Tech's Billboard positions
- Thread starter Gothomrida
- Start date
While this is interesting information and all, I'm guessing this thread dies quick because it's not bashing on michampin, or ZeroMedia, or Nathan Dinsdale, or the Carolina Panthers, or a million other things that aren't Strange Music related.
Thanks for tryin' anyway, tho. I absorbed as much of it as I could in my drunken state.
My gambling nature has to ask... what's the over under on number of posts until someone says something negative about Gothumrida?
Thanks for tryin' anyway, tho. I absorbed as much of it as I could in my drunken state.
My gambling nature has to ask... what's the over under on number of posts until someone says something negative about Gothumrida?
Maybe if you paid some attention to the information I sent you regarding the FAQ that you thought was so important for the day it would make you seem less worthless, you'd have seen that already.
But I'm guessing you didn't even bother to keep that. God forbid you have to credit me with something.
Tracklists and production notes:
Complete Calm Before the Storm (Mizery Muzzick Nov 9, 1999) tracklist:
1.Planet Rock 2k [Down South Remix] (Don Juan/Tech N9ne) - 6:12
2.Cloudy-Eyed Stroll [Remix] (Don Juan/Tech N9ne) - 4:38
3.Flipside (QDIII/Tech N9ne) - 4:30
4.Mizzizy Gets Bizzy performed by Tech Nine / Don Juan - 4:56
5.On Our Way to L.A. performed by Tech Nine / Don Juan - 4:34
6.Spend the Night performed by Tech Nine / Rock Money / Paul Law - 4:20
7.Clueless performed by Larone Burnett / Tech Nine / Sole - 5:48
8.Questions (QED/Tech N9ne) - 6:31
9.Now It's On performed by Lejo / Tech Nine - 5:10
10.Bitch Sickness performed by Tech Nine / Phats Bosillini / Rame Royal - 5:04
11.Soldiers at War performed by Don Juan / Big Scoob / Short Nitty / L. V. - 5:55
12.Cotton Soldier (Don Juan/Tech N9ne) - 4:34
13.Relish (Kev/Tech N9ne) - 4:29
14.Mitchell Bade (Interlude) performed by Tech Nine / Bakarii - 1:27
15.Mitchell Bade performed by Tech Nine / Bakarii - 4:24
Credits:
Quincy Jones: Producer
Boss Hog: Executive Producer
Big Scoob: Performer
Polar Bear: Mixing
Don Juan: Vocals, Production, Mixing
************************************************************************
Anghellic: Aug 28, 2001 JCOR
Top position Billboard 200: #59
Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums: #50
Hellevator (Yates) - :16
Tormented (Rice/Yates) - 4:22
Stamina (Yates) - :14
Sinister Tech (Yates) - 3:25
Psycho Messages (Don Juan/dyamund Sheilds/Simonet/Yates) - 1:02
Psycho Bitch (Yates) - 4:31
Real Killer (Yates) - 2:38
Cursed performed by Tech Nine / Ifetayo Green - 4:36
Suicide Letters performed by Tech Nine / Nichia Cayson - 4:09
Purgatory (Watson) - :18
It's Alive (Yates) - 5:01
Einstein (Yates) - 3:57
P.R. 2KI performed by Tech Nine / Don Juan - 3:50
Here I Come performed by Tech Nine / Christine Jones - 4:58
Who You Came to See performed by Tech Nine / Chris Watso - 4:18
Wake Up Call (O'Guin/Rice/Yates) - :42
This Ring performed by Tech Nine / Yatres, Dontez Antonio / Lori Contino - 5:55
God Complex (Yates) - 4:55
This Life performed by Tech Nine / Monae - 3:59
Going Bad performed by Tech Nine / Charmelle Cofield - 5:45
Heaven (Yates) - :36
Twisted performed by Tech Nine / Roger Troutman / Nichia Cayson - 6:13
Credits:
Christine Jones - Vocals
Roger Troutman - Vocals, Talk Box
Chris Watson - Vocals, Vocal Arrangement
King Tech - Producer, Mixing
Polar Bear - Drums, Keyboards, Programming, Engineer, Remixing
