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Thomas
Oh, you can.
Tech N9ne
Perfect. Perfect. Good, guys.
Thomas
Let's do it.
Tech N9ne
Last one's a charm.
Thomas
Yeah, It. I appreciate you coming through the last one. Let's go.
Tech N9ne
Hell, yeah.
Marty O'
You had to be excited as fuck when you woke up today. I mean, I don't like the album, the video, like.
Tech N9ne
Right, right.
Marty O'
You're here with us. Thank you.
Tech N9ne
It was a Grammy museum last night.
Marty O'
Come on.
Tech N9ne
I never done that shit, man. For real? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just have to stop and think about it, like. And smile. Like all this around me is crazy is because I had an idea to share with. With the fans and with all the people and everything that comes with it. All the press and all the. All the love, man. All the support. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? It just made me smile on the inside when I was pulling up to the Grammy museum last night, you know, it was dope, man. Now I'm in this dope ass spot.
Thomas
Appreciate it.
Marty O'
Appreciate that.
Thomas
Yeah.
Tech N9ne
I mean, as usual, and that's what people say about me, you know what I'm saying? When I'm looking at the comments, people are saying dope, as usual. We expect it from Tech, you know.
Thomas
You can always be like, I'm humbly talking that. I'm the. You can always say, like, it's factual, man. Yeah, I know.
Tech N9ne
I know what you're saying. Well, this is usual, you know what I'm saying? I'm. I'm the biggest Tech9 fan ever. I get to tell them what to say, get to tell them what to wear, to tell them how to smell. Who the. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm. I'm the biggest tech knife. I'm the creator of Tech9. So I listen to that all the time. Old, new, unreleased. I got so much unreleased tech 9 in my phone, you know what I'm saying? Like, biggest Tech 9 fan. Yeah.
Thomas
No.
Tech N9ne
Hell yeah. I got ideas from the last. Another lifetime, man, you know, saying, like, for real, the big. I don't mess some really big Tech 9 fans over the years, man, you know what I'm saying?
Thomas
Overseas too, I bet.
Tech N9ne
Yeah.
Marty O'
Dude, you're talking to one right here.
Thomas
Yeah, we'll get into that.
Tech N9ne
So it's like, you know, to say I'm the biggest Tech9 fan. I don't think nobody would refute that, you know what I'm saying? Because. Because I am him, you know, I.
Thomas
Like the way we started, right?
Tech N9ne
Yeah.
Thomas
Let's go. All right, let's. Let's get started, man. Let's get started.
Tech N9ne
For sure.
Thomas
All right, let's just. Let's skip the intro music. I'm just gonna get right into it.
Tech N9ne
Yeah.
Thomas
What's up, guys? Welcome back to Dope As Usual podcast. My name is Thomas. This dope is yolo. This is my co host, Marty o'.
Tech N9ne
Neill.
Marty O'
What's cracking folks?
Thomas
Sup? This is the Dope As Usual podcast. We're here talking about life problems, drugs, accomplishments and everything in between. Yes. As you can tell from the the thumbnail. You guys already know what the is to be going.
Tech N9ne
Going on.
Thomas
You know how hyped I am. Please introduce and welcome Tech N. Yes.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Great to be here.
Marty O'
Legendary. Legendary.
Thomas
Okay, before. I'm just going to get started like this.
Tech N9ne
All right, there go.
Thomas
Before I started streaming.
Tech N9ne
Huh?
Thomas
I just want to.
Tech N9ne
Jesus.
Thomas
Get this started real quick.
Tech N9ne
Jesus. Peace. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Jesus.
Thomas
I can't find Celsius.
Tech N9ne
In my peace.
Thomas
Oh, there it is right there. Celsius, bro. Before I started just doing streaming, this.
Tech N9ne
Got the combo for the storm. He got the worst Everything.
Thomas
Everything.
Tech N9ne
He got the worst. You got the worst.
Thomas
2K before streaming. Before streaming, your first album ever, I went to.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, this is the first one right here. It's the first one.
Thomas
What a drastic change from that to that to this.
Tech N9ne
No doubt.
Thomas
Little gangster hardest.
Tech N9ne
Let me tell you like this though. When I was doing these songs, I. I was already writing Psycho Bitch and Einstein.
Thomas
There's a couple of them already.
Tech N9ne
Yes, sir.
Thomas
I heard it.
Tech N9ne
I wasn't sure Angelic was. Angelic was precursor. It was like five years prior. All the five years prior to 2001.
Thomas
So why you were doing that?
Tech N9ne
You're doing. Yes.
Thomas
That's two different dudes.
Tech N9ne
While I was writing Mitch Bade, I wrote Psycho Bitch the next day. Then Einstein, you know what I'm saying? I just had always had the triality. The king of clown of the G. You know what I'm saying? So I was always doing crazy up under the hood, you know what I'm saying? Always, always triality.
Thomas
All right. I love to hear that.
Tech N9ne
Because when I.
Thomas
When I hear some of that, I'm like, wait, that's the bar. It sounds like this from the next album, you know what I'm saying? But this one's three years before this.
Tech N9ne
One came out, right?
Thomas
Yeah.
Tech N9ne
On top of Absolute powered me and diamond and them it fell out, you know what I'm saying? So he made the record blue. He know we from a blood neighborhood. He made the record blue. You know I'm saying. So a lot of fans, they bring it up to me, it's like, we know this is not. You didn't put this together. I said, you know what? But it's my music.
Thomas
It's all hard no matter what.
Tech N9ne
It's my music. I have to sign it. In the beginning, I wasn't signing it, you know what I'm saying?
Thomas
Kind of like a bitterness thing.
Tech N9ne
Yeah. I'm like, this ain't me. You know, I'm saying these put this together, but rest. Diamond Shield Soul, man, I'm saying, that's my brother. He put this out. And maybe he, you know, now that I think about it, maybe he didn't do this out of spite. Because Celsius would be blue 100, you know what I'm saying?
Thomas
And makes sense though.
Tech N9ne
And he put a car on there. You know, that ain't my. You know, when I saw it, I.
Thomas
Was like, this is a random artwork. When I first bought him, like, what is this?
Tech N9ne
Right, right, right. I did think the songs compiled and he put Joker and Mac James on there. His artist that, you know, you know, we were connected, but you know, we weren't really rocking because our discrepancy, me and Diamond's discrepancies from the past, you know what I'm saying? So now when, when, now, when fans come bring this. I signed this happily because there's some on there, man.
Thomas
No, on all this, dude, I got the records too. I don't want to bring records. But yeah, yeah, yeah. This is right before I stop started streaming.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, man, I started doing, doing physical.
Thomas
But speaking of real quick, all Sixes and Sevens is the first time you had like a super mainstream crossover. Lil Wayne, right? And this morning you dropped the Lil Wayne song today.
Tech N9ne
Yoda, Yoda, Yoda.
Thomas
What a wild ass.
Tech N9ne
And keep. And think about this. All these songs we've been doing throughout the years with Lil Wayne, you know what I'm saying? We got like five or six of them. We've never took the time to do a video, you know what I'm saying? And we finally got that video in. Out here in la, man.
Marty O'
Cinematic epic video.
Thomas
Yeah, that's the first one. For real.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, that's the very first one we've ever done, you know, out of all, out of all the songs, you know what I'm saying? Never done a video. Never done a video. I wanted. I wanted the culture to know that we were binded, you know what I'm saying? Like a video would do it. Yeah. And I thought we were going to do it on a song we. We did recently with Moomoo Fresh called Too Good. You know, saying it's really song for the culture, like lyrical. Different levels of lyricism on Too Good man. And the said my video was Matrix budget idea, millions of dollars and we didn't get to do it. But now we got this one. This one cost a little bit too, you know what I'm saying? More than we thought we were going to spend, you know what I'm saying? Look like a movie, you know, whenever you shooting movie type out here now is super expensive now, you know what I'm saying?
Marty O'
So you know, working with him has to be different. Cuz you're like two of the only artists that have been relevant since like the late 90s that are still like on the same path the whole time.
Tech N9ne
But the thing is, man, like us ain't counting, you know what I'm saying? We just putting up love music and we're writing that and it don't matter what the. The yeah, everybody else is doing. We just. We keep our. Our ear and our eye to what everybody else is doing. But at the same time we don't mimic that and we keep doing ourselves and keep bettering ourselves, you know what I'm saying? Lyrically, we care about the craf to keep on taking chances with and not following the pack.
Marty O'
Yeah.
Tech N9ne
You know, and that's why we're still here.
Thomas
I mean, who's gonna fall? You can't. You have a different sound. You have a different sound. Like there's no. There's no.
Tech N9ne
Yes.
Thomas
If you would change your sound up, you would just drop the off because.
Tech N9ne
Like, they would know. They would know. They would know when I'm cloud chasing.
Thomas
There you go.
Tech N9ne
They would know.
Thomas
When you did this one, you're still doing your own.
Tech N9ne
Like Lil Wayne happens to be on it on Bloods. On Bloods, period. I. I say much love to Sexy Red, you know what I'm saying? But if I did a song with Sexy Red, they will know that I did it for clout and for her. Yeah, yeah. Audience, you know what I'm saying? And I have to have some integrity when it comes to this thing. Not bashing anybody for what they do, but I got to be careful being the lyricist that I am.
Thomas
We open yourself to, you know what I'm saying?
Tech N9ne
What I do. Yeah. Because when I did something with Wayne, some didn't want that to happen. Right. I remember there's an underground. They just want to keep you underground, you know what I'm saying? But I Bitter, though. Yeah, I know, I know. But, you know, there's a divide. There's a divide with some fans, you know what I'm saying? And it's cultural, too, at the same time. Some people just don't like mainstream, man, Especially with underground artists.
Marty O'
Yeah.
Tech N9ne
And I always told him, I'm like, how do you contain something like Tech9? Yeah. How do you contain something like Kendrick? How do you contain something like Wayne? You. You can't do it. Yeah. Snoop, you know, he's a household name. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? So it's like some things you just cannot contain and keep to yourself. I was talking at a. At a. At a. At a festival back in the day, and I was like, yeah, I got Wayne on the song Boo. I'm like, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Stage. Thousands of. I said, that's my family. That's one. I'm talking wonderful about him up here. Don't disrespect me with the booze. And everybody start clapping, you know? Oh, you know what I mean?
Thomas
Like you said, I tell mothers what to wear and what to eat, what to do.
Tech N9ne
Yes, sir.
Thomas
Well, tell them to stop booing then. Like, it'll work. Like the. The first show real quick. The first show I ever went. You go to Catalyst a lot? Santa Cruz. I walked in, dude, I didn't realize. I didn't realize. Like, I listen to your music. I have some CDs. Back then, like, for show. You said some words and fool started chanting, and I felt like I was like, I'm gonna rally, dude. And then, yes, you said a couple other words, and they. I mean, by the time I was done, like, it was a pledge. It was a pledge. I didn't know. I didn't know. But when I went there, I just got like, what the.
Tech N9ne
Me and my homie were like, that's my diabolic mind.
Thomas
It was the first thing you introduced JRock. You're like, you just saw J Rock. That was the first. The first tour.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, man. I always knew early on that people want to follow something, so why not follow an angel of a man? You know what I'm saying? And, you know, I saw how they wrote the national anthem and everybody seeing it or the preamble or whatever you call this, you know? So I said, you know what? I'm going to write a pledge for my fans. Together we are a powerful force, as one mind, body and soul. Let no evil enter, nor attempt to reduce us because of the beliefs we hold. And with this love Combined with our strength, we ward off pain and stress. Technician, I am wholeheartedly in life and in depth. You know what I'm saying? And it's really.
Thomas
Album.
Tech N9ne
Yeah.
Thomas
That was a wild way to start this.
Tech N9ne
Yeah.
Thomas
I first heard it.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, dude. That's why they started calling me a cult leader. But I remember that, you know, the people who made all these songs for America, they're cult leaders, too. Maybe. I don't know. But, you know, I. When I was younger, I. I came up with a Bible verse. I wrote a bible verse called Tech 1013.
Thomas
Stop it.
Tech N9ne
Said he who. Pat. Let me say, he who treads the path of the beast is also who. He whose sins can be repented. But be warned, for the beast in his past may return to haunt his present and twist the thoughts of the righteous. I wrote that as a teenager. So it means. So it means what goes around comes around. He who treads the path of the beast is also he who can repent.
Thomas
An elegant.
Tech N9ne
But be warned, for the beast in his past may return to haunt his present. Or so be careful what you do to people back here. And twist the thoughts of the righteous and make you do some. To kill a. You know what I'm saying?
Thomas
Christian. And then. I mean, I listen to your music, bro. Christian household. And the Imam married a Muslim and then mixed everything in together.
Tech N9ne
Made me a cluster. Yes, yes.
Thomas
Okay. Okay. So, yes. I mean, like, I'm just picking up things as a fan, like, you know, like, throughout the music for all these years. So it's just. It's wild to hear that you wrote a Bible verse of your. Like, your own verse, Right?
