Earlier this fall, underground rap fans everywhere rejoiced when a snapshot of Tech N9ne, Krizz Kaliko, and Snow Tha Product surfaced online. Like previous cases of the Snake and Bat linking up with emcees, this was a hint at what was to finally become the long -anticipated collaboration between Snow Tha Product and Strange Music.

While fans have yet to get their Snow/Tech collab (read on for more on that), they did get treated to the Young Fyre-produced “Damage”, which features Krizz Kaliko and Snow Tha Product laying out the competition on a monstrous level. Too dope for words, the track has already become a fan-favorite and notably features one of Snow’s strongest guest spots yet.

With Krizz Kaliko’s NEH’MIND officially out and fans buzzing over Snow Tha Product’s lyrical ability, we caught up with Ms. Wake Ya Game Up herself to get a few words on her experience with Krizz Kaliko, Tech N9ne, and the Strange Music audience.

Check it out!

Tell me about how this relationship came together.

Tech, I think, heard about me through a lot of fans – a lot of his fans that were starting to find out about me. They thought that we both go hard. I think he heard about me through them and then Krizz showed him one of my videos. Krizz pretty much found me on YouTube or Worldstar. It was just based on the work ethic that I’ve been putting in that now people are finding out.

You guys linked up at A3C, right? How was that?

That was tight! We were actually both out there for different showcases and he was on the main one. I stuck around because I was excited to see the show. Tech was like, “Hey man, look me up.” We just chopped it up about what we could possibly be doing in the near future and me going out to Kansas City to work with them. I think it’ll be dope.

“Damage” is the track you’re featured on. I imagine when you first heard that beat- it must have gotten the adrenaline going.

I’ve always been right into just snapping and challenging myself with the flow and technique. I stepped away from it a little at the beginning of this music thing, sometimes people tell you, “Oh you should try this or try that.” I fell into that a little bit, trying to slow down my flow and fit into a certain lane. Now, I’m like fuck that, they deserve to hear what I can do and how great it feels to just tear it up. I’m happy. I think it’s just awoken the beast.

There’s a really dope spot at the end where you flip into Spanish. Does that sort of thing come natural to you?

Yeah, I fluently speak Spanish. It was my first language. When I was in school, I actually took English as a second language to be able to speak it fluently. Incorporating it into my music is definitely something that I’m going to start doing a lot more. I always wanted to do it at the right time. I feel like this is when I want to represent – I’m Latina and I’m Mexican. I’m definitely proud of it and I’m definitely going to sprinkle it in there. I don’t want it to be overbearing, but I really want to sprinkle it in there until eventually I just start really snapping.

@snowthaproduct just made me SCREAM at her! Cause she FUCKIN MURDERED on @krizzkaliko new shit! I called & cursed her out it was so dope!

— Tech N9ne (@TechN9ne) October 20, 2012

 

Tech seemed to really freak out at your verse. What’s it like to have someone like him praise you the way he did?

It’s fucking dope. He just called me actually. He’s overseas performing right now. He’s like, “Hey man, I played that song with you and Krizz for a couple of people. They were lovin’ it. I just wanted to call you and remind you that you’re dope. We’re gonna work together.” I’m like, that’s tight that people with such respect in the game can actually take time out of their day to just call you to remind you you’re dope. Like, what the fuck? That’s tight. I’m just glad people see that I do take the time to try and be better as a lyricist and that I always want to improve as an artist. I’m glad people are taking notice that I’m not just a cookie-cutter type female that gets told what to do and does it. No, we’re really striving to be some real emcees in this shit and really represent for Latinos in it.

What’s it like to have the support of the Strange Music audience? A lot of them seem to think that you would be perfect for the label.

It’s dope to be associated with dope independent artists. I’ve always had that independent mindset. When it comes to everything from CDs to how I handle my independent label that I have – everything has been like, “We got this. We’re self-sufficient.” So, having people associate me with that is dope. I’m definitely down to ride with Strange.

And Krizz is fuckin’ talented. Whether he’s singing on hooks or rappin – whatever. I saw him perform with Tech at A3C and it’s really dope. I love that they surround themselves with talented artists and everyone goes hard on verses. I’ve been taken songs too many times in my life so for people to be like, “We’re all gonna go hard on this shit and that’s it.” That’s really dope and why I respect and wanna keep working with Strange. We can all put our anger into a track and put it out. I think it’s a good and bright future for what we’re all doing.

Fans are going to be checking for your work with Strange, but are there any upcoming projects from you?

I’ve got my Good Nights & Bad Mornings mixtape dropping 12/12. We’ve got a lot of cool songs that are about to drop and I’m really excited about it. It’s my first project where I really trimmed the fat – I was combing through and picking the songs that really describe how I feel and what I represent. A song like “Cookie Cutter Bitches”, I’m really just talking about how I’m not one of these other girls or what you would expect in a female rapper because of the whole ‘sex sells’ thing, and that’s not me. I hope people can accept that. I’m different and I hope people can accept that there’s females like me and we’re representin’. Hopefully they like it.

Oh, and I got Tech on a song for the re-release. I’m pretty sure we’re gonna re-release this with a few remixes and a couple of original new songs. That one is definitely going hard. Tech went hard.

Our whole movement is being WOKE. Pretty much if you’re still sleeping on me, you just need to wake ya game up and get WOKE to what we’re doing. My Product Pushas are my street team and they really go HAM and they really promote. We’ve got our own little movement coming up and the fact that Strange the whole camp is accepting us is tight. It feels good to have people validate the fact that you’ve been working hard for something and that it is gonna work out after all.

-Interview conducted by Victor Sandoval, Strange Music Social Media Dept.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE KRIZZ KALIKO’S NEH’MIND!

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