Kansas City rapper, Aaron Yates AKA Tech N9ne, finds time on a cold Monday afternoon to joke around about vampires, talk about his love for psychiatry and plan his future.
In between freestyle raps and jokes, Tech N9ne opens up about his past, his future and what’s going on in his life right now. He has a personality that matches his music perfectly, which makes for interesting conversation, to say the least.
“What, they didn’t tell you I’m abnormal?” Tech N9ne said. “I’m a vampire, I vant to suck your blood.”
Just coming off tour, Tech N9ne finds time to unwind and relax.
“I’m kicking it like a donkey, you know?” Tech N9ne said. “I’m at the Strange Music headquarters right now and I’m in the room where we eat. Everybody’s working and I didn’t want to mess everybody up with my laugh because I know I laugh really loud.”
He mimics a loud, signature Tech N9ne laugh.
With so many hits and a new album out, Tech N9ne is about to shoot a video for another hit song off of his album All 6’s and 7’s called “Am I A Psycho?”
“I’m about to leave now,” Tech N9ne said. “We’re going to Atlanta, Georgia. I do the video on Wednesday, then I fly back Thursday afternoon and I have to drive all the way down from KCI Airport straight down to Columbia and do my meet-and-greet and then it’s on.”
His fast beats and catchy lyrics have been popular for a while now and his fan base is expanding to both the younger and much older crowd as well.
“I just turned 40 and they keep getting younger and younger!” Tech N9ne said. “My whole front row is 10 years old! It’s changing, I’m starting to see 80-year-olds, too.”
Tech N9ne is ready to come back to The Blue Note and its enduring fans.
“I come there all the time,” Tech N9ne said. “I love The Blue Note. We sell it out within hours. It’s going to be massive. The last couple of shows I did there, it was all women. I thought I was like Justin Bieber or something.”
Though music consumes his life, psychiatry is something that Tech N9ne has always been interested in. His music conveys his desire to understand the human brain quite clearly.
“I wanted to major in psychiatry,” Tech N9ne said. “I was always interested in why people do what they do and think what they think. Now that I chose rap and hip/hop, I noticed that a lot of people come up to me and say, ‘Thank you for the music, it really got me through.’ It’s very therapeutic, it’s like I’m my fans’ psychiatrist.”
Though he loves making music and adores his fans, the future approaches and Tech N9ne has an idea of where he wants to be in the next couple years.
“In five years, I’m going to own an island somewhere and I’m going to be on it with my children,” Tech N9ne said. “Eating and drinking coconut stuff. Maybe 151, Malibu rum and pineapple juice.”
The Wandering Sunflower 