Album Review: Tech N9ne- Welcome To Strangeland

Average Rating: 9/10

Overall Rating: 9/10

        1. Stars (10/10)

         2. Welcome to Strangeland Ft. Krizz Kaliko (10/10)

         3. Unfair Ft. Ces Cru & Krizz Kaliko (10/10)

         4. Kocky Ft. Jay Rock & Kutt Calhoun (10/10)

         5. Who Do I Catch? (10/10)

         6. My Favorite Ft. Brotha Lynch Hung & Prozak (9/10)

-        7. Registration Ft. iMaday! (9/10)

         8. Bang Out Ft. 816 Boyz (9.5/10)

         9. Beautiful Music Ft. Krizz Kaliko (9/10)

         10. Won’t You Come Dirty Ft. Young Bleed & Steve Stone (6/10)

         11. The Noose Ft iMayday! (6/10)

         12. Sad Circus Ft. Brotha Lynch Hung & Country Kuhnz (9/10)

         13. Slave Ft. Krizz Kaliko & Kutt Calhoun (10/10)

         14. Overwhelming Ft. Jay Da 3^rd (10/10)

         15. Gods Ft. Krizz Kaliko & Cutt Calhoun (8/10)

       Tech N9ne has added another album to his Collabo’s collection, which is a collection of albums full of collaborations and people from Strange Music or rappers who are not so famous all working with Tech. So far Tech had 3 Collabo’s albums, and honestly the best one out of the three, “Sickology 101” which wasn’t nearly as good as Tech’s other projects, the issue with his Collabo’s albums is there they normally are not very good, they get to have some amazing tracks and excellent features, but there are some bad features, but whatever the feature is there is always this one thing in mind: Not enough Tech. So can he find a way through that with this album?

    The concept in “Welcome To Strangeland” was the same as Tech’s other Collabo’s albums, which is having a lot of guests, expanding some unknown rappers’ names, and generally just expanding through different styles of rap. The first Collabo’s, “Kaos Loves Kompany” was a pure horrorcore album, “Sickology 101” was a hardcore rap album, and “The Gates Mixed Plate” was all about hardcore rap based club tracks. Now Tech’s fourth Collabo album, “Welcome To Strangelang” was mostly about blowing up and making it to the mainstream side of music, Tech really did it, it’s a known fact, but now we can finally hear what he thinks of this explosion of success, personally I think it’s a great think, because Tech is getting the recondition he deserves, and this album shows that entire process.

     Tech talked about many things on this album, but what he really opened up about here was his newly found overlapping fame and success and how he felt about it. “Stars” was about Tech basically crashing into fame and the mainstream, it was an amazing song to say the least. “Who Do I Catch” was about Tech breaking into fame and basically catching the eye of the industry and eventually the whole world, Tech had a crazy flow on the song and some really clever lyrics, it was easily the best track on the album, and “Overwhelming” was basically a story of Tech’s life and how unbelievable to Tech was it for him to actually have fans, little than blow up into fame, it was an excellent track, and really one of the best fan-dedication track to come out.

    Tech opened his world ‘Strangeland’ to his level of fame in some tracks on the album. “Welcome To Strangelend” introduced his world and his style to the mainstream music industry, it was a real aggressive and entertaining track. “Kocky” talked about the right to be cocky, especially after getting really big, it was a great track, and “Gods” talked about how Tech rules his genre as a rapper, and how he is the underground king, it was a great track, but not one of the best on the album though.

    He also talked about making it this late and how he needed to make it to fame a lot sooner. “Unfair” talked about how it’s unfair that the real rappers are not making it, and the all-commercial based rappers are easily making it, it was a honest, and unique track and a stand out for this album. “Slave” basically talked about working very hard and at some point making it nowhere, yet still trying again, it included more singing than rapping, and that’s what made it an excellent track and such an enjoyable track.

