Speaking with HipHopDX last Thursday, Kansas City, Missouri veteran emcee Tech N9ne confirmed that his Strange Music imprint may have signed one of the this year’s XXL Freshman 10 in DXnext alum Jay Rock. Last week it was announced that the Watts, California rapper would join the Strange family on Tech’s upcoming Independent Grind Tour.
Tech N9ne explained that Jay Rock’s interest in Strange prompted the relationship. “First of all, when I did the video with Estevan Oriol, “Like Yeah” [from Killer], Jay Rock came down. I’d never met him, but I’d heard him.” Tech said he was familiar with the song assisted by Lil Wayne, “All My Life (In The Ghetto).” “He came and showed me love, he was 100. He came and told me what he had poppin’: he was on Warner Brothers, messing with [DJ] Kay Slay…he was a real cool cat. So we started talkin’, and the deal wasn’t really goin’ well with Warner. So we were like, ‘What if we can get in there and get Jay Rock?'” Tech said that those considerations have nearly come to fruition. “We’re almost [secured] in having Jay Rock over here at Strange Music. It’s almost final. We’re just tweaking a couple things. From he being down with me to him possibly being one of my artists on Strange Music is a big thing for me.”
With the tour in the horizons, Tech emphasized how much Jay Rock’s performing abilities enhanced the interest. “What really did it for the tour was, we had had a meeting with all his people, and we brought him out to Kansas City. We ate, we partied, we saw a show. XXL was down here to see it. When I went to L.A., I got to see him open up for my show. I had never saw him on stage. Him and Kendrick Lamar and all them really murdered it!” Based on his own performing accolades, Tech continued, “For somebody to blow me away, that’s a lot.”
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Current Strange Music artists include Krizz Kaliko, Kutt Calhoun, Big Scoob, Cognito and Sacramento, California veteran lyricist Brotha Lynch Hung.
