One of the most insane, and impactful legacies in hip-hop belongs to Tech N9ne. He’s bucked every trend, and not only built a culture, but a whole damn world with Strange Music. The craziest thing is how far he’s come since co-founding Strange Music in 2000. The Kansas City, MO rapper has gone from packed Midwest underground shows to the annual Forbes “Cash Kings” list multiple times, the cover of XXL, the playlists of Sir Elton John and Dwayne Johnson, and national commercials for the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. Beyond tallying billions of streams and views, he has scored four platinum singles, three gold singles, and a gold album. He notched 23 entries on the Billboard Top albums Chart and holds the record for “most Top 10 albums on the rap chart.” Tech has cracked the Top 5 of the Billboard Top 200 four times. His collaborators have ranged from Eminem, The Doors, Lil Wayne, Tupac, Boyz II Men, T.I., MGK, and Gary Clark, Jr. to Slipknot, Deftones, and Logic. Mainstream went Tech when he ignited ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel LIVE! Meanwhile, Complex mused upon “How Kendrick Lamar Became a Star With Help From Tech N9ne.” He has sold out hundreds of shows as part of a relentless schedule. He also introduced his own craft beer Bou Lou—in partnership with KC&#39;s own Boulevard Brewery. There’s only one way to describe a rapper with a bigger audience than ever, wilder shows than ever, and crazier flows than ever—and it’s the title of his twenty-second full-length album, ASIN9NE.

Even though he debuted in the underground realm of horrorcore and seemed destined to be a future footnote, rapper Tech N9ne grew to become an indie rap superstar. In the process, he built his <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Strange+Music%22">Strange Music</a> label into a <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Psychopathic+Records%22">Psychopathic Records</a>-styled empire with an accompanying loyal fan base. When it comes to influence, Tech has arguably topped underground trailblazers <a href="spotify:artist:4xtWjIlVuZwTCeqVAsgEXy">Insane Clown Posse</a> thanks to collaborations with mainstream artists and a style that evolved from horrorcore to hardcore and confessional. Issuing a quartet of Top Five albums in the early 2010s -- All 6's and 7's, Something Else, Strangeulation, and Special Effects -- he built a vast and devoted audience with little help from the mainstream. As the late 2010s gave way to the 2020s, he followed a prolific release schedule, issuing a full-length each year, including hits such as 2018's Planet, 2019's N9NA, and 2021's ASIN9NE.

Born Aaron Dontez Yates in Kansas City, Missouri, Tech learned to read and do math through educational raps. Later, music helped him deal with his mother's ongoing struggle with lupus, while an interest in horror and ghosts would offer an attractively dark form of escapism. He brought these qualities to his own work as he joined groups like Black Mafia, 57th Street Rogue Dog Villians, Nnutthowze, and the <a href="spotify:artist:0ndMofuAPmTktjONZv20JL">Yukmouth</a> project <a href="spotify:artist:6Sdwybo5hiiBXHjmfqKjwW">the Regime</a>. In 1996 he signed with <a href="spotify:artist:3rxIQc9kWT6Ueg4BhnOwRK">Quincy Jones</a>' label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Qwest%22">Qwest</a> before moving to the indie <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Midwestside+Records%22">Midwestside Records</a>, where he released his debut, The Calm Before the Storm, in 1999. The Worst followed on the label in 2000, and then the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Interscope%22">Interscope</a>-associated imprint <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22JCOR%22">JCOR</a> picked the artist up for 2001's Anghellic, a horrorcore effort that introduced Tech's own sublabel, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Strange+Music%22">Strange Music</a>. 

