Its not all about it, but it is a new 'Perspective' to it
Ed Masley
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 5, 2011 01:36 PM
After working the underground fringes for more than a decade, Kansas City rapper Tech N9ne hit the Billboard album chart at No. 4 with "All 6's and 7's" earlier this year. A review of the album at Hip Hop DX set the tone with, "Tech N9ne may not be a household name yet, but he's quietly become one of Hip Hop's most successful independent artists ever."
And he's done it on his own terms, releasing music on Strange Music, the independent label he founded with Travis O'Guin in 1999 - the label on which he's sold more than a million albums without a single hit, relying on the grassroots following he's nurtured on the road that brings him back to Tempe on Monday, Oct. 10.
Tech N9ne had just finished a video shoot with Mystikal and TRAE tha Truth when he checked in to talk about the long road to the top, "All 6's and 7's" (which features guest appearances by Lil Wayne, the Deftones, Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes and B.o.B) and the upcoming "Welcome to Strangeland," due to arrive on his 40th birthday, Tuesday, Nov. 8.
Question: You seem to be gaining momentum.
Answer: It's just the craziest thing. I tell my people, "Better late than never." It's a blessing for me to be gaining momentum at a time like this when we've been doing this independently for 11 years. It's like everybody's catching up. I made that statement years ago. I said, "Tech N9ne won't go mainstream. Mainstream will go Tech." And it came to fruition.
Q: Why do you think that is?
A: Real stuff always shines, man. You know what I'm sizzlin'? Really good artistry always shines. No matter if it's weird. They used to call me a devil worshiper and all that. After all that disappeared and they had nothing else to say about me that was negative, all they could say was "Whoa, that boy can rap."
Q: And now you have your highest-charting album ever.
A: Totally. Next time, I want Adele's spot, you know what I'm saying? I want the world to know my story. It's a breath of fresh air.
Q: What's the story on the next release?
A: It comes out on my birthday, Nov. 8. It's called "Welcome to Strangeland." We just got the master back the day before the tour started, and I've been bangin' it. It's wonderful. It's wunderschon. It's wunderbar.
Q: It's one of your collaboration albums. What appeals to you about collabos, as you call them?
A: It's fun to get with all my people to see what we'll come with. And we always come with something wonderful. The thing about this album is it's all connected. I created this world called Strangeland, and this path is vertical because we're shooting for the stars. On this album, I meet all these wonderful artists, like Krizz Kaliko, Jay Rock and Kutt Calhoun, Ces Cru, Liz Suwandi. I meet Prozak, Mayday, Stevie Stone, Young Bleed, all these wonderful artists shooting for the stars. And with this album we shoot past the stars into god status. And everything is connected.
Q: So what do you mean when you talk about everything being connected?
A: Like if the first song is saying, "We landed. The stars are falling from the heavens," the second song will start, "I've landed, but which way now to go." You can tell I'm on a path, and I'm telling a story in rhyme form, introducing these acts. It's the weirdest, craziest s--t ever. I told my family it was either gonna be really corny and wack or really brilliant. And it's not corny and wack. I told my family "It's kind of Dr. Seuss-ish." They said, "Don't say that to nobody else" (laughs). It didn't turn out Dr. Seuss-ish, like "Cat in the Hat," but it's me rhyming and introducing everything. You're the first person I've ever gone this in-depth with, but the whole album is like Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon." Everything is intertwined.
Q: You also have a lot of guests on "All 6's and 7's." How do you decide which guests you might want on a certain song?
A: The beats tell me exactly what to do. On "All 6's and 7's," the beats told me to go get Busta Rhymes, Twista, Yelawolf. These other beats I heard, I said, "OK, I want the Deftones."
Q: The Deftones' appearance surprised me.
A: I'm totally into rock. If anybody knows the history of Strange Music, it wouldn't be possible without the Doors and Jim Morrison. "People are Strange" is one of my favorites. "Riders on the Storm" is probably my favorite. Next to "Five to One," maybe.
Q: "Five to One?" You're going deep.
A: Oh my God, man. I love "Five to One," dude. My family, they weren't one-sided. They were three-dimensional just like me. They listened to everything.
Q: Having been on major labels, how important do you think it was for you to go the independent route?
A: It was very important because they had no idea what the hell they were doing. I need to be able to have creative control and write about whatever I feel at that moment, not "OK, these are the hits on the radio. You need to do something like this." I don't need that in my circle. I'm an innovator. They didn't know what to do with a black guy who paints his face and has red hair.
The only people who could even fathom something like that were Tech N9ne and Travis O'Guin, two guys who don't give a damn about what anybody else thinks. Everybody has gold chains and gold teeth, and this guy has a painted face, lookin' like a witch doctor with red spiked hair and a bishop's robe? Nobody's gonna know what to do with that (laughs).
So it was waiting for Strange Music to arrive and say, "This is where Tech N9ne is supposed to be." Who knows Tech N9ne better than anybody? Tech N9ne.
Q: You mentioned not wanting to have to worry about what the hits on the radio are. Do you ever find those hits inspiring?
A: I listen to see what people are listening to, and I laugh sometimes. But I don't disrespect those people. That just means they're gettin' paid. That means their kids are in good schools. Their families are doing well instead of struggling. That's a good thing. So more power to the people that I laugh at on the radio, because obviously, they doing something right and I'm not doing it, I guess (laughs).
Q: How important is the touring?
