In a recent interview with HipHopDX, Kendrick Lamar revealed how his tour with Tech N9ne would eventually lead to the signing with Dr. Dre’s Aftermath record label. Often-crowned as the new voice of the West, Kendrick has even gone as far to collaborate with Dr. Dre on his upcoming and secretive release Detox.

Lamar, aka K. Dot, caught up with HipHopDX to explain how he was discovered by Dre and reveals that it was on The Independent Grind tour with Tech N9ne and Jay Rock back in 2010.

“Man, after years of putting in work, I started doing shows, setting up shows in L.A. Came on this side, started setting up shows. It just finally caught the attention,” he said. “I was with Top Dawg Entertainment, independent company, for years. Just the grind and putting out tapes, he saw one of my YouTube videos, ‘Ignorance is Bliss.’ I was on the road with Tech N9ne at the time, with Jay Rock. He called the phone, called my engineer’s phone, said he was looking for us. We thought it was fake and whatnot.”

It was only a week later that he was contacted by Dr Dre’s team and he was working in the studio with him on Detox. Lamar now has two solo records under his belt after being signed to Aftermath Entertainment, but clearly he hasn’t forgotten where he started.

It goes up!

Click here to read the entire interview.

Click here to purchase Tech N9ne’s All 6′s and 7′s featuring Kendrick Lamar.

• What did you think of the interview?
• Are you a fan of Kendrick Lamar?

Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!

Does Kendrick Lamar have Tech N9ne to thank for hooking him up with Dr. Dre (and by deduction, the signing of Top Dawg Entertainment to Aftermath)?

This seems to be the case, as is revealed in the “Kendrick Lamar vs. Nardwaur” Interview. Entertaining as always, Nardwaur actually opens up the interview by saying “Thank you Tech N9ne!” Kendrick gives an automatic response of “Tech N9ne, thank you” before Nardwaur catches him off guard by bringing up the fact that Tech N9ne actually helped Kendrick and the legendary West Coast producer hook up and join forces.

Strange Music artist Jay Rock also makes an appearance in the hilarious bit of the interview in which Nardwaur reveals that there are tours in Los Angeles for people wanting to see the ghettos and various original neighborhoods of famous LA rappers.

While observing the flier, Kendrick cracks up when he notices that Jay Rock is actually ON the flier for “Hood-Life and Hip-Hop Tours”.

“I don’t know WHAT they’d be checking out going through these parts right here!” Jay Rock remarks.

Once again a triumphant interview from Nardwaur. Check it out!

• Do you remember “Tech N9ne vs. Nardwaur”?
• What did you think of the interview?

Scroll down and leave your thoughts in the comments section below!

2011 is a wrap and Shade 45′s own Tony Touch is celebrating the new year by giving listeners everywhere an exclusive mix of the very best Toca Tuesdays freestyle sessions from the past year.

Famous for putting every elite MC on the spot, Toca Tuesdays has become a regular stop for upcoming and veteran MCs to show off their freestyle abilities.  2011 included guest appearances from Kendrick Lamar, Yelawolf, D12, and Strange Music’s Jay Rock and Tech N9ne.  This exclusive one hour mix features the very best freestyles of 2011 with Jay Rock and Tech N9ne dropping in for their own respective sessions.  The exclusive mix is now available for download and is a great listen for fans who may have missed Tech N9ne and Jay Rock the first time around.

Click here to download.

What did you think of the mix?  Who dropped your favorite freestyle?  Let us know in the comments below!

The 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards will air tonight at 8PM/7PM CST.  The awards show is set to feature performances from DMX, Rick Ross, Lupe Fiasco, Wiz Khalifa, and many more.  As previously reported, the show will also bring back the famous BET Cypher segments, which include performances from Tech N9ne and Jay Rock.  Be sure to tune in and watch as Strange Music officially invades the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards!

Watch the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards tonight at 8PM/7PM CST.

As the time draws closer for the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards, BET has been releasing promotional videos to hype up their highly anticipated Cypher segments.  As a staple of the awards show, the Cypher segments pit top MCs against each other in a classic hip hop circle that challenges each MC to do better than the next.

This year’s Cyphers include names like B.o.B., Machine Gun Kelly, Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock, and even Tech N9ne.  In this exclulsive behind the scenes video, Tech N9ne explains his participation in the Cypher and how he was not aware of who he would be joining in the Cypher.  Several other names are featured in the video and drop new background information on the Cyphers that are expected to steal the show at this year’s awards presentation.  Fans can catch the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards on October 11 at 8PM/7PM CST.

