TECH N9NE Raw & UnCut XPLOSIVE MAGAZINE INTERVIEW....Read Now!!!!...

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C-4

Sicc OG
Apr 25, 2002
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Sup Yall, same thing with the San Quinn interview that I posted up, in our last issue of Xplosive Magazine, we did a City 2 City feature on KC and one of the stories was Tech N9ne, but in the C2C feature we can't make the interviews real long, but man me and Tech got on the phone and chopped it up about everything u could think of, so here's the Raw and UnCut Interview, no edits, nothing, This was written sometime in April, so some of it might be dated but there is a LOT of info I know people want to know about, check it out....Story by: C-4

TECH N9NE UnCut Raw Interview

In my humble opinion Tech N9ne is one of the most underrated artists in this music game, and I say artist, not rapper because he is truly a crafty individual. He has worked with just about everybody you can think of in this industry from 2Pac to Eminem, Roger Troutman, RZA, D12, Yukmouth, MC Ren, KRS One, Spice 1, QDIII, Jurassic 5, Brotha Lynch Hung, C-Bo, and many others, and has toured with the likes of Jay Z, 311, The Neptunes, Kurupt, and the Luniz. And with all this he is still not in the position of some of the rap powerhouses in the industry. I caught up with him on the phone at Strange Music headquarters to find out why. He was nice enough to grant us this interview on his daughter’s birthday.

I first asked him to describe his style because it is a little different from the typical rap star. “Putting all the backwards rappin’ and the fast rappin,’ the wordplay all together, you get ambidextrous, and that means left to right either way, left hand right hand, up or down, Tech N9ne is everything in one. Everything you’re used to hearing and everything you’ve never heard before is the best way I can describe it. I’m not afraid to take chances. If I’m on stage and you’re not yelling about something I’m doing then I gotta do something to dazzle them.”

He wrote his first rhyme back in 1985 so he’s been doing this for 17 years, professionally since ’90 when he met DJ Icy Roc with Nnutt Howze which consisted of Tech, Icy Roc, Dino Mack, and Agony. Some interesting explanations behind his name. “9 is the number of completion, 9 months completes the pregnancy, cats have 9 lives, 3+6 is 9, 360 degrees is a complete circle.” He says a lot of things about him arouse suspicion, like the barcode cross which is really just a lowercase T and a 9, it means property of 6688846993 is the code for Nnutt Howze on the phone, the communication device ‘cause that taught me how to think different. Strange Music’s logo is a snake and a bat, but people try to say it’s representing S&M.

Tech has worked with a lot of West Coast artists, this first started when he moved out to California in 1997 with Don Juan with QDIII (Quincy Jones III.) “Pops (Quincy Jones) signed me to the label, Qwest Records. And when you know Quincy Jones, you know everybody. QDIII was working on the Luniz ‘Lunitik Muzik,’ they came by and heard me bust and wanted me to be a part of the Regime, so I have been ever since. Much love to Yukmouth, I met a lot of people through him, C-Bo, Outlawz, Dru Down. I new Lynch years ago, they were gone try to sign me to Black Market a long time ago, I had went on tour with him and 40. Quincy, QDIII is how I got hooked up on the West side.”

Here’s what he had to say about his newest album “Absolute Power.” “It’s a result of ‘Anghellic,’ ‘cause that brought a lot of shows with the likes of Outkast, Moby, & Cypress Hill. It brought us a lot of happiness but it also brought us a lot of sadness because JCor went bankrupt on us. That was my autobiography, so when they went bankrupt I had to go in and do another album. Doing all the shows showed me that I had ‘Absolute Power,’ which is the ability to move a sea of people through my music, through song. ‘Anghellic’ was my inside life, ‘Absolute Power’ is my outside life. In the studio, in the strip club with b*tches, interacting with fans, falling out with friends over money. It’s another rollercoaster ride. ‘Anghellic’ was all my past pain, ‘Absolute Power’ is what’s going on now. That was really my first time putting out something totally new, current, even ‘Anghellic’ had some old stuff on it.”

Strange Music just re-released ‘Anghellic’ because of what happened with JCor. “We had to, we had the perfect set up. We had billboards, everything. We were supposed to shoot our video when we found out JCor was making bad business decisions and investing too much in other artists. We outsold everyone on the label in our first week. When they saw that, they should have jumped behind us like ‘let’s go.’ I’m thankful to have 9 lives in this sh*t.”
 