Tech N9ne
I did. About life, what I knew about it as a teenager. Yeah.
Thomas
This is what you're meant to do, is what you're saying.
Tech N9ne
Yeah.
Thomas
You've been writing.
Tech N9ne
I always say. I always say, okay, I'm about to be. I think I'm about to be 54 in November. You know what I'm saying? I look good.
Thomas
71.
Tech N9ne
54. 71. Yes. And I always said music is what I'm put here to do, but it feels like there's something else. As I'm evolving, I feel like I'm going to be leading a lot of people doing something. I don't know. It's not going to be with no religion, because I've studied Christianity. I studied Islam from 12 to 17. Those two made me want to look into Confucianism, Shintoism, Taoism, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Dianetics. You know what I'm saying? House of Scientology. You Know what I'm saying? Everything. And what I learned is that a lot of it is similar and people believe in a higher deity, you know what I'm saying? So I didn't claim no more of those ever. I just took from everyone whatever worked for my life.
Marty O'
Yeah, smart.
Tech N9ne
And I recognized that I was connected to the universe, have the same elements and everything. And I pray to it what they call God, man, you know what I'm saying? And, you know, with my mind changing like this, bro, I just. I feel like. I feel like it might turn into something else. I don't know what it is. I feel like I'm gonna be on a pedestal going, can you dig it? Can you dig it? You know what I'm saying? You never know. What am I going to be leading to do? I don't know, man, but I'm. I'm. I'm in music. I'm gonna always be able to do music. How you doing over there? I ain't see no lady come in and music. That's what I'm supposed to do, you know what I'm saying? But my mom wanted me to be a preacher, you know, saying for Christ. And I was like, I can't do that now, you know what I'm saying? Because people are doing it for the wrong reasons. And I don't understand religious beliefs and how you're supposed to carry on, you know what I'm saying? So I won't lead my people into anything in the area of indoctrination, you know what I'm saying? I can't do that, you know what I'm saying? Because we've been indoctrinated for so many decades already, so I can't do that. But I could lead with love and respect and understanding and listening to each other and all that. Kind of not judging on the sexuality or they political views or anything, you know what I'm saying? Are they gang ties? Nothing. Just love, togetherness. And we gotta fight evil coming our way. So we might need guns, firepower.
Thomas
It's funny because everything you're saying, I'm like, oh, that's from kod. I know what you're talking about.
Tech N9ne
All right. I think that. I think that's. If there is a final. Let's hope for a higher. Yeah, that one by one, then two by two. I have ammo. What about you? We don't want to kill nobody, man. We've been going through life with all that with gang, you know what I'm saying? But there are people out there that don't want us to band together. They want us to fight each other over skin tone, over colors, over money, over class, over all these things, political views. Look what happened. Unite the right. What. What was that? Unite the right. When the car ran through everybody and killed people. You know what I'm saying?
Thomas
I'm talking about that and that, like that street fair thing.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, yeah. You know, saying it was a. It was rally. Unite the right rally or something like that. I forgot where it was. Charlottesville. Charlottesville. You know what I'm saying?
Thomas
Oh, I know which one you're talking about. So there's a couple.
Tech N9ne
A couple people. But. But, you know, same thing. Something happened down at. In New Orleans recently too, you know what I'm saying? Where. Where people went down. Oh, down the street. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? It's like it's people out here that want to keep us turbulent when it comes to each other, you know what I'm saying? I believe something, you know? Yeah. Because you know, if we kill each other, there's more money for them, you know, so anybody speaking togetherness and health and. And stuff, like Dr. Sabi or Lisa. Lisa Lopez, you know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? You just got to be careful, man, you know? And whatever is going to turn into tech 9, what is it? If it's going to turn into being. Having a place where people can come and be, you know, just be around people that love and want to respect one another and like that, man, you know, I ain't talking about no orgy and no like that. I'm just talking about togetherness, man.
Thomas
Yeah, I got.
Tech N9ne
You know what I'm saying? And you know, I'm anxious to see what the next 10 years of my life will look like, man. But for now, I'mma be rapping heads off.
Thomas
Yeah.
Tech N9ne
You know what I'm saying?
Thomas
Album dropped today.
Tech N9ne
Yes, it did.
Thomas
Was 5816 Forest.
Tech N9ne
5816 Forest. Where I lived from age 12 to age 17 when I ran away on a quest to become tech nine.
Marty O'
Oh, sure.
Tech N9ne
And went, you know, because coming from a Christian house, my mom being a devout Christian, falling in love with a Muslim, everything changed through the Christian now is no more poor.
Thomas
Yeah. Oh, at all.
Tech N9ne
No, no. No more nothing in this house, you know what I'm saying? Like, we had to. Me and my mom had to adjust to Abu Hassan Rasul Khalifa's way of living in his home that he moved us in 5816 forest. He didn't know, it was a blood neighborhood, you know what I'm saying?
Thomas
That's a shock. Oh, shit.
Tech N9ne
Yeah. Grown man, he don't know what the going on, you know. That's right when the from LA moved in our neighborhood. 37th Street, Foodtown Brim moved in our neighborhood in like 83, 84, you know. So popped it off all. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We wanted to be like them. They had the big radio boxes and street saying movie. We seen that on tv.
Thomas
Exactly.
Tech N9ne
Red on everything.
Thomas
Red sweatsuits and damn, we've ruined the whole neighborhood. Yeah, we came through all over the.
Tech N9ne
World, L.A. everybody up, dude.
Thomas
Well, I mean, we're cool as.
Tech N9ne
Because it started as Bastards of the Party, you know what I'm saying? Like Black Panther Party, you know, The Crips started, you know what I'm saying? Community reform, something in progress or some like that, you know. And the Bloods were spawned, you know what I'm saying? And you know, everything, everything man creates somehow gets perverted, you know what I'm saying?
Thomas
Even if it's good, it turns religion.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, look at Waco, Texas. Look at Guyana with Jim Jones, not the rapper. Yeah, I know what you're talking about, you know what I'm saying? Like, you know, people pervert power. My second album was called Absolute Power. You got this. But when I was talking about absolute power, cult leader or not, I was talking about lyrically to be able to move people with song through shows. And Casey Mo, she goes through the hub, you know what I'm saying?
Thomas
My first.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, that's. I knew. I recognized after Angelic I had absolute power over people.
Thomas
Is that why you named it that?
Tech N9ne
Yes. You know, I was doing shows and seeing that. Holy. I'm. I'm doing Einstein. Like I am a Wizard of Oz fan, you know what I'm saying? Oh, you know, saying the. The. The Marchers city or whatever, you know what I'm saying? Like, I'm like, I'm gonna do Casey Mo Ro, you know what I'm saying? At that time, I was rolling on ecstasy, you know, Casey Mo a lot. So I. I started recognizing my power during Angelic touring, you know what I'm saying? So when it's time to do my second album, second major album, I'm like, absolute power, man. And that's why I'm standing in front of a crowd with the spikes. Yeah. And the crowds behind me going crazy. That's what I realized on Angelic, that I had absolute power. The power to move people with song, with vibe, with energy, man. You know what I'm saying? Like telekinesis. But it's music and rhythm, you know what I'm saying? With harmony and octaves. Oh man, it's the most beautiful job. Before streaming took all our money, you know what I'm saying? Oh.
Thomas
I was like, well, you'd be streaming. I thought you meant.
Tech N9ne
No, no, no, no. Not this dream. This, this kind. Yeah, I'm talking about our music getting streamed, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah.
Thomas
Make way less money off of that.
Tech N9ne
Than the y' all doing that. That's beautiful. Y' all get bucks. That's beautiful. You know what I'm saying? Saving people's lives. Look at your watch. My. That's dope.
Thomas
Thanks.
Tech N9ne
That's dope.
Thomas
Appreciate it.
Tech N9ne
Yeah. You just got off a plane from overseas.
Thomas
Shit's working.
Tech N9ne
You got you doing working.
Thomas
It's finally.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, it's working.
Thomas
Excited.
Tech N9ne
That's a beautiful thing. That's the kind of streaming that I'm.
Marty O'
Like, yeah, we're a two man operation, completely independent.
Thomas
Yeah, it's just us.
Tech N9ne
I'd appreciate that. Yeah, man. How did your watch.
Marty O'
Yeah, yeah, look at my watch.
Thomas
I love the positivity coming out right now.
Marty O'
How did you like at such a young age, like in the late 90s, have the vision to start your own like label and not everybody's chasing these.
Tech N9ne
Huge deals because I had huge deals. 93, I got my first deal with Jimmy Jim and Terry Lewis Perspective A M. That didn't work. 97, I got my second deal with Quincy Jones and Questing Warner out here. That didn't work, you know what I'm saying? 98, I got a deal with Interscope and J Core that failed miserably. Never did put out any albums on none of those labels.
Marty O'
I'll just wasted your time, basically.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, man, just learning. And then I met. In 98, I met my partner Travis in Kansas City. I was, you know, I had a big song tech night, you know what I'm saying? Planet Rock 2K.
Thomas
I didn't mean to say it like that.
Tech N9ne
So you know, I had that popping in Kansas City. I recorded it out here. Me and Don Juan recorded out here. Polar Bear did the beat from Sweden. You know I'm saying much love. Shout out to Polar Bear. And like that. He's. I said, he still ain't got no money because we was doing. Was doing for real, you know, I didn't know Midwest side, it was a hood label, you know what I'm saying? And never did the accounting and never Got paid, you know what I'm saying? It's up business, man, you know what I'm saying? We all lost on this, you know what I'm saying? To where it's another selling all these right now, and we don't get enough.
Marty O'
Getting paid for it.
Tech N9ne
That's. Yeah.
Thomas
Different feel, too. Yeah, all three of these have a different feel than everything else after.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, but I had that popping, you know what I'm saying? And I. I performed Planet Rock for this fashion show. Paradise Originals was having a fashion show, and they called me to do my song, you know I'm saying. I had that song and I had. Me and the road dog said, let's get up, let's get high, let's get drunk, let's get fucked up. We got that weed that ain't no punk, you know what I'm saying? Like, really blowing fucking Kansas City the fuck up. Yeah. Planet Rock come out, make that ass hop don't stop down south yonks make the Planet rock Midwest. Too much ass in one room Rata ta da, ta da ta ta da ta da bo. We got this popping.
Thomas
You are the biggest Tech9 fan I ever met, dude. Let's go. I'm trying to contain it, like.
Tech N9ne
So my partner Travis, happened to be the one funding Paradise Originals. Oh.
Thomas
And he just said, I'm just gonna do with me.
Tech N9ne
No, no, he. He. He was funding the fashion show and everything, and he saw. And he knew about my music already. He was a fan about my music. So the day after the. The day after the. I performed at the fashion show. George Forte, my family, he called me and said, hey, man, our boss want to meet you. Your boss? What you mean? You know, the dude who, you know, puts up the money for us to do Paradise. His name is Travis. I said, let's roll. Come get me. He came and got me, took me out to Travis's house. We talked. Bam, you know. Yeah, we talked about it. We talked about all my labels and what I was connected to, you know, saying the. The anthem, it just came out with Swaying King Tech, you know what I'm saying? With Eminem on it, Ariza on it, Chino, Excel, rest his soul, Coogee, Rap Pharaoh Monts, you know, ridiculous. Everybody, you know what I'm saying? Jail, Felony, you know, everybody's on that. You know what I'm saying? And he was like, what.
Thomas
What.
Tech N9ne
What I need to do, man? You want to do a label together, you know what I'm saying? You had all those failed deals. I'm like, hell, yeah, and I got an idea too, because when I was here in 97 and I signed that deal with Quincy Jones, they hooked me up with a publishing company called Windswept Pacific. It's later turned on to. Turned into Bug or some shit. When they asked me what my name wanted, what I wanted my name to be for my publishing company, I said, E G N Arts Music, you know I'm saying EGN Arts Entertainment Group 9 music, you know what I'm saying? But when you read EGN Arts backwards, it says Strange. This is before I met Travis in 97, so, you know, saying I've always been a fan of the Doors, you know what I'm saying?
Thomas
I always wonder if it was a. It was a Jim Morrison.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, it was all Jim Morrison. That's why I went to Perilous Shades, to his grave and told him thank you on camera and everything. Thank you for the inspiration because it saved my life. You know, me being a big Doors fan of Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, John Dinsmore and Robbie Krieger, all the band members. Yeah, their fusion of sounds, man, always made me feel like Dark Carnival esque or something. Some like that on some of the songs. So I was lucky enough before Ray died. I was lucky enough to do Strange Days 2013 with the whole band. And I was out here in LA and I was. I was. I was in there on in the Boots and I looked out and I saw all the Doors and I was in the spot where Jim was. I just got this fear in my chest and like, holy, I'm right here. Fred Rec hooked it up, you know what I'm saying? Because he worked at their studio, you know what I'm saying? I was so happy in my stomach, but. But so nervous because they were all watching me. And I wrote the. On the spot. So I'm reading it, you know what I'm saying? Just crazy that I. I told Travis when he asked me do I want to have a label together, I said, yeah, I want it to be called Strange Music, man. And I want to take the snake from the rod of Asclepius. The rod of Asclepius is the things you see at the hospital, you know, the. The snake around the rod, you know what I'm saying? It symbolizes medicine. I want the snake to be the medicine. I want the bat wings to be nocturnal, because the bat is nocturnal, you know what I'm saying? So we are the medicine to navigate through the darkness, you know what I'm saying? Strange music, you know, I mean, so that's what it means. The medicine to navigate through the dark. Through the darkness. You know what I'm saying?
