for people they know what the inside's bout / will they keep telling me this forever this I doubt / can never cry for help so if you're listening this my shout." That's me getting my frustration out, me being a hardcore emcee, and I had to get that out of me because I would implode if I don't.
"I'd be psychotic. I'd be in a mental institution, or I'd be in jail for taking it out on somebody, so the rhyme is the perfect outlet for me."
AB: God knows where you'd be mentally if you kept that all inside.
T9: I'd be psychotic. I'd be in a mental institution, or I'd be in jail for taking it out on somebody, so the rhyme is the perfect outlet for me. Because I'm a Scorpio male I think of things over and over and over, they play in my head over and over and over, and it can possibly drive you crazy, but if I can put it in rhyme form and make myself enjoy doing it, for this pain it's perfect therapy for me.
AB: I know you've had other outlets that didn't work out so well. You did your fair share of drugs back in the day, didn't you?
T9: Yeah I did. I almost died on ecstasy. Fifteen pills in one night. I was so happy that we were out in LA and I had opened up for Cypress Hill in San Bernardino at the Blockbuster Theater. We were outside and it was just like I was so happy that we were on that show. We started at seven o'clock at night when we got off stage. Because we were opening we started at seven o'clock and we took three (pills). Then by the time we got back to Sunset it was like 9:30pm and Sunset was packed, it was a Friday or a Saturday, so we took three more and we just kept going and didn't want to stop it. I almost died, so I had to stop. Everything I do I do excessively. My drug now is women and I love that drug. That ecstasy was going to consume me because I was in pain spiritually and that love and that pill helped me, but I never wanted to stop because whenever I came back down my real life would always kick me in the ass.
AB: You know women can be a pretty dangerous drug, too.
T9: Exactly, that's why I said in "Psycho Bitch II," "me sayin I'll never be taken by the hands of another man is a bad omen because you never know it might just be the hands of a woman." It hit me one day because I always tell my dudes it's destiny, I will never be taken by the hands of another man, that's not how I'm gonna pass. And I started thinking, wow, I deal with women, what if it's by the hands of a woman. It scared the shit outta me. I'll just leave that subject alone. Being mister pudding pie a lot of hearts are involved so you gotta be careful, you gotta tread softly, you gotta be a playa. (Sings "I'm a Playa") That's a true statement. You gotta be careful in that field.
AB: It would also help if people who were crazy wore shirts that said so.
T9: Like if you walk up to a female and she has a shirt on that says "don't have sex with me because I will lose it," or "I know I'm cute but don't have sex with me because I'm psycho." I'm with you.
AB: Moving to your live show, which I saw last year, I know you've toured with a lot of different folks, from the Suburban Noize crew to Dead Celebrity Status to Paul Wall. How do you switch things up for each set of audiences?
T9: I don't, man. When I set out to do this I want it to be for everybody, that's what my name means, Technique Number Nine, the complete technique of rhyme, so I'm the complete technique, that means I'm everything and I'm supposed to belong to everybody. With the Paul Wall crowd there might be more black folks that come to his shows than come to my shows and when I go out there on that stage with that face paint and that bishop's robe on I scare the hell outta them, but as soon as we do "Stamina" I have their attention. It's like I do me, I don't switch it up to fit the black, I don't switch it up to fit the white, I just do me and that will suffice. We make fans everywhere we go and I keep it 100% me every time.
AB: Do you get along with everybody you tour with?
T9: Totally. I never got into it with anybody. Me and Bone Thugs N Harmony were cool like family. DMX, cool like family. Busta Rhymes, cool like family. ICP, cool like family. Kottonmouth Kings, family. Ill Bill, family. All day. We're standup cats. We've never been on tour with somebody we got into with. We did get into it last month (June 24th) here in Kansas City at the Summer Jam, though. Keyshia Cole belittled me, talking shit, talking about "I'm not going on before no local motherfucker. I am this that and this that. I will not go on," and she stormed out because she had to go on before me. It was all in the papers here in KC. That was the first time we really clashed with another artist.