   Tech also opened up about the negative side of his newly found fame. “The Noose” talked about finding out about a lot secrets when expanding, and Tech wishing that he never knew any of those secrets, it was a good emotional song, but it was really slow, and “Retrogression” was another song that talked about the downs of fame, it talked about the possibilities of relapsing into some addictions or going back into depression because of the stress brought with fame.

    Tech also played out some tracks that had styles similar to the styles he had before he blew up. “Beautiful Music” was a classic Tech styled horrorcore track, “My Favorite” was another classic styled horrorcore Tech track, “Bang Out” was a classic styled hardcore party Tech track, and “Sad Cercus” was a reminder of Tech’s sad ‘fuck life’ type of songs. While those few reminders where not Tech’s best tracks or the best tracks on the album or his career, they were still some great reminders of Tech before blowing up.

   Welcome To Strangeland was overall a pretty much excellent album. It stuck to its concept, it showed that Tech can hold an entire concept for an entire album with no filler what so ever and above all that Tech showed why he deserved to reach this level. Welcome To Strangeland was something rare to see, it wasn’t a choking attempt of a ‘welcome to fame’ type album and it was a full and perfectly tied-together album. While it did have some lower-quality tracks and still did have too little Tech, this album was still great, it still held its own, especially for a Collabo album, and while it’s not Tech’s best album to come out, it was his best Collabos album to come out for sure.

Album Review: Tech N9ne- The Gates Mixed Plate

    Average Rating: 8.5/10
Overall Rating: 7.2/10

     
  1. Intro
2. O.G (10/10)
3. Fu Pay Me Ft. Makzilla & Krizz Kaliko (8.5/10)
4. Gamer Ft. Kutt Coulhoun (9/10)
5. Jumpin' Jax Ft. Krizz Kaliko & Bishop (7.5/10)
6. Keep It One Hunt Ft. Glasses Malone, Big Scoob & Irv Da Phantom (8/10)
7. Pow Wow Ft. Kutt Coulhoun, Tay Gigz, Rivv Loc, Mon E.G & The Ghostwriter (8/10)
8. Harvy Dent (10/10)
9. Tony G (Skit)
10. What's Next Ft. Craig Smith & Oobergeek (6.5/10)
12. Afterparty Ft. Deven The Dude & Kutt Coulhoun (6.5/10)
13. Too Many Girls Ft. Sundaie & Krizz Kalio (6/10)
14. Puh Wah Wah Ft. 816 Boyz (8/10)
15. Sean Tyler (Skit)
16. KC Tea (10/10)
17. JT Quick (Skit)
18. Oh, You Didn't Know Ft. Ive Da Phantom & The Popper (8/10)
19. Far Out Ft. JL, P.R.E.A.C.H & Steve Stone (10/10)
20. Paper Without Brian B Shynin Ft. Jay Rock & Joe Vertingo (9/10)
21. Loud Ft. Bizzy, Alen Wayne & Ive Da Phantom (10/10)
22. Need More Angles Brother K.T & Ive Da Phantom (10/10)
23. Doin' It Ft. Yukmouth, Chillest Illest & Ome (7.5/10)

     It's difficult to release two albums in the same year, Lil Wayne did it with "Rebirth" and "I Am Not a Human Being", but they both where failures as far as I’m concerned. Tupac did with "All Eyez on Me" and "The Don Killumanati: The 7 Day Theory", which were both successes; however Tupac was a legend, it was almost impossible for him to make a bad albums. Fat Joe did it with "The Elephant in the Room" and "J.O.S.E 2" where "The Elephant in the Room" was a success, and "J.O.S.E 2" was a failure, so how did Tech N9ne do with his second 2010 album "The Gates Mixed Plate" after releasing one of his best efforts, "K.O.D"?