Grantland Rice - Performer
Shuji Kobayashi - Photography
Charmelle Cofield - Vocals
Matt "The Cracker" Buschbacher - Production Coordination
Don Juan - Performer
Tom Baker - Mastering
Robert Rebeck - Engineer, Mixing
****************************************************
Absolute Power (Strange Music Sep 24, 2002)
The Billboard 200 No. 79
Top Independent Albums No. 3
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums No. 28
1. Intro - 1:00
2. The Industry Is Punks (Yates) - 5:30
3. Here Comes Tecca Nina (Yates) - 3:54
4. Imma Tell (Yates) - 4:45
5. Slacker (Yates) - 4:16
6. Keep On Keepin' On performed by Tech Nine / Big Krizz Kaliko - 5:01
7. Gunz Will Bust performed by Tech Nine / Yung Gunz - 4:45
8. Bianca's and Beatrice's (Calhoun/Yates) - 4:16
9. Diamond Joe's (Interlude) - 0:20
10. Slither (Yates) - 3:54
11. Disturbance (Interlude) - 0:07
12. Trapped in a Psycho's Body (Yates) - 5:08
13. T9X (Yates) - 6:27
14. She Devil performed by Tech Nine / D12 - 4:41
15. Worst Enemy (Yates) - 2:38
16. Signing Off (Interlude) - 0:04
17. Absolute Power (Watson/Yates) - 4:24
18. Yada, Yada, Yada (Yates) - 6:09
19. Constantly Dirty (Ashby/Oats/Whitebear/Yates) - 5:59
20. I'm a Playa (Watson/Yates) - 4:58
DVD Content:
21. Victory (Yates)
22. Freaky Lil Things (Calhoun/Rice/Yates)
23. Hydro (Calhoun/LeJuene/Watson/Yates)
24. Runaway (Hugunin/Yates)
25. Shocked (Calhoun/Yates)
26. The Grench (Fletcher/Yates)
27. Walk With a Limp performed by Kutt / Big Krizz Kaliko
Credits:
Chris Horvath - Producer
Chris Watson - Vocals, Vocal Arrangement
Michael Miller - Photography
Femi Ojetunde - Producer
Jason Clark - Art Direction, Design
Dave Weiner - Executive Producer
Maggie Magarian Schmidt - Creative Consultant
Grantland Rice - Vocals
Flash Technology - Producer
Carl Breeding - Producer
Tom Baker - Mastering
Talin Kouyoumdjian - Production Coordination
Travis OGuin - Executive Producer
Robert Rebeck - Guitar, Vocals, Producer, Engineer, Mixing
**********************************************
Anghellic Reperation: Strange/MSC 2003
Top Indipendant Albums chart ranking: 46
1. Devil Boy (Yates) - 4:32
2. Hellevator (Yates) - 0:16
3. Tormented (Rice/Yates) - 4:22
4. Stamina (Yates) - 0:14
5. Sinister Tech (Yates) - 3:25
6. Psycho Messages (Juan/Simonet/Yates) - 1:02
7. Psycho Bitch (Juan/Simonet/Yates) - 4:31
8. Real Killer (Yates) - 2:38
9. Cursed (Yates) - 4:36
10. Suicide Letters (Yates) - 4:06
11. Purgatory (Rice/Yates) - 0:21
12. It's Alive (Rice/Yates) - 5:01
13. Einstein Tech N9ne (Rice/Yates) - 3:57
14. Breathe (Jefferson/Yates) - 4:22
15. Who You Came to See (Jefferson/Yates) - 4:18
16. Wake Up Call (O'Guin/Rice/Yates) - 0:42
17. This Ring (Calhoun/Rice/Yates) - 5:55
18. God Complex (Yates) - 4:55
19. F.T.I. (Calhoun/Henderson/Landis/Watson/Yates) - 5:23
20. Going Bad (Yates) - 5:45
21. Heaven (Yates) - 0:36
22. Twisted (Yates) - 6:14
Credits:
Roger Troutman - Vocals, Talk Box
Chris Watson - Vocal Arrangement
King Tech - Producer, Mixing
Dave Weiner - A&R
Grantland Rice - Vocals, Producer
Shuji Kobayashi - Photography
Charmelle Cofield - Vocals
Violet Brown - A&R
Matt "The Cracker" Buschbacher - Production Coordination
Tom Baker - Mastering
Travis OGuin - Executive Producer
John Carpenter - Producer
Robert Rebeck - Guitar, Drums, Engineer, Mixing
!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i
But I'm guessing you didn't even bother to keep that. God forbid you have to credit me with something.