AB: She's too big for her britches. My friends Hushh opened for her when she played CT a while back and when they saw she was doing a show in Massachusetts this past winter they drove up to see her and hand her some beats figuring you remember the guy with no arms and no legs that opens for you, but she got out of her car, looked away and walked in, not even acknowledging them.
T9: Damn. Yeah man, I got a whiff of it, hardcore. She fucked up my whole night and that was a big night for us in Kansas City. It was the first Summer Jam the radio station ever had and it was me, Keyshia Cole, T.I., Gorilla Zoe, and some more people. It was a nice mixture of crowd. It was real good, but she put a damper on the whole night being a prima donna. I love her music and my son wanted to meet her, but he didn't get to because she was acting like that.
AB: That's terrible. So what's going on in your world, non-musically speaking?
T9: Non-musically speaking, I am partying with women. I love the female species. I am having a beautiful time. People are showing me a lot of love and I love to receive that love they give to me. That's why I sound like I'm dead right now, because I've been receiving love.
AB: OK, well, since you're a ladies man, could you finish up this interview by giving all the lovelorn fellas out there some tips on picking up members of the fairer sex?
T9: Confidence is everything. Making em laugh is everything. I'm not a comedian, but somehow they think I'm funny. If you make em laugh you can get them out of their clothes. If that doesn't work it's all about confidence, being sure of yourself. And if that doesn't work Caribou Lou will do the trick for you. All you need to make it is 151 Malibu Rum and pineapple juice and it will get them out of their clothes and fuckin you.
Author: Adam Bernard
A lot of emcees like to make the claim that they're the most successful independent rapper in the game, but Tech N9ne is one of the few who has the numbers to back up such a statement. With the release of his most recent album, the double CD Killer, Tech N9ne and his Strange Music camp are estimating that his lifetime album sales will hit the one million mark. For an independent artist to be able to say they've sold over a million albums over the span of their career is an incredible feat and this week RapReviews sat down with the man who's about to accomplish that milestone to find out more about his latest work, as well as get the full story on his near death experience, how Keyshia Cole nearly ruined his city's Summer Jam, and the Tech N9ne technique for picking up women. Adam Bernard: Let's start by talking about the new album, Killer. What made you want to use the imagery from Michael Jackson's classic, Thriller?
Tech N9ne: I had to go that route. Not Michael Jackson's personal life, per se, but his status in music. When it comes to that album, Thriller, you think of fifty million sold, a hundred million sold worldwide, it's the biggest pop album. What I was trying to say with Killer is this is going to be my biggest selling rap album to date and it's all killer no filler, so I thought I'd pay homage to Michael Jackson because that was the hilt of his music and I think this is the hilt of mine. I thought the hilt would be Everready. I thought that OK, this is where I'm gonna stay, but no, it got even better. This feels like the hilt. The reason it's a double CD is I had a lot to talk about. I write my life and I had been doing a whole lot of livin.
AB: Judging by the album's content that's for sure. Two of my personal favorite songs are "Crybaby" and "Happy Ending." Start me off with "Crybaby." Was this a topic you felt you really needed to get off your chest?
T9: Totally, man. It needed to be said. I'm in the midst of all this stuff when I'm hearing all the emcees talk about Soulja Boy and people that's on television that they think can't rap. They talk so bad about these guys when in actuality, get your money, don't hate this cat. Do your thing, there's enough money for all of us, get yours. Why hate on the next man because he's making it big? "Crybaby" is talking about those people and I had to get it off my chest because I've been wanting to say it for a long time.
AB: I think there are a lot of emcees out there who would be better served by creating something unique than by bitching that there's nothing to listen to.
T9: Exactly, create something that the masses will love. Stop crying about the next man. I do me. I'm in my own world. I don't do what Soulja Boy does, but he does what he does well, I take it. People love the dances that he comes up with. It's young music, of course it's gonna sell. Understand what it's for. Understand it has a place and there's a marketplace for that and there's a marketplace for Tech N9ne, as we can see.
AB: Moving to "Happy Ending," which is a blues song if I ever heard one, I have to ask, what happened between 2001's "This Ring" and 2008's "Happy Ending" that created such a depressed feeling in you?
