Aaron Dontez Yates
(born November 8 1971 in Kansas City, Missouri) better known by his stage name Tech N9ne
is an American rapper. His musical career has spanned 24 years, during which he has performed shows from Los Angeles to New York City.
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TECH N9NE TICKETS
EVENT | DATE | AVAILABILITY |
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Tech N9ne With The Kansas City Symphony Tickets 5/4 | May 04, 2024 Sat, 8:00 PM | | Welcome to Rockville: Motley Crue, Limp Bizkit, Foo Fighters & Slipknot - 4 Day Pass Tickets 5/9 | May 09, 2024 Thursday | | Welcome To Rockville: Limp Bizkit, Falling In Reverse, Jelly Roll & Tech N9ne - Friday Tickets 5/10 | May 10, 2024 Fri, 12:00 PM | | Sundown Alaska Music & Arts Festival: Diplo, Tech N9ne, Portugal. The Man & Sheck Wes - 3 Day Pass Tickets 6/7 | Jun 07, 2024 Friday | |
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Career
Tech N9ne is known for his wide range of collaborations with other well-known artists. In 1999, Tech N9ne was included on the track (and accompanying video) "The Anthem" from
Sway & King Tech, two radio personalities based in
California.
He started his rap career because of a dare from one of his friends in high school. Early in his career, Tech N9ne was a member of a group called "NNUTT HOWZE", which he pays tribute to in many of his lyrics by saying "Six, six, triple eight, forty six, ninety nine, three" (6688846993), which spells out NNUTT HOWZE on the touch pad numbers of a
telephone. However, the group disbanded when they were dropped from their label,
Perspective Records. Additionally, he saw glimpses of success as a member of the 57th Street Rogue Dog }} - also a Kansas City-based group - with their single "Let's Get Fucked Up".
[1]
Tech N9ne is a member of
The Regime, a large collective of MCs including
Yukmouth,
Dru Down,
Gonzoe,
Tha Realest and
Messy Marv among various others. Fellow Kansas City rappers BG Bulletwound and Grant Rice are also included in the collective's roster. Tech N9ne is one of the original members of The Regime, as he has been with the group since its creation by Yukmouth in 1997.
In September 2008, Tech N9ne officially hit a milestone in his career, recording over a million album sales to date, thanks to the release of his most recent double album,
Killer
. Despite the accomplishment, the rapper remembers the struggles of his career, up until this point. However, he wasn't surprised. "It just reminded me of all the work we done in the past, up until now. It's something. It's dope," the rapper told BallerStatus.com. "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."
Sickology 101: The Study of Being Sick
[2] was released on April 28, 2009.
Sickology
is the second Tech N9ne collabos album (the first being
Misery Loves Kompany), the album has several guest appearances such as
Krayzie Bone,
Crooked I,
Messy Marv and
Chino XL.
His next solo album
K.O.D.
is set to be released around Halloween of 2009. Tech N9ne said that a contest would be held for anyone to figure out what K.O.D. stands for. He also said that he would like to do a song with
Corey Taylor of
Slipknot, and
Serj Tankian from
System of a Down on this album.
On April 7, 2009, it was announced that Tech N9ne would be one of the performers for the
Rock The Bells 2009 Festival.
[3]
Tech N9ne is known for having created the drink Caribou Lou, which contains 151 proof Bacardi rum, pineapple juice, and Malibu rum. When asked in an interview with Matt Okie whether he created the drink Tech responded, "Yes--we did, man. We were at the bar and took some 151 and tried to lighten it up with some Malibu, then put pineapple juice in it. So I was like, 'We need a name for it.' And it was Malibu, so it was...like something you'd drink in the Carribean. And I was, like, 'Hold up.' I'm a big movie buff and cartoons--you know what I'm saying?--I do that. Me and my boy T Will and Diamond, we were just right there, and I was like: 'Caribou Lou.' I was like, "Woody Woodpecker, man--it had this pirate. He was really mean. He had a peg leg, and his name was Caribou Lou."
[4]
Strange Music label
Tech N9ne and Travis O'Guin co-own the record label
Strange Music, which was created in 2002 after Tech N9ne's release from
JCOR Entertainment.
[5] Under the label, Tech N9ne has released seven albums,
Absolute Power
,
Anghellic: Reparation
,
Vintage Tech
,
Everready (The Religion)
,
Tech N9ne Collabos: Misery Loves Kompany
,
Killer
and
Tech N9ne Collabos: Sickology 101
. The label has signed several other performers and bands including
Kutt Calhoun,
Skatterman & Snug Brim, Project: Deadman which consists of Prozak, and producer
Mike E. Clark,
Krizz Kaliko, and Kabosh which is a joint effort by Tech N9ne and Kaliko where they will venture into the rock world. Recently, Strange Music signed Dirty Thug Records, the label that houses Grave Plott (Killa C & Liquid Assassin), to a distribution deal. Strange Music has also signed Brooklyn-area rapper and member of
La Coka Nostra,
Ill Bill, to release his upcoming second album The Hour of Reprisal. There are rumors that Ill Bill has signed with Strange Music to join the actual label, although there has been no direct word as to whether his deal is for distribution only or not. Ill Bill later announced that Uncle Howie Records was effectively a sub-label of Strange now, similar to "like how Jay Z brought Roc-A-Fella to Def Jam."
On February 9, 2009, it was announced on Tech N9ne's official website that Skatterman & Snug Brim had decided to leave the Strange Music label after fulfilling their commitment.
[6].
On February 9, 2009, it was announced on Tech N9ne's official website that Big Scoob had joined the Strange Music label two days earlier, on February 7th.
