“Excuse me, I’ve got this cold, I just got back from Canada”, says Tech N9ne as he takes a moment to clear his throat in between sentences. His overall tone bears a striking resemblance to the one fans heard on the “Choking From It” intro to 2010’s Seepage EP. Perhaps rightfully so considering the subject matter we have on the table this day.
Having just wrapped his Canadian tour with Krizz Kaliko and Madchild, Tech N9ne speaks to us during a short break from the studio, showing some signs of wear on his voice. It’s nearing Halloween season – Tech’s favorite time of the year, and for fans eagerly awaiting more from the King Of Darkness, it marks the road to Boiling Point.
“Darker” is how Boiling Point has been billed, and as the second half of E.B.A.H., Boiling Point promises to give fans another glimpse into the nightmarish mind of Tech N9ne.
Tech’s demeanor over the phone says it all. This is a darkness like we’ve never heard before. A very real, very frightening darkness.
Why Boiling Point?
Well, if you pay attention to K.O.D. – my darkness was so thick it was dripping from my hands. Then as you know, I was running from King Of Darkness. When I noticed I could do a whole dark album, I said I would never do it again. So, I did The Gates Mixed Plate after that. Fans were upset because they knew I was runnin’. Then after I came back from Europe, I somehow embraced my darkness while I was out there. You know, Chris Buckles had died while we was out there in Paris. He was Krizz Kaliko’s best friend, and a friend of mine, you know. He died of heart complications. I just noticed that my darkness was gonna be here no matter what and I was supposed to speak about it. I came back and did Seepage. It was seeping from my eye. A black tar-like darkness, thick as hell darkness, that’s within me. So ever since Seepage, I accepted my darkness. You heard it seep through on All 6’s And 7’s – anything after Seepage, the darkness was in it. The darkness was there. On Welcome to Strangeland, it’s there.
A lot of things have been happening since then. With my mom still, you know, with the IRS, and with a lot of stuff like the music industry – that I’m not happy with. I feel like I’m at my Boiling Point. This dark, thick, tar substance has boiled over on to my face from the inside of me. It reached the top, through my pores, and now you have the album cover – Boiling Point. That’s how it came about. It’s here, the darkness is here. I gave them 7 more songs of darkness. I told them I would never do a totally dark album again. This is not an album, it’s an EP. You know what I mean? I gave it to them and it’s an extension of E.B.A.H. because being three-dimensional like I am, you can’t really sum up everything in seven songs, i.e., KLUSTERFUK, even though it was wonderful. I did it with EBAH and Boiling Point – you could say I did an album if you put it together.
Boiling Point is slated for October 30. I love Halloween and I wanted to keep it, I wanted to keep that date. When I came back from the All 6’s And 7’s Tour, I was slated to do my album. It came out October 30. Travis said, “I don’t want you to rush it so what do you think about doing an EP for September 18?” I said, “Yeah, but I love the October 30 date. What if I did one that was attached to it? It’s dark for Halloween like ‘Happy Halloween everyone!’” He said, “If you can do it man, that’s a lot of work.” I said, “I know!” So July 24, after my kids left, I went into the studio that day and I started writing. E.B.A.H. and Boiling Point came about in less than a month’s time.
The last thing we heard on E.B.A.H. was a snippet telling us to “shut the fuck up.” Was that a glimpse of Boiling Point?
[laughs] Naaah man, you gotta get Boiling Point man. I’ll just tell you like this, it’s K.O.D. yelling at me saying, “Shut that punk shit up!” That’s him. Right when he said “Shut the fuck up”, I was about to say “Ahhh” after that too on “A Real 1”. I told em, “Shut the fuck up, before you get bust the fuck up, and you wonder why we all deny ya, cuz you’re a muthafuckin lya. You suffer from (imitates heavy guitar) URALYA.” That’s it [laughs].
This is part of the K.O.D. Collection, so fans are going to expect that darkness from you. What do you think will shock the fans the most about Boiling Point?
Probably “Fire In AC”, a song dedicated to – I don’t want to give it away Vic, I just…I’m not saying they’re going to like that song most of all, I’m talking most shocked about because it deals with a current event. I had to do it because we got a lot of love for Colorado and I dedicated this to Colorado, “Fire In AC”. But, I had some real stories on there that I’m ashamed of. Everything I write is real, but when I go that deep – there’s a song called “Should I Killer”. It’s my real thoughts. It’s a friend of mine, from the past, and I actually had those thoughts when she was accidentally impregnated by me cuz the condom busted. So “Should I Killer” came about. Ashamed of that kind of darkness, but I have it within my head and I’ll give it to my fans.
You’re not pulling out any made up stories. This is all real.
In my whole existence, if you heard “Pinnochiho”, it sounds like it’s a fictional character, but it’s my depiction of me. “I just want to be a normal boy, if I could just keep the women off my tongue, she could be my number one lady.” It’s like,”Fuck, liar nigga.” Pinnochio, you know – “Pinnochiho”. Like, “Slow down Tech N9ne.” It’s a depiction of myself even though it sounds like a fictional character. “Blackened The Sun” was the closest thing to my imagination, but it’s in my head. “I wanna get into the mind of your youngest, fill it with fungus and grow it ’till it’s humongous, psycho alumnus, the tip of the tongue slit, urging the punk bitch, eat shit from your dung pit!” You know what I’m sayin’? That’s how much I give a fuck. “Urging the punk bitch, eat shit from your dung pit” – bitch, fuck you. I’m about to blacken the sun and bloody the moon. That’s the closest thing to my imagination, but that’s what’s inside my head. It’s real, it’s there. I don’t create dark stories. “Throw her in the trunk”, that’s what I thought many a times when talking to these muthafuckin’ bitches that are stupid when it comes to my music. “Oh, that’s that devil shit cuz.” They’ll say anything to you. Bitch, I’ll throw you in the trunk and play my shit for weeks until you’re a fuckin’ fan.
These are my thoughts. These are not stories I make up just to freak people out. I’m not a fucking movie director – maybe I am, but this is my life I’m doing.
-Interview conducted by Victor Sandoval, Strange Music Social Media Dept.