Tracklists and production notes:
Complete Calm Before the Storm (Mizery Muzzick Nov 9, 1999) tracklist:
1.Planet Rock 2k [Down South Remix] (Don Juan/Tech N9ne) - 6:12
2.Cloudy-Eyed Stroll [Remix] (Don Juan/Tech N9ne) - 4:38
3.Flipside (QDIII/Tech N9ne) - 4:30
4.Mizzizy Gets Bizzy performed by Tech Nine / Don Juan - 4:56
5.On Our Way to L.A. performed by Tech Nine / Don Juan - 4:34
6.Spend the Night performed by Tech Nine / Rock Money / Paul Law - 4:20
7.Clueless performed by Larone Burnett / Tech Nine / Sole - 5:48
8.Questions (QED/Tech N9ne) - 6:31
9.Now It's On performed by Lejo / Tech Nine - 5:10
10.Bitch Sickness performed by Tech Nine / Phats Bosillini / Rame Royal - 5:04
11.Soldiers at War performed by Don Juan / Big Scoob / Short Nitty / L. V. - 5:55
12.Cotton Soldier (Don Juan/Tech N9ne) - 4:34
13.Relish (Kev/Tech N9ne) - 4:29
14.Mitchell Bade (Interlude) performed by Tech Nine / Bakarii - 1:27
15.Mitchell Bade performed by Tech Nine / Bakarii - 4:24
Credits:
Quincy Jones: Producer
Boss Hog: Executive Producer
Big Scoob: Performer
Polar Bear: Mixing
Don Juan: Vocals, Production, Mixing
************************************************************************
Anghellic: Aug 28, 2001 JCOR
Top position Billboard 200: #59
Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums: #50
Hellevator (Yates) - :16
Tormented (Rice/Yates) - 4:22
Stamina (Yates) - :14
Sinister Tech (Yates) - 3:25
Psycho Messages (Don Juan/dyamund Sheilds/Simonet/Yates) - 1:02
Psycho Bitch (Yates) - 4:31
Real Killer (Yates) - 2:38
Cursed performed by Tech Nine / Ifetayo Green - 4:36
Suicide Letters performed by Tech Nine / Nichia Cayson - 4:09
Purgatory (Watson) - :18
It's Alive (Yates) - 5:01
Einstein (Yates) - 3:57
P.R. 2KI performed by Tech Nine / Don Juan - 3:50
Here I Come performed by Tech Nine / Christine Jones - 4:58
Who You Came to See performed by Tech Nine / Chris Watso - 4:18
Wake Up Call (O'Guin/Rice/Yates) - :42
This Ring performed by Tech Nine / Yatres, Dontez Antonio / Lori Contino - 5:55
God Complex (Yates) - 4:55
This Life performed by Tech Nine / Monae - 3:59
Going Bad performed by Tech Nine / Charmelle Cofield - 5:45
Heaven (Yates) - :36
Twisted performed by Tech Nine / Roger Troutman / Nichia Cayson - 6:13
Credits:
Christine Jones - Vocals
Roger Troutman - Vocals, Talk Box
Chris Watson - Vocals, Vocal Arrangement
King Tech - Producer, Mixing
Polar Bear - Drums, Keyboards, Programming, Engineer, Remixing
Grantland Rice - Performer
Shuji Kobayashi - Photography
Charmelle Cofield - Vocals
Matt "The Cracker" Buschbacher - Production Coordination
Don Juan - Performer
Tom Baker - Mastering
Robert Rebeck - Engineer, Mixing
****************************************************
Absolute Power (Strange Music Sep 24, 2002)
The Billboard 200 No. 79
Top Independent Albums No. 3
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums No. 28
1. Intro - 1:00
2. The Industry Is Punks (Yates) - 5:30
3. Here Comes Tecca Nina (Yates) - 3:54
4. Imma Tell (Yates) - 4:45
5. Slacker (Yates) - 4:16
6. Keep On Keepin' On performed by Tech Nine / Big Krizz Kaliko - 5:01
7. Gunz Will Bust performed by Tech Nine / Yung Gunz - 4:45
8. Bianca's and Beatrice's (Calhoun/Yates) - 4:16
9. Diamond Joe's (Interlude) - 0:20
10. Slither (Yates) - 3:54
11. Disturbance (Interlude) - 0:07
