Tech N9ne, one of today’s most successful independent Rap artists, says he couldn’t believe Lil Wayne was calling him to appear on 2011’s Tha Carter IV. Tech N9ne says he had never met Lil Wayne before the phone call was made and that he couldn’t believe a rapper with such commercial success and notoriety would reach out to him for a collaboration.
“I’ve always been the outcast,” Tech N9ne says in an interview with XXL when asked to discuss the highest point in his career. “The dude with the face paint. Everybody thought I was a devil worshipper. The weird guy who rapped backwards. Nobody does that shit. I’ve always been the weirdo dude. When somebody of that stature…I’m independent. I use my own money, me and Travis [O’Guin, co-founder of Strange Music]. These motherfuckers are filthy rich.”
Tech N9ne says he was also in disbelief because he felt Lil Wayne could have reached out to just about anybody at the time.
“This nigga is sitting on a lot,” says Tech N9ne, who appears on Tha Carter IV’s “Interlude.” “He can work with anybody he wants to and Funkmaster Flex asked him, ‘Who do you want to work with?’ He said, ‘Andre 3000 and my man Tech N9ne.’ Wow.”
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In 2013, Tech N9ne also said that his work with Lil Wayne woke many audiences up to his style of Rap.
“I’ve been around for a long time, but it took Wayne to say ‘Come here, dog. Do this,’” Tech N9ne said at the time. “I said ‘Okay, I’mma do it.’ And he believed in me. You know what I mean? And he called my name out and I showed up and showed out. And he put me on there with [Andre 3000], with Three Stacks. He put me on there with Three Stacks and didn’t tell me. I’m so glad I went in…That woke a lot of people up.”
Tech N9ne and Lil Wayne collaborated on more than Tha Carter IV’s “Interlude.” The two also paired up on “Fuck Food” on Tech N9ne’s All 6’s & 7’salbum.
RELATED:Tech N9ne Says His Verse On Lil Wayne’s “Interlude” Woke People Up