T9: Different things. Imagine in your mind that you're the illest emcee on the planet, but only a handful of people are getting that. When you know that your music is for the rest of the world it makes you want to talk like Scarface. I love where we're going but we're not where we need to be just yet, so like Scarface we were saying is this is it? Is this what it's all about? This ain't it, yet. This is wonderful, where we're going, because it's spreading like a forest fire, but just imagine being that talented and you're only getting to a certain amount of people when you know your music is supposed to be for the whole world. Where is my happy ending? It's supposed to be bigger by now. That's just me being real.
"I'm forever going to have turmoil with women because I'm girl crazy, so you're gonna hear that in my music time and time again..."
AB: You also go over some relationship stuff in that song, as well.
T9: Aw man, I'm forever going to have turmoil with women because I'm girl crazy, so you're gonna hear that in my music time and time again because I'm so into women. I'm so into women they call me Georgie Porgie and you know the rest of that. Georgie Porgie pudding pie, kissed the girls and made them cry.
AB: Now, if MC Lyte reads this you gotta do a "Poor Georgie" remix.
T9: (laughs) Totally, man. That fits me so wonderfully. That's me. I'm Georgie Porgie and I'm in love with pudding pie, you know what I'm sayin?
AB: I think most of us are in love with the pudding pie.
T9: Yeah (laughs). That's me, man.
AB: Does writing a song like "Happy Ending" make you change certain aspects of your life?
T9: When I'm writing something like that it's best for me to get it out so it won't consume me, because my mind is always on it. "Last Words" is similar. When you think of "Happy Ending," the second verse, "I put my life in the music inside out / I put my heart out for people they know what the inside's bout / will they keep telling me this forever this I doubt / can never cry for help so if you're listening this my shout." That's me getting my frustration out, me being a hardcore emcee, and I had to get that out of me because I would implode if I don't.
AB: God knows where you'd be mentally if you kept that all inside.
T9: I'd be psychotic. I'd be in a mental institution, or I'd be in jail for taking it out on somebody, so the rhyme is the perfect outlet for me. Because I'm a Scorpio male I think of things over and over and over, they play in my head over and over and over, and it can possibly drive you crazy, but if I can put it in rhyme form and make myself enjoy doing it, for this pain it's perfect therapy for me.
AB: I know you've had other outlets that didn't work out so well. You did your fair share of drugs back in the day, didn't you?
T9: Yeah I did. I almost died on ecstasy. Fifteen pills in one night. I was so happy that we were out in LA and I had opened up for Cypress Hill in San Bernardino at the Blockbuster Theater. We were outside and it was just like I was so happy that we were on that show. We started at seven o'clock at night when we got off stage. Because we were opening we started at seven o'clock and we took three (pills). Then by the time we got back to Sunset it was like 9:30pm and Sunset was packed, it was a Friday or a Saturday, so we took three more and we just kept going and didn't want to stop it. I almost died, so I had to stop. Everything I do I do excessively. My drug now is women and I love that drug. That ecstasy was going to consume me because I was in pain spiritually and that love and that pill helped me, but I never wanted to stop because whenever I came back down my real life would always kick me in the ass.
AB: You know women can be a pretty dangerous drug, too.
T9: Exactly, that's why I said in "Psycho Bitch II," "me sayin I'll never be taken by the hands of another man is a bad omen because you never know it might just be the hands of a woman." It hit me one day because I always tell my dudes it's destiny, I will never be taken by the hands of another man, that's not how I'm gonna pass. And I started thinking, wow, I deal with women, what if it's by the hands of a woman. It scared the shit outta me. I'll just leave that subject alone. Being mister pudding pie a lot of hearts are involved so you gotta be careful, you gotta tread softly, you gotta be a playa. (Sings "I'm a Playa") That's a true statement. You gotta be careful in that field.
AB: It would also help if people who were crazy wore shirts that said so.
T9: Like if you walk up to a female and she has a shirt on that says "don't have sex with me because I will lose it," or "I know I'm cute but don't have sex with me because I'm psycho." I'm with you.
AB: Moving to your live show, which I saw last year, I know you've toured with a lot of different folks, from the Suburban Noize crew to Dead Celebrity Status to Paul Wall. How do you switch things up for each set of audiences?