    "The Gates Mixed Plate" was generally a much lighter, less horrorcore themed, and a more of a raw hardcore club themed album than Tech's previous albums. The lyrics, production, and the entire album in general was a lot less dark and horrorcore than his previous albums, and they were all a bit more party/club themed, the lyrics circled around partying and drinking more and Tech tried to provide funner than less more serious flows. Now that the theme of the album is given, how did “The Gates Mixed Plate” work out for Tech? especially because Tech is known for his really strong and aggressive style, and not the KC club theme which was used a lot on this album.

     Even though Tech got more club themed tracks, the album was still pure Tech N9ne hip-hop, and most of the tracks here where still hard hitting and over the top along with a concept to match the rhythm, they may not really some of Tech's best, but there was a few stand out tracks on the album like "O.G" which was about the Kansas City part scene, “K.C. Tea" was a Kansas City drinking theme song, "Far Out" which was about getting all the attention, and "Loud" which was about Tech not caring about anyone, and just playing as much loud music as he wants. Those few songs jump in as the album’s best tracks, they were all fast lyrically, the production on each of those tracks was hard hitting, there was nearly nothing wrong with them, but they were just simply not quite Tech’s best tracks, they were excellent songs, but not exactly the Tech people are used to.

      Tech still had a couple of horrorcore themed tracks on the album, which still had some kind of sad, dark K.O.D styled message. "Harvey Dent" was the best on the album, it was about Tech’s second, darker side, it sounded like a K.O.D leftover, which for some reason wasn’t on the album, and "Need More Angles" was dark, it had a really dark and clear message, and it was one of the best track on the album.     

    Like every album, The Gates Mixed plate does have it’s worst tracks, but here, the worst tracks where decent at best, which is good, because normally ‘worst tracks’ are bad songs or just filler. "What's Next", "After Party" and "Too Many Girls" all sounded a little dumbed down, which was okay, I don't mind dumbed down music when it's good, but compared to Tech they are not nearly up to his level, and as expected, those tracks, and a few more on the album where not up to Tech's level, they could have been a lot better if Tech and company paid a bit more attention to the lyrical strength on the album.

     "The Gates Mixed Plate" was not by any means a bad or even mediocre album, and at the same time it's not even near being something up to an amazing album. It was good, it had its highlights, it’s great tracks, but it wasn't really up to Tech N9ne's level, and honestly the album kinda disappointing when it comes to looking Tech's past work as a whole. Still, it's one of the better albums that came out in 2010, and one of the better second albums that any rapper had in the same year.

EP Review: Tech N9ne- Seepage

Average Rating: 9.3/10

Overall Rating: 8.5/10

         1.  Choking From It Skit

         2. Seepage Ft. Tonesha Sanders (10/10)

         3. Asshole Ft. Big Scoob & Krizz Kaliko (9/10)

         4. Alucard (10/10)

         5. Bite me Ft. Jessica Slankard &Tonesha Sanders (8/10)

         6. Trippin Comin’ Ft. Krizz Kaliko (9.5/10)

    Tech N9ne is probably one of the busiest artists in the industry; just in 2010 he had a total of two albums, he started off his year with the album “K.O.D” which was his best album to date, then the album “The Gates Mixed Plate” came out, it was a good album, but much lighter than KOD or anything Tech has done, in the same year he had an EP, which was full of K.O.D leftovers, which was called “The Lost Scripts of K.O.D”, it came out between K.O.D and The Gates Mixed Plate, it was as good as K.O.D, then in October he had a mixtape called “Bad Season” which was made to get his thoughts back together, and then finally he released another EP called “Seepage”, but was Seepage a great small group of tracks, or just a sign that Tech is getting tired.

      Seepage brought in a whole different side of Tech and a bit of a deeper and more human side in his other music. The EP talked about Tech’s feelings, his personal traits, the stages in his life, and a few other things, it was a hard concept, especially for anyone especially because the whole EP which was just six tracks, but did Tech pull it off? well, given that the production here where beats that he had for K.O.D, but ended up not using for K.O.D, and given the fact that Tech is at his best when he works with that type of style, it looked like that the EP really shaped well as far as I’m concerned.