Thomas
Because, yeah, I didn't know that.
Tech N9ne
If you're gonna navigate through the darkness, what's after that? It's the light. You know what I'm saying? So people saw the S and the M and the sadomasochism and all that kind of. They love to turn on the angels and call us the evil ones when they are the. What do you call it? Masters of confusion, Authors of confusion. I'm sorry. And, you know, this strange music was born, man. So we. We solidified it in 99 and put our first album out, Angelic, in 2001, man. Said the majors and the industry, and boom, 25 years later, I'm sitting here and dope as usual, talking.
Thomas
Let's go.
Tech N9ne
Well, with a Rolex on.
Thomas
Let's go. What's up, guys? Taking a quick moment to talk about a few things our homies from Puffco sent us. This right here is the Puffco Pivot is on the go. It's portable. It's super cool. I've used it before. It's awesome. This right here is the hot knife. It makes everything about this process so much easier. This is the little stash carry. It's like matching the daybreak color right here. Every single thing that I possibly need fits in here. I was at the beach yesterday, and this is all I took. And this, this right here is the Puffco Peak, the daybreak edition. This is the 3D XL. I just want to show you a few products because I think they're awesome. But now I want to get into this announcement. Puffcon announcement. Guys, Last year was awesome. My first year going this year, October 4th and 5th.
Tech N9ne
Two days.
Thomas
All right. PuffCon is two days. October 4th and 5th, 2025. The lineup this year is epic. One of our guests that we actually just had on the headliner is Key Clock. That fool really does smoke. So I'm excited to see him perform. They got Eric Andre, got the Alchemist. They got Little Russell, Reggie Watts, DJ Uncle Blazer. I just want you guys know, October 4th and 5th, I will see you at PuffCon. Why? Because I have a push trees booth. The first booth I've done in over five. I'm very excited, guys. We're gonna have a bunch of push trees gear, a bunch of new stuff. Maybe some collabs are gonna be dropping there. All I'm saying is shout out to Puffco. We really appreciate you guys. All these products are super Dope. And I'm super excited about puffcon. Thank you guys for giving me a couple moments of your time. Let's get back to the episode.
Tech N9ne
I got one day to prepare for my Hawaiian vacation with my family.
Thomas
Oh, sick.
Tech N9ne
I leave on Sunday, so I get there tomorrow, I get there tonight, wake up tomorrow, do all the shopping I got to do in one day, then fly the back out here except take five hours to Hawaii, you know what I'm saying?
Thomas
You know what sounds badass. That sounds.
Tech N9ne
Sounds impossible, but you'll get it.
Thomas
You'll get it. Question. You just brought up Hawaii Riot Maker. Did you really get banned from Honolulu for not.
Tech N9ne
They wouldn't for. For. For a long time. We couldn't get shows. They said that was just a lyric. No, they said my music. The promoters were saying my music will have the townspeople unruly. He didn't say townspeople. Samoans fight each other because most of them is bloods, too, and they're Biggie. And when I finally got my show down there at the Republic, there's a big club down there called the Republic, and everybody at the front door all red USO motherfuckers. I'm like, you know what I'm saying? Anything you need, Tech, man. We love you, man. You know what I'm saying? Riot Maker is why Big USO Dwayne Johnson was a fan. You know what I'm saying?
Thomas
Oh, is that why?
Tech N9ne
Yeah.
Thomas
And then you guys made that song, what, 12 years later?
Tech N9ne
Yeah, man. You know what I'm saying?
Thomas
Because I remember he was like, my workout music got tech9 in there. I was like, oh, I like the rock way more.
Tech N9ne
Yes, sir.
Thomas
I remember he came out like that.
Tech N9ne
Yes, sir.
Thomas
Oh, you listen.
Tech N9ne
Riot Maker did it because I talked. I told the story about the Samoans. Yeah. Saying. And like that. And how they said. But that first show in Honolulu Republic, oh, man, that was so much energy that I yelled, ryan Maker. And I. And I. I cracked, like, right. I was so hyped. Like, I finally got this show. You. Thank you.
Thomas
You know, it's the first rap show I ever been to where I remember I told you that grown man try to fight me like, there's mosh pits here. Yeah, that was the first show I ever went to. Gonna back up a little bit.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, you gotta back up.
Thomas
Let you do your thing.
Tech N9ne
It's gonna start. It's gonna start on Riot Maker. It's gonna keep on going through, straight out the gate. You know what I'm saying? Eba, Einstein, all that. All back to Back. They ain't stopping. Yeah, the.
Thomas
The first show I went is when you guys were dressed like the Temptations. You cut out who And Chris Calico. You were doing a line like old school Temptations dancing.
Tech N9ne
Yes, we was.
Thomas
See, I knew it was. I knew that's what it was. I've been my. My favorite show I ever been to is when the one you were about to release, kod, I got some new. And you started rapping. You started rapping faster and then the purple smoke started spinning around you Faster.
Tech N9ne
Yes.
Thomas
Like a tornado.
Tech N9ne
And I was, sir, who the.
Thomas
I remember my homie GS like, this is it. Yeah, we found our guy.
Tech N9ne
Yeah.
Thomas
I've been to so many shows there and I never seen anybody have a choreographed show right. Ever.
Tech N9ne
Right.
Thomas
I went to Jacka Nicotina. Like, they don't have choreograph shows. Those folks are high as.
Tech N9ne
Yes.
Thomas
So when I went to go see, I'm like, oh, it's a show.
Tech N9ne
It's different.
Thomas
It's not a rap show. It's a show.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, it is. Yeah, it is.
Thomas
Yeah.
Tech N9ne
And a lot of people use face pain or costume to cover up the fact that they don't have skill. That's not the case with Tech9. This is what I see of myself. I am the king, the clown of the G. So I come out with a crown and do all the choppers and all the. He's a mental giant and all that, kind of the king. Then after I do like 20 minutes of that, I go back the intermission real quick for like a minute. I put on that nine thousand dollar silicone mask with the glowing. No, with the fucking automatic red nose and turn on the light and I do. I do all the dark shit as the clown and I do that shit for like 30 minutes and shit. And then I go back there, take. Take my motherfucking mask off and I come out as the G and do all the hits. Caribou Lou, Dysfunctional, you know what I'm saying? Everybody but me. Fragile, you know what I'm saying? Face off, all that, man. You know what I'm saying? Planet Rock, it's alive. I went to one.
Thomas
I went to the show recently in la.
Tech N9ne
Yeah.
Thomas
My wife's never been like, oh, which one was it? It was the one you did, the Novo.
Tech N9ne
Oh, the Novo. That was. Yeah, that was a minute.
Thomas
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was like. Feels like four years ago, I think.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was.
Marty O'
Is it hard not to lose your voice when you're wrapping your ass off like that? For so long. Like.
Tech N9ne
Well, I do tea, lemon and honey. Well, decaffeinated tea. I cannot have caffeine. If I ingest caffeine, I will stay up for three days and sleep for my. I cannot ingest any caffeine. I'm naturally caffeine. That's what that says to me, you know, saying I found out the hard way when Monster was sponsoring me.
Thomas
Oh, I remember that.
Tech N9ne
You know what I'm saying? But what'd you ask me?
Thomas
Was it, how do you not lose your voice?
Tech N9ne
Oh, how do I lose my voice? Yes, I drink the tea. I don't party after the shows because the next day I need my voice to be tip top to do that again. An hour and 45 minutes every night. And I'm like, oh, on ebay. And up there yelling my, you know, saying, oh, Arola. You know what I'm saying?
Thomas
Like, it's always funny to see that live.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Thomas
One always pulls her tits out.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, yeah. But you know, I, I take care of my voice. I had a show last night and I'm still talking, you know what I'm saying? So I take care of my voice, try to keep it. That's my instrument. You know, I know I lose my.
Marty O'
If I like yell or shout or something, it starts to go quick.
Tech N9ne
So I got the same woman for 11 years. Not November 12th would be 11 years. We got married in our 10th year, last year in July. And I ain't out here eating my throat up another. So I got one. I eat and I love it and I eat it like I never had it before. Sorry, too much information. But I'm saying it to say that I ain't out here reckless. Yeah, yeah. Partying and you're professional. Putting my lips on everything, man. You know, saying, my, my, this is how I pay my everything. Yeah. So I remember Lady Gaga said, you know, they say, what do you do after the show? Do you go party and what do you do after such a big show? She said like every, like every mega star should do sleep. I'm like, yeah, good answer. You know what I'm saying? Go to, to sleep. Yeah, I ain't up. I end up freestyling with all day. They want me to detect. I want to bust something for you outside the bus. Can't do it right now. But yeah, sorry, man. Saying, you know what I'm saying? They come in a me greet, can I bust for you? I'm like this music playing, dude, you know what I'm saying? But some people, if they catch Me at the right time. I let them rap for me and. But I don't rap back with yeah, yeah. I ain't. I ain't, you know, Ritz them. When they were first on tour with me, they were staying up all night rapping. And I.
Thomas
He was outside the bus.
Tech N9ne
I saw them like, what do you do for your voice? Not do what y' all do every night, you know what I'm saying? Rapping with each other till four in the morning.
Thomas
And you used to do you have your years of that. It's like, yeah, why keep doing it? Like, I know what it is.
Tech N9ne
But these are rappers that are put on the bus for the first time with each other and skill, you know, I get why they do it.
Thomas
They're hype.
Tech N9ne
They playing beats like bust some. You know what I'm saying?
Thomas
A group of B boys and just what can you do?
Tech N9ne
It ain't nothing like having your full voice for a show. Ain't nothing like it. Giving it away just to show your skill. That play the out. It's the big leagues.
Thomas
No, it makes sense. It makes sense.
Tech N9ne
Yeah.
Marty O'
It's like an athlete being like kind of injured. Like my. You want difference between your ankle being kind of rolled and not right.
Tech N9ne
Right. For sure. You know what I'm saying? Your Achilles up and. And you heal it. I ain't never the same when you come back.
Marty O'
Yeah, they're not allowed to play in the off season. They got rules they follow and to.
Thomas
Get on jet skis. And I didn't know any of this stuff.
Tech N9ne
Unhealthy, unhealthy tech, man. I. I tore both gastrocnemius muscles in my calf on my right and my left on different tours. Like, you'd be up there and you'd be jumping and step longer. You feel something like, then you say it on. I think I did it, y'. All. I think I up. But I'm gonna keep on going, you know what I'm saying? I had three more shows for the tour. I had to do it on a slit gastrocnemius muscle.
Thomas
Oh, I was thinking about how'd you slip? Oh, running around on stage. Yep.
Tech N9ne
Yeah.
Thomas
Doing your.
Tech N9ne
And you're not stretching and you're not. You're not doing anything that pop on your ass.
Thomas
We all think we're invincible. That's why I just started recently stretching. Like I have to stretch now.
Tech N9ne
You gotta stretch.
Thomas
Yes, I do.
Tech N9ne
You gotta stretch. Getting older, man. Don't your up, dude. You know what I'm saying? I'm an athlete. Out there, man. I can still break dance on a. You know what I'm saying? Like, for real.
Thomas
For real. I've seen it.
Tech N9ne
You know what I'm saying? Don't nobody want none, you know what I'm saying?
Thomas
Question real quick. After all the years of listening, I can tell you watch the out of some movies.
Tech N9ne
Oh, my God.
Thomas
I mean, there's so many buff.
Tech N9ne
You know what I'm saying?
Thomas
I just said I'm the cable guy without being a weirdo.
Tech N9ne
Crazy. I like you, but you were crazy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I knew. Crowd said I already do. I choose things that people will recognize, you know what I'm saying?
Thomas
And if you do recognize, like, that's what we're friends.
Tech N9ne
Yes, sir.
Thomas
Good.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, Exactly. Yeah. But when I said some people miss I'm a tippy tie on your capitown. They don't know that. That's pooty Tang. They don't know.
Thomas
Oh, he's talking about. He's talking about Luc movie randomly enough.
Tech N9ne
He wrote that because water time a tippy time your capitown, you know what I'm saying? I make that rhyme, you know, a lot of young. Like, what the is he talking about? You know what I'm saying? He's like. I said something like, I got biba fia lot of booby shabba land who can beat me? Not a man. That's. I rhymed it. But he's trying to do Will Ferrell, you know what I'm saying? And when he was the candidate or something, he was like running for.
Thomas
Oh, with that galak is that movie.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he said, you. You want angry. I got be f booby D.
