Tech N9ne - Escaping The Abyss Pt. 1 Interview
- Thread starter ECF'NW
- Start date
Tech N9ne - Escaping The Abyss Pt. 1
Posted: Tuesday - March 9, 2010 | Comments (0)
Tech N9ne German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, eloquently warns, "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes into you."
Tech N9ne has escaped the abyss. After becoming baptized in that vacuous pit of personal despair, the Kansas-City rhymespitter remerged with K.O.D. This tenth studio-album possesses the afflicted testament of a man in pain. In the first half of this exclusive, two-part interview, Tech N9ne explains everything from slipping into the consuming abyss, almost dying because of his drug addiction, to the power of God's resurrecting love.
The overall tone of K.O.D. reminded me of Absolute Power, in terms of the raw reaction and emotion. From the original concept to the mastering the final track, what are your thoughts on the album's evolution?
Well, everybody that bought that album knows that it was inspired by my sick mother. A lot of people say that it reminds them of the older material. There's more pain, it's more like Anghellic, more like Absolute Power. I really don't compare it to that; but my pain exists on that album. So it took me on a rampage. I did a whole album dedicated to my darkness, my anger, my madness. All of those stories took me deep down into that hole. I never want to be deep down in that hole ever again because it was hard to get out. What I'm trying to do now is come out of my darkness. There's five extra songs that are going to come out around April, they're called the Lost Scripts Of K.O.D. It's going to be the last of darkness. I'm trying to go into the second collabo album; I'm trying to go into the light. You know what I'm saying, it took me, literally, deep down. When my mom came out of her sickness -- you know what I mean -- it's time for me to move on, somewhere else. Now that I made that dark album I pray that it's the last one like it. I don't want to be there no more.
You've been quoted as saying, "I was actually running from songs on this album." Right now, Low is my favorite track from K.O.D. The way that the strings ache in tandem with your angst filled lyrics; it's beautiful.
Low, I ran from for a long time because I knew it was going to take me deeper down that hole. That's why I only did two verses because if I were to go any further, I would have lost myself. That's why that song only has two verses. The beat alone let me know that before I wrote it, it was going to take me all the way there.
[Starts rhyming] "How could I be so down at a time like this, when I'm high like this/ On the Billboard charts, when the major tours, overseas tour, when I fly like this/ I be thinking about the people that need me/ They needy and all of the pain that I might miss/ Sooner or later, it seeks me, reach me, then bleed me/ Deep in the rain inside my pit/ I'm going down now; because, my mom frowns."
It's like, I knew it was going to take me there, you know what I'm saying. I ran from it; but it makes for beautiful music. I'm glad you enjoy it because that's my true feelings right there. I couldn't take it past two verses because I was losing myself.
[Sings the hook] "I'm sinking again, I'm drinking again/ Drowning in water but breathing again/ It's easy to sin when you're bleeding within/ Needing to grin, cheesing preceding this pen/ Lower than low, lower than low/ That's I feel in the morning."
I was going deeper and deeper down in the hole on that one. So with those two verses, I was reaching to God. It makes for a beautiful song. Even on the video, it made it even sadder. When I first saw the video, I was like, "Damn!"
Which tracks demanded the most from you and where these the most cathartic?
It would have to be between Low and Killing You. Killing You was hard to listen to, especially the messages. Some of the verses weren't nice; but there's a real important message in the last one. It made me cringe for somebody to call me a devil. If you've known me for years, you know that I hate for people to call me devil or, a devil worshiper. To hear a person talk like that about me and mean it -- it was hard putting that in the song. And it was hard rapping about myself; I was giving up the game on myself. If you listen to the lyrics it will let you know what I am. It's like, it's just gives away all of me as a person and my ways with women. That's why the main vocal had an effect on it. I didn't want people to decipher, I didn't want it to be easy to be heard because it's embarrassing. I was giving instructions.
I was saying, "So what if you say you want forever dingdong/ That just will make you just meaner/ It's a mistake to love Nina/ It sucks to hate the one thing that makes you come clean/ Then breaks and just leaves ya/ I'm just a fucked up individual/ ...you should have stayed away when I told ya/ You wanted to stay when I'm rover/ I think it's safe to say that my fate's to lay alone when I'm older/ ...my kiss is killing you, wake up and it's over."