12. Trapped in a Psycho's Body (Yates) - 5:08
13. T9X (Yates) - 6:27
14. She Devil performed by Tech Nine / D12 - 4:41
15. Worst Enemy (Yates) - 2:38
16. Signing Off (Interlude) - 0:04
17. Absolute Power (Watson/Yates) - 4:24
18. Yada, Yada, Yada (Yates) - 6:09
19. Constantly Dirty (Ashby/Oats/Whitebear/Yates) - 5:59
20. I'm a Playa (Watson/Yates) - 4:58
DVD Content:
21. Victory (Yates)
22. Freaky Lil Things (Calhoun/Rice/Yates)
23. Hydro (Calhoun/LeJuene/Watson/Yates)
24. Runaway (Hugunin/Yates)
25. Shocked (Calhoun/Yates)
26. The Grench (Fletcher/Yates)
27. Walk With a Limp performed by Kutt / Big Krizz Kaliko
Credits:
Chris Horvath - Producer
Chris Watson - Vocals, Vocal Arrangement
Michael Miller - Photography
Femi Ojetunde - Producer
Jason Clark - Art Direction, Design
Dave Weiner - Executive Producer
Maggie Magarian Schmidt - Creative Consultant
Grantland Rice - Vocals
Flash Technology - Producer
Carl Breeding - Producer
Tom Baker - Mastering
Talin Kouyoumdjian - Production Coordination
Travis OGuin - Executive Producer
Robert Rebeck - Guitar, Vocals, Producer, Engineer, Mixing
**********************************************
Anghellic Reperation: Strange/MSC 2003
Top Indipendant Albums chart ranking: 46
1. Devil Boy (Yates) - 4:32
2. Hellevator (Yates) - 0:16
3. Tormented (Rice/Yates) - 4:22
4. Stamina (Yates) - 0:14
5. Sinister Tech (Yates) - 3:25
6. Psycho Messages (Juan/Simonet/Yates) - 1:02
7. Psycho Bitch (Juan/Simonet/Yates) - 4:31
8. Real Killer (Yates) - 2:38
9. Cursed (Yates) - 4:36
10. Suicide Letters (Yates) - 4:06
11. Purgatory (Rice/Yates) - 0:21
12. It's Alive (Rice/Yates) - 5:01
13. Einstein Tech N9ne (Rice/Yates) - 3:57
14. Breathe (Jefferson/Yates) - 4:22
15. Who You Came to See (Jefferson/Yates) - 4:18
16. Wake Up Call (O'Guin/Rice/Yates) - 0:42
17. This Ring (Calhoun/Rice/Yates) - 5:55
18. God Complex (Yates) - 4:55
19. F.T.I. (Calhoun/Henderson/Landis/Watson/Yates) - 5:23
20. Going Bad (Yates) - 5:45
21. Heaven (Yates) - 0:36
22. Twisted (Yates) - 6:14
Credits:
Roger Troutman - Vocals, Talk Box
Chris Watson - Vocal Arrangement
King Tech - Producer, Mixing
Dave Weiner - A&R
Grantland Rice - Vocals, Producer
Shuji Kobayashi - Photography
Charmelle Cofield - Vocals
Violet Brown - A&R
Matt "The Cracker" Buschbacher - Production Coordination
Tom Baker - Mastering
Travis OGuin - Executive Producer
John Carpenter - Producer
Robert Rebeck - Guitar, Drums, Engineer, Mixing
!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!i
Interview with Tech N9ne [transcript]
By Tim vonHolten, lawrence.com
Thursday, December 11, 2003
Tim vonHolten talks to Tech N9ne in the east Kansas City-home of his manager, Travis O'Guin.
Tell me about the move.
Well we've got a bigger office space, for one, it's off of ‘sunset and Vine, the CNN building. I think i've done everything I can possibly do in Kansas City. People love me here, I've gotta go expand. It's real simple, I just gotta go expand. They've been waitin' on me out there for the longest, Quincy Jones has been tryin' to get me out there since ‘97. Every time I'm out there I do big things. When I was out there in ‘97 I was with Quincy (Jones), when I was out there in ‘98I was on the "Gang Related" soundtrack with Tupac. Big. ‘99, did a song with Eminem and RZA, so on and so forth. So it's a bigger move, man, we have to expand.
