Tech N9ne says top-tier rappers like Eminem & Kendrick Lamar never charged him for collaborations.
The thing about collaborations between the legends of the rap game is that they never pay each other for the verses, it’s all out of love and respect for the game and it’s the same thing that happened with Tech N9ne. The legendary Missouri rapper recently appeared on HipHopDx‘s show Hack3d for an interview with Marisa Mendez where he spoke on various topics including early days as a breakdancer, MGK breaking every rule on a tour, the biggest lesson from Lady Gaga, and much more. Tech N9ne was also asked about some of his favorite collaborations with mainstream rappers, to which he named the likes of Kendrick Lamar and Eminem.
“I have so many of them. I’ve done a big one with Roger Troutman, he came to Kansas City to do this for me,” says Tech. “I always wanted to work with Eminem, and I did a big one called “Speedom” with him and Krizz Kaliko, finally after ten years. On the metal side, I’ve done stuff with Corey Taylor of Slipknot. I wanted to work with Slipknot for over a decade and I finally got that done. Marsha Ambrosius from Floetry, I’ve always been a fan and I finally was able to get a song with her, produced by Kon-Artist. Mr. Porter. My friend on a higher-up would make it happen for me. I’ve got a song with Tupac. With all my idols like Ice Cube, Brother J from X Clan. Boyz II Men, I’ve got a weed song with Boyz II Men. Me and Snoop, me and E-40, me and Too Short. I mean It just goes on forever.
The thing that blows my mind that from all that, from Kendrick to Jay Rock to Eminem, from everyone I just named, I didn’t have to pay for none of these features. All out of respect and love. They don’t charge me. And then I contributed to Eminem’s “Southpaw” soundtrack.”
The show also had Sway Calloway as a surprise guest, who recalls putting Tech N9ne between Eminem & RZA on the 1999 song “The Anthem“. “Tech N9ne constructed that song in a way,” says Sway. “RZA was the first to rap because it was THE RZA in Wu-Tang Clan. RZA was always been like a brother to us and a good friend, he stayed on the set the whole time we shot that video. And Eminem was Em, on the rise, 1998-1999. So we put RZA first, we put Eminem third, but we put Tech N9ne second. We did it on purpose. You gonna watch it because it’s RZA, You gonna wait because it’s Eminem, You gotta hear this dude Tech N9ne in the middle.”
When put in the same range as Eminem, Tech N9ne similarly expressed his confusion. The essential goal for him is authenticity, and focusing solely on technical similarities would be missing the point: It’s also a weird thing, when people mention Eminem, they mention my name with it when it comes to lyrics. It’s a weird thing because I’ve just been doing me. I ain’t trying to sound like nobody, I ain’t trying to act like nobody. Everybody get it twisted. We rap fast, but we don’t sound anything like Bones, Twista or Eminem. We sound like ourselves.
Tech N9ne is no stranger to teaming up with other artists, and on Friday, he released Blight, a new joint EP with Chicago musician HU$H. This new project has only seven tracks and runs for around 22 minutes, making it a fast listen that is also extremely easy to comprehend. This album is filled with strong bars and quick flows, like you’d expect from a Tech N9ne and HU$H collaboration.
Check out the full interview below.
