Tech N9ne is a rapper from Kansas City, Missouri. Since he began his career in music he has released ten albums, He is the best selling artist from the Kansas City and co-owner of Strange Music records where he collaborates and gets local artists attention.
When the album's first song begins to play you can sense some hostility between Tech and the music industry. The song being spoken about of course is "Industry is Punks" which features a chorus with the chant "F U C K Y O U". Tech has never been one to fit the bill to be in the mainstream rap game, with his red hair and unconventional approach to rap he has always been the black sheep of the genre. The first song might be a little misleading as to the sound of the remainder of the album. With Absolute Power Tech goes deeper into his "party" style rap rather than the deep lyrical style previously heard on his last release Anghellic. He spends a good portion of the record boasting about his life and his skills behind the mic.
That being said deep lyrics aren't completely gone, it is still easy to see that Tech doesn't always pigeonhole himself to common mainstream lyrical themes. "Trapped in a Psychos Body" is one of the songs with the more personal lyrics, the song discusses Tech's journey through substance abuse and the troubles he's went through in the past, the beat gives the song a very gloomy feeling and a vocal effect makes it sound as if he is speaking through water. The substance abuse theme is brought back up in the song "T9X'' where Tech vents about his near death experience when he popped fifteen ecstasy pills in one night. "T9X" feature some of the best rhymes on the album.
Within the duration of this album Tech shows off his vocal acrobatics. His rapid fire flow mixes well with the slower passages. Tech's average speed verses are just as impressive as his blazingly fast sections. When Tech gets into one of his speedy verses you might find yourself missing a lot of what he said, that's how fast he is. It would be easy to compare him to other rappers that use this style like Twista or Brotha Lynch Hung. The beats are very catchy throughout the whole album, some of the beat choices are odd but wind up working very well.
The guest spots on the album complement his style well it doesn't hurt that he gets people that he is experienced in dealing with like the 57th Street Rogue Dogg Villains and Krizz Kaliko. "Constantly Dirty" features the 57th Street Rogue Dogg Villains, a group that Tech collaborates often and even did an entire album with; the song's end results is quite similar to his other work with the group, unfortunately this sound doesn't fit as well with the rest of the album as it could have.
Tech's fanbase is rather diverse due to the fact that his style is very appealing to fans of rap and rock and without a doubt keeps both elements heavily in the mix with this album just as much as he had with his other albums. Even with that still being an aspect of the music at this point this was his most accessible albums. "Imma Tell" was one of the singles from the album and probably the most well known. The song is about Tech having sex with someone's mom while the kid is at the door threatening to call her father, as mentioned before some of the songs aren't the deepest things in the world but are good for entertainment value, which honestly is what the genre is all about.
Overall Absolute Power deserves a 4 out of 5. It isn't Tech's best release in terms of lyrical quality but it is his funnest. The replay value for certain songs are great but there are a few songs here that are one really has to be in a certain mood to enjoy fully. All in all if you are a fan of rap, check this out it's quality stuff. If you aren't the biggest fan of genre this might just be different enough for you to enjoy.
