Tech N9ne

Aaron Dontez Yates (born November 8, 1971), better known by his stage name Tech N9ne (pronounced "tech nine"), is an American rapper, songwriter, and singer. In 1999, he and business partner Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music. He has sold over two million albums and his music has been featured in film, television, and interactive media. In 2009, he won the Left Field Woodie Award broadcast on mtvU.

His stage name originated from the TEC-9 semi-automatic handgun, a name given to him by rapper Black Walt due to his fast-rhyming chopper style. Yates later applied a deeper meaning to the name, stating that it stands for the complete technique of rhyme, with "tech" meaning technique and "nine" representing the number of completion.

Yates was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. He began rapping at a very early age, and would rap the letters of his name in order to remember how to spell it. His father Carlton Cook was estranged from the family and his mother suffered from epilepsy and lupus when he was a child, which emotionally affected him and inspired him to "search for God". He would explore abandoned buildings with his best friend, hoping to catch a ghost on film. He attended Southwest High School in Kansas City.

Early in his career, Yates was a member of a group formed in 1991 called Black Mafia. He saw glimpses of success in the group 57th Street Rogue Dog Villians with their single "Let's Get Fucked Up". As a member of the group Nnutthowze, Aaron Yates signed with Perspective Records in 1993. However, the group disbanded soon after being released from the label. Yates signed with Qwest Records briefly before moving to JCOR Records.

In 1997, Yates joined the group the Regime, which was formed by rapper Yukmouth. The following year, he was featured on the soundtrack for the film Gang Related. Yates appeared on the song "The Anthem" by Sway & King Tech in 1999, which also featured artists RZA, Eminem, Xzibit, Pharoahe Monch, Jayo Felony, Chino XL, KRS-One, and Kool G. Rap. Later that year, he and business partner Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music.

In 2001, Yates released the studio album Anghellic on JCOR Records. After disputes arose about the promotion of the album, Yates and his label severed ties with the JCOR with a deal that allowed them to retain the rights to the album. The next year, he released Absolute Power, under a 50–50 joint venture between Strange Music and M.S.C. Music & Entertainment (which was founded by former Priority Records head Mark Cerami). The album debuted number 79 on the Billboard 200. The album's sales are said to have tripled following a campaign, going by the name of "F.T.I." was started by the rapper and his label. The campaign, which asked music listeners to legally download the album free through the artist's own website was in response to the anti-downloading campaign by the RIAA.

In 2006, Yates released the album Everready (The Religion). The following year, he released Misery Loves Kompany. Yates announced that the album was the first in a series of "Tech N9ne Collabos" albums that feature a wide range of guest appearances.

The following year, Yates released the album Killer. That September, he exceeded one million album sales over his entire catalog. Yates remarked of the accomplishment that, "It just reminded me of all the work we'd done in the past, up until now [...] I don't think it's sunken in yet. I've been celebrating for the last two days because that's a hell of an accomplishment. I've been planning success all my life. I'm not even a bit surprised, I'm happy about it. That just means I was right." Yates released his second Collabos album, Sickology 101, in April 2009.

Yates is known for his dynamic rhyme schemes and speed rap abilities known as the Chopper style. Soren Baker of VH1 states that Yates' techniques "showcase his wide-ranging, mind-blowing flows". Baker characterizes Yates' earlier work as "apocalyptic music, which discussed abortion and infidelity as much as his rapping prowess". Allmusic reviewer Jason Birchmeier calls his style "bizarre hardcore rap".

Yates stated that he purposely creates flow patterns in order to sound like a percussion while he raps. After hearing an instrumental he would come up with different kinds of patterns and then "fill in" the actual lyrics.

Yates says that he is influenced by old school hip hop, and specifically cites N.W.A, Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, Eric B. & Rakim, Schoolly D, and Just-Ice. He is also interested in other genres of music, and lists The Doors, Jim Morrison, Led Zeppelin, Elton John, AC/DC, Metallica, Floetry, Outkast, CeeLo Green, and Gnarls Barkley as influences. He has remarked generally that "I love beautiful music, beautiful music no matter what type".