It's like giving myself away to a woman; not in a good way. It's not in my favor.
When I first listened to it I thought you were trying to excuse your behaviour. You're telling them I'm going to be a dog and this is what it is, from jump.
Nah, that ain't really what I'm saying. I'm saying that I don't mean to be a dog. I don't mean to hurt but something in me is just girl crazy. I don't mean to hurt. I do a good job at protecting lines. I do, usually it's the females that breaks them. She's the one that spills the beans. Like with the stripper before me and my wife separated -- we were having an affair, for a minute, she fell in love with me and she felt compelled to tell my wife. Even though when she met me she knew that I had a wife. She felt compelled to let my wife hear a tape of us talking about an abortion...
It fucked up or you fucked it up?
Really, I fucked it up being the beast that I am. So, it's like something that I've been knowing about myself for years. I don't condone it. It's just that I've fucked up a lot due to my love for women. I've gotten a lot better in my later years. I can say that.
On Horns I thought that the hook is poignant. "I live with horns so, I'll die with the horns/ If you fuck with the horns/ Then you'll get the horns." That made me think of Nietzsche's quote, "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes into you." During this period of personal tribulations how'd you prevent yourself from being engulfed by negativity?
I think it's a weak thing; giving into it is a weak thing, to me. Like my tattoo on my arm -- Liberate Me -- to me that was a weak ass statement. Asking God to take you away from here and to kill you because nobody understands you down here; so, you're ready to go. You know what I'm sizzling? That's like accepting the evil, and accepting the lies. You got to be disciplined and you gotta be strong. And that's something I wasn't, especially with the help of ecstasy. So, I just took on that form. Like, okay, take me, bitch. You know what I'm saying, let's go. Let's go have sex, that's what I live for, let's go! And ecstasy pushed me even further so, I accepted that evil. I lived it and I wore that motherfucking jacket, like a motherfucker. I went harder than most. Fucking bitches until they needed ice pack on they pussies. I was fucking them, literally, 20 rounds, back then.
I went all the way in with lust. That's my evil. That's why they can call me a demon, if lust is supposed to be of the devil. So, I wore that. I was like, "If you fuck with the horns I'll give you the horns." I accepted it because being horny is supposed to be of the devil; because the devil is supposed to have horns or whatever. From what the Bible says and what television says the devil is supposed to have horns. So, horny is coming from that. If that's truly what I am, that's the demon in me and I accepted it. But I found a way out of it.
How did you exorcise that demon?
How did I exorcise that demon -- staying busy! Staying busy and I just stopped doing that drug. And I haven't put myself around the people that I was around, like when I was doing that shit. I said, a wise man told me, "Evil was lurking and then she found it. Try your best to not put yourself around it. When you're in it you tend to push yourself to the limit. But then when the sin beginning you wish you would stayed grounded." I said that on Killer on Holier Than Thou.
You can't put yourself around that shit. My fans kept throwing ecstasy on stage and I'd pick it up and I'd give it to my dudes. It would make my stomach hurt when I picked it up because my body misses it. My body can feel it when it's near. That's how serious it was. I was running on ecstasy. My body was running on ecstasy. It was about to shut down but it was running me. I just had to stop that shit and that exorcised a lot of my demons. A lot of the bitches that I used to fuck with on the road, back then when I was on it, they can't even get on the bus right now. They'll be waiting outside like, "Damn Tech, you don't know me no more?" That hurts me because I know that they were close to me. I can't have that shit around me. If I go back and relapse, you know what I'm saying, I'm going to die. I ain't about to die; because, my kids need me. So, I can't let no stupid ass chemical take me out of here with me being stupid.
Within the last year, your mother, a devout Christian nearly lost her life to illness. As you witnessed her deteriorating health, how did that affect your relationship with God?
It made me question God. It made me say, "Show me something that says you. So I'll know that it's you that I'm praying to everyday, every minute on the hour." Every second, when I wake up, when I get on a plane, I'm always praying. So my mama, being the angel that she is, she's been tormented all her life, through epilepsy now through lupus. And throughout that time was when I almost lost here, that's when K.O.D. was written. You know, it made me say, please show me something. Let me know that someone is listening when I'm down on my knees. Show me a ghost. I'm not denouncing God or anything like I don't believe in him. I'm at 99%, I want to be a 100%. That's the only thing it did. But me and my mama made it through all that. So, it made me look like, "Wow, God is good!"
