Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, October 09, 2013, Page 13, Image 13

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    O ctober 9, 2013
‘ri,f TJortlanò (Dhsrruer
Page 13
Artsx?
Learn from consumer
protection experts
how to protect
you and your
family from
fraud.
IMIIIAISHISI
Rose City Connections
Rapper Tech N9ne makes Portland stop
T he P ortland O bserver caught
up w ith recording artist T ech N 9ne
w hen he cam e to tow n during his
current 50 city tour. T he “ S o m e­
thing E lse” tour, entitled after his
latest album features hip hop in d u s­
try h e a v y w e ig h ts su ch as W iz
K halifa, B .O .B ., C ee Lo G reen, and
K endrick L am ar, his longtim e c o l­
laborator K rizz K aliko and m any
more.
A s the founder o f his ow n record
label, S trange M usic, w hich c u r­
rently pulls in m ore than $20 m illion
annually, T ech N 9ne is often la­
beled as the “the m ost successful
independent rapper o f all tim e”. W ith
a m astery o f a signature to n g u e­
tw isting delivery, the 41 y e ar old
m ogul has touched on a range o f
d e ep ly p e rso n al su b jec ts in his
m usic, such as a nearly fatal drug
addiction, separation from his w ife,
distance from his children, death o f
his best friend, and m ost recently
his accusation that a seventh grade
D M S\ Y ou had talked about how
teacher m olested him during his y o u ’re pain tin g y o u r face, you look
y o u th .
a lot m ore like y o u r ancestors than
In his brief, but com pellin g e x ­ o th er p eople m ight even think.
ch an g e w ith P o rtla n d O b se rve r
T ech: Y eah, Y eahhh.
R e p o rter D onovan M. Sm ith, they
DMS'. A nd you know , listening
discuss the artist’s deep co n n ec ­ to that song, B reaking In T o C o l­
tions w ith the city o f P ortland, his ored H ouses [on y o u r new album ],
often cited battle to gain A frican- y o u ’ve been talking about this stuff,
A m erican fans, m aintaining his a u ­ the struggle for b lack fans.
th e n tic ity , an d d e fin in g su ccess
T ech: Y eah, I ’ve been tryna get
outside o f the m oney and his c u lt­ m y p eople at m y show s.
like fan base. T he com m ents are
D M S: I saw that you said overall
edited for brevity and language:
that you w anted to take this album
D M S: So basically y o u ’ve done in a w hole d ifferen t space than you
a lot o f w ork w ith Portland artists have before.
out here. Y o u ’ve w orked w ith C ool
T ech: U h, ev ery album I do is
N utz, Illm aculate, Bosko.
m ore hum o n g o u s than the last. I
T ech: Y eah, and, uh, D J C hill thought that w as gonna be im p o s­
(a.k.a. C hillest Illest). He w as m y DJ sible to do w ith A ll 6 ’s and 7 ’s.
fo r a w hile.
E verybody that w as on that album ,
D M S: W hat keeps draw ing you the beats. But m e and m y producer
out here though, ‘cause every tim e Seven ju s t keep getting b etter and
you go on tour, I think y o u ’re out better, and E m pire keeps getting
here?
b etter and better, and, uh, I thank
T ech: R eal [expletive] [laughs]. the L ord fo r that.
I ’m m a c o m e w herever m y fans are.
D M S: A nd I know y o u ’ve prob­
G ot a lot o f fans here m an, so I ’m ably been asked this question a thou­
gonna alw ays be w here they are. I ’ll sand tim es, but balancing w here you
still do show s in B end, O regon and com e from, which is bangin ’ and com ­
Eugene. ‘C ause som e people w anna ing into an arena w here a lot o f your
see you up close and personal you fans have been Juggalos, and white
k n o w , as o p p o sed to the n o se ­ people— and— how do you find that
bleeds. I plan on getting big as the balance o f know ing w ho you are at
nosebleeds, but I ’m alw ays com ing the end o f the day? W hat keeps you
back w here m y fans are. T hat w hy I rooted in that?
keep com ing back here you know .
T ech: I ’m everything. I ’m 3 d i­
D M S: I saw in y our interview m ensional. I ’m the K ing, the C low n,
w ith T he B reakfast C lub:
and the G. I d o n ’t have to change
T ech: U h-huh [sm iles]
m yself. T his facep ain t has been m e
Rapper Tech N9ne
is considered one of
the most successful
hip hop artists.
SCAM JAM
O ctober 22, 2013
8:30 am to 12:30 pm
Oregon Convention Center, Portland
bit.ly/ScamJamPDX
BROUGHT
TO YOU BY:
since ’94. T hey beauty o f T ech N 9ne
is ju s t that I give it all, and you take
it as it is you n a h ’m say in ’.
D M S: Y o u ’re called the m ost
successful rapper
T e c h : Independent.
D M S: Y eah, yeah, and p eople
base that o ff o f m oney.
T e c h : Y eah they do.
D M S: So w hat defines success
fo r you?
T e c h : S uccess fo r m e is seeing
m y artists prospering as w ell as m e,
and I ’ve pro sp ered fo r years. N ow I
have like m any artists that are p ro s­
pering as w ell, o ff o f som ething that
I built. I love that, th a t’s successful
to m e. W hen you can go from riding
in a 12 p assen g er van alm ost dying
flipping over back in ’05 [looks dow n
at tattoo w ith date o f the incident],
um , to paying fo r three hum o n g o u s
buses fo r o th er artists and crew to
ride on to co m e on y o u r tour, th a t’s
success to m e. T o be able to see
fans, sold out every night and e v ­
erybody sm iling at you as opposed
to frow ning at you and throw ing
shit at you. T h a t’s real success right
there, w hen you look ou t in the
cro w d and it’s ev ery b o d y sm iling.
T h a t’s the [expletive], yeah.
D M S: Y ou got any advice for the
young. I ’ll say black people tryna
co m e up. N ot ju s t in rap, ju s t in life?
T e c h : Y oung black people tryna
co m e up, it’s hard if you d o n ’t have
education. E ducation is the key to
everything. T he m ore you know ,
the m ore p eople you can talk to.
1-877-926-83OO
OREGON DEPARTMENT OR JUSTICE
C O N S U M E R P R O T E C T IO N
FIGHTING FRAUD M PROTECTING OREGONIANS
FELLOWSHIP MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH
4009 N. Missouri Avenue, Portland, OR 97227
503-249-0377
Invites you to come and celebrate with us for our
26th Church Anniversary & Homecoming
October 12th - 13th, 2013
Theme: "Hope In The Midst of a Storm" Mark 4:35-41
Saturday, October 12, 2013 1:00 pm - Banquet is at the Church **
Sunday, October 13,2013 at 11:00 am - Evangelist Evelyn McCoy
of the Highland Christian Center will be our speaker.
The celebration will climax Sunday, October 13, 2013 at 3:30 pm -
Special Guest: Bethesda Baptist Church, Rev. Robert C. Jointer, Pastor
Sis Rosa Kennedy, Chairlady & Sis Vickie Marshall, Co-Chairlady
Dr. Johnny Pack IV, Pastor
** The donation is $10.00. Please contact Rosa Kennedy at 503-281-9316
if you are interested in attending the banquet.