[7] Big Scoob having featured on Tech N9ne tracks in the past was unsigned by all labels and found a large welcoming into the Strange Music community. Big Scoob has his own theme song recorded on Tech N9ne's first collabos album Misery Loves Kompany titled "Big Scoob". Tech N9ne and Big Scoob both started out as members of the underground rap ground the 57th Street Rogue Dog Villains. Big Scoob will be the first of those members Tech N9ne has personally aided in their career quest for label support.
May 2009, Tech signed Brotha Lynch Hung to his Strange Music label. Brotha Lynch is working on a new album Dinner and a Movie expected to drop late 2009 early 2010.
In Popular Culture
Films
Tech N9ne is featured on the soundtrack for the
1997 movie
Gang Related, featuring
James Belushi and
2Pac, with the song "Questions."
Four of Tech N9ne's songs were featured in the
2007 Universal Pictures film,
Alpha Dog
. Two of those songs, "Caribou Lou" and "Night and Day" are from the 2006 album,
Everready: The Religion
. Also included are "Slither" from his 2002 album
Absolute Power
and "LA LA Land" featuring Gina Cassavetes (daughter of film director
Nick Cassavetes) which is featured on the
Alpha Dog
film soundtrack. Originally, Tech N9ne was behind scoring the entire movie but the movie studio decided to remove some of his music to add more commercially known songs.
[8]
In 2009, Tech recorded the original song "Get Your Shoes On," for local critic/film maker Shawn Edwards' film, "Our Heroes: The 25 Best Black Sports Movies (Ever)."
[9] [10] On March 13,
ARTISTDirect premiered the track "Donde Esta La Fiesta" from
The Life of Lucky Cucumber
soundtrack.
[11] In July of the same year, "Let's Go" from his album
Killer
was used for an online promotional short film for
AXE body spray, which featured professional
skateboarders Ryan Sheckler,
Greg Lutzka and
Jereme Rogers.
[12]
2009 will see the release of the
Danny Trejo film, "Vengeance." The film was initially titled "Jack's Law" and scheduled for release in 2006.
Games
The tracks "Jellysickle" and "My Wife, My Bitch, My Girl", both from 2006 album
Everready (The Religion)
, are featured on the soundtrack to
25 To Life,
a
2005 video game, in which Tech N9ne is also an unlockable character. A censored version of "The Beast," also from 2006 release
Everready (The Religion)
, is featured in the game
Madden NFL 2006. Tech N9ne would once again find his music on an in-game soundtrack of a video game in
2008 with the release of
Midnight Club: Los Angeles. "Everybody Move" from the 2008 album
Killer
was featured on its Hip-Hop station.
[13]
In 2009, Tech N9ne along with label mate
Krizz Kaliko appeared in a promotional video for the
Fight Night Round 4 video game.
[14] Tech N9ne is frequently discussed in length on
IGN's wildly popular Game Scoop! Podcast.
Television
In 2001, Tech N9ne's song "Tormented," from his album
Anghellic
, appeared in a scene of the
Fox TV series Dark Angel, it plays for nearly two minutes in the background of a bar scene contained in the season two episode "Two."
[15]
In early 2007, Tech N9ne was featured on the
MTV program
I'm From Rolling Stone. In December 2007, Tech N9ne's song "Caribou Lou" was featured on an episode of MTV's
My Super Sweet 16, during the scene in which the birthday girl received her car.
[16] In summer 2008, Tech N9ne's song "Earthquake" was featured on an episode of MTV's
America's Best Dance Crew in which the crew had to visually convey the title of the song in their performance.
[17]
Tech N9ne's Single "Like Yeah" was featured on the intro credits of the 2008 MTV show "From G's to Gents".
On the August 15 2009
Strikeforce event,
Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg,
MMA fighter
Gilbert Melendez entered the arena to Tech N9ne's 2006 song "The Beast" (
Everready (The Religion)) for his bout with
Mitsuhiro Ishida.
[18]
Discography
Studio albums
- 1999: The Calm Before the Storm
(Part. 1)
- 2000: The Worst
- 2001: Anghellic
- 2002: Celcius
- 2002: Absolute Power
- 2006: Everready (The Religion)
- 2007: Misery Loves Kompany
- 2008: Killer
- 2009: Sickology 101
- 2009: K.O.D.
(October 27th) [19]
Compilation albums
Selected filmography
- 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
- 2006: Alpha Dog
[A1
- 2008: The Psychumentary
[20]
- 2009: The Life of Lucky Cucumber
- 2009: Vengeance
- 2009: Strictly Strange
:
Selected filmography
notes'''
1. {{#ifeq:none
Tech N9ne does not physically appear, but he did have a helping hand in scoring the movie, this includes the placement of several of his songs in the films score as well as the appearance of a song from fellow label mates Skatterman & Snug Brim.
References
- The Belly of the Beast
- Tech N9ne Reaches Million Sales Milestone, Recalls Ups & Downs Of Career
- 2009 Rock the Bells line-up announced!
- Tech N9ne Interview
- Tech N9ne - Album Bio
- Skatterman & Snug Brim Leaving Strange
- Big Scoob Member Of Strange Music Family
- Various Artists - Alpha Dog: Music From The Motion Picture
- ILoveBlackMovies Music
- KC Symphony to play along with Oscar-winning 'Peter & the Wolf'
- Tech N9ne - Donde Esta La Fiesta on ArtistDIRECT
- Ryan Sheckler Axe Skate Film Double Pits to Chesty
- Midnight Club- Los Angeles - Music - Full Credits
- Fight Night Round 4: The Greatest Fight
- Two
- Kat
- Rock the Title Challenge
- Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg
- Tech N9ne: Killer on the Loose
- Tech N9ne dvd info