You worked with RZA. Is it true that Wu Tang ain't nothin' to fuck with?
(laughs) Yeah, it's true, Wu Tang ain't nothin' to fuck with FOR REAL for real.
Are you planning on keeping your KC ties?
Yes , totally. It's all I know man. I would much rather stay here, put it like that.
You've talked about building a Kansas City Empire. What are your plans now?
Still buildin' it. I mean, you can see it happening. Back then it was me. Now it's me and Skatterman and Snug Brim. And after that's comin' Big Krizz Kaliko, after that's BG, after that's Vertigo, y'know, we're buildin' it, it's still the same, we're just expandin'. Bigger office space, y‘know it's showin' that it's growin'. If we weren't, we wouldn't have the CNN building.
Do you ever worry that you'll get so big that you'll lose touch with the local scene? I mean, are we going to see you showing up at the Pool Room for and emcee battle?
(laughs) Well, it's like this. Tech N9ne is worldwide, man, it's the biggest thing ever to me and if it happens to blow as big as I expect, I won't be able to go anywhere. That's what I'm prepared to do, because my goal is to get my music to the world. I want the world to know what I feel, what I think, laugh with me, cry with me, kick it with me, through my music. So for what I want to do, it's a household name to the 20th power. I can't walk through the mall right now, here. If it turns out the way we plan it ... I'm an everyday person, I like to party a lot, so you never know where I might pop up, but if I pop up, there might be 20 motherfuckers with me. (laughs) Because what I'm talking about is superstar-DOM. That's what I'm on. And when all those people are into your life, like Tupac, everybody knows about Tupac because he let ‘em in. I let ‘em in. I let ‘em into my crazy world. And when you've got people all over the world knowin' you, it's gonna be so big that you can't walk anywhere by yourself.
What's going to set you apart in L.A.?
I don't know if you know this, but since ‘97, I've been on and off stayin' in LA. I stayed there the summer of ‘97, the summer of ‘98, spent a lot of time there in ‘99 when I did the video with eminem and RZA. I pretty much know it, it's like my second home. It's nothin' new to me. I've been to the clubs, I've roamed sunset (laughs). It's like Mardi Gras on Fridays and Saturdays. It's nothin' new to me. It's just a bigger ocean and a lot more people to get to know Tech N9ne. And wherever I go, I'm set apart. I'm a black dude with red hair. So it's like, "Who the fuck is that?" And then when they hear my music, it's totally different. "What the hell is that?"
Do you now own the rights to all your music?
Yeah, we do.
And Anghellic is re-released?
As "Reparation," like "Repay me for what you fucked up, JCOR." Yeah that was harsh,
because that was my life, recorded. They fucked it up. I write my life. It's not fabricated. It's not something I can just think up, like "That's cool, I can can do this in 5 minutes." It takes time to do my shit. But them fucking that up, it hurt me really bad.
And that was Interscope?
That was JCOR / Interscope / Universal. But it wasn't Interscope or Universal that fucked it up. It was JCOR. They didn't have enough to do what we had to do, and they didn't let us know. But Travis (O'Guin), being a shrewd businessman, he found out quick, and we rode up there with a couple of big motherfuckers. "Give us our CD back. We need this. This is my music." It was two weeks after 9/11, we still flew out there. The office was right down the street from it, you could still see the smoke, that's how serious it was, to get my music back, to get my life back. When you're goin' to get your life, nothin' can stop you.
Why would you go into the belly of the beast, considering your FTI stance.
I'm going into the machine. I'm going into the machine to fuck up the machine even more. Because I'm totally the other way, I'm totally to the left. The industry is so fake, it makes my stomach turn. I'm going into the belly of the beast to infect it with my shit, and it's going to be a beautiful infection. People love this virus, my virus is music. So I'm going to go infect the belly of the beast.
So there are no major label plans at all anymore?
They're callin'. They gotta pay me BIG. Tech N9ne, we're a self-contained unit: We do all our own tours, we have all our own merchandise, we do all our own recording, we produce our own groups, we have an in-house producer. They have to pay me a lot of money for me to bow down. A whole bunch.
