Tech N9ne Tech N9ne, born Aaron Yates
was raised in a strict religious household where most of the darkness in his rhymes was born. He saw women in church fighting
over men and Muslims dealing drugs at the restaurant where he worked. Blowfly first introduced him to rap music when his uncle
gave him a copy of "Rap Dirty". Tech was amazed and had no idea music like this even existed. He sought out other rap records
and began a collection, collecting records from artists such as NWA, Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, and Soulsonic
Force.
In 1984, Tech began writing rhymes himself.
While his homies were getting caught up in the crack trade, Tech was building his reputation as a skilled MC/dancer. When
he was 17, he left his home to move in with his aunt. He finally had a good deal of freedom but he was getting another glimpse
at the dark side. He worked with a relative dealing dope to preachers, policemen, firemen, etc. But he never stopped rapping
and it eventually caught the interest of a girl named Tanya, now known as Sole` who invited him to join her at a rap convention.
Tech then realized that this is what he wants to do with his life and meeting artists there like LL Cool J, Tone Loc and King
T who gave him props on his rhymes convinced him of it. The break he got at the convention led him to hook up with longtime
collaborator Icy Rock.
Tech got an early development with Perspective
Records but label went bankrupt. Tech returned to Kansas City and formed a crew called Nnutt Howze. He started painting up
his face with crucifixion symbols. During this time, he hooked up with a producer named Don Juan. (Don Juan along with Icy
Rock is the one responsible for lacing Tech with dope beats on the Anghellic album) Tech made a leap of faith and signed with
Qwest Records, but that label would have the same fate as Perspective.
Tech finally found a stable label in Jcor,
which put out Anghellic in August 2001. For this album, Tech absorbed all the shit he had taken in the past few years and
spit them back in an assault of dark, borderline Horrorcore lyrics. "Real Killer" is a biographical account of his personal
encounters with abortion. "Twisted" features the last recording of the legendary Roger Troutman.
Jcor went out of business shortly thereafter.
Tech continued on though, releasing his equally critically acclaimed album "Absolute Power" in 2002 and re-releasing "Anghellic"
in 2003 with bonus tracks. He also started the "Fuck The Industry" movement, a campaign against the politics in the music
industry. To show his devotion to the movement, he put up "Absolute Power" for free on his official website therealtechn9ne.com.
He is currently working on a new album called Everready the New Religion and the little news available at this time is that
he will record a track with Eminem for the CD.