Currently on tour, the Kansas City King, Tech N9ne, hits the road less taken on THE LOST CITIES TOUR. One of the hardest touring artists in the game, Tech N9ne hops back on the bus to share his music with the fans.Featuring Strange Music’s own Jay Rock, Krizz Kaliko and Kutt Calhoun, along with Atlanta’s Flawless, THE LOST CITIES TOUR is criss-crossing the country bringing the most exciting independent rap artists to a city near you. Head over to www.strangemusicinc.net and www.strangevip.com for a complete list of dates or to purchase VIP packages. In the meantime, check out Tech N9ne’s interview with Brand Your Music.
How would you describe your brand of music?
My brand starts with the Strange Music logo. The bat with the wings makes the “M” and then the snake represents the “S.” That’s the first brand we started putting in people’s minds. We used this first as our logo for our merchandise. The second brand we’ve put out is the bar code cross which is my personal brand. The barcode is in the shape of a cross and has a 9 in the upper right corner.
I came up with these logos after being inspired by what Public Enemy did. I didn’t have to see Public Enemy’s name to know it was them. Their use of the dark figure caught in a crosshair said it all. I wanted something strong like that. I wanted it to arouse suspicion.
In terms of my music, I knew that repetition would be the key to set me a part. My flow is schizophrenic, it’s ambidextrous so I realized I needed to make infectious hooks for people to actually get it. I concentrate my focus on the pulse of the beat and the repetition of the hook when creating my music. If I had to categorize my brand of music, I would say that it’s super psychotic.
You’ve been in the rap game since the late 90’s, talk a little bit about your evolution as an artist and as a business person.
My evolution as an artist and business person is one in the same. My level of ambition exceeds many of the artists out here but I had to go through a learning process. I wasn’t ready when I was signed to Quincy Jones. I wasn’t ready when I was did my Interscope deal but I was being taught along the way. I had a very difficult time as an artist in the beginning because I wasn’t understood. No one “got” what I was trying to do musically so I had to learn how to make people understand.
All the ups and downs taught me what I didn’t want as a business person. I didn’t want anybody stifling my creativity because of business reasons. I created my company, Strange Music, because we have complete creative license. We control all of our own product and that’s the best way for me to put out my music.
Strange Music is your imprint and is a truly independent enterprise, how have you been able to maintain your autonomy while building success?
Major labels can’t seem to realize that they have to nurture their artists to success. How do you do that? You tour. Touring has been the thing that has kept my music and the Strange Music brand at the forefront of people’s minds. It’s the equivalent to wanting to be President. If you want to be the President of Hip-Hop you have to go out to where the people are and make them feel you. You have to touch the people. The problem with these major acts is that they may have a single on the radio and they perform but they can’t get 200 people to their shows.
We’ve built our music brand over time by hitting lesser known cities as well as major cities. We would do a show in San Diego and maybe only 7 people would be there but we would keep coming back to that city until we sold it out. That’s how we stayed afloat. We toured and brought our merchandise along with us which also helped. We’ve campaigned for real and that’s why our brand is as big as it is and it continues to grow because we don’t slow down.
We’ve found new fame with my being featured on BET this year and being a part of the Carter IV album. This success has made me work even harder and that’s the reason we’re on tour now. I’m proving to those who are just learning about Tech N9ne that I’m the real deal.
Your last studio album, All 6’s and 7’s, debuted in the Number 1 spot on Billboard’s Rap Albums Chart and Number 4 on Billboard’s 200 Chart. You were also featured in one of the cypher’s for this year’s BET Hip-Hop Awards and made a guest appearance on Lil’ Wayne’s Carter IV album. Given your success what’s the best advice you can give to any artists who wants to make music a serious career?
I had never met Wayne before and I didn’t even know he knew about my music. Funkmaster Flex happened to interview Wayne while he was at Riker’s and Flex asked him who he would like to work with. When he said me, I was like whoa! I ended up going to visit him at Riker’s and we just chopped it up. He told me when he got out it would be on.
The BET feature came about because they asked for me. They already had Jay Rock and then asked if I would be interested. All these opportunities came together naturally. I didn’t have to do anything besides be myself to create these opportunities. People are recognizing the grind and finally getting a whiff of the music. It’s funny, BET years ago wouldn’t play my music because my name was Tech N9ne now I’m on the Cypher.
My advice to any new artist is that this is a harsh business. If you’re weak, you’re not going to make it. You have to take criticism and take people bashing you. You have to believe in everything you’re doing as an artist and remember that other people have to think your music is good. You can’t just run around saying you’re the best rapper out there with no one else agreeing with you.
Where can people go and get more information about Tech N9ne?
Everything about me can be found at www.TheRealTechN9ne.com.