Thomas
Like, I think that's what this movie's from.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I watch a lot of man and I throw out there to see if people catch it. Yeah, I love that. I got a line on the first song on the bird 58164 is called the birth. I put a joke at the end of my song the birth.
Thomas
I just listened to. What was it?
Tech N9ne
I missed that. Bloodthirst hip hopper. The birth of a chopper. But I'm not Ecuadorian. Ecuadorian.
Thomas
I heard that. I didn't get it.
Tech N9ne
Bloodthirst hip hopper. They said that they were about to have sex before she cut off his dick, you know what I'm saying? Like the birth of a chopper, but I'm not Ecuadorian. That's a Lorena Bobbitt joke.
Thomas
Oh, she cut his dick off. That was a 1991 deep cut, right?
Tech N9ne
Blood Thirst, Hip Hopper, the birth of a chopper. But I'm not Ecuadorian.
Thomas
Threw it in a field, man.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I'm saying? So that's a. It's a laboring Lorena Baba joke because I'm a Midwest chopper, you know what I'm saying?
Thomas
I get it.
Tech N9ne
Blood thirst, hip hop and the birth of a chopper. But I'm not Ecuadorian, you know what I'm saying?
Thomas
Don't cut my dick off, right?
Tech N9ne
So that's a little. Nobody will ever get it. It's. They'll probably get it now. He's crazy Black Walt. You know, he in art. The. You know, my. My brother. He and art the whole cd. So I mean, you know, the album. He said, what does that mean, man? You know what I'm saying? I said, it's a Lorena Bobbitt joke. He's like, that don't belong in this song. Why would you. I said, man, I'm a clown, man. What the. Come on, man. Let me live. Walk. Come on, man. He said, man, we trying to reach the demographic of the hood. And like, they ain't gonna know what the that mean. That's the problem. You always saying that. Don't be understanding what you talk about. I'm like, well, it's just the last. This is the last thing in the song. Bloodthirst, hip hop and the birth of a champa. But I'm not Ecuadorian. Ecuadorian. Ecuadorian. Ecuadorian.
Thomas
School. You just know effects on his voice. All right.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, yeah. So I kept it. You know what I'm saying?
Thomas
So I kept.
Tech N9ne
Nobody ever's going to get it until they watch this.
Thomas
I would have never got it.
Tech N9ne
Uhhuh. Nobody's going to ever get it. That's just far left, you know what I'm saying? That's what I'm thinking when I'm rapping, you know what I'm saying? It's like, get to the next.
Marty O'
You got to like, get past all kinds of. To even understand.
Thomas
Oh, yeah, for sure. And they go, oh, he. Was he Ecuadorian?
Tech N9ne
No, was. She's Ecuadorian.
Thomas
Oh, see the. She's the chopper. Gotcha.
Tech N9ne
See him like bloodthirsty papa. The birth of a chopper. She's the chopper. She's Ecuadorian. But I'm not Ecuadorian, so I ain't chopping off dicks, you know what I'm saying? I'm chopping lyrics, just to be clear, in case you were wondering. Yeah.
Thomas
So I asked everybody this, and I gotta ask you. I'll split It. What's your three favorite movies, man? No, no. If you had to, the three movies you could watch all the time. I don't like to say favorite anymore.
Tech N9ne
Halloween 2. John Carpenter, Carrie Spasic.
Thomas
That movie me up.
Tech N9ne
Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. Dennis Hopper. Damn. All horror.
Thomas
Yeah. I said all I go, hey, man, change this. That's the first Amen. Change this.
Tech N9ne
Michael Myers, you know, and the Exorcist. Oh, sorry, sorry. Oh, Exorcism. My lock screen.
Thomas
Well, you know, you're a fan when you go number two with Dennis Hopper, like.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, yeah, my mom. My Christian mother, man. You know what I'm saying? She. She introduced me to the darkness, you know what I'm saying?
Thomas
She showed you that?
Tech N9ne
Of course.
Thomas
Oh, wow. Use your Christian. Don't bring it in.
Tech N9ne
I was born and said, no, not like this. He was a young mother. She. She got pregnant with me. I mean, she got pregnant while she. When she was 15. She had me when she was 16. I was born in 71. She took me to go see Carrie in 76.
Marty O'
Damn.
Tech N9ne
You know what I'm saying? Young mama movie, man.
Thomas
I know three or four.
Tech N9ne
All right, okay. 78. John Carpenter was premiering Halloween in Kansas City at either, I think, the Empire or the Midland. I don't know. My mom took me. I remember walking out of the theater and I was so short, you know I'm saying. I was looking at the lights going up the aisle, and I hear that. I just got this feeling in me, like, this is ominous, boy. I was like, why do I feel like this? You know I'm saying? And hence, I do psycho bitches later on in my life, you know what I'm saying? Just like she showed me the clowns at the Ringland Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus, and I was terrified. The Ararat Shrine Circus. I was terrified of clowns. I became to kill a clown. Yeah. You know the scrubs that I wear on stage, you know, saying the hospital scrubs is from visiting her in psychiatric wards throughout my childhood because of her epilepsy, you know what I'm saying? So everything that my mom showed me, I applied to tech9. And it gave me the ammunition to be successful. My mom helped me, My Christian mother. She told me when I was younger, this Dracula toy I got you is no different from the GI Joe I got you or the Star wars toys that I get you. They're all plastic. Don't ever let anybody tell you you can give them energy. You know what I'm saying?
Thomas
Creepy.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, you can't. The Mind is the most intricate of all computers. People have sleep paralysis and think that they've seen a ghost. You know what I'm saying? The mind is the most intricate of all computers, you know what I'm saying? Like, you ever had sleep paralysis.
Thomas
We talked about it yesterday for, like, 20 minutes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I did.
Tech N9ne
You feel like somebody's holding you down and you can't wake up.
Thomas
Oh, I woke up with the blanket tied around my neck, almost killing me.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sleep paralysis. And people think that it's a ghost.
Thomas
I've seen the shadow where I wake up. Like, I can't move. What's the shadow next?
Tech N9ne
Exactly, exactly, exactly.
Thomas
Oh, that's the worst feeling in the world. Someone broken my so first thing, I think so.
Tech N9ne
The mind is the most intricate of all computers. You can create heaven that doesn't go past your head, or you can create hell that doesn't go past your heels. That's too heavy for people. I want to admit it, but it's not up to me to tell people who they're gonna see when they die. Who the am I, man? So I'll never do that. I'm just telling you what I feel and what I know about myself. You can make heaven or you can make hell of your life with emotion and feelings. If you don't control your emotions, you can up your life totally. If you flip out one day here in this, he's not gonna want you here no more and vice versa, you know what I'm saying? Unless y' all brothers and y' all can flip out and say, man, I'm sorry I was drunk as, you know, saying it won't happen. But if it keeps on happening, you keep on having episodes, you're gonna say, hey, we gotta move your other brother in, man. You up, man. You up. You know I'm saying it's like, you know, you got to control what people make you do if people can make you do anything. But now with social media, everything is amplified. Everybody has comparisons. Oh, they're doing this. Why can't we do this or that they doing that? I'm gonna go over there and pull up, and then it's, you know, sending out smoke signals, and people are going to come and pull up and ops, and you know what I'm saying? Everything is amplified right now, man. You know what I'm saying? If people could just practice emotional intelligence, man, we will be further along 100%, and you won't up your life. I just said on something the other day, emotions make you Die sometimes. You know what I'm saying?
Marty O'
Like, for real.
Thomas
No, it's true. How many videos you see? It feels like a simple road rage. Someone get shot.
Tech N9ne
Yeah.
Thomas
You got somewhere to go?
Tech N9ne
Just keep going. Yeah. And the whole life is over. Oh, yeah. You do something in five minutes to.
Thomas
Give you 50 years and I'm guilty of it. I've been in road rage where I lose my mind. Like, who the are you? And then after. What am I doing?
Tech N9ne
Yeah. And you got your family in the car and they looking at you, scared, and.
Thomas
Oh, I don't know about. I think I'll stop before that one.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, yeah.
Thomas
No, I just. I throw the lighter, it pops. Scares. It scares everybody else in the car. I love seeing their face.
Tech N9ne
Yeah.
Thomas
I stopped doing that, man. LA is a weird place.
Tech N9ne
It is.
Thomas
It's a weird place. I only lose my.
Tech N9ne
I lived here. I've been coming here since 93. My first record deal. 97. I've been living in here. I moved here in 04. I moved back to Kansas City in 05.
Thomas
One year out here.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, man.
Marty O'
What happened when you ran away? Like, what's that?
Tech N9ne
Like, when I was 17. Yeah.
Marty O'
Till then you, like, came out here.
Tech N9ne
Like, how did.
Marty O'
What happened?
Tech N9ne
17. I ran away to my Auntie Zita's house, you know what I'm saying? Away from my stepfather. And I started working on Tech9. I'm saying 19. I moved in with Icy Rock. He started doing beats for me. We did some songs. He had friends that were signed to Perspective, A M A A A R B group called Low Key. Lance and Prof. Got my. Played it for Jimmy and Terry. They signed me. That was my first deal, you know what I'm saying?
Thomas
19.
Tech N9ne
In my 20s. Well, it was going into my 20s, you know what I'm saying? Early 20s. So that's how that jumped like that, you know what I'm saying? That's when I run away. But.
Marty O'
So where you're at now, you basically had put in your mind back then when you're like, all right, I'm just dedicating my Life to Tech9.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, man. My graduation day fell on the same day that I won a contest, a rap contest to open up for epmd. And I chose. Oh, high school graduation. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? That's when I knew what it was. I gotta do this. I didn't get my diploma, you know.
Thomas
Oh, there's no going back.
Tech N9ne
No. And I left school on the honor roll, too. Oh, yeah, man.
Thomas
Oh, yeah.
Marty O'
Even though you ran away and you kept it together at school?
Tech N9ne
Yeah, I did. Oh, come on, man. 17 is like, your last year in school. Yeah.
Thomas
I got a question. Night and Day. I think that was the first song on a. Was the Alpha Dog.
Tech N9ne
Right. We were Party parlay, Party, Chris Calico crazy on that 100.
Thomas
See, I don't have ADD, man. When someone says a word, I say the whole in my head. Yeah, just let it go.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, man.
Thomas
All right, so it's normal.
Tech N9ne
Yeah. Nick Cassavetes said him and his wife at the time went into. What was it called? Music. It was a music spot out here. It was big on Sunset. I forgot what it's called. And he said they were just picking up albums, and they picked up Absolute power. And he's like, this guy is smart. And he contacted Strange Music and said he wanted me to help. Do you know his movie, you know, Saying? Like, put music to his music to, you know, saying. And Aaron Zigman was already doing it, you know what I'm saying? Big composer guy or whatever, you know what I'm saying? And he called me into. Put his. Put my music to his movie. He already had Caribou Lou in there. He already had. He already had Slither in there, you know what I'm saying? But just think, he said he went and got absolute power, but we were in ever ready time three years later. Oh, six. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, 06. You know what I'm saying? He was like, I already got these songs in the movie. You know what I'm saying? But I got absolute power. And he's like, it was crazy. I said, I got albums way after that, you know what I'm saying?
Thomas
I just remember I heard at the end of the movie, I go, shut the up.
Tech N9ne
Yeah.
Thomas
Because, you know, underground fan. Like, you hear an underground artist on anything, like, Yes, I. This is my now I. With you guys. I didn't listen to a mainstream until 2013.
Tech N9ne
That version is only on the movie. I tried to get it forever ready, but the. The producer, Mateo, he wanted too much money or something, so we had to redo the beat.
Thomas
Different, really?
Tech N9ne
That person on the movie, so tribal. That's why seven had to go boom. Give it a total different thing, but the same kind of movement. Didn't even notice the one Mateo did. Party Hardy Hard. We did that out here, blood. You know what I'm saying? Like, really going, man. You know what I'm saying? Oh, that version is killer. Seven really did a really good job. But that original is the one, man.
Thomas
Yeah.
Tech N9ne
Oh my God. It's so tribal, man. You know, saying I wish I had it somewhere, man. It's just super mean commission. Oh my God. Well, you have to remind at that at the end of the movie, you know, since the last thing you hear after you say trying to true love gets caught in Paris or something or whatever the he was, it's like, you know, I love the movie.
Thomas
And then the starter goes, no way.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, man, that was, that was a big break for me.
Thomas
It was right. It was, it was like, yeah, all right. Just, just getting out of high school. I'm like on a movie.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, that's it.
Thomas
It's I, I, we're fans. Like we're hyped when you do. I'm hyped when I saw Monsters Energy. I'm a hype when you got Mers on the label. Yeah, I'm juiced about this because I know it's getting bigger. And as a fan, I'm buying. I got hella strange music memorabilia in my house, man.
Tech N9ne
Yes.
Thomas
You already know. I don't know how many of your posters are all over my right. Framed up. When you sign everyone. You probably still do, but I remember I got him like this is a real signature.
Tech N9ne
Yeah.
