Tucson Weekly

Aaron Dontez Yates , better known by his stage name Tech N9ne, is an American rapper. His musical career has spanned 24 years. Tech N9ne is known for his wide range of collaborations with other well-known artists. In 1999, Tech N9ne was included on the track (and accompanying video) “The Anthem” from Sway & King Tech, two radio personalities based in California.

Early in his career, Tech N9ne was a member of a group called “NNUTT HOWZE”, which he pays tribute to in many of his lyrics by saying “Six, six, triple eight, forty six, ninety nine, three” (6688846993), which spells out NNUTT HOWZE on the touch pad numbers of a telephone. However, the group disbanded when they were dropped from their label, Perspective Records. Additionally, he saw glimpses of success as a member of the 57th Street Rogue Dog Villians – also a Kansas City-based group – with their single “Let’s Get Fucked Up”.

Tech N9ne is a member of The Regime, a large collective of MCs including Yukmouth, Dru Down, Gonzoe, and Tha Realest among various others. Fellow Kansas City rappers BG Bulletwound and Grant Rice are also included in the collective’s roster. Tech N9ne is one of the original members of The Regime, as he has been with the group since its creation by Yukmouth in 1997.

In September 2008, Tech N9ne officially hit a milestone in his career, recording over a million album sales to date, thanks to the release of his double album, Killer. Despite the accomplishment, the rapper remembers the struggles of his career, up until this point. However, he wasn’t surprised. “It just reminded me of all the work we done in the past, up until now. It’s something. It’s dope,” the rapper told BallerStatus.com. “I don’t think it’s sunken in yet. I’ve been celebrating for the last two days because that’s a hell of an accomplishment. I’ve been planning success all my life. I’m not even a bit surprised, I’m happy about it. That just means I was right.” Sickology 101: The Study of Being Sick was released on April 28, 2009. Sickology is the second Tech N9ne collabos album (the first being Misery Loves Kompany), the album has several guest appearances such as Krayzie Bone, Crooked I, and Chino XL.

On April 7, 2009, it was announced that Tech N9ne would be one of the performers for the Rock The Bells 2009 Festival. In August, Tech N9ne performed at the tenth annual Gathering of the Juggalos after appearing at two prior Gatherings.

His newest album K.O.D. was released on October 26, 2009. The album was accompanied by the “K.O.D” tour featuring Krizz Kaliko, Kutt Calhoun, Slaughterhouse, Glasses Malone, Stevie Stone, and the newly signed artist to Strange Music, Big Scoob.

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KRIZZ KALIKO is the sonic “glue” of Strange Music. “I’m Tech’s right hand man in writing,” he says. “It’s a weird, beautiful chemistry. Tech and Travis [O’Guin] handle the business, and Tech and I are the creative force at Strange Music. The yin and the yang. Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. Tech and I have the same philosophy about the quality of music. We’ve been working together so long I know where he wants to go.”

Born in Kansas City, MO., KRIZZ KALIKO was raised by a mom who spoon-fed him music. As an opera and gospel singer, as well as being the choir director of their church, his mother sang to him and, fortunately, made him sing with his sisters. He performed in the choir all throughout his early teens and his mom often treated the family to live concerts from artists like the Gap Band and Run-DMC. By the time KRIZZ KALIKO met Tech N9ne, he was already trying to figure out how to fuse opera and Hip Hop.

“Tech’s music is dark,” KRIZZ KALIKO explains. “It was the perfect vehicle.” When Tech N9ne landed back home in Kansas City after touring and found his longtime producer Icy Roc working with a new talented voice, Tech was intrigued. He liked what he heard and hired KRIZZ KALIKO to work with him on “Who You Came To See”, from his Anghellic album (2001). Tech was so impressed by KRIZZ KALIKO’s ability to craft catchy, album-ready songs, he asked him to collaborate on his next project, Absolute Power (2002). Powered by a fusion of funk, rap, rock, R&B and opera – a self-made style KRIZZ KALIKO calls “Funkra” – GENIUS covers the entire spectrum of genres, from the slow and seductive “Get Off” with Tech N9ne and the rock-flavored “The Chemical” to the street anthem “Back Pack” and the album’s crossover single, “Misunderstood.” KRIZZ KALIKO pulls from a wide variety of artists he enjoys listening to, from Billy Joel and Elton John to Prince, Cee-Lo and Soulja Boy, and in doing so, he has made an album that defies categorization. Along for the aurally eclectic rollercoaster ride that is GENIUS are Tech N9ne, E-40, Kutt Calhoun and Big Scoob.

