For those of you who don’t know, Tech N9ne has been asked to perform at Rockfest in Kansas City, MO! He’s scheduled to go on at 5:50 PM tomorrow (Saturday, 5/30), and joins bands like Halestorm, Papa Roach, Volbeat, Rob Zombie, Anthrax, and others on the bill! Inviting a rap artist to Rockfest has sparked a lot of conversation among fans and journalists. Tech is no stranger to rock-infused hip-hop, but I’d say he still considers himself a rapper. There are a couple of new articles out about Tech’s pending performance, and you can see what a few journalists say in them below:
From Pitch.com:
Tech N9ne talks about the intersection of rap and metal ahead of his slot at RockFest on Saturday
Some rock fans might be puzzled by Tech N9ne’s billing alongside names like Rob Zombie and Anthrax on Saturday’s RockFest lineup. The 43-year-old Strange Music mogul is, after all, a rapper by definition – despite his metal-fused 2013 album, Therapy, and his latest fierce full-length, Special Effects. But even though a recent press release detailing Tech’s new “crossover status,” the man himself is adamant about his passion for rock and its longtime influence on his music.
“This isn’t new,” Tech tells me over the phone. “We wouldn’t have songs like ‘Riot Maker’ in 2006 if that was the case, or ‘Tormented’ in 2001. The list goes on. We’ve been doing this since 1996 with rock-infused hip-hop, it’s just bigger than ever now because the names [we’re working with] are bigger. More people are paying attention and the rock world is paying attention, and now we’re starting to get booked at more metal festivals.”
Recent performances include sets at Columbus, Ohio’s Rock on the Range festival, Slipknot’s KnotFest and Aftershock festival. But playing to the 50,000 people expected at RockFest, Tech says, will be particularly special to him.
“This will be the biggest show I’ve ever played in Kansas City,” he says. “I’m ready for it.”
Tech adds that over the last year, he’s added a full live band to his shows – an element he’s been wanting for a long time.
“It’s such a beautiful feeling, because now, the show is even more powerful, and I can feel the crowd’s energy because of the band,” he says. “We’ve always been explosive, but now us with a band is a force to be reckoned with. And it feels so wonderful to have fans say, ‘We love the band, Tech,’ after they’ve been with us from the beginning.”
But not everyone attending RockFest on Saturday has been following the rapper over the course of his 20-year career. When the lineup was announced for this year’s RockFest, the addition of Tech N9ne was met with resistance by some. Tech is well aware.
“I look at the YouTube comments and I hear people saying, like, ‘Why will there be a hip-hop artist there when this is rock only? We don’t want to come because Tech N9ne is going to bring all the gang members,’ and all this stuff about how they don’t want to cross genres,” he says. “I’m going to cut their fucking heads off when I get on stage, because they don’t know what’s going to hit ’em.”
He goes on: “They think it’s just some rapper that’s going to be holding his nuts with nothing up there. I’m just gonna show ’em that this rock and roll thing has been in me since I was a kid. That’s always been a part of me. But when you talk about a black rapper coming to do RokFest, that’s not the norm. So I’m gonna show the people that don’t know and the people that are doubting, I’m gonna show them why I belong.”
And here’s another from NewsPressNow.com:
Rockfest mixes it up
Being the most popular music festival in Kansas City, 98.9 The Rock’s Rockfest doesn’t have to worry too much about letting people down.
It always has a few dependable Rockfest veterans, such as Papa Roach, Volbeat, The Pretty Reckless and Halestorm; along with big names like Rob Zombie and Anthrax and up-and-comers like Nothing More and We Are Harlot. But they’re taking a chance with different style of performer, hip-hop star Tech N9ne.
When the Kansas City-proud rapper, who currently has a hit on Top 40 radio “Hood Go Crazy,” takes the stage on May 30 in front of 50,000 people at the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, Mo., it will be a watershed moment for the festival. It’s one he’s worked tirelessly to achieve.
“We’re really excited to have Tech on the show,” Bob Edwards, program director for 98.9 The Rock, says. “From our standpoint, Tech really represents what Kansas City is all about. We watched Tech for years and years build his following in Kansas City, do it himself and certainly, put a lot of hard work into it.”
Playing a mainly active rock festival goes along with Tech N9ne’s mindset that he’s willing to play any place at any time, as long as the price is right and people want to listen.
“We go wherever our fans are,” he told St. Joe Live in a previous interview. “If we’re getting hits from our store in Slater, then we go service our fans in Slater.”
Edwards says he expects the moment Tech N9ne takes the Rockfest stage, people are bound to go insane.
“We feel like Rockfest is an opportunity he’s more than earned and that he’ll do a fantastic job,” he says.
The success of Rockfest is thanks in part to its ability to give fans and what they want and a little bit of the unexpected.