Thomas
Frame that. It's been framed since 2018 or 2008.
Tech N9ne
Just think, man, we've been trying to get music and movies for so long, man. When I got, when I got on this gang related soundtrack with, you know, Death Row, you know, and Suge remastered the record to put my song on their questions, you know, I thought that questions was going to be in the movie. So all the hood came to see our song in the movie and it wasn't in there. Oh, I'm like, damn. It's just on the album. Okay. It we on the album though, you know?
Thomas
Yes.
Tech N9ne
Three times platinum, you know what I'm saying? And it's like so from 98 we have been trying. So just imagine after 2006, Nick Cassavetes, the motherfucker who wrote the Notebook and Face off and all that kind of shit, says he wants me to do his movie, you know, saying, you know, that, that, that was a big. He, I came out here to la, he gave me the hard drive, this big ass thing. I had to get back to Kansas City.
Thomas
Him on the plane, a big ass brick.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, man, this big ass. You know what I'm saying? This machine with this big multi million dollar movie with Justin Timberlake in it and got Bruce Willis and Sharon Stone and I'm like Emile Hurst, like, what okay. Take this back home with you, get with your studio, and let me see what you could do. I took the job. I don't know how to.
Thomas
Well, figure it out, though.
Marty O'
Yeah.
Tech N9ne
Trudy3 told me. Tech, it's pro twos. When you get back to your town, trust me, you're gonna love it. It's easy. You know what I'm saying? And I got to the airport, and they say, sir, you got to take that through the belt. I'm like, I'm not taking this. If you zap this somehow, you're gonna have to pay millions. You know what I'm saying? So they let me take it around. You know what I'm saying? Black box.
Thomas
It could be a bomb, right? It's not a bomb, man. It was white.
Tech N9ne
It was a white heart. Big, you know? It's big, man. It was big. You know what I'm saying? And I got it back home. This is before we had strange music, you know, Strange. You know, Land Studios, we're still going to Chapman on 17th and Wyandotte, downtown Kansas City. And me and Rob Rebeck and Chris Calico, man, we set that up. The SMPTE time code, the numbers on it, and we creating music and putting it in there, man.
Thomas
I didn't realize you guys did the whole. The whole movie.
Tech N9ne
No, we didn't. We did a lot of it. Oh, Aaron Zigman, he was hating on us. He's like, you know, when we were doing the song Night and Day with his producer, Mateo, he was in the house, like, you know, I've been working with Nick since the Notebook, so I do all of his stuff. He just. You guys probably have a few songs in there. He's being a. For real, you know what I'm saying? But I'm. I'm angel, baby. So I'm like, no worries, man. You know what I'm saying? Chris Calico sitting over there, like, he kept doing it like, nick is my best friend, you know? I don't know why he called you guys. I guess he just loves you guys. Music. And maybe you'll have one or two songs in there. And after he said it, like, four or five times, Chris said, like, Calico said, yeah, hey, man, I know we in your house, but you keep talking, I'm gonna. You up. You know someone. You up. I said, come on, Chris, let's go outside. And we had to leave for sure.
Thomas
No, I get why you pissed off, though.
Tech N9ne
Gotta leave. So when it came time, you know, we already had our songs in the movie and everything. He was gonna be the last say. So he took some our out, you know what I'm saying, and kept some in there. He kept slither in there. He kept Cariboulou in the fight scene at the party. He kept Scatterman and Snug Brim song in there at the pool. Pool scene. And of course, Mateo, his producer, Aaron Zigman's producer at the time, he was a. He was a. That did the beat, the mean ass tribal beat. So Night and Day. So I recorded it out here, you know, I'm saying, right over the hill or some shit, wherever the fuck it was. And when it came out, it was a big thing, you know what I'm saying? So I was doing Ever Ready. So I was like, I want this song for everybody. I want Night and Day. So he's like, he wanted too much money and that's why he had to.
Thomas
Read you the whole.
Tech N9ne
You know what I'm saying?
Thomas
Complications of money, man.
Tech N9ne
But that original tribal. Sometimes I just watch the movies, go to the. Just to go to that here, because I can't never find it on YouTube like the original, you know, I'm surprised.
Thomas
You don't have your own. That's. That's the wild thing to hear, you.
Tech N9ne
Know what I'm saying? We didn't keep anything once, you know.
Thomas
Saying, of course there, it's yours now. Yeah, yeah, we totally get it.
Tech N9ne
You know what I'm saying? Plus, Aaron Zigman was being a. So he kind of took it out of our hands at the end when Chris gotta go threaten him in his own house.
Thomas
Well, if you started off with. It's like saying, with all due respect, like, I know we're in your house. That's like, you should know that you're being a.
Tech N9ne
Right.
Thomas
If someone respectfully says, I'm gonna you up.
Tech N9ne
Huh?
Marty O'
Yeah, for sure. All right, I got a quick question. You mentioned the Death Row era. Were you homies with Tupac at all?
Tech N9ne
Yeah, I mean, not homies, homies. But I met him in Atlanta at Jack the rapper convention in 92. Then I came out here in 93, got my first record deal with Jimmy Chairman Terry Lewis, and they took me to. My first night here. They took me to this place. It was a comedy club slash club, you know what I'm saying? Starts off comedy and then it turns into a nightclub, you know, it's called the Shiznet. Was kind of funny. I walked in Tupac with his whole click mo prem everybody had and everything, and I walked. What's up, brothers? Good to see you again. That whole summer, we kicked it 93, you know what I'm saying? The same and everything. Oh. Then we ended up having the same producer, QD3. So in 96, before he died, you know, saying, we was already talking, me and QD3 and Pac, and he was like, pac really want to get you on something, you know what I'm saying? See if I can work on something, you know, I'm like, yeah, yeah, let's go. It's gonna be a big thing for tech 9, tech 92, pocket 96. You know, he did Juicy as Audio. He died in 96. Yeah. Q3 called me two weeks later and said, hey, we found that song, man. You still want to do it with Pac? I'm like, come on, man. He sent it to me. He did Thugs Get Lonely too. The. The sample with the print sample. That's why it never came out. You know what I'm saying? And, you know, that was my time with Tupac, you know?
Thomas
And is that the. The part you said you and Chris Tucker couldn't get in because it. Was it because of ball caps and dollar bills?
Tech N9ne
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Thomas
All right. See, I've been listening to this for so long, like, oh, is that from this?
Tech N9ne
You heard a Technique. Whatever. You heard a techie, like, the best. He built his bout in the Midwest, be busting like, boom, boom. You know? I know what you're talking about, man. Yeah. Cursed. That's cursed. That's Old Tech nine.
Thomas
Shit's hard.
Tech N9ne
Holy. That's the beginning.
Thomas
First.
Tech N9ne
Jesus.
Marty O'
Do you. Do you have any sort of remedies for writer's block or being blocked? Creativity.
Tech N9ne
Yes, I do. I don't believe in it. I never believed. That's why I have so many. That's why 5816 is my 26th LP, you know, because I always said that the cure to writer's block is to read some or go out and have something happen to your ass in life. Go live life. I write my life. So people say, when you ever gonna stop rapping? I'm like, whenever my life stops. Yeah.
Marty O'
Yeah.
Thomas
It's all experience.
Tech N9ne
Experience. Yeah. And we share with each other experiences. I love to hear Jay Z talk because he's talking about experiences of a billionaire. I mean, we all want to get there somehow, you know? It's like, damn, did you hear what he said? What's that to a. What's something? Some to a. Like me, you know what I'm saying? In Paris, I'm like, Jesus, 50 grand to a. Yeah.
Thomas
I want to get there.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, man, we listen to that talk. Your.
Marty O'
Is there any books or anything you listen to that really, like, motivated you or you learned something from Behold a.
Tech N9ne
Pale horse back in the day. Message to the black man back in the day. Some celestial. I forgot it was a blue book, you know what I'm saying? The Bible, the Quran.
Marty O'
Did you read the Secret?
Tech N9ne
The what?
Marty O'
The secret.
Tech N9ne
The secret, yes. Back in the day.
Marty O'
Sounds like I could tell by her.
Tech N9ne
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And think and grow rich, you know, like that, man.
Thomas
Yeah, I read the Outsiders, man.
Tech N9ne
Yeah.
Thomas
That's one of the few ones I got, man.
Marty O'
I always like to get suggestions from people that like to listen to, like, smart people to further themselves or put that out.
Thomas
We get that a lot here.
Tech N9ne
I can't remember the last time I read a book. I read a lot of. But just purchasing a book and taking time because I'm always writing, you know what I'm saying? So a lot of what I found over the years and my past is what I work with today. And yeah, now with Google and all that kind of, you can get information a different way, you know what I'm saying? Or you can read books a different way or read something a different way because of technology. Yeah. So I'm always searching for more. I'm always searching for more knowledge and who got it.
Marty O'
How does it go when you go to write a song? What's the process?
Tech N9ne
Get the beat first. I used to write without the beat because I had no beats. And then I go in there and say, this is what I got. We make the beat around it, you know what I'm saying? Now I have the luxury of having multiple producers. So they send me and I hear a pulse that's undeniable. Bob sends me a beat and says this type of. To make the hood go crazy. I'm like, damn, that hard. I'm a right Kate, you know? I'm gonna write some to it, you know what I'm saying? That's all you want. I ain't gotta work.
Thomas
Last night's y' all said a lot of merch.
Tech N9ne
They said at every show. I didn't write it like that because it's simple, you know? The more simple, the more people can say it, you know, My left stroke just went viral, you know?
Marty O'
Exactly.
Tech N9ne
But I'm blessed enough to have multiple producers to send me pulses that lead me in a direction, and then I listen to the beat. And if the beat says something sad, I'll write a sad story, you know? I had to let the song cry, you know. You know you gotta do and tell stories, you know. You'll know when it's time to party. You know when it's time to bang. You'll know when it's time to have sex. You'll know when it's time to lyrical acrobatics, you know. Fred Astaire on a set of stairs with the lyrics, you know what I'm saying? Like fresh stare on a set of stairs. Stairs. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I'm saying? Tap dancing on, you know what I'm saying? Like I did on NF's Track Trust, you know what I'm saying? Tap dancing on that.
Thomas
Yeah. I never heard him would describe it like that.
Tech N9ne
Bring God that lingua vaccine. Yeah. Leaving a love regular rabbit resting, bro. This is what I give it. Such an incredible wicked rush of vivid gust of poetical living stuff to rid his gr. So the better go rip it rough. And I lit it up. That's tap dancer. That's for the stereo. It's.
Marty O'
The rhyme patterns are so like.
Tech N9ne
It's like abc.
Thomas
Abc, abc. Dancing. It's the quick. Is that what you call it, tap?
Tech N9ne
Yeah, man.
Thomas
It's a good music, man.
Tech N9ne
What I do is I write in four bar segments, you know what I'm saying? And I wait and I study the four bars and then I'll turn the beat on with my other phone, you know what I'm saying? Hooked up to my pill and I take my Dictaphone recorder and I say that and I up, I push, erase, rewind it and take it back and do it till I get it perfect and I listen to it. Holy. I usually get up and like, holy. Got the first four bars, you know what I'm saying? Then I work on the second four bars, just go the same thing.
Thomas
You said they do that. Yeah, Beatles. That's exactly how they write their music.
Marty O'
So are you done with the song? Usually by the time you first sit down to write it.
Tech N9ne
Nah. Sometimes it comes out like really fast, you know what I'm saying? Sometimes it might take me 30 minutes. Sometimes it might take me an hour. Yoda took me three days on that tour because I was talking like Yoda. A Jedi Skywalker is, you know, saying, I had to talk like Yoda throughout. The whole three verses broke. I am. I'm like, ah. Why did I do this to myself?
Thomas
You have to forget grammar and.
Tech N9ne
Because Yoda will talk like that, but you don't have to rhyme my. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Thomas
Oh, that's why? Okay.
Tech N9ne
Broke I am equivalent to a whopping 20 tons of pure dope. My gems have your ramen ticket revoked. I can in front of a really starving killer goat. Weiss Dan. You know what I'm saying?
Thomas
How did I not put this together, man? I was listening not even an hour ago.
Tech N9ne
Be the. Be the best. I will. Him that want to test. I kill in the projects. I'm still, come on, really ill. I feel giving vet my skills. You can say all that backwards, you know what I'm saying? Broke I am. I am broke.
Thomas
When you were rhyming backwards and that's like another level of like, this was rapping backwards.
Tech N9ne
Yes, man. And some people in the comments are getting it like, holy tech. Wrapped this whole like Yoda backwards, man. It was the worst idea I ever had. But it turned out beautiful, man. I done it. Three. Sixteen brothers verses, three days.
Thomas
It's so.
Tech N9ne
That's a long time. I think it's 16. Maybe they're 12. I don't know. I don't know. But when you're rapping double time, it's double anyway, you know what I'm saying? So it's like. That's a good point.
Marty O'
All the songs are double the length of a regular rapper song.
Thomas
Yes, Killers. It's a double disc album, man.