Touring certainly helped spread the word, and the rapper's over the top stage show locked some fans in for good, but Tech didn't feel his label was being honest about sales, so he left <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22JCOR%22">JCOR</a> and took <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Strange+Music%22">Strange Music</a> with him. The label released Absolute Power in 2002, with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Strange%22">Strange</a> artists <a href="spotify:artist:3SEJQy90Vgg1aSnZ9b4AU9">Krizz Kaliko</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:78nL8LitGR7vO0qp2iZF9E">Kutt Calhoun</a> making guest appearances on the album along with <a href="spotify:artist:7dGJo4pcD2V6oG8kP0tJRR">Eminem</a>'s dark crew <a href="spotify:artist:5Qi4Bb7a8C0a00NZcA77L0">D12</a>. Everready (The Religion) followed in 2006 with <a href="spotify:artist:3SEJQy90Vgg1aSnZ9b4AU9">Krizz</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:78nL8LitGR7vO0qp2iZF9E">Kutt</a> joined by <a href="spotify:artist:46UxF4P7x9FUigK1O2sSsV">Brotha Lynch Hung</a> to represent the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Strange+Music%22">Strange Music</a> roster, while an <a href="spotify:artist:3crnzLy8R4lVwaigKEOz7V">E-40</a> guest spot continued Tech's crossover journey, which came to include his music on video game soundtracks (25 to Live, Madden NFL 06). The album debuted at number 50 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. 

The 2007 album Misery Loves Kompany launched the rapper's Collabos series, where every cut came with a guest artist, although mostly it was <a href="spotify:artist:78nL8LitGR7vO0qp2iZF9E">Kutt</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:3SEJQy90Vgg1aSnZ9b4AU9">Krizz</a>, with a visit from old friend <a href="spotify:artist:0ndMofuAPmTktjONZv20JL">Yukmouth</a>. The next year's album, Killer, came with a cover that mocked <a href="spotify:artist:3fMbdgg4jU18AjLCKBhRSm">Michael Jackson</a>'s Thriller and debuted at number 12, as Tech was joined by <a href="spotify:artist:3SEJQy90Vgg1aSnZ9b4AU9">Krizz</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:78nL8LitGR7vO0qp2iZF9E">Kutt</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3Mcii5XWf6E0lrY3Uky4cA">Ice Cube</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:19KwjzvIL92r29IINtlPNP">Scarface</a> along with the rapcore group <a href="spotify:artist:0xIChbcTsuYLueN1oEsX9v">(hed) p.e</a>. <a href="spotify:artist:53B8dEQzmtefvkdCAkO0YR">Krayzie Bone</a> joined for 2009's collabo album Sickology 101, which introduced <a href="spotify:artist:1PnsxAfjwnxNODAaKTu8VO">Big Scoob</a> as a <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Strange+Music%22">Strange Music</a> artist. The album also featured <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Suburban+Noize%22">Suburban Noize</a> group <a href="spotify:artist:0dkBJgPZEBsybLb4nfPUg7">Potluck</a> as guests, and with Tech making an appearance at that year's Gathering of the Juggalos festival hosted by <a href="spotify:artist:4xtWjIlVuZwTCeqVAsgEXy">ICP</a>, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Strange%22">Strange</a> claimed their rightful place next to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Suburban%22">Suburban</a> and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Psychopathic%22">Psychopathic</a> in the pantheon of indie rock-rap labels. By the end of the year, the concept album K.O.D. had landed with <a href="spotify:artist:26s8LSolLfCIY88ysQbIuT">Three 6 Mafia</a> on the guest list, and 2010 kicked into high gear with the release of two EPs (The Lost Scripts of K.O.D. and Seepage), a collabo album (The Gates Mixed Plate with <a href="spotify:artist:0OMJR0LjjKv21qNvICTgbi">Devin the Dude</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1TC1Dj7qy98gBriJdOgDMh">Glasses Malone</a>, and many others) and an XXL Magazine-sponsored mixtape (Bad Season).    