T9: I don't, man. When I set out to do this I want it to be for everybody, that's what my name means, Technique Number Nine, the complete technique of rhyme, so I'm the complete technique, that means I'm everything and I'm supposed to belong to everybody. With the Paul Wall crowd there might be more black folks that come to his shows than come to my shows and when I go out there on that stage with that face paint and that bishop's robe on I scare the hell outta them, but as soon as we do "Stamina" I have their attention. It's like I do me, I don't switch it up to fit the black, I don't switch it up to fit the white, I just do me and that will suffice. We make fans everywhere we go and I keep it 100% me every time.
"Keyshia Cole belittled me, talking about 'I'm not going on before no local motherfucker.' She stormed out because she had to go on before me."
AB: Do you get along with everybody you tour with?
T9: Totally. I never got into it with anybody. Me and Bone Thugs N Harmony were cool like family. DMX, cool like family. Busta Rhymes, cool like family. ICP, cool like family. Kottonmouth Kings, family. Ill Bill, family. All day. We're standup cats. We've never been on tour with somebody we got into with. We did get into it last month (June 24th) here in Kansas City at the Summer Jam, though. Keyshia Cole belittled me, talking shit, talking about "I'm not going on before no local motherfucker. I am this that and this that. I will not go on," and she stormed out because she had to go on before me. It was all in the papers here in KC. That was the first time we really clashed with another artist.
AB: She's too big for her britches. My friends Hushh opened for her when she played CT a while back and when they saw she was doing a show in Massachusetts this past winter they drove up to see her and hand her some beats figuring you remember the guy with no arms and no legs that opens for you, but she got out of her car, looked away and walked in, not even acknowledging them.
T9: Damn. Yeah man, I got a whiff of it, hardcore. She fucked up my whole night and that was a big night for us in Kansas City. It was the first Summer Jam the radio station ever had and it was me, Keyshia Cole, T.I., Gorilla Zoe, and some more people. It was a nice mixture of crowd. It was real good, but she put a damper on the whole night being a prima donna. I love her music and my son wanted to meet her, but he didn't get to because she was acting like that.
AB: That's terrible. So what's going on in your world, non-musically speaking?
T9: Non-musically speaking, I am partying with women. I love the female species. I am having a beautiful time. People are showing me a lot of love and I love to receive that love they give to me. That's why I sound like I'm dead right now, because I've been receiving love.
AB: OK, well, since you're a ladies man, could you finish up this interview by giving all the lovelorn fellas out there some tips on picking up members of the fairer sex?
T9: Confidence is everything. Making em laugh is everything. I'm not a comedian, but somehow they think I'm funny. If you make em laugh you can get them out of their clothes. If that doesn't work it's all about confidence, being sure of yourself. And if that doesn't work Caribou Lou will do the trick for you. All you need to make it is 151 Malibu Rum and pineapple juice and it will get them out of their clothes and fuckin you.
Tech N9ne :: Killer :: Strange Music/Fontana Distribution
as reviewed by Matt Jost
A man who has migrated from Egypt to Europe recently made an interesting observation. He speaks the local language fairly well but not well enough for an occupation that would match his professional qualifications. The topic of our conversation was how you present yourself in a job interview. A social worker mentioned to him that like many immigrants who painstakingly have to learn a foreign language, he uses phrases that may sound correct to his ears but tend to get misinterpreted by native speakers. When for instance asked why he's just the man for the job he applies for, he replies with "One has to be able (to perform such and such task)." The objectionable term was "One has to...," and the social worker tried to get him to speak in a more affirming tone by saying "I can (perform such and such task, that's why you should hire me)." This led to a discussion about cultural differences, with the Egyptian pointing out that where he is from there is one specific character who always says "I... I..." and "Me... me..." - Shaytan. Satan.
Rap is an exceptionally self-centered form of music, even for the comfortably self-centered genre of pop music. The songwriting is mostly done in the first person, and rappers can't avoid the I pronoun for long, unquestionably the artform's most often used subject. Even when they find a stand-in like your boy or a nigga that factors in someone outside of the I, rap is foremost a protagonist-driven medium. As such it clearly reflects our individualistic Western society where it's often every man for himself. And yet rap is also the one form of popular music that has adopted the term representative to describe its artists, as if being a rapper makes you an ambassador or ambassadress of a particular place or people.
