Tech N9ne
Kansas City rapper and Strange Music cofounder, known for rapid-fire rhymes, personal storytelling and collaborations across hip-hop and rock.
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Latest
Tech’s happenings, collected from public sources, plus their backstory and Starbook, where fans write.
Known for
- Anghellic2001 · Solo album
Strange Music - Caribou Lou2006 · Song from Everready
Strange Music - Worldwide Choppers2011 · Lead artist
Strange Music - Fragile2013 · With Kendrick Lamar, ¡MAYDAY! and Kendall Morgan
Strange Music - Face Off2021 · With Joey Cool, King Iso and Dwayne Johnson
Strange Music - 5816 Forest2025 · Solo album
Strange Music
Overview
- Birth name
- Aaron Dontez Yates
- Born
- November 8, 1971
- Hometown
- Kansas City, Missouri
- Known for
- Rapid-fire “chopper” delivery and independent releases
- Label
- Cofounded Strange Music with Travis O’Guin in 1999
- Early landmarks
- Anghellic (2001), Absolute Power (2002) and Everready (2006)
Mini bio
How it started.
Born Aaron Dontez Yates in Kansas City, Tech came up through local groups including Black Mafia, Nnutthowze and the 57th Street Rogue Dog Villians. In an Identity Theory interview, Tech recalled Black Walt hearing a first rap called “The New Breed” and helping choose the Tech N9ne name.
Building a home for the music.
Tech and Travis O’Guin founded Strange Music in 1999. The label gave Tech a home for fast, tightly articulated rhymes and music that moved between rap and rock. Anghellic, Absolute Power and Everready became early landmarks in that independent career.
Songs fans return to.
“Caribou Lou,” from Everready, earned Tech a first platinum record in 2017. “Worldwide Choppers” brought together an international cast of fast rappers, while “Fragile” paired Tech with Kendrick Lamar, ¡MAYDAY! and Kendall Morgan. “Face Off” later united Tech, Joey Cool, King Iso and Dwayne Johnson.
Back to Forest Avenue.
The 2025 album 5816 Forest returns to a childhood address. Tech told Loudwire that its stories cover ages 12 to 17, ending around the time of leaving home to pursue music. In 2026, the catalog also came full circle with the 25th-anniversary remaster Anghellic: The Resurrection.
Creditschronological, newest first
- 2026Anghellic: The ResurrectionArtist, 25th-anniversary remaster
- 20255816 ForestArtist
- 2025Kansas City Theme x FIFA World Cup 26Host-city Sonic ID artist
- 2024RonaldCollaborating artist with Falling In Reverse and Alex Terrible
- 2021Face OffArtist with Joey Cool, King Iso and Dwayne Johnson
- 2013FragileLead artist with Kendrick Lamar, ¡MAYDAY! and Kendall Morgan
- 2011Worldwide ChoppersLead artist
- 2006Caribou LouArtist
- 2001AnghellicArtist
Awards
Quotes
The message I’d like for people to take away from this Sonic ID is that togetherness is powerTech N9ne, KC2026 press release, March 11, 2025
On creating Kansas City’s official FIFA World Cup 26 theme. The full quotation is in the KC2026 source linked below.
Trivia
- Tech has explained the name as “technique” plus nine as a number of completion, a personal meaning added to the original firearm reference.
- The Doors inspired the Strange Music name. Tech later recorded with surviving members Ray Manzarek, John Densmore and Robby Krieger.
- 5816 Forest is a real childhood address, where Tech moved at age 12.
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