As the latest addition to the Strange Music roster, CES Cru came in swinging. Not waiting to make an impact, the lyrical duo of Ubiquitous and Godemis dropped an exclusive video on fans featuring an acapella performance of “4 Nothin”. Making their presence felt, CES Cru was undoubtedly ready to stand tall inside Strangeland. While CES Cru is new to the Strange Music line up, they certainly aren’t new to Tech N9ne. Aside from working together, CES Cru also shares a hometown with Tech N9ne – something that opened them up to Tech’s extensive catalog long ago.
We recently caught up with CES Cru and asked them to share their top 5 Tech N9ne songs. From the lyrical display on Bad Season to classics like Anghellic, CES Cru’s picks turned out to be just as diverse as their individual styles.
Godemis On His Top 5 Tech N9ne Songs
1) “Mitchell Bade“ – I got “Mitch Bade” first, number one, because that might have been the first Tech N9ne song I ever heard. I think. I might be wrong about that, but “Mitch Bade” is bananas. It was and still is a Kansas City anthem. When it came out, you couldn’t go anywhere in Kansas City without hearing it, you know. It was just bananas. It’s a bananas song.
2) “This Ring” – After that, I got “This Ring”. I feel like it’s just a cool conceptual song and it’s got awesome writing and it’s super rhythmic. Tech is always that way, but I feel like he was getting at something else in that song that maybe he didn’t really explain fully. I know it’s something that he’s touched on before, about like his family and the music and how to balance the two. That song kinda touches on that without going too much into it. I like that.
3) “Big Bad Wolf” – He’s got another one that I believe is called “Big Bad Wolf”, and it’s super old school. I’m not sure when it dropped, but it’s an older Tech N9ne song. He’s doing all your favorite Tech N9ne tricks that maybe you don’t hear him do so much anymore. I believe he’s rapping backwards in some places on there. Rapping about his rhyme book, it’s basically a bragger rap song. He’s just rapping about being a big bad wolf and blowing everybody down. It’s a crazy song. It’s an older Tech N9ne song, but it’s flippin phenomenal.
4) “Psycho Bitch” – Then, I got “Psycho Bitch” on there. I think that’s kind of self explanatory. It’s just bananas and such a good idea, first of all. Just the idea alone that he took that beat and changed it like that. A beat that is familiar for what you know from a scary movie, but then he applied it to dealing with these psycho women and these psycho females. He was able to take something that was already iconic and made it his own. Made it applicable to something else, that was a great idea.
5) “Delusional” – My most recent favorite Tech N9ne song is probably “Delusional” off All 6’s And 7’s. It’s almost self explanatory, but the hook and – that’s kind of my favorite Tech N9ne where he kind of slows down and kind of takes a lower tone and kinda talks to you real personal. He gets real introverted and explains himself. I don’t mind a guy spilling his guts and I think that’s kind of what he’s doing on that song. I like that a lot. I can also relate to the hook a whole lot.
Ubiquitous On His Top 5 Tech N9ne Songs
I really got screwed on this one because he took all my favorite songs when he picked. I got songs, but I just feel like I had to pick around my favorites which are “Delusional”, “Psycho Bitch”, “This Ring”, and “Big Bad Wolf” from back in the Wake Up Show days.
1) “All Day All Night” – We should start with the weird one which is “All Day All Night”. It’s a song from Bad Season that probably, people aren’t super hip to. I don’t know, it’s something I can relate to or whatever, what he’s talking about. It’s my jam. I don’t know it’s kind of like, “Really? That’s the one you like?” It is though. It’s super accurate, the way he explains it. I’m not at his level, but what he explains is sort of a blown up version of what I experience just sort of around Kansas City. I have a little bit of ghetto celebrity, just a little bit, but I have been run up on at various spots and whatever, shit like that.
2) “Questions” – I threw “Questions” in on the list just because that was one of those big groundbreakers for him back in the day. It’s super original, in its time. You go back and hear that song, a lot of rappers weren’t rapping that fanatically consistently through a song. Tech was not only doing that, in a writing angle, but also his style was real different for the period, which was the 90’s. Long ass time ago. It’s real dope.
3) “Table And Chest Stress” – I threw on “Table And Chest Stress” because that goes super hard in a lot of different ways. Tech being able to beat on his chest and rap at the same time is really tight. I’m sure you’ve seen yourself and it’s wow. You know, him doing that on a song I thought is real dope. What he’s talking about on the song too.
4) “Slave” – I know there’s other people on this song and I was trying to pick songs where it was just Tech rapping, but I threw in “Slave” off the new record. It goes super hard and everybody goes super hard on there. I really like where he’s going in that song. It’s fresh, it’s brand new. I can really relate to it on a personal level, in the now, that it’s hot off the press. I really feel like everybody bared their soul on there, all three of them. Tight ass song.
5) “Ego Trippin” – Last one I put on there is “Ego Trippin” and it’s just a lighthearted more flashy lyrical song. Real dope though. As you can see, a lot of our stuff is off Bad Season. I really like Bad Season, even though it’s a mixtape.
– Victor Sandoval, Assistant Editor Strange Music
Follow Victor on Twitter: @VicMSandoval
Let us know in the comments below!