Playboi Carti has built up a cult-like following over the years throughout his transformation into one of Hip Hop’s superstar trendsetters.
In a rare interview with XXL published Tuesday (April 12), Carti credited Tech N9ne as a pioneer of his gothic rockstar movement.
XL: You were talking about Tech N9ne earlier. Go back into that. Is that why you are wearing some face paint today? He’s known for that.
Playboi Carti: Tech N9ne, he’s the pioneer of what I got going on right now. When it comes to having a cult following, embracing yourself and sticking to your vision, Tech N9ne is the pioneer of that. So, it’s only right I give him his flowers. And, he’s very big in his own world and it’s the same thing with me. Even with the merch.
With the performance, the merch, the presentation, the Juggalo fans and the die-hard audience…
You [said before] he’s one of the best performers, all of that. And then, if you asked a younger kid today, he’ll say that for me. He’s one of the persons who…
Influenced you?
Exactly.
Music-wise? Aesthetically? When did that start? People in hip-hop used to not want to embrace Tech as much as they do now. So, you saying this is a surprise.
I just like how he’s consistent, like his vision. He stuck to his own vision. People like him are before their time, you know what I’m saying? He’s a genius and I’m a genius, so that’s how I see it.
So, you are kind of like a 2.0, 3.0 version of that kind of movement? Not the music, but the same overall package?
I’m more of like, I’m a real-life artist. I really studied his shit before I even get into things. Tech N9ne is the pioneer of this shit. Rock stars. He embraced the rock star, punk shit in hip-hop and it’s fire.
Have you worked together? Have you given him his flowers in person? Is he going to be surprised by what you’re saying or does he know that you feel that way?
Tech N9ne sits down with Big Court and the Holdin Court Podcast in this full length interview. He dives into topics regarding ”Lil Wayne”, ”The Rock”, ”Eminem”, ”T.I” and more! Along with discussions about his record label ”Strange Music” and his hometown Kansas City, MO.
In this clip, Token talked about how he manages his mental health by focusing on his music and enjoying his relationship. Token spoke in depth about his girlfriend and how she makes him “feel human” at a point in his life where others don’t see him as such due to his career. He also discussed having to deal with internet trolls and their antisemitic comments before detailing his Sway freestyle going viral and how that completely changed his life. Token discussed working with some hip-hop legends like Tech 9ine and even spoke about why he decided to turn down a meeting with a particular hip-hop icon that he’s often compared to.
Later in the clip, Token talked about some of the collaborations he’s had recently like Lil Skies and how he’s looking forward to working with artists like Doja Cat. He added why he has so much respect for artists who came up unconventionally because of his own unorthodox path to becoming a rapper. The clip concludes with a brief acapella freestyle.
Leading scholar and social commentator, Dr. Boyce Watkins of Financial Juneteenth offers his perspective to VladTV as it relates to Hip-Hop’s MCs earnings and how they manage their money. The conversation soon centered on the self-made independent artist Tech N9ne – who Boyce Watkins feels is one of “the greatest rappers in the world right now” – and how he successfully made the Forbes’ 2014 Hip-Hop Cash Kings List.
“Tech N9ne is a brother out of Kansas City, MO who is killing it…he actually turned down a deal for $60 million,” shares Dr. Boyce before adding, “A lot of the reason that he can turn down deals of that magnitude is because Tech has figured out the secret of how to make your own money.”
That comment is soon expounded upon when the analyst offers that “you don’t have to go through any industry begging and borrowing and asking people for an opportunity – you can create your own. And the best thing about being independent is when you sign yourself you’ll never fire yourself.”
Dr. Boyce later contends that the “Anghellic” lyricist’s business acumen has helped him to create his burgeoning empire. “He’s truly different not only in terms of his amazing rapid fire lyrical style, but in the way that he’s been able to monetize his ability in such an effective way.” Make sure you watch the entire clip to find out the “Three Tech Tips” that everyone needs to know in order to make the most money from your business and why Dr. Boyce Watkins feels that “walking away from education is the hugest mistake that any human being could ever make.”
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson became famous as a wrestler and an actor. Now he’s also adding rapper to his résumé.
The 49-year-old actor made what he calls his “historic rap debut” with a feature in Tech N9ne’s song “Face Off,” released Friday. The song, which also features rappers Joey Cool and King Iso, is part of the Kansas City rapper’s newest album “Asin9ne.”
“Made my historic rap debut (thankfully I didn’t suck) Huge shout to all the hip hop & music fans for your HYPE reactions,” Johnson tweeted Friday.
Johnson lays down the last verse of “Face Off” rapping about “drive” and “power.”
“We stay hungry, we devour / Put in the work, put in the hours and take what’s ours /
Black and Samoan in my veins, my culture bangin’ with Strange,” he raps referring to Tech N9ne’s record label Strange Music Inc.
“I would love to do a repeat with Tech N9ne and Strange Music. If I had the opportunity to collaborate with another artist out there — hip hop artists, blues artists, outlaw country artists — then let’s talk and let’s figure it out,” Johnson said. “If I could rap about the right words that feel real and authentic to me, then I’ll be happy to break out that Teremana, take a few big swigs and jump back into the studio.”
“THANK YOU to my brother, the GOAT @therealtechn9ne for coming up with this big crazy idea of wanting me to drop some Rock gasoline bars on the fire,” Johnson wrote on an Instagram video with a clip of his verse.
