O ctober 9, 2013
‘ri,f TJortlanò (Dhsrruer
Page 13
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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.