- By Niki Gatewood
Posted: Tuesday - March 9, 2010 | Comments (0)
Tech N9ne German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, eloquently warns, "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes into you."
Tech N9ne has escaped the abyss. After becoming baptized in that vacuous pit of personal despair, the Kansas-City rhymespitter remerged with K.O.D. This tenth studio-album possesses the afflicted testament of a man in pain. In the first half of this exclusive, two-part interview, Tech N9ne explains everything from slipping into the consuming abyss, almost dying because of his drug addiction, to the power of God's resurrecting love.
The overall tone of K.O.D. reminded me of Absolute Power, in terms of the raw reaction and emotion. From the original concept to the mastering the final track, what are your thoughts on the album's evolution?
Well, everybody that bought that album knows that it was inspired by my sick mother. A lot of people say that it reminds them of the older material. There's more pain, it's more like Anghellic, more like Absolute Power. I really don't compare it to that; but my pain exists on that album. So it took me on a rampage. I did a whole album dedicated to my darkness, my anger, my madness. All of those stories took me deep down into that hole. I never want to be deep down in that hole ever again because it was hard to get out. What I'm trying to do now is come out of my darkness. There's five extra songs that are going to come out around April, they're called the Lost Scripts Of K.O.D. It's going to be the last of darkness. I'm trying to go into the second collabo album; I'm trying to go into the light. You know what I'm saying, it took me, literally, deep down. When my mom came out of her sickness -- you know what I mean -- it's time for me to move on, somewhere else. Now that I made that dark album I pray that it's the last one like it. I don't want to be there no more.
You've been quoted as saying, "I was actually running from songs on this album." Right now, Low is my favorite track from K.O.D. The way that the strings ache in tandem with your angst filled lyrics; it's beautiful.
Low, I ran from for a long time because I knew it was going to take me deeper down that hole. That's why I only did two verses because if I were to go any further, I would have lost myself. That's why that song only has two verses. The beat alone let me know that before I wrote it, it was going to take me all the way there.
[Starts rhyming] "How could I be so down at a time like this, when I'm high like this/ On the Billboard charts, when the major tours, overseas tour, when I fly like this/ I be thinking about the people that need me/ They needy and all of the pain that I might miss/ Sooner or later, it seeks me, reach me, then bleed me/ Deep in the rain inside my pit/ I'm going down now; because, my mom frowns."
It's like, I knew it was going to take me there, you know what I'm saying. I ran from it; but it makes for beautiful music. I'm glad you enjoy it because that's my true feelings right there. I couldn't take it past two verses because I was losing myself.
[Sings the hook] "I'm sinking again, I'm drinking again/ Drowning in water but breathing again/ It's easy to sin when you're bleeding within/ Needing to grin, cheesing preceding this pen/ Lower than low, lower than low/ That's I feel in the morning."
I was going deeper and deeper down in the hole on that one. So with those two verses, I was reaching to God. It makes for a beautiful song. Even on the video, it made it even sadder. When I first saw the video, I was like, "Damn!"
Which tracks demanded the most from you and where these the most cathartic?
It would have to be between Low and Killing You. Killing You was hard to listen to, especially the messages. Some of the verses weren't nice; but there's a real important message in the last one. It made me cringe for somebody to call me a devil. If you've known me for years, you know that I hate for people to call me devil or, a devil worshiper. To hear a person talk like that about me and mean it -- it was hard putting that in the song. And it was hard rapping about myself; I was giving up the game on myself. If you listen to the lyrics it will let you know what I am. It's like, it's just gives away all of me as a person and my ways with women. That's why the main vocal had an effect on it. I didn't want people to decipher, I didn't want it to be easy to be heard because it's embarrassing. I was giving instructions.
I was saying, "So what if you say you want forever dingdong/ That just will make you just meaner/ It's a mistake to love Nina/ It sucks to hate the one thing that makes you come clean/ Then breaks and just leaves ya/ I'm just a fucked up individual/ ...you should have stayed away when I told ya/ You wanted to stay when I'm rover/ I think it's safe to say that my fate's to lay alone when I'm older/ ...my kiss is killing you, wake up and it's over."
