Awhile back we got a chance to talk to Tech N9ne before he headed out for his 2012 Canada tour. We asked about CES Cru’s EP 13 and what he thought about it. Tech N9ne had nothing but praise for CES Cru and their debut Strange Music project.

But along the way we also caught a bit of juicy information in the form of a potential act on Strange Music (one who made a devastating lyrical impression on Tech N9ne’s E.B.A.H. EP).

Who?

You have to read to find out…

I know you’re definitely a fan of all the guys on the roster, and that’s usually how you pick them, but it’s like you get into diehard fanatic mode when you listen to and talk about their shit, why did you want them on this label so bad?

Because they are extreme lyricists and they have content. They have shit to speak on. They have lived life and can talk to these motherfuckers, these youngsters, these old motherfuckers. They can talk to anybody just like me. They have the ability to get it across live also. All the things that we need at Strange Music they have, why not be with us? Same thing with JL. JL, he has content. JL is a motherfucker I’ve had my eye on for a long time. JL of B.Hood. I’m like “Yeah” and he can get it across live. You’ve got DJ Kittie on the 1s and 2s behind them. I saw them at the CES Cru signing party. I saw JL live for the first time and I’ve been knowing him since he was on the block when we were writing “Let’s Get Fucked Up” and doing Rogue Dog shit, when he was a little boy, a little kid playing basketball in the street. They’d come over to the house to hear the music and he just turned into this extreme fucking lyricist. That’s how I felt about CES Cru and that’s how I feel about JL. I don’t want to fucking sign nobody else for real, nowhere else if it ain’t JL first. Those people that you gotta have. Those lyricists that you gotta have that can actually speak on something and get it across live and have it be entertaining. Just game-changing shit, that’s what I want. CES Cru got that shit.

How important is it for you to snatch up dope acts from the hometown?

It’s very important because this is a homegrown thing. You can imagine how the homies feel when I signed Jay Rock, like “Damn…for real?” But Jay Rock is a talented motherfucker and he can get it across live and he’s a lyricist and he’s got fucking content. He’s not just talking about regular everyday bullshit. If you listen to his album Follow Me Home, he’s so young but he’s got so much fucking wisdom. I’m like “Damn, listen to the message in this muthafucka!” You know what I’m saying? “Just Like You, just like me” listen to that shit! It’s beautiful man! It’s important for us to find people in our town that are talented because there’s so much talent here. You’ve got The Popper here, you’ve got Nesto here, Craig Smith, thePhantom, Irv Da Phenom…I could keep going for days. It’s like “Wowww”. It’s very important to have people from the soil come with us all over the world to bring Kansas City everywhere, so you can imagine how I’m going to feel when I get to take CES Cru on a whole tour. You can imagine how they felt when they came to Colorado to do those shows with us on Hostile Takeover. Oh my goodness!

For sure, and what if someone else snatched them up and they blew up? That’d be like “Damn…” JL has this thing where he could be a good crossover act and he’s got bars for days.

He created this thing DIBKIS. He created a wristband that says DIBKIS and it stands for Doing It Big, Keeping It Strange. He did that on his own. That’s dope.

Back to the EP real quick. What are you hearing on this EP? How does it compare with their old shit?

I can tell that they’re stepping it up even more with the production and everything. The production is different, it’s bigger – and it’s supposed to get bigger, you know what I’m saying? The Playground shit is dope as fuck! It got my attention, but this EP, you could tell that they’re stepping it up even more. The sound is bigger and the lyrics are more intricate. It’s fucking insane. I can’t quite describe it but you’d have to hear it to understand some of the beats are weird as fuck but they are effective as a motherfucker. I’m listening to them loud on my big system downstairs on my house. I just stunted on you real quick. You need to ring the stunner bell like on the Sway show. (laughs)

I called them and said “Wowwww” just like I did when I listened to ¡MAYDAY!’s EP, Thrift Store Halos. I had to call them and say “God damn brothers!” And I’m fans of these motherfuckers so when I hear new things it’s like, when they give it to me at Strange, I might not say nothing but I’m like a kid in a candy store. I can’t wait to get home and throw it in my system. I don’t want to listen to nobody else – my shit bang.

Do you think this EP is going to surprise some people?

Yeah I think it’s going to surprise everybody. Well I don’t know because everybody already knows that they’re supreme lyricists. C’mon man. They did “Unfair”. Did you hear that shit? I still listen to “Unfair” all the time.

What do you think the response is going to be like?