Click here to watch the full video.

Will you be watching Tech N9ne’s Cypher segment when it airs?  Let us know in the comments below!

After wrapping up one of the most anticipated tours in Tech N9ne’s career, The All 6′s and 7′s Tour, the country is still buzzing about the performances from Strange Music artists.

Completing 83 shows in 85 days, Tech N9ne and company took the country by storm over the past three months.  If you weren’t able to go to a show from the All 6′s and 7′s Tour, luckily there is plenty of footage from the mayhem.  From ¡Mayday!’s Tour Log to fan-made videos, you are able to get a taste of what went down.

One fan, Tim Bird, created a well-produced video of the All 6′s and 7′s show in Orlando.  The video shows footage from a special guest appearance by Oobergeek, Stevie Stone, ¡MAYDAY!, Kutt Calhoun, Jay Rock, Krizz Kaliko and Tech N9ne.

Click here to watch the video or watch below.

Tech N9ne’s All 6′s and 6′s Tour has recieved nothing but positive reviews as he continues to kill his stage performances as he has done for years.

Have you put together a quality video like this?  Let us know for a chance to have it featured on the officla Tech N9ne blog!

Be sure to follow Tech N9ne on his official Twitter page and pick up his latest album, All 6′s and 7′s, if you haven’t yet.

What did you think about this video?  Did you go to a concert from the tour?  Let us know about your experience in the comment section below!

With temperatures rising and fans packed from front to back, Tech N9ne worked his way through a high energy performance that could be heard for blocks around the venue.  With moshpits in full effect, Tech N9ne’s stop in St. Petersburg won’t soon be forgotten.

Click here to read the full review.

Click here to purchase All 6′s And 7′s.

Click here to read the full review.

Click here to purchase All 6′s And 7′s.

What did you think of the All 6′s And 7′s Tour?  Did you go more than once?  Let us know in the comments below!

“I knew he was a MC and that he rolled with MC’s like Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, Kendrick Lamar – Black Hippy.  That’s the new N.W.A. to me.  I’m trying to get my money up so I can get them all over here!”

Tech also explains how it is that he first encountered Jay Rock and why exactly it is that he wanted him on Strange Music.  As Follow Me Home continues to push on during its release, it’s clear to see why Tech N9ne is after the entire Black Hippy collective.  Thanks to a unique style and unstoppable work ethic, Jay Rock and Black Hippy are slowly taking over the entire world of hip hop.

Click here to watch or scroll down below.

Click here to purchase Follow Me Home on iTunes.

What do you think about Tech N9ne’s desire to sign Black Hippy to Strange Music?  Leave your thoughts below!

In this explosive and revealing interview, Tech explains how he took all of the pent up anger resulting from these accusations out on the track “Kill Or Be Killed” from Jay Rock’s debut album Follow Me Home. As usual, Tech doesn’t pull any punches…

So tell us about the track you’re on, “Kill or Be Killed”.

I’m going to tell you about my verse because it’s personal. It takes it back to when I was getting death threats on my mobile phone from some guy out in Cali.  That’s why I say “Threatening messages and punks got a hold of my voicemail “. It’s like, I’m thinking he got it from a chick or whatever, and it’s like they’re going to get me for Mac Dre when Mac Dre was my homie. I met him once but he was extended family to Yukmouth. Because Mac Dre died in Kansas City, when people say those kind of things, that Tech N9ne had something to do with it, it truly pisses me off. I want to take their head off because they don’t know that I’m an angel, all they know is that I’m the face of KC and this man passed in KC. They don’t know that we were connected and that we talked in the strip club and I told him “Whatever you need just let me know!” This real cool, tall cat, man. Me being in Salt Lake City on Halloween doing a show and Shock G comes to the show–we kixin’ it and the next day I wake up and I get that call saying “Somebody killed Mac Dre.” I call Yuk immediately. I say “Yuk man, is it true?” and he’s like “Yeah, man” and we’re mourning and shit and I said “Did he have kids, Yuk?” and he’s like “Yeah, man he had kids” and I was like “FUCK!” So when somebody says that to me, telling me I killed a boss without asking and all that kind of shit on my message, it fucking pisses me off because when I go to that town in California…I’m looking. That verse is talking to the motherfuckers, like “How dare you?!” You know what I’m saying? It’s kill or be killed motherfucker. I’m not going to be the one getting killed over something stupid–over something a motherfucker think as opposed to something somebody knows. They don’t know that we’re connected and we’re extended family.