It's like giving myself away to a woman; not in a good way. It's not in my favor.
When I first listened to it I thought you were trying to excuse your behaviour. You're telling them I'm going to be a dog and this is what it is, from jump.
Nah, that ain't really what I'm saying. I'm saying that I don't mean to be a dog. I don't mean to hurt but something in me is just girl crazy. I don't mean to hurt. I do a good job at protecting lines. I do, usually it's the females that breaks them. She's the one that spills the beans. Like with the stripper before me and my wife separated -- we were having an affair, for a minute, she fell in love with me and she felt compelled to tell my wife. Even though when she met me she knew that I had a wife. She felt compelled to let my wife hear a tape of us talking about an abortion...
It fucked up or you fucked it up?
Really, I fucked it up being the beast that I am. So, it's like something that I've been knowing about myself for years. I don't condone it. It's just that I've fucked up a lot due to my love for women. I've gotten a lot better in my later years. I can say that.
On Horns I thought that the hook is poignant. "I live with horns so, I'll die with the horns/ If you fuck with the horns/ Then you'll get the horns." That made me think of Nietzsche's quote, "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes into you." During this period of personal tribulations how'd you prevent yourself from being engulfed by negativity?
I think it's a weak thing; giving into it is a weak thing, to me. Like my tattoo on my arm -- Liberate Me -- to me that was a weak ass statement. Asking God to take you away from here and to kill you because nobody understands you down here; so, you're ready to go. You know what I'm sizzling? That's like accepting the evil, and accepting the lies. You got to be disciplined and you gotta be strong. And that's something I wasn't, especially with the help of ecstasy. So, I just took on that form. Like, okay, take me, bitch. You know what I'm saying, let's go. Let's go have sex, that's what I live for, let's go! And ecstasy pushed me even further so, I accepted that evil. I lived it and I wore that motherfucking jacket, like a motherfucker. I went harder than most. Fucking bitches until they needed ice pack on they pussies. I was fucking them, literally, 20 rounds, back then.
I went all the way in with lust. That's my evil. That's why they can call me a demon, if lust is supposed to be of the devil. So, I wore that. I was like, "If you fuck with the horns I'll give you the horns." I accepted it because being horny is supposed to be of the devil; because the devil is supposed to have horns or whatever. From what the Bible says and what television says the devil is supposed to have horns. So, horny is coming from that. If that's truly what I am, that's the demon in me and I accepted it. But I found a way out of it.
How did you exorcise that demon?
How did I exorcise that demon -- staying busy! Staying busy and I just stopped doing that drug. And I haven't put myself around the people that I was around, like when I was doing that shit. I said, a wise man told me, "Evil was lurking and then she found it. Try your best to not put yourself around it. When you're in it you tend to push yourself to the limit. But then when the sin beginning you wish you would stayed grounded." I said that on Killer on Holier Than Thou.
You can't put yourself around that shit. My fans kept throwing ecstasy on stage and I'd pick it up and I'd give it to my dudes. It would make my stomach hurt when I picked it up because my body misses it. My body can feel it when it's near. That's how serious it was. I was running on ecstasy. My body was running on ecstasy. It was about to shut down but it was running me. I just had to stop that shit and that exorcised a lot of my demons. A lot of the bitches that I used to fuck with on the road, back then when I was on it, they can't even get on the bus right now. They'll be waiting outside like, "Damn Tech, you don't know me no more?" That hurts me because I know that they were close to me. I can't have that shit around me. If I go back and relapse, you know what I'm saying, I'm going to die. I ain't about to die; because, my kids need me. So, I can't let no stupid ass chemical take me out of here with me being stupid.
Within the last year, your mother, a devout Christian nearly lost her life to illness. As you witnessed her deteriorating health, how did that affect your relationship with God?
