Tech N9ne

Like many underground rappers in the Midwest, Tech N9ne specialized in bizarre hardcore rap and stood as one of the few recognized rappers based in Kansas City when he debuted in the late '90s. He made the major-label jump with Anghellic (2001), which JCOR Entertainment released with the backing of Interscope Records. The album didn't find a large audience, though, and Tech N9ne returned to the underground and prepared his next album, Absolute Power (2002). A year later Tech N9ne's new label, Strange Music, re-released Anghellic, which had gone out of print in the wake of JCOR's fallout with Interscope. Everready (The Religion) would follow in 2006, then the collaboration-filled Misery Loves Kompany arrived in 2007. A year later his Killer album would pay a strange homage to Michael Jackson’s Thriller with its cover art, and then it was back to the collaboration album with the 2009 release Sickology 101. The ambitious concept album K.O.D. would also be released that year, while 2010 saw a handful of related sideline releases, including The Lost Scripts of K.O.D. EP and the video K.O.D. Tour: Live in Kansas City. A third collaborative effort, The Gates Mixed Plate, landed in 2010 along with an EP, Seepage, and then the Bad Season mixtape kicked off another productive year, with the glossy crossover effort All 6's and 7's and the collabos collection Welcome to Strangeland also arriving in 2011. ~ Jason Birchmeier, Rovi