   

     As I mentioned Seepage was made up of just six tracks, so there isn’t about much to look at here other than the six tracks and how they went together. Tech talked about a lot of stuff on Seepage, he talked about his dark thoughts, dark events that happened to him, and the fact that he can’t avoid his dark side on the EP’s best track “Seepage”, he talked about the term ‘Asshole’ and the fact that people call him an asshole in the track “Asshole”, he talked about the fact he’s better than a lot of rappers out there, and the fact that there are a lot of rappers who went on ‘the KOD’s side’ on “Alucard” which was really dark and aggressive, he talked about how girls want Tech to sexually abuse them and taking things to the limit in “Bite Me”, also, Tech talked about fake friends, fake people and generally just his views on liars in the really emotional track “Trippen Coming”.

     Seepage does come close to being one of the best EPs out there, but there were some issue with it though. One big issue with the Seepage EP was that even as an EP it felt a bit rushed, it all felt like ‘c’mon let’s just put this out!’, also like every EP it gives the listeners the desire for more, but the difference between Seepage and other EPs was that this EP really did give the desire more than any other EP, and in a higher rate than desired or which is even recommended for an EP to do that.

    

     Looking at Seepage as a whole, it really was an excellent EP. Seepage had its big ups, every track was really something great, the album felt personal, and more importantly Tech’s rhymes where all very smart and clever, so is Tech getting tired? No, honestly I think he’s just getting better by the minute; did the EP give everything right on just six tracks?  In a way yes, but at the same time it did feel a bit rushed though. Overall this was really a very strong EP, especially with the fact that he really expended his music by letting his character grow and go on different levels more than ever here.

Album Review: Tech N9ne- All 6s and 7s

Average Rating: 9.6/10
Overall Rating: 9.7/10

          1. The Pledge Skit

          2. Technicians (10/10)

          3. Military Skit

          4. Am I Psycho? Ft. B.o.B & Hopsin (10/10)

          5. He’s a Mental Giant (10/10)

          6. Worldwide Choppers Ft. Busta Rhymes, Ceza, D-Loc, JL of B, Hood, Twista, Twisted Insane, U$O & Yelawolf (10/10)

          7. We Miss You Man Skit

          8. I Love Music Ft. Kendrick Lamar (8/10)

          9. Strageland (9/10)

          10. Call From Richie Skit

          11. The Boogieman Ft. First Degree the D.E & Stokley Williams (10/10)

          12. Cult Leader Ft. Liz Suwandi (10/10)

          13. Call From KC Poet Camile Skit

          14. Fuck Food Ft. T-Pain & Lil Wayne (9.5/10)

          15. Overtime Ft. Stevie Stone (9/10)

          16. Pornographic Ft. Krizz Kalio, E-40 & Snoop Dogg (7.5/10)

          17. You Owe Like Pookie Ft. Jay Rock & Kutt Calhoun (9.5/10)

          18. Delusional Ft. Nikkiya (10/10)

          19. So Lonely Ft. Blind Fury & Mackenzie O’Guin (10/10)

          20. If I Could Ft. Chino Moreno & Stephen Carpenter (10/10)

          21. Angry Caller Skit

          22. Love Me Tomorrow Ft. Big Scoob (10/10)

          23. Mama Nem Ft. Krizz Kaliko (10/10)

          24. Promiseland Ft. Nikkiya (10/10)

          25. F.A.N.S (10/10)

     

     It’s tough for an artist to do what Tech is doing, releasing one or two albums every year. He had an album come out in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, then two albums in 2010, and now a 2011 album, if any artist did that then they would definitely suffer from a loss of creativity and ideas, but Tech didn’t so far, even his worst effort out of those albums, which was 2010’s “The Gates Mixed Plate” was a very good, very entertaining album. So can he keep the heat going with his 2011 album “All 6s and 7s”? Or does he need to take a small break for a year or two?

