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Tech N9ne: After KOD
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Tech N9ne sat down and talked to us about KOD, the Ollie Gates Mixed Plate collabos album, Haiti and his family.D:What’s up with u man?
T: I got 4 more bars to go, I got 12 good ones so I got 4 more bars to go I’m good. If I’m kind of late I just had to finish that 12th bar before I called and put it on my recorder so I wouldn’t forget what it was
D: I heard man, thanks for sneaking us in between recordings. So what are you working on right now? Another solo album or another collaboration? What’s up?
T: I’m working on the new collaboration album called The Ollie Gates Mixed Plate. It’s my new Tech N9ne collabos album. I’m trying to brighten it up on this one man since KOD was iller, dark because of my mind being sick you know.
D: That was a good album, let me ask you, how did you feel about how that album performed sales-wise and otherwise. I thought it was maybe your best if not your best album you’ve ever made and that’s not just me saying that because I’m on the phone with you. But what did you come to think of it as far as how it compared to your other albums and otherwise?
T: Well it’s selling like crazy still and it can’t be compared to none of my past albums because I’ve never had a past album that was 100% dark you know what I’m saying. I always had like dark sections in my album know what I’m sizzlin’. This one was extremely dark because of my mom being sick, pancreatitis almost took her away.
So I’m very pleased that people love it ‘cause I thought that my fans weren’t going to think that it was dark enough. I thought they thought it was going to be like fake dark like “Oh I’ll murder you and I’ll chop you up and I’ll chop you’re head off” and stuff like that.
No, it wasn’t that it was my life and I was kind of worried ‘cause I know my fans they really want that gore and I don’t do horrorcore I do my life and if my life is horror then that’s what it is but at the time my life was really horror-ful. So that’s why I had KOD King of Darkness. I felt like nobody’s darkness could be greater than mine, my mother dying like that but she made it through it so it made for good music. Songs like “Blacken the Sun” is my favorite know what I’m saying, songs like “Low”, songs like “Leave Me Alone”, songs like” Killing You” know what I’m saying stuff like that, songs like “Pinnochiho”, “Shadows on the Road” you know what I’m saying, wonderful music man “Strange Music Box” all that, “Show Me a God” know what I’m saying”.
So it was like it made for wonderful music but I hate to upset you Ricardo man but I don’t want to go back to that dark place. I had no idea that it would take me that deep into the hole man to where I didn’t want to be around nobody, I wanted people to leave me alone know what I’m saying, I couldn’t even be at the strip club and be normal.
D: What?!
T: I had chicks coming up to me like “What’s wrong baby?” I’m like “Baby, I can’t be here right now I got to go”. Now you know I’m a Scorpio male if I’m in a strip club I’m kickin’ it. If I can’t strip it when I’m in a strip club I’m deep dark in the hole. So what I’m doing now man I’m trying to come up out of that hole dog so this Tech N9ne collabos, “The Ollie Gates Mixed Plate” is going to be a lot lighter than KOD you know what I’m saying. It’s still going to be that raw Tech N9ne but I’mma be partying more, I’mma be kickin’ it, I’mma be with chicks more, I’mma be slicin’ MCs more know what I’m saying just really rapping homie and hopefully won’t have to go into the sad worldview music that my fans love so much.
D: More of that “Caribou Lou” music.
T: Uh huh, yeah exactly so before all that new “Caribou Lou” music comes 5 extra songs are coming in April. They’re called “The Lost Scripts of KOD”. It’s the last one’s I’m getting out of me like “here you go” that I promised my fans that I’d give them those lost scripts that didn’t make the album you know what I’m saying that I didn’t have time to record you know what I mean ‘cause the album was already full. So I just recorded them a couple weeks ago.
I had to go back to that dark place and I hated it but I did it and I wrote songs like “Like I Died remix”, “Stress Release”, “Double 0 Nina”, “Painkiller, and the last one is called “My Last Sad Song”. It’s 5 of them, it’s an EP you know what I’m saying. I think it only costs 8 bucks. It’s going to be wonderful, get those last sad songs and I’m outta here.
D: Hey, can’t dwell on it man. Let me ask you one thing though, specifically since you’re bringing that up, about the song “Show Me a God”. I know it was a real personal song, you’re talking about “Show me a god, is it just a façade”. What are your thoughts right about now on God and what are your thoughts on religion just kind of where you stand right now on that whole issue in your life personally?
T: Where I stand right now I pray everywhere I go. I pray before I go to sleep, I pray before I get on a plane, I pray before I go on stage and I pray to God. I pray that something’s listening. I truly have a belief and I want to believe that something’s listening. Of course we all have doubt because we’ve never seen anything. The bible taught us to believe and have faith that something greater than us is watching over us so I pray.
So I really pray that something’s listening every time I’m praying man know what I’m saying because if there’s nothing listening we have no hope. So I steady pray even though I might have doubt sometimes you know what I’m saying because my mom she’s such the angel, and such the god lover, and god fanatic know what I’m saying. I’m wondering why a god or a Jesus let this angel suffer so much throughout her whole life so it makes me wonder why would God do such a thing you know what I’m saying. That’s where I stand, that I truly believe there’s something because I want to believe that there’ something. Because if there’s nothing there’s trouble.
D: Even when things come up and they give you your doubts. Your mom, a god fanatic, sounds a little bit like my mom to be honest with you and I’m glad she wasn’t taken away because the music isn’t worth it. The dark music isn’t worth something like that.
T: I know man, and I wish I didn’t have to write that album but I still listen to that album know what I mean because it made for beautiful music. I don’t wish nothing upon my mom so I can make music but I write my life so I had to write what I was going through at that time and I hope I never have to write it again my friend, you know what I’m sizzlin’ even though it’s beautiful music.