Tech N9ne
My only one.
Thomas
That's a fat album.
Tech N9ne
But Yoda was the hardest one. It took me three days. I do one verse and my brain would be so up. And I was doing the following in reverse tour, you know what I'm saying? So I'm doing this. Oh, after I get off stage first. Yeah.
Thomas
Last year, Hard as hell.
Tech N9ne
Yeah. Yeah. And I go back on tour with them early August, you know what I'm saying? With Slaughter. Slaughter to prevail, Rage, roar and just saw the brother Hollywood Undead. And you know what I'm saying? A couple of sleep theory is going. You know what I'm saying? Somebody else. I forgot. And then after that, I go on the Thuggish Ruggish Mafia tour with Bone Thugs in harmony and 36 mafia.
Marty O'
2.
Tech N9ne
Thuggish ruggish mafia. Sick. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Thomas
Oh, yeah. Why would you want to do everything else of your life? This is your. This is your rock star.
Tech N9ne
Yeah.
Thomas
I'm gonna do the base with your favorite artist.
Tech N9ne
Yes, sir. Yes.
Thomas
Yeah. Oh, come on, man.
Tech N9ne
But, but, but, but it took me three days. After I got through writing the first verse, I had to rest because that's hella brain work. So if I'm doing broke, I am in the first Verse, the second verse has to be another way of doing it. And the third verse got to be a different way. Rap back and forth with me, Damon and Mario Gotcha. Full of bangers and dangers, all the slanging, some gang and some banging gabario, you know what I'm saying? It's hard, man.
Thomas
Even you're like, it's just hard. I'm so happy to hear that, though. You're a human. You're a human being, bro. Because when I'm listening to, I'm like, how the did he do that?
Tech N9ne
Killed it. The faster rhyme did. Keeping it rough with aggression. The asinine kid take everything down to your last. The rhyme biz and overcome a winner and Master 9 is holy. That's up. The faster rhyme did kill it.
Thomas
You know saying, yo when you did B boy. And then that whole verse is beast. I couldn't believe that. That's like beef and vendetta. Yeah, yeah. This fool's a vigilante with this.
Tech N9ne
Yeah.
Thomas
Remind me of beef Vendetta straight up.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Thomas
A whole whole way through.
Tech N9ne
Yes, sir.
Marty O'
Used to do that back in the day. You remember that?
Tech N9ne
Yeah, I know. But Yoda was indeed the hardest song I've written in a long time, man.
Thomas
Well, good to hear. Dropped today. Yeah, today guys did.
Tech N9ne
And people won't recognize it if they're just listening because how I'm flowing killed it. The fast, the rhyme did. Keeping rough with the gring the ass of nine, kid. Take everything that to your life. The line, the rhyme Bills and overcomer a Winner and Master9 is I give green light. Yoda, you know I said, he's dope, man.
Marty O'
It's like 34 tracks on the album.
Tech N9ne
Nah, it looks that way because of the skits.
Thomas
Oh. And hearing I've been a fan for a long time, hearing your child as a grown up, that made me feel so old today.
Tech N9ne
Yes, sir, man.
Thomas
Because I remember when you had the rain with your daughter on Ever Ready. How old is she now?
Tech N9ne
Aaliyah. Aaliyah's about to be 31.
Thomas
And rain is 31.
Tech N9ne
About to be 26. Yeah. Donnie is 30.
Thomas
I'm old, man.
Tech N9ne
Yeah. Yeah, man. How you think I feel?
Thomas
I get it. You're the dad. It's different.
Tech N9ne
I got my step. My. My stepdaughter on there because I married her mama, Isabella. She's on there. And then I got my two year old, she said Tech9 for the first time on the phone with me while I was on the Falling Reverse tour, and I happened to call her to get the skit. And I got all that wonderful from Elena. She said tech nine. I'm like, oh my God, I love you. And then she said, I. She said it back. I'm like, I got a lot of.
Thomas
Drop the verse right afterwards, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. So as a fan, to start off the call this album with a skit from your child that's a grown up. Blew my.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, man. Yeah, it really did.
Thomas
Because I. Yeah. Since I was a child. But listen, man, so it's. It's cool. It's cool to hear.
Tech N9ne
Yes, sir. That's how you started to put my kids throughout the whole record, man. Made it way personal. Because it's already personal. Because of all the stories are real, no fluff. You know, I'm saying I told it verbatim, all that, even the nice one, you know, I'm saying the big movie on the album, you know what I'm saying? It's like. It's a real story that I never told anybody. You know, some racial going on. All kind of man. Just really personal. And then you throw your kids on top of it, which was Black Walt's idea as well, you know what I'm saying? And it made it super personal. And by the looks of the comments that I've seen this morning, people really dig that I gave them something of this caliber this late, this far into my career and discography. Something I've never done before. Album with all me on the verses. Never done before an album. There's one producer did all 17 tracks. JPZ. You know what I'm sizzling the album where it's all in chronological order. 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, then out. And then after the last song, this I know strange music. I put J6s because J6s took place two years after I ran away from 5,000, 816. So I put it there just in case people want me to keep going with the story. With the tech 9 story.
Thomas
Oh, like a cliffhanger.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, like I, like, like, like I won the contest. I didn't walk across the stage at my graduation. I chose the rap stage now because the rhyme ends. But I wanted to open up for EPMD at Kemper Arena. That fell on my graduation day. So rap was meant for the Nina 91. What I had on my feet was real fancy and hip. The same year MJ won his first championship in J6s, you know what I'm saying? That's how I ended it, you know what I'm saying? Like, MJ probably look at them shoes like good luck too, because he won his first championship. I didn't even know, you know what I'm saying? As I'm writing it, I'm like. I thought about it and I googled it. I'm like, holy. Because they were good luck shoes to me. Because I. I escaped a drug bust in the first verse, you know what I'm saying? Up in the attic. Got the up out of there the next morning. Second verse, I escaped in. In J6s. I'm wearing these. Second verse, I'm. I'm hearing my neighbor getting her ass beat by her dude. And next time he came over, I said, we're gonna go down there with my Tech 9 that I got for my 21st birthday for my auntie, you know what I'm saying? And we're gonna put some lead in this nigga's ass for beating up Mimi like that. So I get down there and it's my. One of my rogue dog that I went to, I grew up with. I'm like, what are you doing here? Get the out of here. Police gonna come. Didn't make it. Okay. He's beating her ass. But I didn't have to kill him. Yeah, my J6s, you know what I'm saying? Thank God it was somebody I knew. Still not thank God that she was getting beat, but thank God I didn't have to kill nobody for a woman that was getting beat. That's the second verse. And then I won something for the very first time in my life. Having bad luck all these years, and I win a rap contest that happens to fall on my graduation day. What do you think I'm gonna do? You know what I'm saying? My J6 is, man. And that's why I put it at the end, right there. Because if I wanted to keep going, if this album really does what people say it's going to do and what I think it can do, I can keep going with the Tech9 story, you know what I'm saying, of me moving in with Icy Rock, me getting a deal with Jimmy, Jamie, Terry Lewis, the. That happened out here in LA with me and Tupac and the same Gala wine, you know what I'm saying? At the same time, all that I could talk about, all that I never talked about, you know what I'm saying? I mean, I wanted to.
Thomas
As fans, we're. We're literally just watching it happened. And this is like the book, the autobiography.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, yeah.
Thomas
No, but from the outside perspective, because I know you you're the biggest Tech9 fan.
Tech N9ne
Yeah.
Thomas
But being someone that's not you from the outside perspective. Yeah. It's like your autobiography, right, man? Just came out today, right?
Tech N9ne
It did. And I'm gonna sleep like a. On that plane.
Thomas
Question. You've always been like, well, the industry is post absolute power. You've always been kind of battling up. Like, you guys know I'm the hardest. Well, you know I'm the hardest, but. Right, exactly.
Tech N9ne
The lyric.
Thomas
Then you put out years later, after you're already getting success. You put Crybaby on there.
Tech N9ne
Yes, I do.
Thomas
And you're talking about that same. But basically, like, other rappers. Like, I'm still harder than you, even though you're mainstream rappers. And look at my crowd.
Tech N9ne
Right, right.
Thomas
I know what you're saying. I get it.
Tech N9ne
Yes.
Thomas
And then have you seen that change? Because I. I've seen you, dude. I follow your. You're not.
Tech N9ne
You're.
Thomas
You're the most. Least underground underground artist, biggest independent rapper in the world. So it's not like you can be like, I am mainstream because I'm so big, but I'm underground because I'm not your mainstream. It's hard to put a.
Tech N9ne
It's hard a line. It is. Because my underground ass always step into the mainstream just to show, like.
Thomas
And then recede back.
Tech N9ne
Do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hook or crazy is platinum. You know what I'm saying? Fragile is platinum, you know what I'm saying? Everybody but me, you know what I'm saying? It just keeps going. Dysfunctional is gold, you know what I'm saying? Like, the beast is platinum or gold. I don't know. You know what I'm saying? Caribou is platinum without video and radio. So it's dysfunctional.
Thomas
Yeah, without. There you go. Without.
Tech N9ne
Without video or radio, you know, dropped a while back. I always. I'm always gonna be this guy that's independent. And with being independent, using my own money, they want to keep it underground. But tech9 is a mainstream sensation because everybody in the mainstream are aware of the boogeyman. They are aware of the boogeyman and they love me.
Thomas
Is that what you call it? The boogeyman on that?
Tech N9ne
All right.
Thomas
Boogeyman to everyone.
Tech N9ne
Because they talk about me at Labels for all these times. Like, you see what they doing over this, but they don't never see me at the BET Awards, the MTV Awards, the Hip Hop Awards. But when I step out somewhere where everybody is like a Super bowl or something, like tech. Oh, my God, you're like a ghost I'm like, I know. Yeah.
Thomas
I saw you at the top of the cheese.
Tech N9ne
Yeah.
Thomas
She's fan. I went, I hope they win today. Dude. Like that make.
Tech N9ne
Yes.
Thomas
It's those wins when you're underground fan. You see that like, yes. You get just as hype like, it's you.
Tech N9ne
Yes, sir.
Thomas
I hope you do a bigger and better next time, man. Every time, dude.
Tech N9ne
I'm gonna keep on rising, man. I'm keep on rising. When you're gonna look up one day, I'm gonna have a actual air technician Jordan watch.
Thomas
I don't not see it happen. I remember you did an interview a long time ago. I buy Jays now that I got money because I never had money.
Tech N9ne
Exactly.
Thomas
That's what Jeebus was doing the same. My homie started collecting because we heard you say that. She's like, I've always wanted J. He's got a collection.
Tech N9ne
Yeah. Yeah.
Thomas
Like we. We used to travel everywhere. You were at California just to go.
Tech N9ne
I. I promise, like, that's wonderful, man.
Thomas
It's just, you know, and then life happens. I'm like, oh, you're here. I'm older now. Can we go to the next? That's why I went to the one in la.
Tech N9ne
Yeah.
Thomas
It's like anytime you can see someone you like, I suggest you guys go see because you never know if you're not gonna be able to go next time.
Tech N9ne
Are you? Right?
Thomas
They're not. What? They're not here. I miss Liz Zeppelin's last tour.
Tech N9ne
Thanks.
Thomas
Madonna's last tour.
Tech N9ne
Damn.
Thomas
I'm tripping.
Tech N9ne
I think. I think I missed. I might have missed Elton John's or Billy Joe.
Thomas
His last one, huh?
Tech N9ne
You know what I'm saying? Certain people I want to catch. You know what I'm saying? I got to see Outkast though, out here in San Bernardino. I opened up for him out here. You know what I'm saying? Like, back in the day, I got the see that sick. As you know what I'm saying?
Thomas
Because you're still a fan at the end of the day, like, you're like, I started doing stand up recently. I've been doing a lot of shows and I'll stay the whole time and just watch from the side because I'm a fan. Like, I can't wait to watch this no matter what. Like, so you like hearing you're a fan of that is. Is. I mean, we all fall. But to see it personally, like, I'm hyped. I'm happy, man.
Tech N9ne
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. It's not it's not a fan of music, man. You know what I'm saying? I believe that there should be no barriers, even though man creates barrier and culture and what certain colored people should listen to, you know what I'm saying? And I've always felt like music should be integrated.
Thomas
Always.
Tech N9ne
To put people together, to bring people together that wouldn't necessarily be together. And music does that. Music brings them to the concert together. And I was on the Sprite Liquid Mix tour with jay Z and 311 and hooba stank and nappy roots and nerd in 2002, you know what I'm saying? I saw it. I saw Jigga who I'm willing with what you look and everybody's white. You'd be like, what the. Gonna get a ride, better get it right. And everybody was cool, you know, I'm like, damn. You know, people together, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bringing people together, man. You know what I'm saying? And I always felt like it should not be divisive, you know, they. When they listen to my metal and rock with Corey Taylor and, you know, like, with her, you know, saying Slipknot. Yeah. Or me with Serge Tonkin of System of A Down on me with JD From Korn, you know what I'm saying? Starting to turn in the comments. They always say, I love how it doesn't sound forced Tech N sounds natural. I'm like. Because it's always been there since Tormented, that first song on Angelic Hip Hop. That's that.