I just had to get at a motherfucker in Reno. I was out there in Reno during the day, getting off the bus to get some food from inside, Krizz and I took some tupperware from my bus inside and there was like four white boys with their shirts off and they passed me and they were like “Yo, what’s up Tech?! What’s up with Mac Dre?! Mo fo, what’s up with him!? I mean, what’s up with him!? I mean, you know! You know what I’m talking about!”  “Yeah I know what you’re insinuating but it’s not funny.” We kind of had words right there and I had to tell him the whole history of me and Yukmouth and everything else. It’s like “I know what you’re doing.” Krizz was like “Yeah you’re being a dick, you know what you’re doing.” He’s like “Naw, I’m just saying, people saying around here that you asked them to do it.”   I said “You ain’t heard that shit, that’s some bullshit somebody made up.” I said “We usually take motherfuckers’ heads off for that shit.”

We’re just talking in the middle of the street! Somewhere we ain’t supposed to be about this shit to a pack of white cats with tattoos and shit. I was like “That’s cool…but that’s my family and I went through the whole spiel of it with him, what I just told you.” And then he’s like “Aw that’s cool, I was just going off what people were saying.” I said “I ain’t heard that in a long time brother.”

And I was like “You’re talking all that shit, you walking around here and you aint even going to my show.” He’s like “I don’t have a ticket!” I’m like “We do a fucking tribute to Mac Dre every night on ‘Bout Ta Bubble’” His homeboy that was cool and apologetic–I was like “What’s your name brother?” He gave me his first and last name–I put them motherfuckers on the list to come to the show, as an angel, somebody that would’ve wanted to take their motherfucking head off for saying that shit about Mac Dre. I put them on the list to come to my show so they could see what we do for Mac Dre every night…and if they came to that show, they seen a damn good one! I’m sure they did. Then they’re like “Thank you, Tech! Thank you so much!” Even the tough one was “Thank you Tech! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!”

So that “Kill or Be Killed” verse, Jay Rock done pulled it out of me because I heard his verse about “It’s a homicidal life” and “the doctor’s are trying to save you” and this that or the other. It just put me in the mind frame that I wanted to talk about something real–something that irks me: me being a good guy, why these demons keep knocking on my door, playing with me, when I have nothing to do with nothing shady?

So that “Kill or Be Killed” verse is so fucking real. I say “and I do meet and greets, nigga you for real acting!” You know what I’m saying? I say “that’s the easiest way to find somebody! Buy a fucking–” but I aint going to give nobody no ideas, but anyway I’m just saying, we’re out here!

You’re probably thinking like “Damn, why did I ask him this question?” because it’s so personal and it could start so much shit, but I’m a real dude so when you ask me a question, this is what comes out. Especially about a real ass song like “Kill or Be Killed”. That’s something that will provoke people, you know what I’m sizzling? But only assholes that want to fuck with something Godly–I’m going to tell you, Godly things will always be here. I will not die by the hands of another man. Maybe by the hands of another woman? I don’t know! But I will not die by the hands of another man. You listen to my verse on “Kill or Be KIlled”, listen to how real that shit is in my voice man. That motherfucking song…it made Top Dawg call me and say “Tech man…that is the dopest verse I ever heard you spit brother   ! I didn’t know you could come like that!” I said “Those are real feelings Top Dawg!” He’s like “Tech man, I love that shit!” That’s big! Top Dawg don’t really talk that much and he called me and said that!  When I sent it back to them he’s like “That’s the dopest verse I ever heard you spit!” And they like real shit and you can tell by the tone of my voice in there, that’s some real situation. You gotta listen it to.

Is it important that the people you’re directing this at hear your voice? I know you can’t really control that but is it important to you?

I want them to hear it! I want them to hear how stupid in the head it makes me, how mad it makes me. I don’t want it to go unrecognized that that shit bothers me. I’m a real rapper. What that means is that I’m going to write what I go through. I wish I knew the whole verse. I’d spit it for you but Jay Rock just played it for me the day before yesterday and I said “Wow…I said all that, huh?”  And I felt it! You know what I’m saying? I forgot what I said and I’ve been asking Jay Rock to hear it for a long time. He has the track and he played it for me the day before yesterday in my bus, just throwing on songs right before the show. We was chilling and I was like “Please play me that song so I could hear my verse on it also.” He played me that shit and I was like “Whoooo!” You know what I’m saying/ It’s like an attack! It’s not dissing nobody but I’m like, overtime I come to that city I never see these motherfuckers.