Anyone with a passing knowledge of this music knows that the first impression of rappers as egomaniacs usually makes way for an understanding for where a representative is coming from, not just literally, but on a social, personal and perhaps even psychological level. As B-Real once urged in one of rap's most important moments of clarity, "How you know where I'm at when you haven't been where I've been? Understand where I'm comin' from!" Rappers take a lot of time and a lot of words to make us understand where they are coming from, and not all of them are as convincing as we wish them to be. However, there may come a time when you've heard the same story - be it true or false - too many times and look for rappers that occasionally leave you guessing where they're coming from.
Kansas City's Tech N9ne is one such rap artist who defies clear-cut definition. He recalls MC's that in one way or another find or have found themselves on the periphery of the rap map. Individualists that stand out due sometimes to location, and always to style. Chamillionaire. Sir Mix-A-Lot. Twista. Krayzie Bone. C-Bo. Ludacris. Yukmouth. Eminem. Mac Dre. That's a motley crew to be compared to, but upon close inspection Tech possesses traits of all of the above, and "Killer," his new double disc, equips him with enough quality material to get him aligned with these often more prominent figures.
Musically and lyrically "Killer" pulls out almost all the stops. A relentless live performer, Tecca Nina makes sure to include several tracks that are bound to connect with both his cult following as well as any open-minded concert goer. On lead single "Everybody Move" his flow jumps from Luda to Twista and back, always in command of a Wyshmaster track that is highly dynamic in its own right and at the same time commanding us, "Don't be cool, everybody move!" YoungFyre directs "Like Yeah" with stuttering snares and menacing horns as Tech channels West Coast dons C-Bo and Mix-A-Lot at their most intense. Meanwhile, "Shit Is Real" offers up escapism in the form of a rock-meets-rap-meets-reggae fusion whose hook declares: "We party cause we in pain, we party to celebrate / to keep from goin' insane, we party just to escape." "Crybaby," which blasts bitching rappers, is sure to have the audience join in the lampooning with sarcastic "waaaah, waaaah"'s.
Longtime fans might not as instantly relate to "Wheaties," a glossy club track with an Akon-like hook and a guest verse by Shawnna. Paul Wall isn't that surprising a feature since the two toured together, and it's typical of Tech to let relative unknown MC The Popper star alongside the big name on "Get the Fuck Outta Here." He also teams up with tourmates Kottonmouth Kings and Hed PE on "I Am Everything," the latest evidence that rappers are the new rockstars, catering to a particularly persistent rock cliché with its sinister "I am everything you ever been afraid of" chorus. For those who like it a little bit more elaborate, "Paint a Dark Picture" is an impressive line of argument for an artist's power to paint it black like the Rolling Stones in '66, framed hauntingly by the Chamillionaire-style hook "I can write a verse and take the sun away / Say goodbye to light because it's gone today / Ain't no smilin' happiness, it's done away / Watch me paint a pic that'll make you run away."
Tech N9ne has never been afraid to get in touch with his dark side, but "Killer" finds him trying to move away from the black holes of obsession and depression. A flashback to "Suicide Letters" (from his "Anghellic" album), "Happy Ending" asks if it will all end on a good note for a man who claims to be numb but whose poetic sense says otherwise: "What I bled froze / so now that I'm cold-blooded and hella sick is what the med shows / The tread slows, and don't even think you revivin' a dead rose." "One Good Time" is a sincere and despite the pop backdrop not sappy plea to be able to shed tears:
"I look at actors cryin' as easy as fondue
But what do you do when extreme hurt is upon you?