      All 6s and 7s was probably Tech’s most different album. He mostly works with just underground artists or just the members of his strange music label, but it looks like in this album he’s really expanding. He got Lil Wayne in the album, T-Pain on the album, Busta Rhymes, Twista, Yelawolf on the album, E-40, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, B.o.B, Hospin and so much more as guests on the album, but are all these new guest appearances just indications that Tech needs a break? Or are they indications that Tech is expanding with his music, and making his own style of hip-hop more familiar?

    All 6s and 7s is a long album; it’s almost as long as an average double album, and actually as long as a short double album. So it’s easy to tell that there is a lot of music to bop your head to and enjoy on this album, but was all the music good? Well, for sure since its Tech N9ne were talking about, there will be some awesome songs for sure, and the really strong reception of first three singles “He’s a Mental Giant” one of the best songs in Tech’s career. “Worldwide Choppers” the best of Tech’s choppers series, and “Mama Nem” a very touching mother’s day song all are on the album, it is something worth looking forward to. So based on the three singles, it is already confirmed that there are going to be some awesome songs, but did the rest of the album go up to the level of these three songs?

      Tech N9ne goes into so many different directions on this album. He had a group of horrorcore tracks, which were some of his best songs since K.O.D. “He’s a Mental Giant” was one of them. “Cult Leader” had one of the scariest flows on the album. “Am I Phsycho?” had a killer verse from Hospin, a really strong beat, a great verse from Tech, a strong verse subliminally dissing Odd Future by B.o.B, and a very powerful horrorcore type creepy flow and a scary theme to with it. Another horrorcore track was “The Boogieman”, which was among the scariest tracks on the album, thanks to its very dark flow and rhyme style.

     Tech went for some more emotional tracks on the album too. He had some happy emotional tracks, such as “F.A.N.S”, which was one of the best songs on the album, and a tribute to all of his fans in Kansas City, who are the number one reason why he is successful. “I Love Music” which was a song describing Tech’s love for music and the reason why exactly he loves it, and “Mama Nem” which was a touching mother’s day song. He had some sad songs on the album. “So Lonely” talks about the up-side of being lonely and how he rose to the top because of the loneliness he had. “If I Could” talks about a tough relationship he’s having with a girl, and “Love Me Tomorrow” was in a way a response to people who call Tech a sellout, and Tech saying that if they were really his fans, they would be happy for him and support him, and in my opinion, I think Tech’s right, there is no reason to call him sellout, simply because he’s working with popular artists, as long as he is making good music it’s fine by me, and that’s exactly what he is doing.

     Tech also had songs that can be described as having the same old topics, but at the same time don’t really feel like those type of songs. For example, there was “Fuck Food” which was really good except for the hook by T-Pain, which was completely Autotune. “Pornographic” was a good track, but Snoop Dogg’s verse was honestly mediocre. “Overtime” had a really good flow by Tech, but I wish the hook was better, and “You Owe Like Pookie” which was probably the best track out of these tracks, thanks to its strong beat, and strongly delivered verses.

    I’d say that this album definitely indicates that Tech does not need a break at all. The album shows that Tech is literally at the top of his game, and at the top of the genre, and in my opinion it was Tech’s best album to come out. It had so many different styles so the songs could never get old. The rhymes and flows where very impressive and really clever. The newer and more popular guests worked out very well for the album, almost all the time they brought there A-Game, and really the album had some imperfections, but at the same time it didn’t really have any noticeable or problem causing negatives, in fact, they were not even noticeable. If anyone would ask me if they should buy this album, I would tell them to go and buy it ASAP. Any hip-hop fan would enjoy, and most probably have a hell of a great time listening to this album. You don’t have to be a Tech N9ne fan to enjoy All 6s and 7s, any hip-hop fan will enjoy it, whether they love hardcore hip-hop or just the normal stuff.