D: So let me change gears a little bit, a lot of things give you doubt about God and a lot of people are talking to me about the bad things happening in the world and most recently we’ve had the situation in…
T: Haiti
D: Yep, of course you knew what I was going to say.
T: And the Mayan calendar says we only have till 2012 so I’m partying like crazy ‘cause what if the Mayans are right know what I’m sizzlin’. Everything is going to shift know what I mean and it’s going to be disaster everywhere so let’s hope the Mayan calendar is not right ‘cause if we only got 2 more years man. I already got 2 more cruises booked for the next two years with my kids. I just got off one with my children in January.
I think I’m on the Royal Caribbean cruise to the Bahamas, to St. Marten’s and St. Thomas, and next year going to Spain. And so in 2012 I got the new Disney cruise planned. So I’m hoping we ain’t on the Disney cruise and this motherfucker go up in smoke (laughs)
D: But what did you think about that whole situation in Haiti? What’s your thought when you were looking at it? When you were hearing about it?
T: It made me think about when my grandma said “When the end of days is here destruction will be everywhere”, know what I’m saying. And you remember the tsunami and you remember what happened in Hurricane Katrina now you’re seeing what happening in Haiti, its destruction so many people are dying. Then I just heard that there was a tornado in Long Beach so it’s like it makes me think of what my grandma used to say “In the end of days destruction will be everywhere”, natural disasters know what I’m saying.
And I hate that it had to happen in Haiti like that. I hate that it has to happen anywhere because my kids live in LA and they’ve witnessed earthquakes before and it scares the hell out of me, I’m trying to move them to Dallas. My heart goes out to the people of Haiti, and all the survivors and everything, and all the deceased man know what I’m sizzling. It just makes me think of the end of days. I just don’t want to believe it.
D: Definitely, let me ask you something that people specifically asked me to ask you. What influences you? Whether it’s another artist, another kind of music, or something outside of music that influences you or that has influenced you to become the artist you are right now?
T: Old school rap influenced me to really want to rap know what I’m saying. NWA, Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, Eric B and Rakim, know what I’m sizzlin’ those type of people, Schooly D, Just Ice know what I’m saying.
Really, old school hip hop really inspired me to make me want to rap, made me want to write but listening to The Doors you know Jim Morrison, and Led Zeppelin, even Elton John know what I’m saying, AC/DC, Metallica or whatever know what I’m saying made me want to put different types of music on top of what I grew up listening to rap know what I’m sizzlin’.
So listening to Floetry nowadays and Outkast and Cee-Lo, whatever Cee-Lo’s doing, Gnarls Barkley or whatever know what I’m sizzlin’. That kind of music makes me want to take it to another level.
D: Yeah, it surprised me a little bit when you mentioned Floetry on “One Good Time” that you would listen to something like that but I can kind of see it coming out too.
T: Totally man, I listen to many different types of music but I love beautiful music so beautiful music no matter what type whether it’s classical or whatever. The only type of music I really don’t listen to is country and I know people hate to hear me say that but I really can’t get into country totally I don’t know why. Maybe it’ll hit me later in life but everything else man I really, really love beautiful music dude no matter what it is.
D: Cool, do you have a favorite song?
T: A favorite song of mine?
D: Let’s do of yours and not of yours.
T: Alright, of mine my favorite song it has to be between “This Ring” off of Anghellic or “Come Gangsta” off of Everready. They’re neck and neck because they have the same kind of formula know what I’m saying. It’s depth, it’s speedy in parts, it’s wordplay in parts, and it’s melodic. “Come Gangsta” and “This Ring”have the same formula but “Come Gangsta” was just a step higher to me so I’ll put those two because they’re damn near the same thing to me almost.
But outside of my music my favorite song would be “Freebird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd because it reminds me of me talking to a girl. “If I leave here tomorrow would you still remember me? For I must be traveling on now because there’s too many places I got to see” you know what I’m saying. It’s like me talking to women that’s trying to get with me “and this bird you cannot tame…and this bird you cannot change Lord knows I cannot change” that’s me man. And a hillbilly motherfucker was singing it back then!
D: Hey, if you can feel it it’s in the music right.
T: No doubt.
D: So let me ask you, last time DeftMag talked to you it was up in Vancouver, you talked to us then and we talked a little about Skip Gates and Obama recently being elected. Since that time Obama’s been in office for about a year now, a lot’s going on with healthcare and other issues. What’s your opinion of Obama right about now and the current job he’s doing?
T: I love that he’s trying but it’s hard to clean up something so messy that George Bush tore down. So it made his job even harder and it’s making everyone look at him like he don’t know what the hell he’s doing like he’s making so many promises and not fulfilling them know what I’m sizzlin’. But you got to understand that this man has a big mess to clean up so I really appreciate his effort and where he’s trying to go because it’s good intentions don’t you agree?
D: Oh yeah, good intentions but you know what the road to hell is paved with is good intentions sometimes.
T: Yeah you’re right, so I’m hoping that he’s not the road to hell you know what I’m saying. A lot of people was trying to say that he was going to be the antichrist. The antichrist was going to be someone that everybody loved, that all the countries loved for real know what I’m sizzling like they love him. And he was going to be around his age and but in a book, I think it was in maybe “The Illuminati” or one of those books back in the day, it said that his name was going to be like Mabo or but Obama I don’t know if that’s what they were talking about backwards or whatever. So hopefully that’s not the guy they’re talking about and hopefully he won’t take us into Armageddon.
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