The slick crossover effort All 6's and 7's followed in 2011. With guest appearances from <a href="spotify:artist:55Aa2cqylxrFIXC767Z865">Lil Wayne</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5ndkK3dpZLKtBklKjxNQwT">B.o.B</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2YZyLoL8N0Wb9xBt1NhZWg">Kendrick Lamar</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6vbY3hOaCAhC7VjucswgdS">Twista</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3aQeKQSyrW4qWr35idm0cy">T-Pain</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:7hJcb9fa4alzcOq3EaNPoG">Snoop Dogg</a>, Tech had arguably become mainstream with the release while the album's debut at number four -- and its eventual climb to number one -- made it official. The collabs album Welcome to Strangeland appeared by the end of the year and 2013 saw him return with Something Else, an album featuring guest shots from <a href="spotify:artist:5eAWCfyUhZtHHtBdNk56l1">System of a Down</a>'s <a href="spotify:artist:0BEI7i5sgUuivcfwXLzFmM">Serj Tankian</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2YZyLoL8N0Wb9xBt1NhZWg">Kendrick Lamar</a>, and the remaining members of <a href="spotify:artist:22WZ7M8sxp5THdruNY3gXt">the Doors</a>. A fifth collection of collaborations titled Strangeulation appeared in 2014, and the LP Special Effects landed a year later. The album featured guests like <a href="spotify:artist:5ndkK3dpZLKtBklKjxNQwT">B.o.B</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:55Aa2cqylxrFIXC767Z865">Lil Wayne</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:17lzZA2AlOHwCwFALHttmp">2 Chainz</a>, plus <a href="spotify:artist:7dGJo4pcD2V6oG8kP0tJRR">Eminem</a>, and debuted at number four on the Billboard 200. The year 2015 also saw the release of the sixth collabo album, Strangeulation, Vol. 2, with guest shots from <a href="spotify:artist:1PnsxAfjwnxNODAaKTu8VO">Big Scoob</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7jNpkZ55HFuYxJo6q1qawG">Ces Cru</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:2dWF6m2ksP9GN75fufFp16">Murs</a>, the last of whom had just signed with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Strange+Music%22">Strange Music</a>.

Tech's 17th studio album arrived in late 2016. The Storm featured a typically diverse roster of guests, including <a href="spotify:artist:3RNrq3jvMZxD9ZyoOZbQOD">Korn</a>'s <a href="spotify:artist:1VW5tZ9pmSb2rG0GmSELwW">Jonathan Davis</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6O74knDqdv3XaWtkII7Xjp">Boyz II Men</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:01aC2ikO4Xgb2LUpf9JfKp">Gary Clark, Jr.</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:75GlHUh2Mr5IthCCRptIQV">Logic</a>, and his <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Strange%22">Strange</a> signees <a href="spotify:artist:3SEJQy90Vgg1aSnZ9b4AU9">Krizz</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1PnsxAfjwnxNODAaKTu8VO">Scoob</a>. The album became one of his most successful to date, rising into the Top Five on the Billboard independent, R&B, and rap charts. Tech followed with his seventh <a href="spotify:artist:4UOlRVifrFdQHW9qu5ep8t">Tech N9ne Collabos</a> album, Dominion, which arrived in the spring of 2017. The collection featured familiar faces like <a href="spotify:artist:3SEJQy90Vgg1aSnZ9b4AU9">Krizz Kaliko</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7jNpkZ55HFuYxJo6q1qawG">Ces Cru</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2dWF6m2ksP9GN75fufFp16">Murs</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:46UxF4P7x9FUigK1O2sSsV">Brotha Lynch Hung</a>, with production by Michael "Seven" Summers. A second Collabos set was issued months later. Strange Reign recruited many familiar faces and landed in the Top 100 of the Billboard 200. Tech's 20th effort, Planet, arrived in early 2018, landing him yet another number one on the indie chart. His annual LP for the following year, N9NA, was issued in April and featured many guests alongside multiple appearances from <a href="spotify:artist:3SEJQy90Vgg1aSnZ9b4AU9">Krizz Kaliko</a>. Without rest, he continued straight into another album cycle, dropping the EnterFear: Level 1 EP and its sequel, EnterFear: Level 2, in early 2020. Months later in April, he combined the pair and added a slew of new tracks for the album-length EnterFear. The set was another showcase for guest <a href="spotify:artist:3SEJQy90Vgg1aSnZ9b4AU9">Krizz Kaliko</a>, who joined additional guests <a href="spotify:artist:1dqGS5sT6PE2wEvP1gROZC">Flatbush Zombies</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7vTyZmNA6LC0WRDg7V6yle">King Iso</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4oYZcPoj3q3DneXomtQBzg">Merkules</a>, Landxn Fyre, and <a href="spotify:artist:3ruudjydODO0K6iQbSoan9">Mackenzie Nicole</a>.

In 2021, Tech's annual album installment arrived in the form of ASIN9NE, which notably featured the rap debut of actor, former wrestler, and aspiring emcee <a href="spotify:artist:1T8S48bD91THNKBByWBDyn">Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson</a> ("Face Off"). ~ Neil Z. Yeung, Rovi

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Tech N9ne

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