EverReady (The Religion) - Tech N9ne

Upon gazing on the relatively cheaply made album cover through the clear polythene wrapping, a feeling of deep remorse overwhelmed me for the Kansas City MC, Tech N9ne. For about 20 years give or take, Tecca Nina has suffered from various potholes and barriers on his way to rap dominance. Quite simply, the guy has no luck. Sure, his latest album titled Everready (The Religion) has had a few minor hits and has been featured in some video games, however he still has yet to conquer or even get a foot on mainstream establishment the way T.I. did it. That's really a shame because of the sheer talent and originality of Tech N9nes style.

Lyrically, whats great about Tech N9ne is how eloquent he is. Sure, he raps about drinking, sexual fantasies, partying and other carnal or criminal facets of gangster life, perhaps subjects devoid of eloquence, you say. Yet N9ne has this great lyrical wit about him and a smooth, almost lackadaisical delivery. Whereas, Yough Jeezy or Young Dro deliver with a deep, sometimes raspy voice as if to convey some deep down grittiness, Tech N9ne feels more natural, like some party guy in college that will freely talk about their hedonistic experiences of yore. Furthermore he has an amazing bottomless bag of slang, most of which are inside jokes that are not always privy to the listeners (some slang--like his word "Bianca", a name to describe a certain kind of woman that is more liberal in her sexual ethics--are mentioned in his previous albums so new listeners might be at a loss if they have not studied Tech's earlier "lectures"). I hate to recycle a phrase from the last post, but he's like a people's partier. He's not trying to look tough in a club, he's just trying to have a good time.
While this may not shock the rap world, Tech N9ne however is brutally honest, personal and ventures into territory that most other rappers, especially Southern ones would hesitate to touch. If you listen to any one of his Cd's you'll find an MC carrying tons of emotional baggage from every direction. I know what you're thinking too, being emotional is nothing new in Gangsta rap. Even the most brutal gangsters drop their guard at times to show sad little boy on the inside. Yet for the most part, many of these standard heartbreak songs usually involve some girl that meant much to the rapper yet things never materialized. Case in point, take Young Dro's, We Lied off of last years, Best Thang Smoking. Almost the whole album, albeit great, contains club or gangster related songs except for that small cliched concession. Yet even these sad heartbreak songs are cleverly disguised boastings about relationships with the opposite gender. Tech N9ne laments about almost every little thing, from fans to family to even his hardships in finding success after 20 years in the business. The Rain is actually a story most working parents could empathize with as Tech N9ne bemoans about how his work usually comes in the way of his family, especially his children. Few gangsta rappers have the testicular fortitude to mention their marital status, least of all their dependents.
In his music, Tech N9ne attributes a majority of his failures to a lack of understanding. For example, many view his unorthodox appearance (red hair, scary clown costumes) as possible deterrent to Black audiences and a reason for why he's had so much trouble establishing himself alongside contemporaries, T.I. or Jeezy(Yet studies show that Caucasians make up the bulk of Hip Hops listeners). While this blogger's skin color offers little help in N9ne's defence, many audiences (despite their racial background) are missing out on Kansas City, Missouri's best kept secret. Tech N9ne's failure could be attributed to a possible lack of understanding about the music industry itself. Perhaps N9ne has little interest in the subject, yet he fails to discuss issues in music business on the same level as established rappers. While the aforementioned, T.I. will boast its importance (and his business savvy-ness) in the field of achieving dominance, Tech N9ne seems to have many bruises and much contempt for this political/corporate (and unavoidable) face of the music industry. N9ne isn't the first great musician that faltered in the murky waters of business. Whatever the case is, Everready, is a display of N9ne's sheer genius and strength to tread on despite his industry scars and scraps. Everready is really his tightest album (ok ok, its actually a "Collectors Item" officially) yet. Also, there are few (Southern) artists that can seriously compare with his sheer skill and originality as shown in this album. Few are so unique as Tech's approach to club music as displayed in Night and Day or Caribou Lou. I don't know any other rappers that actually have a duet with their own child as listened to in The Rain. Few artists such a perverted wit as in Flash, whereby Tech claims that the only solution to relieving the stress of touring is by asking his female audience to remove their tops during his concerts (also it may be a clever way of advertising his concerts to male audiences but who knows). Words seriously cannot do justice to Tech N9ne's abilities and I'm sure that you, fair reader, have better things to do than read on and on into oblivion about my thoughts about N9ne. Suffice to say, the Collector does a better job at giving you a taste of N9ne with this weeks samples. Enjoy.