Real life ain't no movie, homie, and this ain't John Woo
But I almost lost it an the ending of _John Q_
And I almost lost it when Jennifer Hudson blew
But I'm still waitin' for that real emotion to come through"
The simultaneously defensive and frank "Holier than Thou" relates how Tech and his entourage in vain seeked the counseling of a gospel rapper they highly estimate. The idea seems strange stated on an album that would never fly with hardcore Christians. But it reveals a rapper who at least in theory knows right from wrong. Ultimately, however, Tech N9ne will always be on the side of the sceptics. On "Hope for a Higher Power" he understands the need for a supreme being in view of "all these tragedies" and "catastrophies," he just has a hard time believing in it:
"If He or She is listenin' - a mere sign can spark me
but if the laws in the Bible are bogus, then prepare for anarchy
Worst case scenario is it never ever was a higher power
So in the midst of chaos now the only real savior is firepower"
"Hope for a Higher Power" isn't exactly up to theological speed as Tech comes across like Charlton Heston switching between Moses and NRA president, and in his role as devil's advocate goes as far as to quote infamous cult leader Jim Jones. Still, like many other songs on "Killer," it has its sometimes disarmingly and sometimes bizzarely honest moments. The album finds a worthy conclusion in "Last Words," possibly the only track to incorporate a sample, a soulful, symphonic tune with a medieval touch courtesy of Michael 'Seven' Summers, and a great summarization of Tech N9ne the artist and Aaron D. Yates the person.
Why should anyone feel inclined to purchase a 32-track album named "Killer" by a rapper named after a firearm? Here's why. Tech N9ne has turned into a genuinely interesting rapper. Technically, he is one of the last MC's who exhibits flow versatility, and the dimension and the precision of it are nothing short of breathtaking. Lyrically, he covers many bases from introspection to wordplay to plain old sick shit. If he was on a Biggie or Pac level, this would be his "Life After Death" or "All Eyez on Me," an ambitious double album that reflects the many issues on the artist's mind and his ability to put them into song form. His music has become more accessible over the years, maybe causing the brand name Tech N9ne to lose some of its edge. About a third of the tracks are simply crazy, but the rest consists of beats that sacrifice originality for quality. Often what saves the music from mediocrity are the vocal performances, which explicitly include the spectacular Krizz Kaliko, who lends his impressive vocal range to more than a few tracks.
The main criticism regarding technicalities would be that the song sequence isn't always stringent and that not one moment of silence separates the tracks. According to Tech, the album title is not just an excuse to (marvelously) parody the cover of the best-selling album of all time, Michael Jackson's "Thriller," it means that the release contains all killer and no filler. Which is more wishful thinking than anything, as especially the second disc has its share of filler. The sexually explicit tracks offer up different strokes, with "The Sexorcist" being the most original song and "Drill Team" the most pointless, hardly distinguishable from "Beat You Up," which sounds too much like a Shady Records derivative. "Pillow Talkin'" is an okay adaption of the (not-so-original) trust-no-bitch theme but features a subpar Scarface verse. With "Why You Ain't Call Me" Tech risks being called a crybaby himself, and "Too Much" is much too short for a song that could have been disc one's grand finale.
The filler notwithstanding, "Killer" should go down as one of the year's key releases. Songs like "Psycho Bitch II" and "I Love You But Fuck You" are not just vintage Tech material, they show him at the height of his craft. The should-be-single "The Waitress" displays his lighter side, while "Blackboy" with veterans Brother J and Ice Cube articulately points out persistent prejudices, its host sarcastically asking, "I'm the Author of Darkness and I like the opera / so why when I'm at Macbeth they won't treat me mo' properer?" What do Macbeth, the opera and this Author of Darkness' latest have in common? They all constitute art, and art is for the artist always a personal thing. That's why rappers, who often come from a background that inspires them to take things a bit more personal, tend to talk about themselves, first and foremost. As he recounts in "Crybaby," Tech N9ne's Christian mother might have called rap "the evil music of today," but rappers, while talking about themselves, taught young Aaron a language in which he could reason with himself. Rap provided him with a stage to fight his demons, and there's nothing evil or satanic about that, it's profoundly human.