“Come talk to me” is what I want to say! Come talk to me brother! Come look me in my eye and tell me I had something to do with that shit and if you still don’t like me then…we can fight! Boom boom boom boom! We’ll get it over with. Don’t bring no guns, don’t bring none of that shit–let’s do it man style. If you beat me you beat me!

It irks me that somebody would try to put that on an angel man. Just because I’m from Kansas City. All my niggas, from J-Diggs and all the real niggas that hung out–these are Mac Dre’s brothers. J-Diggs is one of the closest niggas to him. That’s my nigga!  He come to my shows and everything. The owner of Thizz Entertainment comes to my shows when I’m in Cali. The camera person that takes the photos, who’s married to the owner. She comes to all the shows. I treat her like my relative. They love me. Why are these dumbass fans putting me next to that shit, leaving fucking threatening messages on my motherfucking voicemail to this day?! So that verse is talking about how fed up I am about it, like “You stupid-ass motherfucker.”

“Nigga I ain’t dying just because you jealous I’m making relish” or some shit I said like that. It’s just stupidity. There’s one thing: I’m a nice guy, I’m humble–even though I just did a song called “He’s A Mental Giant”, I had to get it out, you know what I’m saying? But I’m a humble guy…but when shit is stupid…stupidity I cannot tolerate. It has to make sense. I always tell females around me “Don’t talk to me about it if it don’t make sense” because I’m going to get upset, and I really get upset.  Like, it has to make sense, it can’t be trivial. It can’t be trivial in anything. As long as it ain’t stupid, we can have a good time. Stupid shit makes me want to eat a motherfucker’s food, and that kind of shit: calling my private phone because you got it from a bitch, when really this is probably fueled by your bitch talking my name, or you finding my number on a bitches phone…if it’s fueled by that, say that!  Like “Nigga don’t be calling my bitch!” Nigga, I don’t call your bitch, she called me! I ain’t got time to call no bitch! Then that would be over! Check your bitch, homie! Mitch Bade check your bitch! That ain’t about me! When we’re out here on the road these bitches don’t be telling us they have boyfriends and shit. That’s why them niggas be blowing outside: “Bah bah bah bah! Bah bah bah bah!” And we gotta go tell them bitches “Get up off the bus! Your boyfriend’s out here. We ain’t about to have no shit!” Shit happens like that all the time! It’s fueled by women–everything is fueled by a woman. So that’s why we’re real careful with women. The way we deal, on my bus and on this tour, we’re real careful with women because that can be the reason that somebody gets hurt. So for them to leave threatening messages on my shit but don’t leave a number so I can call back–communication is the key to everything. They can still come talk to me, but if they’re stupid…then we’re going to fight! And it’s not going to be good!

I don’t want to fight nobody! I don’t want to have no friction with nobody but you will not disrespect me as a man. When you disrespect me as a man…I gotta show you. I don’t want to…but I will, and that’s what that verse is talking about.

What do you think of the 2Pac line in “Blasphemy” where he was like “Money over bitches because they breed envy!” Do you encounter that a lot?

Hell yeah! That’s one of the realest lines ever! They’re always looking at a bitches shoes: “Oh look what she’s got on!” “Oh my God, she thinks she’s got something because she’s got a Coach purse…bitch I got me a Louis.” “Btich, I got me a Valentino, that’s better than a Louis!” “Nah that ain’t better than a Louis!”

I hear shit all the time. It’s just something that some women have and you’ve just got to be careful because–my best friend Brian Dennis is gone, because of the love for a woman. A fucking crime of passion. The guy killed him, bounced out the club, killed her, and killed himself. Killed his little girl, Alyssa. I wrote about it in the last verse to “The Martini”. Crimes of passion, like, women breed envy. Tupac was a fucking genius. We listen and we learn and we go through life and we realize that you have to be super-careful with these women…because I done been in some psycho shit man. I’m thinking all this stuff is fueled by a woman because no one can truly say that I did anything truly wrong to them unless it’s a woman saying that I cheated. That’s the only thing anybody can ever say about me as far as someone putting harm on someone with a gun…nope, nobody can say it. Putting the word down to kill somebody, coming from my mouth, sending something evil to somebody…nope, never. So when they put me in that bucket, that fucks me up.

Have you listened to “Kill or Be Killed”?

What did you think of the verse? Why is Tech still getting blame for Mac Dre’s death? Leave your thoughts below.

Click here to purchase “Follow Me Home” on iTunes.