The fiercely independent chopper confirms that you cannot put a price tag on a feature from Eminem just like you cannot put a price tag on respect.
Tech N9ne had a long conversation on HipHopDX “Hack3d” show and revealed that his collaborations with the top tier mainstream artists have never cost him a dime. Meanwhile, the list of people Tech has had collaborated with is more than impressive and covers stars of all genres:
I have so many! I’ve done a big one with Roger Troutman, he came to Kansas City to do this for me. I always wanted to work with Eminem, and I did a big one called “Speedom” with Em and Krizz Kaliko, finally after ten years. On the metal side, I’ve done stuff with Corey Taylor of Slipknot. Marsha Ambrosius from Floetry — I’ve always been a fan and finally was able to get a song with her, produced by Kon-Artist. Mr. Porter.
My friend on a higher-up would make it happen for me. I’ve got a song with Tupac. With all my idols like Ice Cube, Brother J from X Clan. I’ve got a weed song with Boyz II Men. Me and Snoop, me and E-40… It just goes on forever. Me and Gary Clark Jr. Serj Tankian of System of a Down, me and Jonathan Davis of Korn, me and The Doors, the remaining members of The Doors. I can go on forever.
The thing that blows my mind that everything I’ve done, from Kendrick to Eminem, from everyone I just named — I didn’t have to pay for none of these features. All out of respect and love.
It was certainly like this with Eminem. Two rappers exchange their verses. Eminem laid his bars on “Speedom” from Tech’s “Worldwide Choppers 2”, while Tech N9ne contributed to “Beast Southpaw Remix)” with Busta Rhymes and KXNG Crooked.
For Tech N9ne to get features from the best and the most famous is not a matter of money, but, as he said, love, respect and recognition of his talent. From the very beginning, he felt the support of the most important players. Even for this show, Sway Calloway showed up and shared the memories of recording the iconic underground video “The Anthem”, which he and King Tech made to showcase powerful MCs. Apparently, Sway says, they wanted to draw attention to Tech N9n specifically:
Sway: Tech N9ne constructed that song in a way. RZA was the first to rap because it was THE RZA in Wu-Tang Clan. RZA was always like a brother to us and a good friend, he stayed on the set the whole time we shot that video. And Eminem was Em, on the rise, 1998-1999. So we put RZA first, we put Eminem third, but we put Tech N9ne second.
Tech N9ne: In the middle! Between these giants.
Sway: We did it on purpose. You gonna watch it because it’s RZA. You gonna wait because it’s Eminem. You gotta hear this dude Tech N9ne in the middle. We all were trying to do whatever we could to blow this dude up. Put on our singles, doing everything, and that video was “This is how we’re gonna do it”.
Watch the video below:
