Tech N9ne is getting ready to drop his new album Something Else, tomorrow, so the eccentric rapper stopped by Power 105's The Breakfast Club to talk about the project as well as working with Lil Wayne, almost getting a Jay Z feature, and the rumor that he is a devil worshiper.
Tech spoke on being within the top 3 touring artists at one point in his career. "Yeah it was like Kanye, Jay-Z and me," he said, detailing his touring hustle. "It's been under the radar for a long time. What a lot of artists don't realize is that if you want to be the hip hop president, you gotta get out their and politic. How do we politic through music? We go out and tour."
While the rapper has been known for his status as an independent artist, he explained that he went through a lot of major label drama before choosing to go indie. "My first deal was 1993 with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis," he revealed, "'97 was Quincy Jones, Qwest and Warner, and after that it was Interscope and JCOR."
"After that I went through so much bull with the majors." Tech said of his disappointment with the system. They wanted me to be a drone. They wanted me to do what everyone else is doing. But I was always to the left, I was always strange. There's always been a hint of rock n roll with my hip hop, know what I'm sizzlin?"
N9ne then went on to describe the genesis of Strange Music, his own label. "I met my partner Travis O'Guin like late 99 in Kansas. He said he was a big fan of my music, and he was already a self-made millionaire from a furniture business. So we did a join-venture, and we started Strange Music. I named it Strange Music because I'm a big Doors fan, word to Jim Morrison... it took a lot to do it but we did it. Thank the lord that it worked and it's still working."
On the perception that he is a devil worshiper, the rapper responded, "Everybody thought that. People fear what they don't understand, and what they can't control. If I come out hear and I've got facepaint on, to me-- I look like more like my ancestors than most of these people. If this is a cult I'm leading, the message I'm sharing is love, not hate."
"The imagery is strong." Tech said of the understandable confusion around his persona. "When you look at the new album cover, there's a fiery crown on my head, but it's also a transparent heart with wings. It means evil brain, angel heart."
The Strange Music emcee also let go of some details around his first time meeting Lil Wayne, after Weezy revealed in an interview from Riker's Island that he was looking to work with Tech. "'Did he just say Tech N9ne?' he ain't never met me, I ain't ever met Wayne, but he'd been a fan of me since the Wake Up Show, me doing the anthem."
"I went up to Rikers to say thank you, and we talked for like 3 hours" he revealed, "and that's how I got on Tha Carter IV.
The Something Else rapper shed some light on a failed collaboration with Jay-Z as well, hinting that WTT 2 is already in the works. "I was supposed to send him a beat, because I know his engineer, Mike Dean. They were working on Watch The Throne 2 in Africa or something. So I emailed Mike Dean, like 'I've got this song called “That's My Kid” with Big K.R.I.T. And Cee-Lo' and I know he just had Blu. But I ran out of time, I had to put my album together, so I didn't get to send it to him."
Watch the full interview below.