Tech N9ne
"Thats the Kansas City King, I love him!"
Face-painted rapper from Kansas City, Missouri, named because of his rapping style: not only is he one of the fastest rappers in the game, he is also one of the most skilled. It helps that he began rapping at an early age - in order to remember how to spell his real name, Aaron Dontez Yates. His rapping skills have made him one of the most successful underground hip hop artists in history, and his business skills and ability for signing talented and viable artists made the label he founded, Strange Music, a powerhouse in independent hip hop.
Much of his early worked is marked by a lenience toward the darker side of hip hop themes, which Juggalos found really appealing, and earned him some dedicated fans among this subculture. Tech N9ne is generally lauded for his insightful lyrics and skillful delivery of unique subject matter with intelligence and humor.
He really gets around collaboration-wise, having worked with musicians as diverse as Eminem, RZA, Lil Wayne, Hed PE, Insane Clown Posse, Twiztid, T-Pain, Xzibit, Pharoahe Monch, Jayo Felony, Chino XL, KRS-One, Kool G. Rap, B.o.B, E-40, Snoop Dogg, Mint Condition, Busta Rhymes, Twista, Yelawolf, Hopsin, and Deftones.
Studio albums
- The Calm Before the Storm (1999)
- The Worst (2000)
- Anghellic (2001)
- Absolute Power (2002)
- Everready (The Religion) (2006)
- Killer (2008)
- K.O.D. (2009)
- All 6's and 7's (2011)
- Something Else (2013)
- Special Effects (2015)
- The Storm (2016)
- Planet (2018)
Collabos series
- Misery Loves Kompany (2007)
- Sickology 101 (2009)
- The Gates Mixed Plate (2010)
- Welcome to Strangeland (2011)
- Strangeulation (2014)
- Strangeulation Vol. II (2015)
- Dominion (2017)
- Strange Reign (2017)
- All Men Are Perverts: Anghellic alludes to Tech's lustful side, not Satanism.
- Anime Hair: Tech seems to enjoy pairing this with Tribal Face Paint
- Berserk Button: In the skit preceding "In The Trunk", Tech is flirting with a woman and offering her a free copy of his CD. She refuses it, calling it "Devil shit". He responds by shoving her in the trunk of his car.
- Bilingual Bonus: Absolute Power
for those who not knowing that Mizzou thee true,
Imma tell ya like the swedish would say it;
sug min kuk
- Although his pronounciation makes it unintentional comedy to anyone who has a first laungange familiarity with Swedish.
- Black Sheep Hit: "Bout ta' Bubble".
- Boastful Rap: "Worldwide Choppers"
- Darker and Edgier: K.O.D., at least compared to the two albums he released before it. The darker tone was due to his mother's illness. She got better after the album was finished, so the follow-ups were lighter.
- Darkest Africa:
Unga bunga bunga, ingda bing da binga bunga
It's fun ta hunt the cunt ta ding the dick ta feed muh hunga
- Deep South: Discussed on "Red Necro", where he analyzes the moral justification of murdering Neo-Nazis and Klansmen who bombard him with racial epithets.
- Fun with Acronyms: Fuck U Niggas
Any time somebody come and disrespect I say F.U.N.
- Goodbye, Cruel World: The aptly named song "Suicide Letters" is a serious, deadpan delivery of this trope. Tech claims that it's composed from parts of his actual suicide letters. However, he eventually found a way out of the pit.
- Horrorcore
- Horror Hunger: Tech just wants to be a normal boy...
- Juggalo: They admire him, and he admires them.
You in killer klown land, face paint and Juggalettes with bubble butts.
- Intercourse with You: "Slither" starts out like this only to take a twist into High Octane Nightmare Fuel.
- Or Fetish Fuel, depending on what floats your boat.
- Justified Criminal: "In The Trunk" is about kidnapping a woman who disses him. When the police finally find her, she's a little crazy.
- Lyrical Dissonance: Raps over-the-top material in a serious tone, which makes his lyrics funnier.
- Madness Mantra: At the end of "In The Trunk", spoken by the woman he kidnaps.
- Monster Clown: Tech commonly goes by the alias of Killer Klown. Played fairly straight in "Sinister Tech"
Say my name five times
TECH, TECH, TECH, TECH N9NE
I will appear in your mirror
Thru your chest ripping out your spine
Hungry like an Ethiopian
Living off the blood in your veins
Alias Donny Kevorkian
Never were you ready for the pain
- Motor Mouth: Everyone on "Worldwide Choppers".
- Obsession Song: "Psycho Bitch" features an actual answering message from the titular stalker.
- One-Scene Wonder: His appearance on the interlude of Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV has been repeatedly called one of the highlights of an otherwise disappointing album.
- Out-of-Genre Experience: Out of nowhere, "Devil Boy" briefly becomes a Thrash Metal song, then quickly jumps back to Tech's normal genre:
Y'all act like I'm sayin'
I LOVE LUCIFER I WILL KILL ALL OF YOU
- Sampling: Halloween theme on "Psycho Bitch"; Blazing Saddles clips on "Red Necro".
- A rare example of a song from an anime being sampled in a Western track would be a sample from "Rain by Yoko Kanno sped up to produce "The Rain". At the very end, the clip slows down and Mai Yamane's distinctive voice can be heard.
- Shout-Out: Tech references a lot of movies in his lyrics and he seems to have a very particular fondness of Pootie Tang.
- What Could Have Been: K.O.D. was supposed to have Serj Tankian from System of a Down and Corey Taylor from Slipknot contributing guest vocals. Taylor nearly made it on the album, but schedule conflicts and a rush to get the album out led Tech to record the song "Killing You" without Taylor singing, although it had previously been confirmed that he would appear on the album.
- Wolverine Publicity: Collaborates with a ton of old school and new school rap artists, either on their albums or on his own. Also works with rock bands like Deftones and Hed PE.
- Word Salad Lyrics: Often verging on Indecipherable Lyrics.
Yeap in my white tee and Nike's
You might sight me slightly heifin
Might see dry heave
Die we shall not need i-v's
Beside me Siamese
(Tech!)
(Huh?)
(You're not making any sense)
I might make her wanna sah-wing a Prada
But once I get up on 'em I can do my thing I gotta
(TECH!!)
Hey batta batta batta batta sah-wing a batta
He cannot he cannot he cannot sah-wing a batta