C-4

Sicc OG
Apr 25, 2002
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#2
He had two albums out before going major, which were “The Calm Before The Storm,” and “The Worst.” “That was through an independent label with my boy Dyamund Shields and Don Juan called Midwestside. I was the artist spearheading the whole label. The rock group Puddle Of Mud was signed with them, as was Sole. I was with them for like 7 years. Those were songs that I did, and they put that together without me.” They did this while he was signed to Qwest Records. This proved how hard it is to go into business with friends and family. “I still love all them n*ggaz to death. The Rogue Dogs is in the Murder Dog talking so bad about me. They did a thing on Kansas City. They got everybody in there except us. Even Vell Bakardy and Don Juan who I got beef with didn’t really say nothing bad, but the Rogue Dogs called my music devil music. I hate to have to break the ties with n*ggas I grew up with. They fail to realize that I love beyond music, but if you stab me in the back I gotta take that away.”

Tech and Strang Music also recently started a campaign called F.T.I. which stands for F*ck The Industy or Free The Industry. What it is, is Tech N9ne being fed up with the state of the music industry and believing that file sharing on the internet is a good thing. That if the music is good enough and fans hear it, they will go out and support it. They put his full album up on his website for free, and it did lead to a rise in sales. “It’s the machine, the payola. It’s bullsh*t if you’re an independent artist. We’re confident in our music, it’s beautiful. Quality. I’m a rap fan myself, a consumer. They’d rather go the short cut route and put out something that sounds like everything else. When you do buy the album, it comes with a free 70 minute DVD with 7 extra songs. “It’s a gift. Even being able to see the artwork to ‘Anghellic’ is a gift.” It also has footage of concerts, studio sessions, interviews and more.

Knowing about his F.T.I. campaign I asked him what he thinks of the current state of the music industry. “I’m a rap fan, and when it comes to music I feel like a lot of people are making beautiful music. Eminem signed a superstar in 50 Cent. I love Pharrel for what he’s doing. I dig it, I think a new state is about to break through. That’s what I’m doing on my new album ‘Everready The Religion,’ it’s gonna be star studded. I’m coming for Bosko, the Neptunes, me and Timbaland said we’re gonna do one a long time ago, and you know I gotta get one from Dre. Watch when they hear me on some of these tracks, I’m gonna show them how to rap on these tracks. Not that they ain’t doing it right, but I’m gonna show ‘em what a superstar really is, one that everybody embraces, it’s a lifelong thing. The state of the music industry though, I think is f*cked up, the payola, the majors. There’s some horrible sh*t that breaks through, but then on the other hand I have to give props to whoever can break through.”

Other than Sole on the commercial level, Tech N9ne is the biggest artist to come out of KC, but he still has not blown up to that superstar level, I asked him why. “Because Tech N9ne needs that major push. It’s larger than life, you can’t do no half a*sed sh*t when it comes to Tech N9ne. It’s gotta be the biggest thing you’ve ever seen. Strange Music is beginning to make that happen. That’s the only thing we’ve been lacking, JCor almost did it. People love to hate, but they love to see people get paid too. That’s all I need is that big BIG push. We going all out. I used to think it was God telling me that I needed to change because of my drug problems, etc.”

Some of the people he would still like to work with are Pharell, Dre, Eminem, Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz, Bosko, Rick Rock, and he’s even got a concept for a song with Nelly already called “Right Down The Street.” “I’ll always be me, no matter what I’m on. I did a remix with Tevin Campbell to the song ‘A Better Way,’ and put my ‘Celcius’ beat to it, made it sound gangsta as a muthaf*cka. Adina Howard is the biggest Tech N9ne fan right now, we’ve been supposed to work togther since ’97.”

And now I want to clear up a few things concerning Tech N9ne. Are you a devil worshiper? “F*ck no. Never have been. People get the imagery of ‘Anghellic’ twisted, me as a crucified angel, I don’t know why people see devil with that. I use Catholicism to make it simpler, Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell. All the temptations, when I said ‘welcome to hell,’ I meant my own hell, all my f*ck ups.

Is Tech N9ne a Blood gang member? “Affiliated. Through the 57th Street Rogue Dog Villains. I grew up with them. The gangs came here in ’85 just like the dope. I’m affiliated through where I live. I love my n*ggas, I will rep them ‘til the death, even though they dogged me, it’s been red, Blood gang.” Don’t get it twisted though, you’ve got folks on the other side. “Man n*ggas I love, C-Bo, Lynch, but it’s just my block, where I grew up.”