Marty O'
We.
Tech N9ne
We took that. We took that from Josi Love. She's my Girl. We just made it sound creepy. Like, one for the devil, two for my God. Father, please forgive me while I rock this bra to him. I've been loving coochie since it was invented. Ask me does it get me? Yes, it does. Feels lovely, you know what I'm saying? We.
Thomas
We can't not just keep hip hop.
Tech N9ne
My girl would rock guitar, you know what I'm saying? It's been there since the beginning. Then Riot Maker comes, you know what I'm saying? And this just keeps coming. And I. I do it when it sounds like it needs it. And it sounds like it'll fit. Not with everything, of course, but certain beats.
Thomas
I'm like, yeah, yeah, some. Some artists.
Tech N9ne
I need live drums on this. I need electric guitar on this. Yes, let's do it. You know what I'm saying? I need to violin on this. You know what I'm saying? Just like, I bring. I bring. I bring, like, musicians in dude choirs.
Thomas
All that well, like you said with the Doors.
Tech N9ne
Yeah.
Thomas
You could have just did a sample. It'd been easy, right? Wrapped over it been done, got them.
Tech N9ne
In the studio doing it live.
Marty O'
Homeboy, have you met like other. Another rapper? This whole time that you're like, this is as passionate and as like has the attention to detail that I do with my.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, there's a lot of out there. Look at Eminem. If you talk to Eminem, he gonna be the same way about his music. Watch. Okay, you talk to Wayne, it's gonna be the same thing about his music, but a lot more calm, you know what I'm saying? His demeanor, you know what I'm saying? Tyler, the creator, man. You know what I'm saying? Like, you talk to that about his music. He know. He know. He's the ain't nobody with me. Yeah, yeah. That's the hip hop spirit.
Marty O'
Were you in the studio, Thomas?
Tech N9ne
No, he sent that. I sent my verse to him and he sent that back. I sent him 16 bars. He came back with 38. Like, that went crazy, you know what I'm saying? But, you know, it's people out there that's passionate about their music, man. You know what I'm saying? If you talk to Travis Scott, he's like my. Get going. You know what I'm saying? He knows. You know what I'm saying? He knows. It's good to know it's gonna rage.
Thomas
You know, there's a level between like over arrogant cockiness and knowing you're the.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, but you know, that's me that's so passionate about my craft because I created Tech9 to be the complete technique of rhyme. That's what my name means. Number nine. Yeah, number nine is the nine of number of completion, you know what I'm saying? Like nine months completes a pregnancy. A cat has nine lives, you know what I'm saying? Everything after nine is double and triple, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Numerology, you know? So I am the complete technique of rhyme. I wanted tech 9 to be the MC that can. That can adjust to any musical situation. You know what I'm sizzling. That's why you hear me on a song with Gary Clark Jr. Called no gun Controls on some bluesy, but it's got hip hop mixed with it. I mess. I do music with elite artistry and that does not close out genres. It's not limited. I'm saying. Me and Jelly Roll got our platinum song Creature with Chris Calico, you know what I'm saying? Like, that's Country, Yeah, yeah, you know what I'm saying? There's a creature in my closet I can hear him running around the demon screaming in the distance who makes a humbling sound. The monster that's outside my window I can't do how I do it. He lied fairly to me. Now that's that jelly roll crazy, you know what I'm saying? That's some country platinum, you know what I'm saying? I'm on there rapping. I'm not a sadist, no, but I'm hated so my religious freaks say I'm the biggest beast in that I made it grow When I sprayed this flow I created mo creatures alike When I heat up the mic I'm gonna read it tonight. But I'm tainted though by the darkness I'm blinded I'm sparked in and shined it they find it. Cause mine is whoa. I'm doing tech 9, you know what I'm saying?
Thomas
Yeah, same. Yeah, it's just a little spin.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, yeah.
Thomas
It's like the adaptiveness. How can I bleed into this while being me?
Marty O'
Do you find like the cadence first and then put words to it?
Tech N9ne
No, the. The beat is moving. The beat is telling me exactly what to do, you know what I'm saying? How much I can do and how much to keep out of it. And don't try to. Don't turn it into Midwest choppers, but you can still. My religious feet say I'm the biggest beast Then I made it grow, I'm bouncing boom. But if this beats and been the biggest beast and then I made it flow that's how I hear it when I spray this flow I created more creatures I like when I heat up the mic and read it the night But I'm tainted though by the darkness I'm blinded I sparked it and shined it, they find it Cuz mine is whoa. Cuz the beat is moving like that for that they label me and demon C want to disable Nina See them bleed, hinder me fatally and see them grieve no, you would not believe the creature inside me if you deceived Khalifa's, you know what I'm saying? I'm just busting, you know what I'm saying? But I'm singing, I'm bouncing, I'm tap dancing on all kind of Freddy's throw on a set of stairs.
Thomas
So when you say tap dance, you like, this one's tad dance. It's like this. This one's like a saxophone because it's smooth. Yeah, it's like a Like an instrument basically that's.
Tech N9ne
I'm a percussion of. I'm, I'm, I'm. I'm a lyrical percussionist. All my is percussive like, like an instrument. Follow me all around the planet. I run the government, you know what I'm saying? That's, that's the bongos. It's percussive, you know what I'm saying? So I wanted to be a drummer when I was younger, you know what I'm saying? And we didn't have no money, so I'm beating on my chest, you know what I'm saying? To rap and beating on a lunch table and you know saying, learn that from my uncles and my, my mama nim at the table eating and you know, saying how to keep rhythm and all that kind of. So I, and then I'm a B boy on top of it, so I'm popping. Follow me all around the planet I run a gamut on psychology. They can never manage me do damage with no apology. It's hard, you know what I'm saying? But it's percussive.
Thomas
I don't think a guest has ever got me so hyped up. I already know about shit that I already listened to. Yeah.
Tech N9ne
Percussive mc.
Marty O'
We've had a lot of music people.
Tech N9ne
On but nobody, nobody's ever got into.
Thomas
Their own like this bro. We've interviewed, interview everybody and no one's ever like yeah, I love my own. Yeah, I love this dude.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm a big Tech 9 fan. The biggest all over the world. They can't beat me, you know what I'm saying? The fans can't beat me. I'm like dude, I, I love that you're a big fan but you don't know this like I do, you know, say you don't know where this came from, you know, saying I'll never do that to him though. I always show much love but I am the biggest. Yeah, Tech nine, you're the only one.
Marty O'
That can do these directors cuts of.
Tech N9ne
Like of your own. Let me circle this the back around for you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Thomas
So I have, I have a question.
Tech N9ne
Yeah.
Thomas
Will you ever drop 151 pineapple juice and caribou caribou loo as a drink.
Tech N9ne
We were doing it with Outlaw Spirits. They sent me, you know, test drinks, you know what I'm saying? And I still have them in my cupboard. They're old as I can't drink them now but back when I was drinking, you know what I'm saying, I was like, we were about to do it with the people down at Sturges, you know what I'm saying? Outlaw spirits, you know what I'm saying? They do Full Throttle Saloon. I usually perform down there. And, you know, Jackal and all the. You know what I'm saying? And Michael, they. They were. They were actually mixing the drink and they sent me some samples and they burnt down. Oh. They built it back up. And we never started back. So we did the beer instead. Because Boulevard Brewing Company came with the idea, like, what if we did a caribou beer? Like a bulu beer. Like, that has, you know, beer but pineapple and coconut taste. And I'm like, let's go. And I went down there, I tasted it. I'm like, holy. We just released it again, like, a couple weeks ago, you know.
Thomas
Okay.
Tech N9ne
So. Yeah.
Thomas
All right. So. And then it was a Mountain Dew. Vodka is the new.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, that was. That was super, dude.
Thomas
That was super, dude. That's what's. I drink it a lot, man. You have a very big influence of us.
Tech N9ne
It works.
Thomas
And then Lemon sprite, Hennessy, kct. There we go.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, man.
Thomas
I've ordered all these at bars.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, man.
Thomas
Every one of these, they always look at me like, that's what you want.
Tech N9ne
But the ones that I make are like, no other. I know how to make the caribou loo to where she could drink 10 of them and she won't feel it until it hits her. You know what I'm saying?
Thomas
The creeper.
Tech N9ne
Yeah.
Thomas
You know, mainly pineapple, but it creeps.
Tech N9ne
Yeah. You know, there's 151 in that drink. And Malibu Rum, so you gotta be careful. The pineapple is strong, you know what I'm saying? So it'll cover it up. I know how to hide it, but it's still potent. So you're drinking two of them. Like, let me have another one. Like, dude, you're gonna feel that second one, even if it's in a little cup. You know what I'm saying? I can make caribou to this day for you, for your parties.
Marty O'
Damn. Sounds somebody got us like that, but it was mushrooms and a butterscotch.
Thomas
That's right on the show. Like, don't worry, it won't hit you that hard. I'm sitting here.
Tech N9ne
Don't you hate that? Don't you hate that when it hit you so hard and you don't think you're gonna trip that hard?
Thomas
And I was. During the show, I was like, have I been talking, boy? Did I say something?
Tech N9ne
I took some not too long ago. I took some. It was like we were micro dosing some chocolate mushrooms or some, and I got some from my boy in, you know, Arizona, and I took a whole bar. My. We were watching Malignant. Oh, God. Oh. And it me up, man. I mean, it me up so bad that I had to watch it the next day to see if it was up. And it was. You know what other movie just did me like that? When I was Marco Doson, me and my lady went up to. Recently, me and my wife, we went up to Chicago just for a day just to go to a spa, you know what I'm saying? This place called Air A R I A I R E Air. It's like bath house and they have like hot springs or whatever, you know what I'm saying?
Thomas
Cool.
Tech N9ne
You know what I'm saying? And then you get into the cold plunge if you want to, into the hot and the cold, you know what I'm saying? We did that. So afterwards we was like, okay, it's a Lupe fiasco show. We can go there, but it's gonna be tech night out. She said, why don't we just go to the movie? So we took the. And I went to go see screen smile 2. Oh. Oh, my God. That is so freaky. I was. Have y' all seen Smile too?
Thomas
I don't watch scary movies, man.
Tech N9ne
Y' all don't. I don't.
Thomas
Like I always say, like, I'll just walk through a bad neighborhood. You got a lady scared, bro. You got lady loves that.
Tech N9ne
That's what I'm saying. You both take her.
Thomas
Nah, she goes to the best friend that looks horror. Like I'm gonna sit here.
Tech N9ne
Supposed to take her.
Thomas
I'll just do this.
Tech N9ne
At least go see Sinners with her. God damn.
Thomas
I watched Sinners.
Tech N9ne
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Thomas
I knew it was gonna be a good movie.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, yeah. So. But Smile too. God damn. God damn.
Thomas
Yeah. That's Jack Nicholson's kid, man.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, I know. I didn't notice that until afterwards.
Thomas
You're like, oh.
Tech N9ne
And I saw him and smiling and sit, dude, get that shiny on micro dose. Oh, mushrooms, dude. I had to go to. I never get up at a scary movie to go use the restroom. I said, okay. It hit me so hard. I said, I gotta go to the restroom. So usually when I'm microdosing mushrooms, you know what I'm saying? I'll go to the stall. And I've been riding the stall for. For decades, you know, saying with real Mushrooms back in the day too. Like, you get in the stall and it look like you're go on an elevator, you know what I'm saying? It's moving like you, like, whoa.
Thomas
You get the waves and you can't piss, right, right?
Tech N9ne
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it seems like you're going down. Like, whoa. Like. Like you riding it for real. It's fun as. So I came back in the theater and I so high, I couldn't find my wife. So we were like sitting in the middle. I passed the middle and went to the very front. I'm looking, I heard somebody go, hey. And I look back, she said, come here. I said, you change her clothes? She said, no, it's cold in here. I put my coat over me. I thought it was a another woman. I'm like. I went there. I'm like, oh, that's another, you know, Keep going straight.
Marty O'
Damn.
Tech N9ne
She said, hey, come here. You're embarrassing me.
Thomas
Come on.
Tech N9ne
You know what I'm saying? I'm like, damn. So watch the movie. I'm up. The way it ends and everything, this is up, dude. It starts off up, you know what I'm saying? Holy. Have you seen it, brother? You have it? No, it's great. This great. So I get out of the movie. I'm up the whole time. It's these like seven black kids that are sitting in front of us. They laughing. And I'm high as. I ain't tripping. I'm just tripping off the movie, you know. So I come out of the bathroom and they say, I'm in. I'm in Chicago late at night, you know what I'm saying? Like chi town. Like Chirac, you know, with my wife.
Thomas
Yeah.
Tech N9ne
You know what I'm saying?
Thomas
Mushrooms.