It made me question God. It made me say, "Show me something that says you. So I'll know that it's you that I'm praying to everyday, every minute on the hour." Every second, when I wake up, when I get on a plane, I'm always praying. So my mama, being the angel that she is, she's been tormented all her life, through epilepsy now through lupus. And throughout that time was when I almost lost here, that's when K.O.D. was written. You know, it made me say, please show me something. Let me know that someone is listening when I'm down on my knees. Show me a ghost. I'm not denouncing God or anything like I don't believe in him. I'm at 99%, I want to be a 100%. That's the only thing it did. But me and my mama made it through all that. So, it made me look like, "Wow, God is good!"
- By Niki Gatewood
Tech N9ne - Behind The Mask Pt. 2
http://www.yoraps.com/features1.php?subaction=showfull&id=1268647726&archive=&start_from=&ucat=3&
Tech N9ne - Behind The Mask Pt. 2
Posted: Monday - March 15, 2010 | Comments (0)
"We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes --
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties." - Paul Laurence Dunbar
Tech N9ne A fleeting glance may cause one to automatically dismiss Tech N9ne. The peculiar face paint which distorts his face may alarm a would-be listener. Calculating eyes camouflaged by cunning lines have deterred some folks from the beauty that is, Tech N9ne. In this concluding part 2 of Tech N9ne's comprehensive interview, the wordsmith finishes discussing his thoughts on God and the meaning behind the mask.
I was listening to Show Me A God, like you were saying you're 99%; but, I need 100% proof. Why is that one percent so important?
I think it's very important. We want to be 100%.
But what are we truly 100% about?
Think about the protection of a condom, it's at 99%. That one percent, you still might get pregnant or you still might get something. It means a lot. If I was 100% proof that means I've seen from my own eyes and not just read from a book or not just heard from a preacher or not just heard from somebody with a bullhorn on the street. A 100% is when you see from your own eyes. A 100% is what Tech N9ne does at his shows, fuck yes, I've seen it. I know it, you've got to go see it. Somebody listens to Tech N9ne music, like yeah, I think he's okay, I'm just 99% a fan. I ain't really a fan, you need to go to his shows and then you'll be 100%, is what people say. You feel me?
That one percent is seeing it from your own eyes. Now, when I look at the stars, when I look at the sun, when I look at the moon, when I look at a new born baby being born, you say, "Hey it's gotta be! It's gotta be approval of something divine." When you hear Marsha [Ambrosius] of Floetry sing, it has to be close to something divine. When you her Krizz Kaliko, it gotta be proof of something divine. But 99% means that I haven't seen anything other than a human being and an animal.
No angels, no demons, nothing like that, no ghosts?
No ghosts, I would love to see a ghost. Please come scare the shit out of me! It would let me know that there's something more. Then I could say that yeah, there's gotta be aliens, there's gotta be aliens. And when the whole thing about them taking false trips to the moon came out, it was staged in shit. It's like, why do we have to stage something that's already been done? Why can't we just go to it and be 100% sure that there's something else out there.
With that being said how do you factor in faith?
That's all we got. We got faith that something is listening. My faith is the reason why I believe in 99% instead of going in Darwin's direction, meaning that everything growing like a plant; that's Darwinism.
My whole problem with Darwinism is that we're taught spontaneous generation is a myth. Even if we go back to the Big Bang Theory someone had to put the first particles there. How can something come from nothing?
Somebody had to put it there. I'm inclined to believe that what I'm praying to gave me this talent; I believe that that's what it is. That's why I wear a cross on my head; so, that the demons will know what the majority of me represents Christ. They'll see the cross and it'll come across like a lightning bolt; they'll see that I'm Christ-like. Christ had to give me the ability to spit like lightening. You know what I'm saying; but, it's like I want to be 100% sure. I'm sure you want to be 100% sure. You might think you're a 100% sure.
I'm not a 100%; but, I know more likely than not God is out there. And on those days when doubt tries to destroy, I try to change my perspective and focus on the good.
[Chuckles] Yeah! That's where I'm at.
Why do terrible things happen to wonderful people?
It's the way of the world. You know how they say that nice guys finish last, then that means that I'm going to be the very last motherfucker.