In one of your disses toward Vell Bakardy, you referred to him as ex-cousin, are you related and why do you have beef? “He’s a weirdo. He said he’s my cousin on my father’s side. I’ve always had love for him, he started this KC rap, I was dancing when he was rapping. When I started rappin,’ he had his deal with American West, and our female rapper Agony from Nnutt Howze, slipped and fell on my d*ck one night and got pregnant so me and her fell out. She started rapping with him, and she had a right to talk bad about me, but then I heard the n*gga that’s supposed to be my cousin on there joining her, and I was like WHAT?! I was bangin’ his sh*t the first day it came out, and when I heard that I was heart broken. I tracked him down and he wouldn’t admit that he was talking about me. When he fell out with her, she told me everything, did I want to have Tech killed, he can’t stand you. I blew that off ‘cause it came from her. Years after that, me and the Rogue Dogs did a song called ‘Let’s Get F*cked Up.’ Vell Bakardy had a song back then that was similar. I had a pager, and he called me like ‘damn Donny I heard you got a song like mine, you supposed to be original.’ My family calls me Donny, short for my middle name Dontez. Two messages later ‘I’mma kill you, I’mma kill you. You don’t know who you f*ckin’ with. You f*cked up when you bit....,’ he was gonna say I bit his sh*t. ‘You done f*cked with a don, he’s the only one that says that don sh*t in KC. I’m pissed, and later on that night he paged me from DJ Fresh’s house, but wasn’t there. I finally found him and called him on it, and he said he was just playing. I did a song with Yuk & the Regime called ‘All Out War’ dissing him that never came out, and he heard about that. I saw him at a swimming party, and tried to give him a hug and we bumped heads real hard, so I realized that it wasn’t meant for me to kick it with this n*gga. He said I’m gonna tell you why we can’t hook up, ‘because you worship Satan and I worship God. I said F*CK YOU! and walked away. He’s done whole albums on me called ‘Tech Poison. He did a remake of ‘Slacker,’ called ‘Cracker,’ he got me on that one, that’s the best sh*t he ever did. He did good. It’s a shame he can’t even get it played, ‘cause it’s racist.”
 

C-4

Sicc OG
Apr 25, 2002
8,022
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From one beef to another, what happened with Don Juan? “He did some b*tch sh*t, it’s horrible. When JCor went bankrupt, none of the producers on the album got paid. King Tech did a song called ‘Real Killa,’ and he never got paid. Don Juan did like 10 tracks, Icy Roc did like 3, RonnzfromBerlin did 2, they didn’t get their money because they took over $400,000 of my money and ran, so nobody got paid. Even though he knew the situation, the little church boy still went around town saying ‘I’m going to knock Tech out, he owes me 15 G’s.’ You forgot we grew up together?, I couldn’t believe it. Rogue Dogs was saying little big booty Don Juan gone beat your a*s, so I called him like Wassup?! He said ‘oh we can’t fight like brothers?’ I said f*ck that, we ain’t brothers. We went to NY and got our album back from JCor the week the towers fell. So before we can rerelease the album, we gotta pay this n*gga ‘cause best believe if he’s talking about knocking me out he’s gonna try to sue. It was around Christmas time, and he was about to lose his big house that he had got from the Qwest and Warner deal. So me and Travis O’guin put that money together and paid that b*tch a*s n*gga and his family had their Christmas and my family didn’t, and I’ll never forgive him for that. I suffered, it was a sad day. I hope it was worth 15 G’s. Better now than later on and it be 15 million. I just saw him for the first time since then like a month ago. First thing he said to me was that he’s got a radio show and he’s gonna play my sh*t. I didn’t know how to react. My bodyguards started crowding around, so I just pulled away ‘cause I didn’t want nothing to happen to him like that, I didn’t want them beating up on little Don Juan.”