Tech N9ne
No, no, no security, no nothing. You know, we just in the towns off, you know, and one of the black dudes, hey, man, you Tech nine, huh? And I'm like, yeah, I was high as. And they say, man, can we get a picture, man? Damn. We knew that was you, man. You passed us in the movie and came back, you know what I'm saying? I'm like, yeah, that was me, man. You know, I'm trying to cover it up. And I tried to say I was sitting behind y' all the whole time and drool. Just said I was sitting. Boy, they standing around me. I'm sitting around you the whole time, like, like, oh, they're gonna see me. I'm dead high. I slobbered my. In front of all these little boys. So I don't Even know if they knew I was high, you know, like I drooled sitting behind you the whole, the whole time, you know what I'm saying? Okay, here we go, here we go. The picture. Who's gonna take it? I was up. I was so embarrassed. They probably looking at it like we knew that was high, you know.
Thomas
They got a good story though. Nobody believes it's all technique.
Tech N9ne
I think it was up they caught me at the movies after midnight, you know what I'm saying?
Thomas
Like, nah, that's a story forever. Hell yeah.
Tech N9ne
Black teenagers, you know what I'm saying? They seen me, you know? Yeah. Like they waited outside where my wife was, you know what I'm saying? Outside in the lobby. Like, that ain't right. We know we ain't tripping. Like I'm tripping. I'm tripping like a.
Thomas
You real.
Tech N9ne
Woo. I just saw that movie. That movie's up. That's. It's. It's a. It's a mind and, and I relate to it because it's about a. An artist, you know, a singer, you know what I'm saying?
Thomas
I know nothing about it. I just know everybody's creepy. As in the previous one.
Tech N9ne
Oh, get away from me. Dude, you don't want to watch this one if you don't like scary movies. It's freaky, you know what I'm saying? Yeah.
Thomas
I also like home invasion movies or horror movies. That's the. I don't watch.
Tech N9ne
You know, this, this smile thing makes you kill yourself, you know what I'm saying?
Marty O'
I remember that.
Tech N9ne
Oh, the way I'm just telling you the new scary movies, the new horror movies are anting up because they know they gotta outdo the next. That last Evil Dead with the. In the. In the. In the apartment with the mama on the wall, like and all that kind of. I'm like, damn.
Thomas
Like, like.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, I'm talking about. It's a new. It's been new Evil Deads coming out, you know what I'm saying? All of them been really good, man. Really, really good. Still Sam Raimi, though. Still Sam Ray, same director. Yeah, Sam. Sam Raimi. He does. He does. He started with, you know, Evil Dead, but now he does Spider man and all that kind of. You know what I'm saying? Like Sam Raimi, you know what I'm saying? Dope, dope, dope, dope.
Thomas
Evil. That's kind of funny.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Thomas
Like, so that's the kind of. I'll watch some horseshit.
Tech N9ne
Evil Dead 1 is not funny.
Thomas
It's Not. It scared the out of me.
Tech N9ne
Dead 2, Evil Dead 2 gets a little zany, but it's still good. You know what I'm saying? He's. Yeah. Fighting his own.
Thomas
Yeah, yeah.
Tech N9ne
Give me back my head. You know what I'm saying? Like. But then army of Darkness, I didn't with. Because it's super zany.
Thomas
I. I love it.
Tech N9ne
But. But later on I was always talking like I don't with army of Darkness, but lately I've been going back to it. Like, good dude, man. It's still a part of the franchise. It is. But then they start making new ones, man. Show saying the showdown. Oh yeah, the show's go to. You know what I'm saying? But the two new movies, they came out with, you know, saying really good, man. That last one with the mom and in the. In the apartment building and man, it's. It's up.
Thomas
Check that out. Because I didn't know they made new evil.
Tech N9ne
Oh, it's up. It's good. It's good. All the new movies, like the substance and all that kind of all the crazy. I watched that they, they, they anting up my. It's like it's gonna get up like the. The new. The latest terror. Terror Terrorizer. Terrifier.
Thomas
Terrifier.
Tech N9ne
Terrifier. Like Art the clown. God damn. They break all the rules in the first scene because you don't kill kids, right?
Thomas
First scene.
Tech N9ne
The first scene. Santa Claus Terrifier. Sorry. Spoiler alert. I'm not weaving their own mushrooms too, you know, me and my bodyguard at the time, you know what I'm saying?
Thomas
Protects me.
Tech N9ne
Not. Not mugs. Not mugs. But E was there and we own mushrooms and we're laughing at it every time they kill somebody. Like art. But everybody else is leaving.
Thomas
It's that bad.
Tech N9ne
Yeah. All right.
Thomas
I might have to. I might have to watch this.
Tech N9ne
No, you don't want to watch Terrifier. If you don't like scary, then I'll just watch Smile. It's gory as smile is up.
Thomas
I watch that.
Tech N9ne
Don't be high or nothing, man. It's gonna you up.
Thomas
I'm always hot.
Tech N9ne
Yeah, it's gonna you up. It's. It's. It's a mind. All right, we gotta get him to the airport.
Thomas
Yeah, I know. He's gotta go.
Tech N9ne
He's gotta go. Damn.
Thomas
Yeah, it's been. It's been a minute, but 5816 forest.
Tech N9ne
Yes, it is right now, man. You know what I'm saying? New video. You know what I'm saying Yoda featuring Lil Wayne on the hook, everybody. He don't got no verse. Pay attention. My origin story. How can little rain be in my origin story? It's on the hook only. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? A lot of stories. All of them are real. Beautiful album. It's gonna last forever. The legacy of Tech9 continues. We appreciate you coming through.
Marty O'
We're the last stop on a long ass stretch. The energy going finished that bitch strong.
Tech N9ne
Yes. Yes.
Thomas
Appreciate you. Yeah.
Tech N9ne
Thank you, man.
Thomas
From Marty. Tech9 guys, thank you so much for being this has been Dope as Usual podcast hype as hell to finally say these words.
Tech N9ne
Tech9, let's go on the Dope as usual podcast, man. For the first time, man. It won't be the last time. Dope as usual. And I'm dope as usual on this podcast because my new album is dope. Tech 9, let's go, let's go.
Thomas
Let's wrap it up. Hell yeah. Appreciate you, man.
Tech N9ne
Good.
Thomas
Thank you guys. Thank you for being here. Have a dope ass day.
Tech N9ne
That was fun.
Thomas
Yeah, yeah.
Tech N9ne
I got some nobody else got, I'll tell you that.
Thomas
Thank you so much for watching. We really appreciate it. But if you want to see more content, check out dope as usualpodcast.com forward slash, unrestricted. Also you can check us out in the app store. Dope as Usual podcast. We have our own app. Unrestricted is uncensored ad free weekly bonus content, BTs, a bunch of. There's photo shoots in there, a bunch of stuff that we cannot show on YouTube when you become an unrestricted member. Every single Monday there's a bonus episode with Marty and I. We could play music show clips that would get us banned here. There's a forum so we talk directly to people and answer their questions. But thank you so much for supporting for everyone on the unrestricted membership. We appreciate you. So go ahead and check it out. Dope as usual podcast.com or click the little link above and that's going to take you directly to it.
Tech N9ne
Perfect, Perfect.
Podcast Summary: DOPE AS USUAL Podcast – Episode: "Am I a Psycho?" with Tech N9ne
Release Date: July 8, 2025
Overview
In this riveting episode of the "DOPE AS USUAL Podcast," hosts Marty O'Neill and Thomas Araujo engage in an in-depth conversation with the legendary rapper Tech N9ne. The episode, aptly titled "Am I a Psycho?", delves into Tech N9ne's illustrious career, personal philosophies, creative processes, and his profound impact on the music industry. Rich with anecdotes, insightful discussions, and heartfelt revelations, this episode offers listeners a comprehensive look into the mind of one of hip-hop's most influential figures.
The episode kicks off with enthusiastic greetings as the hosts express their excitement about having Tech N9ne on the show.
Tech N9ne shares his recent experience at the Grammy Museum, reflecting on his achievements and the overwhelming support from fans and the industry.
The conversation transitions to Tech N9ne's unique position in the music world, where he humorously claims to be his own biggest fan—a nod to both his self-awareness and his immense fan base.
Tech N9ne delves into his early career, discussing his first album "Absolute Power" and the challenges he faced with major record deals that ultimately didn't pan out. He reflects on the evolution of his music and how early experiences shaped his resilience and independence.
He recounts signing deals with notable figures like Quincy Jones and the formation of his own label, Strange Music, emphasizing his commitment to creative control.
A significant portion of the discussion revolves around Tech N9ne's collaboration with Lil Wayne, particularly focusing on the album "All Sixes and Sevens." They highlight the excitement around releasing their first music video together after years of successful collaborations.
He explains the challenges of producing high-quality music videos and the cultural significance of their collaboration.
Tech N9ne shares his thoughts on leadership, societal divisions, and the importance of emotional intelligence. He expresses a desire to lead with love, respect, and understanding, advocating for unity and the fight against societal evils.
He emphasizes the need for collective strength and emotional control to overcome societal challenges.
The conversation takes a personal turn as Tech N9ne discusses his upbringing in a Christian household, his exposure to Islam, and his exploration of various religions. He reveals how these experiences influenced his worldview and his music.
He also touches upon his role as a father and the impact of family on his life and career.
Tech N9ne provides an intimate look into his songwriting process, debunking the notion of writer's block by advocating for life experiences as sources of inspiration. He explains how beats dictate the mood and direction of his lyrics.
He discusses his meticulous approach to crafting verses and the technical aspects of his rhyme schemes.
Tech N9ne reflects on his journey as an independent artist, highlighting the challenges and rewards of maintaining creative freedom. He contrasts his experience with major label artists, emphasizing the authenticity and loyalty of his fan base.
He discusses the dual identity of being both mainstream and underground, leveraging his unique position to influence the broader music landscape.
Tech N9ne shares stories of meeting iconic artists like Tupac, discussing collaborative efforts, and the impact of these relationships on his music. He hints at future projects and the continual evolution of his artistic expression.
He elaborates on the creation of his label, Strange Music, and its symbolic meaning as the "medicine to navigate through the darkness."
Tech N9ne describes his dynamic live performances, incorporating theatrical elements like masks and choreographed sequences to enhance the audience experience. He underscores the importance of maintaining vocal health and delivering high-energy shows.
He shares anecdotes about performing under physically demanding conditions and the meticulous care he takes to protect his voice.
An engaging segment explores Tech N9ne's love for horror films and their influence on his artistic persona. He recounts experiences watching intense movies while under the influence of psychedelics, linking these moments to his creative output.
He draws parallels between cinematic storytelling and his lyrical narratives, emphasizing the fusion of music and visual storytelling.
The hosts and Tech N9ne discuss various business ventures, including collaborations on beverages like Caribou Lou beer and merchandise partnerships. Tech N9ne highlights the synergy between his brand and companies like Puffco and Boulevard Brewing Company.
He emphasizes the importance of authentic partnerships that resonate with his brand and fan base.
As the episode wraps up, Tech N9ne expresses gratitude for the opportunity to share his story and reiterates his commitment to his craft. The hosts commend his dedication and influence, encouraging listeners to engage with his music and upcoming projects.
Tech N9ne ends on a high note, celebrating his new album and the enduring legacy of Strange Music.
Notable Quotes with Timestamps
Tech N9ne [00:34]: "All this around me is crazy because I had an idea to share with the fans... It just made me smile on the inside."
Tech N9ne [13:05]: "Music is what I'm put here to do, but it feels like there's something else... I've studied Christianity, Islam... I didn't claim no more of those ever."
Tech N9ne [64:07]: "Get the beat first. I used to write without the beat because I had no beats. Now I have the luxury of having multiple producers."
Tech N9ne [78:28]: "I'm the most independent guy... Strange Music is the medicine to navigate through the darkness."
Tech N9ne [86:23]: "I created Tech9 to be the complete technique of rhyme. Number nine is the nine of completion."
Tech N9ne [100:11]: "Yoda featuring Lil Wayne on the hook... It's a beautiful album."
Key Takeaways
Resilience and Independence: Tech N9ne's journey underscores the importance of self-reliance and creative control in achieving long-term success in the music industry.
Philosophical Depth: His exploration of various religions and personal philosophies informs his music, adding layers of depth and introspection.
Innovative Creativity: Tech N9ne's meticulous approach to songwriting and his willingness to experiment with different styles and collaborations set him apart from his peers.
Cultural Impact: Balancing mainstream appeal with underground authenticity, Tech N9ne fosters a diverse and loyal fan base while influencing the broader musical landscape.
Personal and Professional Integration: His dedication to family, personal growth, and professional integrity showcases a holistic approach to life and art.
Conclusion
This episode of "DOPE AS USUAL" offers a profound and multifaceted exploration of Tech N9ne's life, career, and artistic vision. Through candid conversations and insightful reflections, listeners gain a deeper appreciation for the man behind the music and his unwavering commitment to his craft. Whether you're a longtime fan or new to his work, this episode provides valuable insights into what makes Tech N9ne a formidable force in the world of music.