And if they pay you enough it's not bowing down.
No. It's not really bowing down, it's taking what's owed to me. We are a label's dream. They don't have to do anything. All they have to do is give us their hooks, give us their hookup, give us the manpower they have.
The one thing that all the big independents that I talk to tell me is that, despite their self-sufficiency in all these areas, the one boundary they can't break into is radio. Somewhere, between the 70s and now, payola went from becoming the most serious scandal in radio to the standard. How do you get around this.
We've been lucky so far. It was hard at first, ‘cause it's a money game. It's a popularity contest. If you're not the most popular, if you don't have the most money, you're not gonna get it. If you're not throwin' around 500,000 here, 500,000 there, you're not gonna have radio play like that. Luckily, we've got a little money. "Imma Tell" has been added to a lot of stations lately. I can't believe it. They're callin' me for shows. We're startin' to get into that circle of money. And it's fucked up, ‘cause it's not about talent. It hasn't been for years.
It seems like enough people realize how much radio sucks.
You can't find enough people to do that because the radio dictates what's dope, and a lot of that shit ain't dope. It's constant bombardment. I'll even like it after awhile, they're playin' it 24 hours a day, you're gonna start singin' it. It's infectious. Radio, they determine what's good to a lot of people. And that's why radio is so big, and that's why the hits are so big. If they constantly bombard you with Tech N9ne, the household name is gonna be Tech N9ne. It starts in the club, then the radio.
So the radio is the one area where you're being forced to play that game.
Exactly. You're forced to play that game if you want the world to know who the fuck you are.
And then you can stop playing the game?
Well, you'll forever play that game if you want your shit played on the radio. I'm sure Timbaland still plays that game. You still gotta grease a palm. It's all about that. Everybody's gotta get paid. It's a fucked up statement, but it's all about money. And when you get into this industry and you figure it out that it's all about money, it takes all fun out of creativity. So you've got to be true to yourself and do what you feel. That's the plus about me, because I don't conform to anything. I do what I feel when I hear this beat. I do what I feel. If it comes out to where you can dance to it, people will dance to it. I just do it, this is my life, here, you take it. Do what you want to do with it. "Oh, they said that's a radio hit." Okay, that's cool. The good thing about me is that my shit is not forced, so I don't feel bad when they tell me that "Here Comes Tecca Nina" is gonna be the next single. I love it equally with "Imma Tell." I love it equally with "I'm a Playa.." It's me. That's the good thing about me. It's just me. They happen to like "Imma Tell." They didn't like "Slacker." They said it's "a skater song." Really, they wanted to say, "It's white people bullshit." So I guess "Imma Tell" is "black people shit" in their eyes. That's the shit that fucks me up about the industry. Music just can't be music. Black people will love this. White people are gonna love this. Mexican people are gonna love this. Chinese motherfuckers gonna love this ‘cause he's goin' "toinga toinga toinga toinga-toing. It's like, anything to make a dollar, they do.
It's amazing that they make any money at all because they don't seem to pay attention to what people are listening what music.
Radio cats are not idiots. They know that constant bombardment is gonna get someone to buy an album 20 times over. And if you pay the right money, you'll get it. It's a popularity contest. If I become the most popular, you'll see me more on television. I tend to be the most popular. I'm tryin' to be. That's why they want me out in L.A. I don't wanna go.
By Tim vonHolten, lawrence.com
Thursday, December 11, 2003
Tim vonHolten talks to Tech N9ne in the east Kansas City-home of his manager, Travis O'Guin.
Tell me about the move.
Well we've got a bigger office space, for one, it's off of ‘sunset and Vine, the CNN building. I think i've done everything I can possibly do in Kansas City. People love me here, I've gotta go expand. It's real simple, I just gotta go expand. They've been waitin' on me out there for the longest, Quincy Jones has been tryin' to get me out there since ‘97. Every time I'm out there I do big things. When I was out there in ‘97 I was with Quincy (Jones), when I was out there in ‘98I was on the "Gang Related" soundtrack with Tupac. Big. ‘99, did a song with Eminem and RZA, so on and so forth. So it's a bigger move, man, we have to expand.
You worked with RZA. Is it true that Wu Tang ain't nothin' to fuck with?
(laughs) Yeah, it's true, Wu Tang ain't nothin' to fuck with FOR REAL for real.