The two albums’ early 90s photographs are highly personal to Lamar, but have a familiarity to the beholder as well
In 2012, good kid, m.A.A.d city brought hip hop’s finest new storyteller to the attention of the masses. Kendrick Lamar’s major label debut tells the story of a kid growing up in Compton, Los Angeles, circumnavigating the pitfalls of gang life, whether by accident or design. The cover art meanwhile provides two stories, perhaps offering us a glimpse into an alternative future.
It’s a cinematic roman-à-clef that comes at you out of sequence—memory isn’t linear, after all—and the two photographs chosen for two editions of the album conjure up different but connected memories from the immediate past: one is a family scene from a kitchen, and the other, a van sitting in the driveway of Lamar’s old house. While personal to the artist, these pictures from the early ’90s have a familiarity to the beholder too, even if they’re not our own memories.
Exhibit one, for the initial 12-track release, is a picture we’re to assume is of the baby Kendrick surrounded by three older figures who may be relatives. According to Marcus J. Moore’s excellent new biography The Butterfly Effect: How Kendrick Lamar Ignited The Soul Of Black America, that is indeed Lamar in diminutive form, with two teenage uncles and his grandfather sitting to his left. In an interesting visual twist, the eyes of these other figures are blacked out with identity-obscuring oblongs, while the toddler—who you’d expect to be the protected party here—stares into the lens. A few years after this photo was taken, Kendrick, aged just five, would witness a teenage drug dealer gunned down before his eyes, and the year before, he’d seen mass rioting in the streets following the infamous attack on Rodney King by LAPD officers.
On closer inspection, the photograph is communicating dangers via signifiers, such as a bottle of alcohol sitting on the table—something he’ll addressed on ‘Swimming Pools (Drank)”; meanwhile, the uncle whose lap young Kendrick is sitting on is throwing a surreptitious gang sign with his left hand. Potential downfalls are hiding in plain sight in a picture as symbolically rich as Holbein’s The Ambassadors. “That photo says so much about my life and about how I was raised in Compton and the things I’ve seen,” said Lamar.
Exhibit two, mounted on the cover for the deluxe version of good kid, m.A.A.d city, is not as easy to read. Lamar’s mother’s van, parked on the street in front of their family home, appears on the cover, shot through a fisheye lens. Intriguingly, while this photo offers less in the way of visual portents, the house itself has become a shrine to fans. Type “Good Kid M.A.A.D City House” into Google Earth and you’ll find the rapper’s childhood home in Compton, and pictures of fans assembled outside like they’re at Graceland. Furthermore, scrawled under the battered Chrysler are the words “a short film by Kendrick Lamar,” adding to the hauntological vibrations.
“I fought not to have that on the cover!” says designer Don Clark on a Zoom call from his Seattle office. Clark set up the design agency Invisible Creature with his brother Ryan in 2006. “At the beginning I felt a photo of a minivan wasn’t worthy of an album cover, but I’m not always right. Because then his art creates this thing that becomes greater than any of us. That’s the sweet spot I love when working with other artists, when it takes on a life of its own.”
Clark was initially reluctant to talk about good kid, m.A.A.d city because of his lack of conceptual input into the design. Invisible Creature took 4×6 photos supplied by Lamar and scanned them, adding crease marks to the corners to give the packaging a more distressed appearance, and then superimposed the pictures onto various textures until they found a background that most resembled an old Polaroid. But otherwise, the direction all came from Lamar himself. Within the space of a five-minute conference call, the musician, who was just making a name for himself at the time, had laid out exactly what he wanted in fine detail. His objectives were clear for every inch of good kid, m.A.A.d city, visually and audibly.
There are ten polaroid photos laid out across the deluxe gatefold edition, again all chosen in sequence by Lamar. Clark also disapproved of the graffiti-style font at the base of the sleeve, but he’s willing to concede that that cover has become a fan favorite, and that it has an enigmatic quality, too: mystery, after all, is in short supply these days as cover art becomes utilitarian and avatar-like, a one inch box on a tiny smartphone screen to click on or swipe away.
The alternative 12-track cover still makes more sense to Clark though, and a couple of serendipitous details add to its ability to communicate: the Parental Advisory sticker is analogous to the photo’s message, and use of the black strips across the eyes of the adults was actually at the insistence of the label. “That was more of a legal thing,” says Clark. “Interscope and the family wanted to do that to obscure their likenesses.”
Other than obfuscating the identities of the grownups in the room, Interscope was happy to allow their new signing complete artistic freedom to unleash his vision, a gamble that obviously paid off given that Kendrick Lamar is one of the most acclaimed rappers of all time, a state of affairs that really began with good kid, m.A.A.d city.
“From the beginning they let him do what he wanted,” says Clark. “He was also [Dr.] Dre’s guy and I think that had a lot to do with it. That’s another amazing thing about him in that he doesn’t care what people will think and his art speaks for itself, and I appreciate that audacity.”
Rest in peace Ryan Bowers. He was signed to Nick Cannon’s Ncredible Entertainment as a member of the Psych Ward Druggies (with Kehlani). He was a big fan of Bone Thugs and Tech N9ne, and ended up doing songs (and shows) with them both. Heck of a talent, just too many demons.
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