Music Vibes: 9 of 10 Lyric Vibes: 8.5 of 10 TOTAL Vibes: 8.5 of 10
as reviewed by Matt Jost
Rap is an exceptionally self-centered form of music, even for the comfortably self-centered genre of pop music. The songwriting is mostly done in the first person, and rappers can't avoid the I pronoun for long, unquestionably the artform's most often used subject. Even when they find a stand-in like your boy or a nigga that factors in someone outside of the I, rap is foremost a protagonist-driven medium. As such it clearly reflects our individualistic Western society where it's often every man for himself. And yet rap is also the one form of popular music that has adopted the term representative to describe its artists, as if being a rapper makes you an ambassador or ambassadress of a particular place or people.
Anyone with a passing knowledge of this music knows that the first impression of rappers as egomaniacs usually makes way for an understanding for where a representative is coming from, not just literally, but on a social, personal and perhaps even psychological level. As B-Real once urged in one of rap's most important moments of clarity, "How you know where I'm at when you haven't been where I've been? Understand where I'm comin' from!" Rappers take a lot of time and a lot of words to make us understand where they are coming from, and not all of them are as convincing as we wish them to be. However, there may come a time when you've heard the same story - be it true or false - too many times and look for rappers that occasionally leave you guessing where they're coming from.
Kansas City's Tech N9ne is one such rap artist who defies clear-cut definition. He recalls MC's that in one way or another find or have found themselves on the periphery of the rap map. Individualists that stand out due sometimes to location, and always to style. Chamillionaire. Sir Mix-A-Lot. Twista. Krayzie Bone. C-Bo. Ludacris. Yukmouth. Eminem. Mac Dre. That's a motley crew to be compared to, but upon close inspection Tech possesses traits of all of the above, and "Killer," his new double disc, equips him with enough quality material to get him aligned with these often more prominent figures.
Musically and lyrically "Killer" pulls out almost all the stops. A relentless live performer, Tecca Nina makes sure to include several tracks that are bound to connect with both his cult following as well as any open-minded concert goer. On lead single "Everybody Move" his flow jumps from Luda to Twista and back, always in command of a Wyshmaster track that is highly dynamic in its own right and at the same time commanding us, "Don't be cool, everybody move!" YoungFyre directs "Like Yeah" with stuttering snares and menacing horns as Tech channels West Coast dons C-Bo and Mix-A-Lot at their most intense. Meanwhile, "Shit Is Real" offers up escapism in the form of a rock-meets-rap-meets-reggae fusion whose hook declares: "We party cause we in pain, we party to celebrate / to keep from goin' insane, we party just to escape." "Crybaby," which blasts bitching rappers, is sure to have the audience join in the lampooning with sarcastic "waaaah, waaaah"'s.
Longtime fans might not as instantly relate to "Wheaties," a glossy club track with an Akon-like hook and a guest verse by Shawnna. Paul Wall isn't that surprising a feature since the two toured together, and it's typical of Tech to let relative unknown MC The Popper star alongside the big name on "Get the Fuck Outta Here." He also teams up with tourmates Kottonmouth Kings and Hed PE on "I Am Everything," the latest evidence that rappers are the new rockstars, catering to a particularly persistent rock cliché with its sinister "I am everything you ever been afraid of" chorus. For those who like it a little bit more elaborate, "Paint a Dark Picture" is an impressive line of argument for an artist's power to paint it black like the Rolling Stones in '66, framed hauntingly by the Chamillionaire-style hook "I can write a verse and take the sun away / Say goodbye to light because it's gone today / Ain't no smilin' happiness, it's done away / Watch me paint a pic that'll make you run away."
Tech N9ne has never been afraid to get in touch with his dark side, but "Killer" finds him trying to move away from the black holes of obsession and depression. A flashback to "Suicide Letters" (from his "Anghellic" album), "Happy Ending" asks if it will all end on a good note for a man who claims to be numb but whose poetic sense says otherwise: "What I bled froze / so now that I'm cold-blooded and hella sick is what the med shows / The tread slows, and don't even think you revivin' a dead rose." "One Good Time" is a sincere and despite the pop backdrop not sappy plea to be able to shed tears:
"I look at actors cryin' as easy as fondue
But what do you do when extreme hurt is upon you?