I think they’re going to embrace it with open arms. These are Strange artists for real. It ain’t just like I found niggas to rap and they fit in with us kinda…no. These motherfuckers are Strange all day and they have been all their life. I just have the vehicle to get it to more people that they are Strange and unusual. Like Winona Ryder on Beetlejuice: Strange and unusual.

Who’s your favorite emcee in the group?

The favorite emcee out of the two on CES Cru? Oh my God! Who would ask that?

I’m sorry…bad joke.

They’re both my favorite! And I’m supposed to say this as the boss but think about it: Godemis and Ubiquitous have totally different flows, different sounds to their voice and everything, and that’s what makes them complete. They can both flip, they can both get serious, they can both talk about a bitch. They can both talk about religion. They’re one. Like UGK. You can’t say whether Bun B or Pimp C are the best, because they’re both equal! You just can’t say that. They’re together as one. When you hear both of their verses you love them equally. That’s how I feel about CES.

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• Would you like to see JL on Strange Music?
• What do you think he would bring to the label?

Leave your thoughts below!

During our now-infamous podcast with Tech N9ne about the upcoming KC Crossroads show on August 24, we were also to get his opinion on CES Cru and their upcoming EP 13. Opening with the first set, it looks like that they’ll be bringing some heat from their debut Strange Music release.

During the inane conversation, we caught a glimpses of a scene that is as hilarious as it is unbelievable.

Read the rest if you want to know what we’re talking about…

We got CES Cru on this show at KC Crossroads.  From what I understand they’re trying to perform some song s from this upcoming EP 13, and I know you’ve heard it.  What can you tell me about this EP?

Man, “Klick Clack Bang” is my thing. “Hit em with a click clack bang!” you know what I’m sayin’?  That’s the shit, boy.  I don’t even know what the final track list is cause I know they were going back and forth, like “Okay, this one.  Okay, take this one off.  Okay, put this one on, take this one off,” cause they had more than eight.  They had, like, a lot to choose from.  What they did, and I got all of em, I’m like “Woah!”.  I got something I just heard, and I’m like like “Woah, what the fuck?” with everything I love.  I’m like “Don’t take off a fucking thing!” you know?  So, I don’t know what they ended up with, but I got like two versions of 13, and one got 12 on it, one got 8 on it, one – one got 7 on it.  Oh, I got like 3 versions cause one got 8 on it, one of em got 7 on it, one of em got 12 on it, I don’t fuckin’ know.  But, what I got, I fell in love with everything already, you know what I’m sizzlin’?  Like, I don’t even know the name of the songs, for real, you know what I’m sayin?  “Colosseum” is my shit.  Uh, there’s one I heard they were trying to take off.  “(Sings lyrics)”…that shit dope!  That shit dope.  I heard they was sayin’ “Ya’ll can take that one off,”.  I’m like “No, please, don’t take it off. I fucking love it.”  So, I don’t really know what the track list is gonna be, but the fuckin’ shit I’ve been listening to, Jeff…Nelson… the shit that Aaron Yates been listening to for the last couple weeks, down- nigga I’m talkin’ bout the (unintelligible).

I was down at the mothafucking Lake of the Ozarks bangin that shit.  Nigga was rappin’ it to me.  Nigga, we was drunk as a mothafucka’.  We was just drinking. I was just eating taquitos and hamburgers and shit at 5 o’clock in the morning listening to CES Cru.  I’m like, “Listen to this shit, nigga!”  I was telling CES Cru “Ya’ll sleep on this, nigga!”  I mean, I was so drunk I was like, “Ya’ll sleep on this!” They say, “Nigga, this is us!” and I’m like, “No, but ya’ll sleep on it, though.  Ya’ll don’t know what it really is, though!”  That’s how drunk I was.  I was telling Godemis, “You don’t know nothin’ about this.  Listen to this one.”  I was like, “Listen to this one,” and he’s rapping it to me, and I’m lookin’ at him like, “You don’t know nothin’ about this, though!” and he’s rappin’ the whole shit to me.  I’m like, “No, you don’t understand,” you know what I’m sayin’?  Mothafuckers think we went down there to fuck with bitches and all that.  Nah, nigga.  We went down there and we was listenin’ to music with each other, nigga, til’ like 5 in the morning like, “Listen to this one.  Listen to this one.  Hey, you heard this one, Godemis?”

Tech N9ne And A Dumbfounded Godemis, Lake Of The Ozarks, 4 AM

“I did it, Tech.”  ”Hey, Ubi, what about this one, man?  What you call this one, ‘Colosseum?’  Yeah, man, listen to that one!”  It’s like, that’s what we was doin’, you know what I mean?  I’m talkin’ bout that’s how much I love the shit, and when you hear it, you gonna say, “Yeah, Tech was right.”