OK back to the Murder Dog situation, what’s up with the Rogue Dogs? “I really didn’t know until I read this article last week. Put it like this, I’m the only on in KC that didn’t know it wasn’t cool. They fell out with my business partner Travis, so when we weren’t working together, I wasn’t seeing them as much. I told them ‘let me go get it, and I’ll be back,’ and Scooby told me ‘us without you, we ain’t sh*t, makes me wanna say f*ck you.’ I said ‘don’t ever say f*ck me, I loved you beyond the music. By him saying that, I stepped back a little bit on their future projects, only did a couple songs instead of 6 or 7, and they didn’t do as well. I guess by me not being there, they’re saying f*ck me. With me being out on tour, going to Australia, Boulder, Sprite Liquid Mix with Jay Z, I’m not on the block as much of course, I’m out getting money. If you were with me, you’d understand it. Yeah I’m with my white folks, I’m out on tours, tours with a Z. Then, I’m about to move out to L.A. in July, so I’m really not gonna see them anymore. So they might as well say I’m a full blown uncle tom. They so stupid and dumb, I love them, I was the one who was gonna take them where they were going. Everybody treated them bad coming up, they felt like the whole world was against them, they lash out. You don’t come around for any amount of time, they think you’re shady. They proved that they’re stupid. I love them beyond music, I ain’t on no fame bullsh*t. They’re supposed to be on tours with me but they can’t get along with anybody. I can’t forget how they turned on me. They’re saying that they just needed publicity, but you don’t do me like that for nothing, you do a punk n*gga like that. There is some cats named The Zou, that I pray to God can get them there though, they’re some good cats, I wanna pass them the RDV torch. I will always be RDV to the heart, but I will never rep it again, from here on out it’s Regime life and Deuce Click.”

He says he doesn’t think the song with him and 2Pac “Thugs Get Lonely Too” will ever really come out. Not unless Afeni (Shakur) wants to. QDIII is the only one that has the real clean version of the song, not dubbed off the radio. Tech says he wouldn’t want to use it on his own album anyway, because he wouldn’t want to profit off of 2Pac’s death.

He says he’s just beginning construction in his head for the new album “Everready The Religion.” He’s not going to start on it until they finish touring for “Absolute Power.” “I call it ‘Everready The Religion’ because after ‘Absolute Power’ I think we’ll be ever so ready to do this and the religion means you will believe in Tech N9ne by then. If I had to start it right now, I got ideas. I’m doing ‘Psycho B*tches 2’ on there, I got more stories. I’m trying to get at Ice T, I wanna use the music from ‘Squeeze The Trigger.’

Tech just dropped verses on two songs for the Regime album that Yukmouth is finally working on. The click is growing. “I just did 2, one called ‘Somebody’s Gonna Die Tonight,’ and one called ‘Get It Crackin.’ It’s gone be big. I’m glad Yukmouth still reaches out to me, that’s my n*gga, my muthaf*cka.”

He says he agrees with most fans, when asked what is his favorite song of his, he says “This Ring.” “It has every Tech N9ne element. The wordplay. It’s melodic. The flow. The beat is like a heartbeat.” I wish I had more room for this story so I could type out how he explained damn near all of the lyrics and concepts in this song, it’s crazy.

What else is in the future for you? “I see this being the biggest sh*t ever. We’ve got the talent over here, we got the business, the performances, we’re f*cking superstars over here. That’s the goal. Def Jam and Columbia are calling right now.”

Do you see KC as being a hot spot that’s gonna blow up? “F*ck yes I do. We got beautiful talent here. Everybody with me are superstars. Kutt, Big Krizz Kaliko, S.S. AKA Young Gunz, BG Bullet Wound. Outside of us, Veteran Click, The Popper, Rogue Dogs if the Zou can get with them. D-Loc & Dilemma. Of course Rich Da Factor is gonna do big things. Sundae, she’s hooked in with Rick Rock now. Court Dog, he’s moving units out of here.”

I know this is big to you, so what do you have to say to your fans? “This is what we gotta do, from here on out we gotta party hard until we drop. Partying is important with the state that the world is in right now. When you work hard, reward yourself hard. Have a good time. Like I said on ‘Slacker,’ I’m gonna have my kicks before the whole sh*t house goes up in flames, that means so much to me, I got that from Jim Morrison. A good feeling is the best feeling you could ever have. I always say kick it like donkeys ‘cause donkeys kick real hard. Keep it keebler, keep it all Jesus, meaning keep it all good.”

Tech is on his way to Australia to headline a tour with Kurupt, The Luniz, and the Outlawz. He’s also doing New Zeland and other areas in Europe. South Africa also. He had a fan approach him and tell him he is a God in Zambia, that’s big. Last words: “F*ck the industry ‘til I die. I will always be authentic, never fabricated. I’m out. I’m a politician, that’s why I’m not on the block.” PS. “Happy Birthday to my baby girl Reign, 4 years old today.”