Tech N9ne

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Tech N9ne
Tech N9ne performing in 2018
Tech N9ne performing in 2018
Background information
Birth nameAaron Dontez Yates
Born (1971-11-08) November 8, 1971 (age 52)
Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Genres
Occupations
  • Rapper
  • singer
  • songwriter
  • actor
Years active1991–present
Labels

Aaron Dontez Yates (born November 8, 1971),

mtvU Woodie Awards.[4]

His stage name originated from the

.

Early life

Yates was born and raised in

lupus when he was a child, which emotionally affected him and inspired him to "search for God".[7] He would explore abandoned buildings with his best friend, hoping to catch a ghost on film.[7] He attended Southwest High School
in Kansas City.

History

1991–2001: Beginnings and founding Strange Music

Early in his career, Yates was a member of a group formed in 1991 called Black Mafia.[8] He saw glimpses of success in the group 57th Street Rogue Dog Villians with their single "Let's Get Fucked Up." As a member of the group Nnutthowze, Aaron Yates signed with Perspective Records in 1993.[9] However, the group disbanded soon after being released from the label. Yates signed with Qwest Records briefly before moving to JCOR Records.[9]

In 1997, Yates joined the group

Kool G. Rap. Later that year, he and business partner Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music.[12]

2001–2005: Underground success

In 2001, Yates released the studio album

2006–2011: Independence and Tech N9ne Collabos

Tech N9ne in 2006

In 2006, Yates released the album Everready (The Religion).[13] The following year, he released Misery Loves Kompany.[14] Yates announced that the album was the first in a series of "Tech N9ne Collabos" albums that feature a wide range of guest appearances.[14]

The following year, Yates released the album Killer.[15] That September, he exceeded one million album sales over his entire catalog.[3] Yates remarked of the accomplishment that, "It just reminded me of all the work we'd done in the past, up until now [...] I don't think it's sunken in yet. I've been celebrating for the last two days because that's a hell of an accomplishment. I've been planning success all my life. I'm not even a bit surprised, I'm happy about it. That just means I was right."[3] Yates released his second Collabos album, Sickology 101, in April 2009.[16]

Yates later performed at the

Seepage. On December 23, he released his first mixtape Bad Season.which was later released in retail CD form with a modified track list and without DJ Scream. On June 7, 2011, Yates released All 6's and 7's. The album features several hip-hop artists as well as rock artists including B.o.B, E-40, Snoop Dogg, Hopsin, T-Pain, Jay Rock, Mint Condition, Busta Rhymes, Twista, Lil Wayne, Yelawolf and Deftones
and many others.

In 2011, Yates told 411mania.com that after All 6's And 7's he planned on releasing his fourth album in the Collabos series titled Welcome to Strangeland, featuring guest appearances from everyone on Strange Music, followed by the long-awaited K.A.B.O.S.H. and 816 Boyz albums.[20] Then, in July 2011, Yates said in a blog post that Rick Ross has agreed to do a song with him for the K.A.B.O.S.H. album and that he is also hoping to have a collaboration with Jay-Z on that album. In the same blog post, he said that the K.A.B.O.S.H. album will be a rock album.[21] In another blog post several weeks later, he confirmed that he will begin work on the album after completing Welcome to Strangeland.[22] Following his tour, he announced that he was about to begin work on Welcome to Strangeland and Klusterfuk, confirming producers for both projects. ¡Mayday! is to entirely produce Klusterfuk.[23] He said he will then begin work on the K.A.B.O.S.H. album.[24]

Tech N9ne is featured on Lil Wayne's ninth studio album

Andre 3000. During a radio interview with Funkmaster Flex in August 2010, Wayne stated that he and Tech N9ne formed a "brotherhood" when Yates visited him in jail.[25]
In a later interview, Tech N9ne claimed that he thinks the song will "awaken a lot of other people that wouldn't usually look [his] way" and "teach all the new fans how to become technicians."

2012–2015: EPs, Something Else, and Special Effects

Tech N9ne performs at The Blue Note in Columbia, Missouri, in 2013.

In an interview with "Underground TV" posted on Tech N9ne's blog, Tech N9ne spoke about his 2012 plans, confirming the release of Klusterfuk, the K.A.B.O.S.H. album, and an untitled solo album to be released in 2012. He was featured on the song "Edge of Destruction" (which also features

Machine Gun Kelly's first studio album "Lace Up
".

On September 18, Tech N9ne released an EP titled "E.B.A.H." (Evil Brain Angel Heart).

Game, Kendrick Lamar, Serj Tankian, T-Pain, Trae tha Truth, Snow Tha Product, and Wiz Khalifa, among others including several artists from Tech N9ne's Strange Music imprint. The album was supported by two singles, "So Dope (They Wanna)" and "Fragile
".

Tech N9ne announced a new "Independent Grind" tour in January 2014, which included Freddie Gibbs, Krizz Kaliko, and Jarren Benton. The tour dates were announced on January 30, 2014, and the tour ran from April 9 until June 28, wrapping up in Kansas City.[28] Also in 2014, Yates released Strangeulation, the fifth album in his Collabos series and fourteenth album overall.[29]

In April 2015, Yates confirmed that Eminem will be featured on a song titled "Speedom (Worldwide Choppers 2)."[30] The song was released on April 20, 2015, as a single supporting his then-upcoming album, Special Effects, which was released on May 4 of the same year.[31] The rapper says Eminem collaborated on the track, free of charge, in exchange for Yates to guest on a track of his for an unknown project. Yates says he was "flabbergasted" that Eminem respected his music so much.[32]

On May 4, 2015, Tech N9ne released Special Effects to critical and commercial acclaim. The album features guest appearances from Corey Taylor, B.o.B, Lil Wayne, 2 Chainz, T.I., Hopsin, E-40, Yo Gotti, Audio Push and Eminem along with fellow Strange Music artists Krizz Kaliko, Big Scoob and Ces Cru.

