When you think you’ve heard it all, Tech N9ne drops a verse on Stevie Stone’s trunk-rattling anthem “808 Bendin” and switches up styles more times than some rappers do in their entire career.

We got a chance to talk to Tech N9ne and have him break down his mind-bending verse from Stevie’s upcoming album Tech N9ne Presents Stevie Stone – Rollin’ Stone.

“808 Bendin” dropped on XXL and it seems like this is a completely new and urban lane for Strange Music.

I can’t believe it finally dropped, it’s so wonderful. I’ve been wanting to get people’s feedback on my verse for “808 Bendin”. To really enjoy my verse you have to be a movie buff from back in the day and you watch TV, because I started it off with a rap that I got from Lethal Weapon. When Danny Glover invited Mel Gibson over to his house for the first time to eat dinner with his family and he was sitting at the table and the little black boy started beatboxing and the youngest daughter said “My name name is Sharon, I’m no fair and, my sister’s starin, she’s in love, with a guy named Martin.” (Laughs) Because Rhianne was the oldest sister and she really liked Mel Gibson. So I got on there and I said “My name is Aaron, I’m no fair and, your sister’s starin’…she’s in love”. It was just so beautiful. People don’t know what it’s going to be and they’re like “What the hell is that? It doesn’t even rhyme! It’s SIMPLE! It don’t sound like Tech!” That’s schizophrenic at its best.

And then in the middle of it I go “You know I can’t sing without a guitar string!” That’s from old ass Tom and Jerry. Jerry’s [uncle] is a mouse, he’s like a cowboy and he’s singing “Cuh, cuh, cuh, cuh CRAMBONE!” and everytime he played his guitar a string would pop – “Bing!” – and he’d say “Tom! You know I can’t sing without a guitar string!” and he would go pull a whisker from Tom and put it in the guitar and start playing again. So in the middle of me busting “Ah ha ha ha, me and my strangers drinking lots of vodka, that’s the ca ca. You know I can’t sing without a guitar string!” Out of nowhere then it just goes back into the rhyme “Rollin around town bumpin Lil Wayne…” It’s just wow, it’s so beautiful if you just analyze it. I’m talking about my cologne “You know you smell Hugh Parsons!” It’s just so schizophrenic. I love “808 Bendin”. I can’t wait to see what people think because I adore it. Everything I do is in one verse.

You just added three or four layers of shit that I didn’t even think about.

Tech N9ne has been doing it for so many years. It makes so much sense. That’s why when people say “Tech N9ne, uh…he just raps about the same shit over and over.” Bullshit nigga. I have so many topics and everything. Who the fuck talks about food? Food and makes it dope. The song I did with Prozak and Lynch that I did on Welcome To Strangeland, you know what I’m saying? I try to write everything and this is just a clusterfuck of things in a verse that I just adore and Stevie Stone’s voice and delivery is just so fucking infectious. The fact that he wanted me on this song, I was just like “Thank you for putting me on this kind of shit.” The same with “Scorpio” with E-40 “Thank you for putting me on this type of shit” because I love doing that other shit and “808 Bendin”…Stevie Stone knows how to choose his beats, “808 Bendin” is knockin’! They put me on this big-ass song – I think that shit’s going to spread everywhere man. It’s so infectious.

We’ve never heard a song come from Strange that sounds like it could be a huge urban hit like this one.

I know dude, I know! This Stone album is full of that type of shit.

It carves out another lane for Strange. You’re seeing your label expand and reach all these different kinds of lanes.

“Badlands” – ¡MAYDAY!, come on man. I’m going places with my artists and my artists are fucking elite. CES Cru, come on man! Stevie Stone, come on man. Krizz Kaliko! Look at the shit I just did with my artists! Look at the shit I just did on Prozak’s “Enemy” and “One of these Days”. Look what I’m doing with my artists! I’m so there with them doing really wonderful shit. It’s so beautiful to have such wonderful artists and to be a part of all of their projects. It’s a new Tech. It’s so beautiful. I’m just so proud of all the music I’ve been doing.

You’re in a seat where you can dip your hand in some club banger shit with Stone, some real original hip hop shit with CES. It just must feel cool to be in your position this year.

It’s an emotional rollercoaster. How are you going to do “808 Bendin” and then next week they need you to do “Hello Walls”? It’s like “Wait, I can’t do ‘Hello Walls’ right now. I don’t really want to go into that hole.” “Hello Walls” pulls out what’s wrong with you right now besides you trying to be happy as fuck. When you’re on “808 Bendin” and happy as fuck and just going “Lots of Vodka! That’s the caca!” You know and that’s the shit! That’s the caca! You know what I’m saying? It’s so beautiful! And then you have to go do “Hello Walls”. You have to wait on that one like “Oh my God, here we go. Okay here we go: ‘Layin in this bed right here…'” Nigga my gun is right there, my meds for my ribs is right next to me when I’m writing in my bed. I hate writing in my room because all the negative shit is right to the left of me, but I stay with two sports nuts. Makzilla and Isiah, my uncle. Those niggas stay on sports and fucking cartoons twenty-four-seven, downstairs while I write…in front of my TV! I don’t know why they don’t like their TVs in their rooms. Maybe it’s more comfortable down there so I’m like “Fuck! I gotta go upstairs and write this! These niggas are down into their sports.” I wrote it right there in my bed, right next to my negative things that I think about fucked up things that are happening around me. It’s hard to be on that emotional rollercoaster but I am, and I display it when you listen to “Badlands”, I display it when you listen to “808 Bendin”, I display it when you listen to “Hello Walls”. When you listen to everything – when you listen to “Enemy” or “One of These Days”. I am an emotional roller coaster mixed with good music.

Are you excited for the potential that is on Stevie’s record to really smash on radio?

I think in the urban world, I’ve got high hopes for Stevie to really open that lane. Travis says we’ve been talking to other people and getting people on the team to work this album and I’m so excited because Stevie is a star. I took him, Frizz, and PCaso to dinner. I was like “What y’all doing?” and I was like “Let’s go eat, on me man.” I took them to PF Chang’s. I wanted to say to him “Man, anything you ever desire, I see that in your future.” I didn’t want to jinx him. I said “Stevie, I was going to say something to you but I don’t want to jinx you. But when I look at him, man and I see his style and how he delivers and how talented he is…he’s one of us man but he’s just one of us from a different place. Wherever he grew up gave him this special thing to make that hard ass urban party music and that heartfelt urban music. He just has this thing about him that is super-exciting. When I look at Kaliko he’s just this big thing that could be on the same bill as Black Eyed Peas. He’s that genius to me. His shit is just beyond everybody, I look at Kaliko totally different than I look at Stevie Stone. They have different things that make them genius and I just can’t wait to see where Stevie’s genius take him. You already see where Kali’s is taking him. He’s up on iTunes and people are really paying attention now. It’s so wonderful.

– Interview conducted by Jeff Nelson, Blog Editor (@JeffreyPNelson)

Click here to pre-order Tech N9ne Presents Stevie Stone – Rollin’ Stone.

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Tech N9ne recently went on Twitter and dropped this verbal explanation his verse for “808 Bendin”

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