Oh really? [Laughs]
I mean, if what they say is true. They say the good die young; that already passed me up. I'm not young anymore. So, if the good die young I guess I'm not totally good. You know. I don't know what it is; it's the way of the world. Bad shit happens to the best of us, to angels. This world is ran by evil doers. The do-gooders are the ones that suffer. I am going to be one of the do-gooders that take the angels to the top. I've learned the ways of the evil man. I know how to talk to them. I know how to spread love, too. So if they get me in power I'm going to spread all kinds of love. Maybe they'll kill me like Malcolm X or Martin Luther King -- I have the God plan, they both had the God plan and they died. The God plan is everybody living in harmony, loving each other, all creeds, colors.
When Malcolm X took his pilgrimage to Mecca and he saw that there were white Muslims drinking from the same cup as him. Elijah Muhammad told him we had to be totally separated from white people. He came back to the states and said I was wrong. All along when I was telling you we had to be separate -- I drank out the cup as a white man, he was Muslim just like me. The Muslims here said fuck that shit, we're going to kill you. That's money, that's man driven, to me. That's fucking sad.
Martin Luther King said, Jews and Gentiles, whites, blacks, everybody, you know what I'm saying, should be living together. Free at last, free at last, thank God, we're free at last! But they don't want it because that's the God-plan. The God-plan is for everybody to be equal and together. Even if I got more money than you we can still talk, we can kick it because we're a people. I should able to go talk to a homeless guy on a corner and I do. I might give him a $20 bill or a $50 bill, "Just remember my name, I'm Tech N9ne. Just remember man name and that I give a damn that you're out here in the cold without no hot coco, or a coat." We should be able to talk to all these people. We should be able to talk. That's why Hip-Hop is so wonderful because it brings people together. Have you ever been to a Jay-Z concert? Look at all the creeds. It's a wonderful thing.
I've always wanted to know why you paint your face. I've thought of everything from embracing cultural/tribal roots, to it being a defense mechanism, to you trying to challenge Hip-Hop to look further. So, why do you do it?
When I first started painting my face it was to overcome my fear of what a feared as a child -- a clown. I always thought that the clown was intriguing because it covered it the actual face to where nobody could really figure out what this thing was up under there. It was the mystique of the whole thing. You never knew what this motherfucker was thinking with that painted on smile. What if he actually wants to kill me, how would I know? I thought it was kinda creepy, I thought it was kinda scary.
As I got older my face paint started changing to where it became more tribal. It shows strength of my people, my ancestors when it was time to go to war. When they have to go find some food, or when they have to heal somebody, or do a ritual dance they painted their face white. It's a battle with painted faces. It's a battle every night on that stage to turn people on to me. There's a lot of new fans that never last. When I ask, "How many people never been to a Tech N9ne show." So, it's a fight every night to try to get these people to get converted into Tech N9ne fans. They're so programmed by mainstream TV and radio, you know what I'm saying, so they have no idea what they're in for. So, it's war time. It's more tribal now like my ancestors. You know what I'm saying, I look more like them than a regular motherfucker.
It's 2010 and you've been the face of Strange Music for a minute. What projects are your artists going to be releasing this year?
Wow, there's going to be a massive album this year called Dinner And A Movie. When you hear this Lynch Hung album you're going to say, "Oh my goodness!" That nigga is going to set the bar so high. You know how they say Tech N9ne sets the bar high, you're going to say, "Tech, you better come even harder. This nigga just murdered it!" That's what you're going to say! Dinner And A Movie is a powerhouse, baby. I am not just saying that because it's on my label. I'm saying that Brotha Lynch Hung is going to be resurrected through this shit. We gotta do this the right way; it's going to be fucking murder!
Is there a release date, is he going on the road? How can I get to him?
On March 23rd it comes out. You still haven't talked to him yet?
On behalf of Yo! Raps, is there anything else you'd like to share with your fans?
I want them to all know that I'm very thankful for them having me. I'm thankful for every last one of them. Without them, I would be nothing, you know what I'm saying. I just came from a cruise. I took my whole entire family to CoCo Cay, Bahamas, to ST. Thomas [USVI] and to St. Martin [USVI] on a Royal Caribbean. I got one of their bigger suites. It's all because of my motherfucking fans; they buy my records. I'm able to reward my family and show them the world because of my motherfucking fans. I love them! Thank you so much! It ain't just love because of what they give me -- materialistic, no. It's the love they give my music. Even if they download it and give it to other people, they're teaching people about my music. It's helping me take my kids places and get my kids braces. That rhymes but I didn't mean to. It's just a wonderful thing. I want to say thank you to all my fans. I'm about to grow this Tech N9ne thing even more. They're going to be truly proud of me, thank you to everybody.