13 is crazy, these niggas can really go, man.  These are – these are some rappin’ muthafuckas, man, and I wouldn’t have signed them if they weren’t fucking elite – I tell you. I wouldnt’ve sought these motherfuckers out, nigga.  I stumbled upon em, you know what I’m sayin’?  I been knowin’ about Godemis since, um, the 50 MCs.  He was on there, and I asked, you know, Grant Rice who that was, and Grant Rice said, “That’s Godemis.  He’s from North Kansas City,”.  I’m like, “Really? Dude’s dope. He gotta voice.” And then, I didn’t hear nothin’ from him for years, you know what I’m sayin’, for years.  And then I started stumbling upon shows that they were doing. I stumbled upon a Devin The Dude show, and a Mac Lethal show, or something, and they was on stage and I was like, “What the fuck?  No way they not with me,” cause I want the hardest mothafuckers on my team, and they are some of the hardest muthafuckas.

When you hear 13, ah, you already know that they did “Unfair”, and you already know they did “Give it Up” with Lebowski on it.  You already know they go, but when you listen to 13…I ain’t just sayin’ that cause they on my label now.  I’m proud as fuck to say I have CES Cru with me, and we gonna be going on tour, and we gonna be doing songs together and shit.  These muthafuckas are somebody you really wanna be in cahoots with ’cause this is hip hop at its finest.  It’s like if I need the name of a song I could sit here and sing to you everything, you know, I got it like right here, you know?  I could push play and it just come on.

The muthafuckin’ shit is amazing, homie!  I wouldn’t take anything off.  I don’t even wanna know what the final track list is, I’ma be pissed because on the one I got they had like solo songs on there, like two solo songs.  One called, (Sings lyrics).  It was, uh, Ubi’s solo song, and then Godemis has one, (Sings lyrics). Fucking shit is crazy, it was fuckin’ dope. So I heard that they’re taking the solo songs off and putting some more on.  Then, I heard some more from Travis.  I’m like, “What the fuck is that?  What the fuck is that?  I never heard that one.” I said, “Give me that shit!” I don’t know the titles, but the muthafuckin’ shit is elite and – don’t take my fuckin’ word for it, just get it!  This is the age where niggas be downloading shit.  Yeah, check it out, nigga.  Then buy it after that, because it’s real!  I’m not gonna just throw some niggas out at you like, “Here, pshh,” and it’s shitty.  I’m not gonna just do that.  I’m gonna give you the best shit that I could possibly give you, and push my artists to do the same thing.

We have a beautiful production team, you know what I’m sayin’, we got Seven.  Seven just be kickin’ shit out, man, you know what I’m sayin’?  They dude, whoever their dude is who do they beats, I need to meet that nigga.  I forgot his name.  They keep on telling me – I asked em when I was drunk.  I’m like, “Who is doin’ these beats?” and they like, “Nigga’s name is so and so,” and I’m like, “Yeah,”.  And I ask them a lot – like another time, “Who is doin’ these beats?”, and they said, “The nigga’s name is so and so,” and I’m like, “Yeah, I gotta get with him,” but I keep on forgetting his name.

Info Gates.

Info Gates

Nah, nigga.  It was another name.

Smart Alec?

Nope.  Nope.  It was another name.  It’s like one name, like “Listen” or some shit like that.  It was something crazy like that, you know what I’m sayin’?  Yeah, the nigga’s insane.  I’m like, “What the fuck?”.  He did that, uh, that uh, that “Klick Clack Bang” or whatever the fuck, you know what I’m sayin’?  He did that.  He did a lot of shit, man.

That’s Info Gates.

I don’t know.  Maybe they called him Info.

Yeah, they do just call him Info.

“Info” for short

Ah, that’s probably it.  That’s probably it.  That’s probably it.  The nigga’s dope, you know what I’m sayin’, and uh, Seven’s on there, you know what I’m sayin’, uh, you know, Young Fyre be comin’ through sometimes.  I don’t know if he got anything on 13, but the nigga, what he got on with, Young Fyre got from (unintelligible).  What Seven got on (unintelligible).  It’s gonna be hard for niggas to get in, you know what I’m sayin’?  It’s gonna be hard for niggas to get in, dog.

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• What’d you think of Tech’s ramblings at 5AM?
• Are you excited for 13 yet?

Sound off in the comments section below!