Off to Paid Dues in a few hours, which I’ll be reviewing for the Times. Having seen nearly every act on the bill multiple times, I’m most excited to see Slaughterhouse’s West Coast debut. Also anxious to hear the new Cage material—and if B-Real plays “Hits from the Bong” or “I Want To Get High,” I’ll certainly heed the instruction.

I also admit to a certain curiosity in watching Tech Nyne perform–not because I’m a fan per se, but because he strikes me as the quintessential example of a dude who rap magazines and bloggers ignore, yet probably makes more money than any non A-lister. The dude’s soundscanned 1,000,000 copies during the last decade, most of them on his own Strange Music imprint. Figure that he’s shifting them for $15 a pop, money that isn’t getting ciphoned off by a major, add that to touring and merch sales, and I’d bet that he’s got more money than the entirety of the “We Takin’ Over” video combined (Baby and Wayne aside.)

In fact, the only Tech song ever to get a hint of mainstream play was this classic joint off the Sway and King Tech album, one of the more slept-on posse cuts of the late 90s. Probably because it wasn’t a posse cut, just a collection of some all-world MC’s–save for Jayo Felony. Not like the guy was bad, but he’s certainly not on par with the rest. Maybe he had some great Afghan Kush or something?

Download:

MP3: Sway and King Tech ft. Eminem, Pharoahe Monch, Chino XL, Jayo Felony, KRS-One, Tech N9ne, Rza, Xzbit-”The Anthem”

Bonus–also from Sway and King Tech-This or That

MP3: Guru-”NY Niggaz”

Stumble It!

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