“If anything, we look for bands that we know that the audience, the radio station is really into and we do look for a bit of a balance of the old and the new, even putting someone like Tech on the show,” Edwards says. “We want to make sure there’s something for everyone, from the harder acts to the pop acts to the old acts to the new acts.”
From the thumping rock of Halestorm to the classic hard rock of Anthrax, Edwards says variety is always key.
“At festival, there shouldn’t be 20 bands that are all the same sort of band. There should be variety through the day, something for everybody that wants to come out,” he says.
The festival will also feature its signature staples like dual ziplines and its autograph, where each performer is available to sign memorabilia for fans for a half-hour.
“We’ve got a lot of the interactive displays from our different sponsors. Rather than people in booths selling things, there’s a lot of things that you can put your hands on and play with and touch and control,” he says.
And finally, from KansasCity.com:
When he takes the stage at Rockfest on Saturday, Tech N9ne will have a chip on his shoulder.
“I read the YouTube comments from people saying I don’t belong there because I’m hip-hop,” he told The Star on Thursday. “They don’t know what Tech N9ne is.”
Born Aaron Yates in Kansas City in 1971, Tech N9ne has evolved into one of the most successful independent artists in music. But his tastes in music are varied, which is something the naysayers don’t know, he said.
“I started my label (Strange Music) because of a rock band, because I’m an enormous Doors fan,” he said. “I worked with the remaining Doors on my last album and I got Jim Morrison on the chorus. I worked with Serj Tankian (System of a Down) on my last album. I had Corey Taylor of Slipknot on my new album. They don’t know that. They don’t know I’ve worked with the Deftones. I’m on Five Finger Death Punch’s new album. They don’t know that.
“There are people saying they’re not coming out to Rockfest because I’m going to bring gangsters, but they do not know what I’m about to do. ”
This will be Tech N9ne’s first appearance at Rockfest, which is presented by KQRC (98.9 FM), but not his first at a rock festival. In September, he performed at the Aftershock Festival in Sacramento, Calif., which also featured Rob Zombie, Godsmack and Black Label Society. In October, he performed at Knotfest in San Bernardino, Calif., in a lineup that included Slipknot, Anthrax and Hatebreed.
And on May 17, he performed at Rock on the Range in Columbus, Ohio, alongside Linkin Park, Rise Against, Volbeat and Halestorm. Rob Zombie and Anthrax are Rockfest headliners.
“I was the only artist at Rock on the Range that had the whole crowd yelling, ‘One more song,’” he said. “The only one. That’s what everybody told me. And I was the only hip-hop artist there.”
At Rockfest, Tech N9ne’s set begins at 5 p.m. on one of the two main stages. He performs after Halestorm and before Papa Roach. He will be accompanied by Krizz Kaliko, a Strange Music artist, and a rock trio: Alien Warr on drums, David Pastorius (nephew of the late jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius) on bass and fellow Kansas Citian Tyler Lyon of Evalyn Awake on guitar.
“They’re giving me 50 minutes,” he said, “which is more than I got at Rock on the Range. I usually do a (95-minute) set, but for 50 minutes, playing for 55,000 people in Kansas City, I’m gonna kill it.”
Tech N9ne’s latest album, “Special Effects,” released May 4, features a variety of collaborators, including Eminem and Lil Wayne, and styles. Kansas City jazz pianist Mark Lowrey also performs on three tracks. Tech N9ne says it’s his way of breaking down music barriers.
“For me to do a song with 2 Chainz and B.o.B., then turn around and do a metal song with Corey Taylor, then an (electronic dance music) track with Excision, then a Trapt song with T.I. and Zuse: I wanted to show how we can do beautiful music together,” he said. “Man created barriers and genres. Who’s to say in your culture you can’t dabble in other cultures? Music brings people together. At Strange Music, we’ve always wanted melting pots at our shows.”
His next album will go even farther in that direction. It will be released in October 2016 with the title, “The Storm,” in reference to his first recording, released in Kansas City, that was called “The Calm Before the Storm.”
“‘The Storm’ will have to be all-the-way top-notch, bigger than ‘Special Effects,’” he said. “So, yes, I will be calling Gary Clark Jr., like I’ve always wanted to. Yes, I will be talking more with Lana Del Rey and Alanis Morissette. Yes, I will be looking at Floetry and Marsha Ambrosius. Yes, I will try to see if I can get a beat from Dr. Dre for the very first time.”
Saturday, Tech N9ne will try to show the doubters what his fans already know about the diversity of his music and the ferocity of his live shows.
“I’m so happy Johnny Dare (of KQRC) and them even considered putting me on,” he said. “And the reason they did is they know what Tech N9ne brings. But the people on YouTube saying they don’t want to cross genres, they’re going to see and leave Tech N9ne fans, unless they’re total haters.”
Sounds like it’s a hell of a party! I’m anxious to see what Rockfest’s 50,000 patrons think of the Kansas City King! Are you going to Rockfest? Let us know how Tech puts it down!
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