- By Niki Gatewood
http://www.yoraps.com/features1.php?subaction=showfull&id=1268647726&archive=&start_from=&ucat=3&
Tech N9ne - Behind The Mask Pt. 2
Posted: Monday - March 15, 2010 | Comments (0)
"We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes --
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties." - Paul Laurence Dunbar
Tech N9ne A fleeting glance may cause one to automatically dismiss Tech N9ne. The peculiar face paint which distorts his face may alarm a would-be listener. Calculating eyes camouflaged by cunning lines have deterred some folks from the beauty that is, Tech N9ne. In this concluding part 2 of Tech N9ne's comprehensive interview, the wordsmith finishes discussing his thoughts on God and the meaning behind the mask.
I was listening to Show Me A God, like you were saying you're 99%; but, I need 100% proof. Why is that one percent so important?
I think it's very important. We want to be 100%.
But what are we truly 100% about?
Think about the protection of a condom, it's at 99%. That one percent, you still might get pregnant or you still might get something. It means a lot. If I was 100% proof that means I've seen from my own eyes and not just read from a book or not just heard from a preacher or not just heard from somebody with a bullhorn on the street. A 100% is when you see from your own eyes. A 100% is what Tech N9ne does at his shows, fuck yes, I've seen it. I know it, you've got to go see it. Somebody listens to Tech N9ne music, like yeah, I think he's okay, I'm just 99% a fan. I ain't really a fan, you need to go to his shows and then you'll be 100%, is what people say. You feel me?
That one percent is seeing it from your own eyes. Now, when I look at the stars, when I look at the sun, when I look at the moon, when I look at a new born baby being born, you say, "Hey it's gotta be! It's gotta be approval of something divine." When you hear Marsha [Ambrosius] of Floetry sing, it has to be close to something divine. When you her Krizz Kaliko, it gotta be proof of something divine. But 99% means that I haven't seen anything other than a human being and an animal.
No angels, no demons, nothing like that, no ghosts?
No ghosts, I would love to see a ghost. Please come scare the shit out of me! It would let me know that there's something more. Then I could say that yeah, there's gotta be aliens, there's gotta be aliens. And when the whole thing about them taking false trips to the moon came out, it was staged in shit. It's like, why do we have to stage something that's already been done? Why can't we just go to it and be 100% sure that there's something else out there.
With that being said how do you factor in faith?
That's all we got. We got faith that something is listening. My faith is the reason why I believe in 99% instead of going in Darwin's direction, meaning that everything growing like a plant; that's Darwinism.
My whole problem with Darwinism is that we're taught spontaneous generation is a myth. Even if we go back to the Big Bang Theory someone had to put the first particles there. How can something come from nothing?
Somebody had to put it there. I'm inclined to believe that what I'm praying to gave me this talent; I believe that that's what it is. That's why I wear a cross on my head; so, that the demons will know what the majority of me represents Christ. They'll see the cross and it'll come across like a lightning bolt; they'll see that I'm Christ-like. Christ had to give me the ability to spit like lightening. You know what I'm saying; but, it's like I want to be 100% sure. I'm sure you want to be 100% sure. You might think you're a 100% sure.
I'm not a 100%; but, I know more likely than not God is out there. And on those days when doubt tries to destroy, I try to change my perspective and focus on the good.
[Chuckles] Yeah! That's where I'm at.
Why do terrible things happen to wonderful people?
It's the way of the world. You know how they say that nice guys finish last, then that means that I'm going to be the very last motherfucker.
Oh really? [Laughs]
I mean, if what they say is true. They say the good die young; that already passed me up. I'm not young anymore. So, if the good die young I guess I'm not totally good. You know. I don't know what it is; it's the way of the world. Bad shit happens to the best of us, to angels. This world is ran by evil doers. The do-gooders are the ones that suffer. I am going to be one of the do-gooders that take the angels to the top. I've learned the ways of the evil man. I know how to talk to them. I know how to spread love, too. So if they get me in power I'm going to spread all kinds of love. Maybe they'll kill me like Malcolm X or Martin Luther King -- I have the God plan, they both had the God plan and they died. The God plan is everybody living in harmony, loving each other, all creeds, colors.