As most fans already know, KRIZZ KALIKO offers a unique perspective on life that many can relate to. The husband and father of one was born with a skin disorder called Vitiligo, which he not only discusses openly in his music, but also used as the title of his debut CD. “I want people to get that people who look differently can actually be the coolest dudes,” he relays. “To come from being a freak to this dude that I am here is a wonderful and interesting story and makes you want to listen to the music even more.”

One of the GENIUS’s most poignant tracks sheds light on another of KRIZZ KALIKO’s conditions: “’Bipolar’ talks about my experiences as a little kid, how I came to have anxiety problems and diagnosed as bipolar,” he explains. “Everybody I know that’s extremely talented or smart is a little bit crazy. I embrace that because without that I wouldn’t be as creative. I write songs about it and lots of fans identify with it.”

It’s important to KRIZZ KALIKO that his lyrics are not all about hardship and pain. “I want people to be excited by me, come into my world,” he adds. “I want you to have a good time when you’re around me. You gotta want people to want to be around you, want to listen to your music, want to be interested in you.” Judging by his scores of fans, KRIZZ KALIKO’s extensive grassroots efforts and inclusive musical philosophies are working.

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Kevin Danell Mann (born January 10, 1971), better known by his stage name Brotha Lynch Hung, is an American rapper and record producer from Sacramento, California. Since the release of his debut album 24 Deep in 1993, Brotha Lynch Hung has sold 1.4 million CDs independently, and has been described as an innovator of horrorcore and one of the forefathers of the genre.

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Hotness drives hip-hop. The hottest albums, the hottest lyrics, the hottest beats, the hottest videos, the hottest clique: every rapper wants to have all of the above. Kutt Calhoun has them all and stands to be the next, hottest rapper.

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It all started on stage. While opening for Devin The Dude in Kansas City, Ces Cru thoroughly impressed hometown rap kingpin Tech N9ne. Tech motioned to Ces Cru’s Ubiquitous and let him know that he loved what he was hearing. Fast forward a few years to Kansas City barbeque staple Jack Stack. There, a friend of Ubiquitous gave Tech N9ne a copy of Ces Cru’s 2009 album, The Playground. Tech took the album home, listened to it and Tweeted that he was vibing out to the music of Ubiquitous and his partner-in-rhyme, Godemis. In 2010, Tech N9ne and Strange Music CEO, Travis O’Guin, called to offer Ces Cru a slot on Tech N9ne’s forthcoming Bad Season mixtape. Along with the mixtape appearance, came an opportunity to open for Tech at the Beaumont Club, a prestigious KC entertainment venue.

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Raised in Gwinnett County, Rittz embodies the same level of irony and self-conflict as his hometown. Born into a musical family, he, his twin sister and their brother had always been exposed to the inner workings of music. The fact that their parents were heavily into rock and roll ensured that the kids were always around instruments or in studios. The family moved from small-town Pennsylvania (Waynesburg) to the Atlanta outskirts when he was eight years old, and once Rittz got to junior high, his musical tastes evolved. Atlanta's booming bass and rap movement had traveled north on I-85 to get the entire metro area jumping. Nowadays, the rap career of Gwinnett-raised Rittz is rapidly on the rise. From his affliation with one of the hottest new rappers coming out of the South to his first mixtape, Rittz White Jesus (hilariously inspired by a friend’s term of endearment), everything is coming together now, two years after he nearly lost everything. These days he's booking late night studio sessions, and still clocking in to work early the next day. "I see both sides: the regular, working class type shit and then I've also seen a lot of the street shit that goes on here, some people that are blind to that here, may never have seen it." Rittz says he's "just a normal guy who raps"- a contradiction if there ever was one- but he makes you believe, with the humility of the everyman and the talent of a superstar.

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