Are you planning on keeping your KC ties?
Yes , totally. It's all I know man. I would much rather stay here, put it like that.
You've talked about building a Kansas City Empire. What are your plans now?
Still buildin' it. I mean, you can see it happening. Back then it was me. Now it's me and Skatterman and Snug Brim. And after that's comin' Big Krizz Kaliko, after that's BG, after that's Vertigo, y'know, we're buildin' it, it's still the same, we're just expandin'. Bigger office space, y‘know it's showin' that it's growin'. If we weren't, we wouldn't have the CNN building.
Do you ever worry that you'll get so big that you'll lose touch with the local scene? I mean, are we going to see you showing up at the Pool Room for and emcee battle?
(laughs) Well, it's like this. Tech N9ne is worldwide, man, it's the biggest thing ever to me and if it happens to blow as big as I expect, I won't be able to go anywhere. That's what I'm prepared to do, because my goal is to get my music to the world. I want the world to know what I feel, what I think, laugh with me, cry with me, kick it with me, through my music. So for what I want to do, it's a household name to the 20th power. I can't walk through the mall right now, here. If it turns out the way we plan it ... I'm an everyday person, I like to party a lot, so you never know where I might pop up, but if I pop up, there might be 20 motherfuckers with me. (laughs) Because what I'm talking about is superstar-DOM. That's what I'm on. And when all those people are into your life, like Tupac, everybody knows about Tupac because he let ‘em in. I let ‘em in. I let ‘em into my crazy world. And when you've got people all over the world knowin' you, it's gonna be so big that you can't walk anywhere by yourself.
What's going to set you apart in L.A.?
I don't know if you know this, but since ‘97, I've been on and off stayin' in LA. I stayed there the summer of ‘97, the summer of ‘98, spent a lot of time there in ‘99 when I did the video with eminem and RZA. I pretty much know it, it's like my second home. It's nothin' new to me. I've been to the clubs, I've roamed sunset (laughs). It's like Mardi Gras on Fridays and Saturdays. It's nothin' new to me. It's just a bigger ocean and a lot more people to get to know Tech N9ne. And wherever I go, I'm set apart. I'm a black dude with red hair. So it's like, "Who the fuck is that?" And then when they hear my music, it's totally different. "What the hell is that?"
Do you now own the rights to all your music?
Yeah, we do.
And Anghellic is re-released?
As "Reparation," like "Repay me for what you fucked up, JCOR." Yeah that was harsh,
because that was my life, recorded. They fucked it up. I write my life. It's not fabricated. It's not something I can just think up, like "That's cool, I can can do this in 5 minutes." It takes time to do my shit. But them fucking that up, it hurt me really bad.
And that was Interscope?
That was JCOR / Interscope / Universal. But it wasn't Interscope or Universal that fucked it up. It was JCOR. They didn't have enough to do what we had to do, and they didn't let us know. But Travis (O'Guin), being a shrewd businessman, he found out quick, and we rode up there with a couple of big motherfuckers. "Give us our CD back. We need this. This is my music." It was two weeks after 9/11, we still flew out there. The office was right down the street from it, you could still see the smoke, that's how serious it was, to get my music back, to get my life back. When you're goin' to get your life, nothin' can stop you.
Why would you go into the belly of the beast, considering your FTI stance.
I'm going into the machine. I'm going into the machine to fuck up the machine even more. Because I'm totally the other way, I'm totally to the left. The industry is so fake, it makes my stomach turn. I'm going into the belly of the beast to infect it with my shit, and it's going to be a beautiful infection. People love this virus, my virus is music. So I'm going to go infect the belly of the beast.
So there are no major label plans at all anymore?
They're callin'. They gotta pay me BIG. Tech N9ne, we're a self-contained unit: We do all our own tours, we have all our own merchandise, we do all our own recording, we produce our own groups, we have an in-house producer. They have to pay me a lot of money for me to bow down. A whole bunch.
And if they pay you enough it's not bowing down.
No. It's not really bowing down, it's taking what's owed to me. We are a label's dream. They don't have to do anything. All they have to do is give us their hooks, give us their hookup, give us the manpower they have.
The one thing that all the big independents that I talk to tell me is that, despite their self-sufficiency in all these areas, the one boundary they can't break into is radio. Somewhere, between the 70s and now, payola went from becoming the most serious scandal in radio to the standard. How do you get around this.