Although Tech N9ne mostly collaborates with rappers from his record label Strange Music such as Krizz Kaliko, Kutt Calhoun, Big Scoob, Brotha Lynch Hung, and Stevie Stone as well as underground rappers from his hometown Kansas City, he has also worked with known rappers such as E-40, Ice Cube, Three 6 Mafia, Lil Wayne, Twista, Eminem, Busta Rhymes, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Machine Gun Kelly, Yelawolf, Scarface, Yo Gotti, T-Pain, Wiz Khalifa, Paul Wall, B.o.B, André 3000, T.I., and 2 Chainz.

Tech N9ne has also worked with rock and metal musicians such as Serj Tankian of System of a Down, Corey Taylor of Slipknot, Chino Moreno and Stephen Carpenter of Deftones, Jonathan Davis of Korn, Five Finger Death Punch, and Falling in Reverse.

Yates' songs have appeared in the films Born 2 Race, Gang Related, Alpha Dog, Our Heroes: The 25 Best Black Sports Movies (Ever), and The Life of Lucky Cucumber. Yates was originally set to score the entire film Alpha Dog, but the studio decided to replace some of his music with more commercially known songs. In 2009, his song "Let's Go" was used in an online promotional short film for AXE body spray. Yates also appears as an actor in the films Vengeance and Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D. Yates starred in the musical Alleluia: The Devil's Carnival, which had a limited theater release July 2015. On November 25, 2015, Tech released "Shine", a song for the Jaco Pastorius documentary, Jaco.

Several of Yates' songs are featured in the video games Madden NFL 2006, The Crew, EA Sports MMA, 25 To Life, WWE 2K18, EA Sports UFC 3, and Midnight Club: Los Angeles, in the latter of which Yates is an unlockable character. In 2009, Yates and label mate Krizz Kaliko appeared in a promotional video for the Fight Night Round 4 video game.

Yates' music has appeared on the television shows Dark Angel, I'm From Rolling Stone, My Super Sweet 16, The Hills, Spike Guys' Choice Awards, and Warren The Ape. In 2008, his song "Earthquake" was featured on an episode of MTV's America's Best Dance Crew in which the crew had to visually convey the title of the song in their performance. On the August 15, 2009 Strikeforce event, Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg, MMA fighter Gilbert Melendez entered the arena to Tech N9ne's 2006 song "The Beast" for his bout with Mitsuhiro Ishida. His song "Riot Maker" was used as the official theme song for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's 2010 Hardcore Justice pay-per-view. Yates also appeared on the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards in the BET Cypher with B.o.B, Machine Gun Kelly, Kendrick Lamar, and Big K.R.I.T.

In 2012, Tech N9ne appeared on the MTV game show Hip Hop Squares for three episodes.

In 2013, Tech N9ne's song "Demons" appeared in the pilot episode of Ironside. On June 24, 2014, Tech N9ne appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to perform "Fragile", "He's A Mental Giant", and "Stamina". In late 2014, Yates appeared on Wild n Out as captain of the Black Team.

Yates was married in 1995, but separated in 2005. Yates filed for a divorce in 2015 and it was finalized in November 2017, 12 years after they were initially separated. On October 23, 2024, he married his longtime girlfriend Kristen, with whom he has two daughters, as seen from their social media accounts. Yates has a total of 6 children, 5 of whom (Donnie, Aliya, Reign, Alyi and Alina) provided the skits for his 2025 album '5816 Forest. Yates is an avid supporter of Kansas City culture and the metro area's pro sports teams, including the Kansas City Chiefs, Kansas City Royals, and Sporting Kansas City. Before the Chiefs played in the 2019 AFC Championship game, he released a song titled "Red Kingdom". In 2025, Yates was announced as one of the remixers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup theme, representing Kansas City.