TECH N9NE

LIVE @ THE ROCKPILE – TORONTO

FEATURE EDITORIAL

By: Fridae Mattas

The last time I saw Tech N9ne live was at the 2009 Rock The Bells festival at the Molson Amphitheater in Toronto. I was thoroughly impressed by his ever so tight stacatto patter that he’s known for. Rapid fire in seconds and it doesn’t sound repetative or fake, he actual means what he says when he’s throwing down a rhyme.

Aaron Dontez Yates from Kansas City is anything but new to the game, he has been the king of underground Hip Hop for years and only has just begun to surface the mainstream. Tech N9ne brought his set to the centre of the universe twice (Joking, this one is for the Quebequers, we all know how much you love Toronto.) Friday September 21st and Saturday September 22nd, both nights I heard were bananas! The door man said he only had about 10 tickets left for the Saturday show when we arrived and that was at 7:30pm. By the time Tech N9ne hit the stage those tickets I were long gone.

Opening up for Tech N9ne was Canada’s So Sick Social Club and MadChild of Swollen Members. If I had know every white rapper in the GTA was going to perform and none of the skilled MC’s would hit the stage until ten, I would not have been so early. Absolutly horrendous were majority of those who hit that stage, they were giving me a headache I couldn’t tell them a part. Short, white with Backstreet Boy facial hair, some stalky, all bald except the one female who attempted to spit only to be shut out and drowned by her co-performer. I thought okay here’s a female MC, I hope she throws it down! WRONG! So Wrong! She let the boys take the spotlight even when it was her verse. She was stuttering and did not rhyme with passion at all, why she even stepped to the mic I don’t know. Aside from the only female “rapper”, a few desperado girls were giving the boys a peep show for a t-shirt. Maybe, if it was for a legit Rapper with at the least some type of B status clout, you could have some dignity remaining. But, once your tits hit youtube for a random shitty ass r,ap group’s $5 T-shirt…Your judgement will forever be questionable ladies! So many women lack class, there are many ways to be sexy without desperatly flashing your headlights for every fugly wannabe.

On with the show! Ontario’s So Sick Social Club entertained the crowd before Madchild. This was not their first time opening for Tech N9ne, it seems like a trend for them everytime he has a show in Toronto. I saw them perform many years ago barely recalling their set. The crowd was loving their energy and their rapping isn’t bad, I like the fusion of guitar in their music. Rapping is their stronger suit because none of them are very good melodic singers however, they do put on an energetic set worth checking out. So Sick Social Club is: VooDoo Drew, Chris So Sick and Midnight a.k.a VooDoo Man they recently released their “Dead Friends Don’t Tell” LP available for purchase here.

Next up was Madchild also know as one third of the Juno Award winning Canadian Hip Hop group from Vancouver “Swollen Members”. Madchild (Shane Bunting) recently released another solo record titled “Dope Sick“. He came out strong, the crowd instantly errupted as he slapped and dapped every hand he could touch. I am familiar with a few of the Swollen Members’ singles and Madchild threw down a few of those, surprisingly he was pretty good. It was getting a little too crazy in the “mosh circle” area, the boys were a little too excited. The show was ages sixteen and up so a variety of people were present but mostly male. Madchild did a fantastic job keeping the crowd ripe and ready for Tech N9ne.

Teck N9ne’s right hand man Krizz Kaliko spit a verse before introducing The headliner to the crowd. Once Yates hit the stage, the crowd went bonkers wild at the Rockpile. He played a full set of almost thirty tracks and this was his second and final Toronto show for this tour. It was a nice treat for my ears to hear such smooth, passionate rhymes with conviction coming from the source. Tech N9ne is one of the very few rappers who has such a vast array of original material to choose from including tracks off of his latest E.B.A.H. ep. The crowd knew every word to every song he spit and didn’t want this night to end. You can find videos I filmed from the sets here and more photos here. Tech N9ne is the only MC anyone should be talking about and if he comes through a city near you go see him live!