We've been lucky so far. It was hard at first, ‘cause it's a money game. It's a popularity contest. If you're not the most popular, if you don't have the most money, you're not gonna get it. If you're not throwin' around 500,000 here, 500,000 there, you're not gonna have radio play like that. Luckily, we've got a little money. "Imma Tell" has been added to a lot of stations lately. I can't believe it. They're callin' me for shows. We're startin' to get into that circle of money. And it's fucked up, ‘cause it's not about talent. It hasn't been for years.
It seems like enough people realize how much radio sucks.
You can't find enough people to do that because the radio dictates what's dope, and a lot of that shit ain't dope. It's constant bombardment. I'll even like it after awhile, they're playin' it 24 hours a day, you're gonna start singin' it. It's infectious. Radio, they determine what's good to a lot of people. And that's why radio is so big, and that's why the hits are so big. If they constantly bombard you with Tech N9ne, the household name is gonna be Tech N9ne. It starts in the club, then the radio.
So the radio is the one area where you're being forced to play that game.
Exactly. You're forced to play that game if you want the world to know who the fuck you are.
And then you can stop playing the game?
Well, you'll forever play that game if you want your shit played on the radio. I'm sure Timbaland still plays that game. You still gotta grease a palm. It's all about that. Everybody's gotta get paid. It's a fucked up statement, but it's all about money. And when you get into this industry and you figure it out that it's all about money, it takes all fun out of creativity. So you've got to be true to yourself and do what you feel. That's the plus about me, because I don't conform to anything. I do what I feel when I hear this beat. I do what I feel. If it comes out to where you can dance to it, people will dance to it. I just do it, this is my life, here, you take it. Do what you want to do with it. "Oh, they said that's a radio hit." Okay, that's cool. The good thing about me is that my shit is not forced, so I don't feel bad when they tell me that "Here Comes Tecca Nina" is gonna be the next single. I love it equally with "Imma Tell." I love it equally with "I'm a Playa.." It's me. That's the good thing about me. It's just me. They happen to like "Imma Tell." They didn't like "Slacker." They said it's "a skater song." Really, they wanted to say, "It's white people bullshit." So I guess "Imma Tell" is "black people shit" in their eyes. That's the shit that fucks me up about the industry. Music just can't be music. Black people will love this. White people are gonna love this. Mexican people are gonna love this. Chinese motherfuckers gonna love this ‘cause he's goin' "toinga toinga toinga toinga-toing. It's like, anything to make a dollar, they do.
It's amazing that they make any money at all because they don't seem to pay attention to what people are listening what music.
Radio cats are not idiots. They know that constant bombardment is gonna get someone to buy an album 20 times over. And if you pay the right money, you'll get it. It's a popularity contest. If I become the most popular, you'll see me more on television. I tend to be the most popular. I'm tryin' to be. That's why they want me out in L.A. I don't wanna go.
Despite your adding "serious" and "joking" next to the lines, I'm still not too sure how serious you really are. But I mean, if you have Calm Before the Storm, I guess you can read those liner notes... I don't have it, I know that. Also, I'm not so sure it says what number the album got up to on the charts in the liner notes, but, hey.
And just so ya know, I couldn't find shit on the three you mentioned. I didn't look too hard either, but if you think it's necessary, maybe you could find the info being that you're so close to Strange and add it to what I've already got.
I was just tryin' to help out so... If you wanna knock that, enjoy. It's not as if I'm surprised.
And just so ya know, I couldn't find shit on the three you mentioned. I didn't look too hard either, but if you think it's necessary, maybe you could find the info being that you're so close to Strange and add it to what I've already got.
I was just tryin' to help out so... If you wanna knock that, enjoy. It's not as if I'm surprised.
for reals!! It really seems like Zero.Media and his life-partner MizeryU have really raped this board by posting stupid shit about Zero.Media doing absolutely NOTHING to promote Strange Music as suppose to me and others who are doing some REAL promoting. Zero.Media, the pics are funny as hell and all, but atleast take MORE pics of you passing them out to people or pics of S&S posters somewhere in public....quit showing lack of respect for those who are doing REAL promoting, you ego-tistical bitch.
-Jugga
-Jugga