A: It's the main thing, getting out there, letting people know that you exist. If you don't do that, if you're just relying on radio buzz and you wonder why you don't chart and Tech N9ne is No. 4, up under Adele, Lady Gaga and "The Book of Mormon," that's because I get out there and touch my fans
http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo...ch-n9ne-interview-welcome-to-strangeland.html
Ed Masley
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 5, 2011 01:36 PM
After working the underground fringes for more than a decade, Kansas City rapper Tech N9ne hit the Billboard album chart at No. 4 with "All 6's and 7's" earlier this year. A review of the album at Hip Hop DX set the tone with, "Tech N9ne may not be a household name yet, but he's quietly become one of Hip Hop's most successful independent artists ever."
And he's done it on his own terms, releasing music on Strange Music, the independent label he founded with Travis O'Guin in 1999 - the label on which he's sold more than a million albums without a single hit, relying on the grassroots following he's nurtured on the road that brings him back to Tempe on Monday, Oct. 10.
Tech N9ne had just finished a video shoot with Mystikal and TRAE tha Truth when he checked in to talk about the long road to the top, "All 6's and 7's" (which features guest appearances by Lil Wayne, the Deftones, Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes and B.o.B) and the upcoming "Welcome to Strangeland," due to arrive on his 40th birthday, Tuesday, Nov. 8.
Question: You seem to be gaining momentum.
Answer: It's just the craziest thing. I tell my people, "Better late than never." It's a blessing for me to be gaining momentum at a time like this when we've been doing this independently for 11 years. It's like everybody's catching up. I made that statement years ago. I said, "Tech N9ne won't go mainstream. Mainstream will go Tech." And it came to fruition.
Q: Why do you think that is?
A: Real stuff always shines, man. You know what I'm sizzlin'? Really good artistry always shines. No matter if it's weird. They used to call me a devil worshiper and all that. After all that disappeared and they had nothing else to say about me that was negative, all they could say was "Whoa, that boy can rap."
Q: And now you have your highest-charting album ever.
A: Totally. Next time, I want Adele's spot, you know what I'm saying? I want the world to know my story. It's a breath of fresh air.
Q: What's the story on the next release?
A: It comes out on my birthday, Nov. 8. It's called "Welcome to Strangeland." We just got the master back the day before the tour started, and I've been bangin' it. It's wonderful. It's wunderschon. It's wunderbar.
Q: It's one of your collaboration albums. What appeals to you about collabos, as you call them?
A: It's fun to get with all my people to see what we'll come with. And we always come with something wonderful. The thing about this album is it's all connected. I created this world called Strangeland, and this path is vertical because we're shooting for the stars. On this album, I meet all these wonderful artists, like Krizz Kaliko, Jay Rock and Kutt Calhoun, Ces Cru, Liz Suwandi. I meet Prozak, Mayday, Stevie Stone, Young Bleed, all these wonderful artists shooting for the stars. And with this album we shoot past the stars into god status. And everything is connected.
Q: So what do you mean when you talk about everything being connected?
A: Like if the first song is saying, "We landed. The stars are falling from the heavens," the second song will start, "I've landed, but which way now to go." You can tell I'm on a path, and I'm telling a story in rhyme form, introducing these acts. It's the weirdest, craziest s--t ever. I told my family it was either gonna be really corny and wack or really brilliant. And it's not corny and wack. I told my family "It's kind of Dr. Seuss-ish." They said, "Don't say that to nobody else" (laughs). It didn't turn out Dr. Seuss-ish, like "Cat in the Hat," but it's me rhyming and introducing everything. You're the first person I've ever gone this in-depth with, but the whole album is like Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon." Everything is intertwined.
Q: You also have a lot of guests on "All 6's and 7's." How do you decide which guests you might want on a certain song?
A: The beats tell me exactly what to do. On "All 6's and 7's," the beats told me to go get Busta Rhymes, Twista, Yelawolf. These other beats I heard, I said, "OK, I want the Deftones."
Q: The Deftones' appearance surprised me.
A: I'm totally into rock. If anybody knows the history of Strange Music, it wouldn't be possible without the Doors and Jim Morrison. "People are Strange" is one of my favorites. "Riders on the Storm" is probably my favorite. Next to "Five to One," maybe.
Q: "Five to One?" You're going deep.
A: Oh my God, man. I love "Five to One," dude. My family, they weren't one-sided. They were three-dimensional just like me. They listened to everything.
Q: Having been on major labels, how important do you think it was for you to go the independent route?
A: It was very important because they had no idea what the hell they were doing. I need to be able to have creative control and write about whatever I feel at that moment, not "OK, these are the hits on the radio. You need to do something like this." I don't need that in my circle. I'm an innovator. They didn't know what to do with a black guy who paints his face and has red hair.
The only people who could even fathom something like that were Tech N9ne and Travis O'Guin, two guys who don't give a damn about what anybody else thinks. Everybody has gold chains and gold teeth, and this guy has a painted face, lookin' like a witch doctor with red spiked hair and a bishop's robe? Nobody's gonna know what to do with that (laughs).
So it was waiting for Strange Music to arrive and say, "This is where Tech N9ne is supposed to be." Who knows Tech N9ne better than anybody? Tech N9ne.
Q: You mentioned not wanting to have to worry about what the hits on the radio are. Do you ever find those hits inspiring?
A: I listen to see what people are listening to, and I laugh sometimes. But I don't disrespect those people. That just means they're gettin' paid. That means their kids are in good schools. Their families are doing well instead of struggling. That's a good thing. So more power to the people that I laugh at on the radio, because obviously, they doing something right and I'm not doing it, I guess (laughs).
Q: How important is the touring?
A: It's the main thing, getting out there, letting people know that you exist. If you don't do that, if you're just relying on radio buzz and you wonder why you don't chart and Tech N9ne is No. 4, up under Adele, Lady Gaga and "The Book of Mormon," that's because I get out there and touch my fans
http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo...ch-n9ne-interview-welcome-to-strangeland.html