Real life ain't no movie, homie, and this ain't John Woo
But I almost lost it an the ending of _John Q_
And I almost lost it when Jennifer Hudson blew
But I'm still waitin' for that real emotion to come through"
The simultaneously defensive and frank "Holier than Thou" relates how Tech and his entourage in vain seeked the counseling of a gospel rapper they highly estimate. The idea seems strange stated on an album that would never fly with hardcore Christians. But it reveals a rapper who at least in theory knows right from wrong. Ultimately, however, Tech N9ne will always be on the side of the sceptics. On "Hope for a Higher Power" he understands the need for a supreme being in view of "all these tragedies" and "catastrophies," he just has a hard time believing in it:
"If He or She is listenin' - a mere sign can spark me
but if the laws in the Bible are bogus, then prepare for anarchy
Worst case scenario is it never ever was a higher power
So in the midst of chaos now the only real savior is firepower"
"Hope for a Higher Power" isn't exactly up to theological speed as Tech comes across like Charlton Heston switching between Moses and NRA president, and in his role as devil's advocate goes as far as to quote infamous cult leader Jim Jones. Still, like many other songs on "Killer," it has its sometimes disarmingly and sometimes bizzarely honest moments. The album finds a worthy conclusion in "Last Words," possibly the only track to incorporate a sample, a soulful, symphonic tune with a medieval touch courtesy of Michael 'Seven' Summers, and a great summarization of Tech N9ne the artist and Aaron D. Yates the person.
Why should anyone feel inclined to purchase a 32-track album named "Killer" by a rapper named after a firearm? Here's why. Tech N9ne has turned into a genuinely interesting rapper. Technically, he is one of the last MC's who exhibits flow versatility, and the dimension and the precision of it are nothing short of breathtaking. Lyrically, he covers many bases from introspection to wordplay to plain old sick shit. If he was on a Biggie or Pac level, this would be his "Life After Death" or "All Eyez on Me," an ambitious double album that reflects the many issues on the artist's mind and his ability to put them into song form. His music has become more accessible over the years, maybe causing the brand name Tech N9ne to lose some of its edge. About a third of the tracks are simply crazy, but the rest consists of beats that sacrifice originality for quality. Often what saves the music from mediocrity are the vocal performances, which explicitly include the spectacular Krizz Kaliko, who lends his impressive vocal range to more than a few tracks.
The main criticism regarding technicalities would be that the song sequence isn't always stringent and that not one moment of silence separates the tracks. According to Tech, the album title is not just an excuse to (marvelously) parody the cover of the best-selling album of all time, Michael Jackson's "Thriller," it means that the release contains all killer and no filler. Which is more wishful thinking than anything, as especially the second disc has its share of filler. The sexually explicit tracks offer up different strokes, with "The Sexorcist" being the most original song and "Drill Team" the most pointless, hardly distinguishable from "Beat You Up," which sounds too much like a Shady Records derivative. "Pillow Talkin'" is an okay adaption of the (not-so-original) trust-no-bitch theme but features a subpar Scarface verse. With "Why You Ain't Call Me" Tech risks being called a crybaby himself, and "Too Much" is much too short for a song that could have been disc one's grand finale.
The filler notwithstanding, "Killer" should go down as one of the year's key releases. Songs like "Psycho Bitch II" and "I Love You But Fuck You" are not just vintage Tech material, they show him at the height of his craft. The should-be-single "The Waitress" displays his lighter side, while "Blackboy" with veterans Brother J and Ice Cube articulately points out persistent prejudices, its host sarcastically asking, "I'm the Author of Darkness and I like the opera / so why when I'm at Macbeth they won't treat me mo' properer?" What do Macbeth, the opera and this Author of Darkness' latest have in common? They all constitute art, and art is for the artist always a personal thing. That's why rappers, who often come from a background that inspires them to take things a bit more personal, tend to talk about themselves, first and foremost. As he recounts in "Crybaby," Tech N9ne's Christian mother might have called rap "the evil music of today," but rappers, while talking about themselves, taught young Aaron a language in which he could reason with himself. Rap provided him with a stage to fight his demons, and there's nothing evil or satanic about that, it's profoundly human.
Music Vibes: 9 of 10 Lyric Vibes: 8.5 of 10 TOTAL Vibes: 8.5 of 10