In addition, a Special Effects tour began in early April 2015. Tech is joined on tour by Murs, Chris Webby, Krizz Kaliko, Zuse, and King 810.[33]

2015–2017: Strangulation Vol. II, The Storm, Dominion, and Strange Reign

On November 20, 2015, Tech N9ne released

Beats 1 radio.[34]
In spring 2016, Tech N9ne went on tour with fellow Strange members for another Independent Powerhouse Tour.

In December 2016, Tech N9ne released his 17th album, The Storm, the followup to his 1999 debut album The Calm Before The Storm.[35]

In January 2017, Tech N9ne announced his seventh Collabos album titled Dominion, released April 7, and stated plans to release a second album in his Collabos series the same year.[36] In March, Tech began the Strictly Strange '17 tour with fellow Strange Music artists.[37] The same month, Tech announced on radio station GoMN plans to release his next solo album, Planet, in 2018.[38] On June 20, 2017, Tech earned his first platinum record in 18 years for Caribou Lou.[39] Tech N9ne released the eighth Collabos album, Strange Reign, on October 13, 2017, marking it the second album release that year.[40]

2018–present: Planet, N9na, EnterFear, Asin9ne and Bliss

On March 2, 2018, Tech N9ne released

CMFT Must Be Stopped", a single by Slipknot vocalist Corey Taylor.[41] On October 23, 2020, Tech N9ne released a new project titled Fear Exodus.[42]

On October 8, 2021, Tech N9ne released an album titled "

Mumu Fresh, Snow Tha Product, Russ, E-40, X-Raided, as well as wrestler turned actor Dwayne Johnson.[43]

Tech N9ne features on fellow Kansas City area musician Samantha Fish's 2021 album Faster, rapping on the song "Loud".[44]

On May 3rd, 2022, at

Bliss," performing a song off the album entitled "They Know Meh," featuring fellow Kansas City-based rapper, The Popper.[45]

Bliss released on July 28th, 2023 after being delayed from a July 14th release.

Artistry

Yates is known for his dynamic

Allmusic reviewer Jason Birchmeier calls his style "bizarre hardcore rap."[2]
Yates stated that he purposely creates flow patterns in order to sound like a percussion while he raps.[48] After hearing an instrumental he would come up with different kinds of patterns and then "fill in" the actual lyrics.

Yates says that he is influenced by

Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, Eric B. & Rakim, Schoolly D, and Just-Ice.[19] He is also interested in other genres of music, and lists The Doors, Jim Morrison, Led Zeppelin, Elton John, AC/DC, Metallica, Floetry, Outkast, CeeLo Green, and Gnarls Barkley as influences. He has remarked generally that "I love beautiful music, beautiful music no matter what type".[19]

In popular culture

Films

Yates' songs have appeared in the

Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D.[54][55][56][57] Yates starred in the musical "Alleluia: The Devil's Carnival", which had a limited theater release July 2015.[58] On November 25, 2015, Tech released "Shine", a song for the Jaco Pastorius documentary, Jaco.[59]

Video games

Several of Yates' songs are featured in the

25 To Life, WWE 2K18, EA Sports UFC 3, and Midnight Club: Los Angeles, in the latter of which Yates is an unlockable character.[60] In 2009, Yates and label mate Krizz Kaliko appeared in a promotional video for the Fight Night Round 4 video game.[61]

Television

Yates' music has appeared on the

In 2012, Tech N9ne appeared on the MTV game show Hip Hop Squares for three episodes. In 2013, Tech N9ne's song "Demons" appeared in the pilot episode of Ironside. On June 24, 2014, Tech N9ne appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to perform "Fragile", "He's A Mental Giant", and "Stamina".[66] In late 2014, Yates appeared on Wild n Out as captain of the Black Team.

In May 2015, "Give It All" from the album Special Effects was used during Inside the NBA's "Tip-Off" for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals.[67]

Endorsements

In May 2018, it was announced that Yates had teamed with

St. Louis
market.

Personal life

Yates was married in 1995, but separated in 2005. Yates filed for a divorce in 2015 and it was finalized in November 2017, 12 years after they were initially separated.[69] Yates is an avid supporter of Kansas City culture and the metro area's pro sports teams, including the Kansas City Chiefs,[70] Kansas City Royals,[71] and Sporting Kansas City.[72] Before the Chiefs played in the 2019 AFC Championship game, he released a song titled "Red Kingdom".[73]

Discography

Filmography

Documentaries

Year Title
2003
Beef
2003 Das Bus
2004 T9X: The Tech N9ne Experience
2004 United Ghettos of America Vol. 2
2005 Hip Hop Nation Vol. 1
2005 Letter to the President
2008
The Psychumentary
2009 Strictly Strange
2010 K.O.D. Tour (Live in Kansas City)
2011 EuroTech Tour

Film

Year Title Role
2009 The Life of Lucky Cucumber Tech N9ne
2010 Big Money Rustlas Unnamed character
2014 Vengeance Store Robber / Choco
2015
Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D
Zombie[76]
2015 Alleluia! The Devil's Carnival
Episode 2
The Librarian

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2009 Unsung Himself Episode: "Zapp & Roger"
2012 Hip Hop Squares Himself 3 episodes
2013 When I Was 17 Himself Episode: "Tech N9ne, Bam Margera, Olivia Munn"
2014 Wild 'n Out Himself Episode: 609

Awards and nominations

Year Work Award Result
2009 MTVU Music Awards Leftfield Woodie Award Won[4]

References

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External links