Anytime true emcees collaborate, there’s a sense of competition. You better bring your “A game” or run the risk of getting shown up by your friendly competitor.

Now just imagine when it’s Ten emcees. Imagine the competition on Sway & King Tech’s “The Anthem” which featured  RZA, Eminem, Xzibit, Pharoahe Monch, Jayo Felony, Chino XL, KRS-One, Kool G Rap, and Strange Music’s own, Tech N9ne.

You might think a track loaded with that much talent must have bred some heated competition, but maybe, there was so much talent, crowning a winner is impossible. That seems to be the case for Kool G Rap.

When “The Anthem” came up in a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Kool G Rap offered a different preservative on the “competition,” and out of all the emcees on the track, mentioned Tech N9ne specifically.

What you did on the Sway & Tech “Anthem” posse cut in 1999, just sticking to the same syllable pattern. It really went over my head for a while what you were doing on that track …
[Raps] “I sway the TEC with the Tech and Sway, step away, wet and spray …” [Laughs]

Unbelievable. Do you feel like you won that track?
That one was hard to call ’cause it was so many phenomenal dudes on that track that just destroyed it. Psh. … Tech N9ne, oh, my God, yo. I was just happy to be a part of that one. I was content not feeling like, “Oh, I killed everybody on the track this time.” I was just glad that I was a part of it ’cause it was a great track. RZA caught a body on that.

Released in 1999, before the official start of Strange Music, “The Anthem” showed that, while Tech N9ne was still an up-and-comer, he could rap with the best of them; it’s definitely something Kool G Rap recognized.

Though he didn’t officially crown a winner,  Tech N9ne and RZA were the only emcees Kool G mentioned by name; that has to mean something right?

Regardless, of who “won” it’s fascinating to hear someone as legendary as Kool G say he was just happy to be a part of it AND it speaks volumes to the onslaught of bars that took place. “The Anthem” is definitely a hip-hop classic!

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