Ellington

Description

Sound description: spiritually informed hardcore hip-hop

Genre

Hip-hop / Rap

History

Although christened with the TECH N9NE moniker by a hometown gangsta named Wee Capone, TECH was born Aaron Yates. As a child, he was raised in a strict religious household by a Muslim stepfather and a Christian mother.

Although rap music was banned from his house, his life changed dramatically when an uncle snuck him a record called "Rap Dirty," by Blowfly. He began amassing an arsenal--Soulsonic Force, NWA, Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions--hiding the records at a neighbor's house for fear his stepfather would find out.

In 1984, the streets of hometown became infected by the crack trade, as L.A. Bloods moved into his neighborhood and the 57th Street Rogue Dog Villains were born. While his homeboys were getting caught up, TECH was perfecting his rhyme skills, gaining a reputation as a dope rapper and dancer.

At 17, he left home to move in with an aunt. He got his first taste of freedom but with it, came another view of the dark side. But during this time, he never stopped dancing and rhyming and his skills attracted a round-the-way girl named Tanya, who invited him to join her at a rap convention in New Orleans. Through Tanya, who later would rise to fame as the rapper Sole, he got his first big break.

The early break led to him hooking up with longtime collaborator Icy Rock, who turns out some of the dopest tracks on AngHellic. But it couldn't prepare him for the long hard road out of hell. With every industry inroad--and there were plenty--came major setbacks. An early development deal with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis' Perspective Records went up in smoke as the label faultered and TECH returned to Kansas City.

During this time, he hooked up with an old homeboy, a producer named Don Juan, AngHellic's other wiz kid. He started experimenting even further, rhyming backwards and putting out independent singles with dope dealing money, anything to stay in the game.

An L.A. contact at Rappages Magazine turned him on to QD3, aka Quincy Jones III, the son of the famed producer. TECH made his next leap of faith, signing with Quincy Jones' Qwest Records, a label that would follow the same path as Perspective.

Musicians