When Malcolm X took his pilgrimage to Mecca and he saw that there were white Muslims drinking from the same cup as him. Elijah Muhammad told him we had to be totally separated from white people. He came back to the states and said I was wrong. All along when I was telling you we had to be separate -- I drank out the cup as a white man, he was Muslim just like me. The Muslims here said fuck that shit, we're going to kill you. That's money, that's man driven, to me. That's fucking sad.
Martin Luther King said, Jews and Gentiles, whites, blacks, everybody, you know what I'm saying, should be living together. Free at last, free at last, thank God, we're free at last! But they don't want it because that's the God-plan. The God-plan is for everybody to be equal and together. Even if I got more money than you we can still talk, we can kick it because we're a people. I should able to go talk to a homeless guy on a corner and I do. I might give him a $20 bill or a $50 bill, "Just remember my name, I'm Tech N9ne. Just remember man name and that I give a damn that you're out here in the cold without no hot coco, or a coat." We should be able to talk to all these people. We should be able to talk. That's why Hip-Hop is so wonderful because it brings people together. Have you ever been to a Jay-Z concert? Look at all the creeds. It's a wonderful thing.
I've always wanted to know why you paint your face. I've thought of everything from embracing cultural/tribal roots, to it being a defense mechanism, to you trying to challenge Hip-Hop to look further. So, why do you do it?
When I first started painting my face it was to overcome my fear of what a feared as a child -- a clown. I always thought that the clown was intriguing because it covered it the actual face to where nobody could really figure out what this thing was up under there. It was the mystique of the whole thing. You never knew what this motherfucker was thinking with that painted on smile. What if he actually wants to kill me, how would I know? I thought it was kinda creepy, I thought it was kinda scary.
As I got older my face paint started changing to where it became more tribal. It shows strength of my people, my ancestors when it was time to go to war. When they have to go find some food, or when they have to heal somebody, or do a ritual dance they painted their face white. It's a battle with painted faces. It's a battle every night on that stage to turn people on to me. There's a lot of new fans that never last. When I ask, "How many people never been to a Tech N9ne show." So, it's a fight every night to try to get these people to get converted into Tech N9ne fans. They're so programmed by mainstream TV and radio, you know what I'm saying, so they have no idea what they're in for. So, it's war time. It's more tribal now like my ancestors. You know what I'm saying, I look more like them than a regular motherfucker.
It's 2010 and you've been the face of Strange Music for a minute. What projects are your artists going to be releasing this year?
Wow, there's going to be a massive album this year called Dinner And A Movie. When you hear this Lynch Hung album you're going to say, "Oh my goodness!" That nigga is going to set the bar so high. You know how they say Tech N9ne sets the bar high, you're going to say, "Tech, you better come even harder. This nigga just murdered it!" That's what you're going to say! Dinner And A Movie is a powerhouse, baby. I am not just saying that because it's on my label. I'm saying that Brotha Lynch Hung is going to be resurrected through this shit. We gotta do this the right way; it's going to be fucking murder!
Is there a release date, is he going on the road? How can I get to him?
On March 23rd it comes out. You still haven't talked to him yet?
On behalf of Yo! Raps, is there anything else you'd like to share with your fans?
I want them to all know that I'm very thankful for them having me. I'm thankful for every last one of them. Without them, I would be nothing, you know what I'm saying. I just came from a cruise. I took my whole entire family to CoCo Cay, Bahamas, to ST. Thomas [USVI] and to St. Martin [USVI] on a Royal Caribbean. I got one of their bigger suites. It's all because of my motherfucking fans; they buy my records. I'm able to reward my family and show them the world because of my motherfucking fans. I love them! Thank you so much! It ain't just love because of what they give me -- materialistic, no. It's the love they give my music. Even if they download it and give it to other people, they're teaching people about my music. It's helping me take my kids places and get my kids braces. That rhymes but I didn't mean to. It's just a wonderful thing. I want to say thank you to all my fans. I'm about to grow this Tech N9ne thing even more. They're going to be truly proud of me, thank you to everybody.
- By Niki Gatewood
