Finally Famous

Words Sowmya Krishnamurthy
Images Chris Shonting

Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in the December/January 2014 issue of XXL Magazine.

Tech N9ne closes his eyes, meditating on the lyrics for his new rock EP, Therapy. Sunken in a plush red leather sofa on a fall afternoon, the Kansas City, Mo., rapper is in his creative zone, vibing out in Strangeland Studios. The gleaming 18,000-square-foot recording oasis, nestled amid the plains of Lee’s Summit, Mo., is Strange Music’s new pride and joy, so it’s only right for its flagship artist to christen it properly. It’s rich and inviting. Dark oak and Brazilian granite counter tops are complemented by Italian tile backsplashes and a warm hue of red, Tech’s favorite color. Strange Music’s logo, a snake and bat intertwined, is laced throughout in bronze medallions and a less subtle $40,000 diamond pendant (safely enclosed in glass for obvious reasons). Whether you’re an indie rap god or not, Strangeland is a feast for the senses. “I think we want to have the best of the best of the best,” says Travis O’Guin, 41, president/CEO of Strange Music, who stands and beams with pride. “I want the crème de la crème mindset.” He’s not joking. The studio O’Guin designed with acoustic architect-to-the-stars Ross Alexander has a $4 million price tag and features top-notch Augspurger speakers and a rare Raven touch-screen production console all the way down to meticulous details like $120,000 worth of whisper-quiet air conditioning, LED mood lighting and $4,000 copper sinks.

O’Guin is a proud papa as he tours his digs, but everyone knows real Gs move in silence, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the success of Strange Music. For over a decade, the label has been quietly changing the rap game, evolving from an independent upstart to a lucrative multimillion-dollar behemoth. Now finally, people are starting to take notice. Strange Music is having its biggest year to date with an estimated $23 million in revenue. This year, for the second time in a row, the label earned recognition when Tech N9ne landed at No. 18 on Forbes’ Hip-Hop Cash Kings List with $7.5 million earned in the past year, up from $6 million the previous year. Sales-wise, the label is leaving competitors in the dust.

Strange released 11 projects that made it onto Billboard’s Rap Albums chart in 2013—at a time when major labels grapple with signing the next big Tumblr sensation—including Tech’s 13th solo LP, Something Else, Stevie Stone’s 2 Birds 1 Stone and Kutt Calhoun’s Black Gold. Comparatively, Cash Money and Young Money bowed in second with four debuts each. Something Else debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 albums chart as well with 58,000 copies sold in its first week. All this with no radio singles. “You have to acknowledge it. If you don’t see this movement, you’re absolutely out of your fucking mind,” says O’Guin. A self-made entrepreneur with earlier ventures in furniture and real estate, O’Guin and Tech N9ne founded Strange Music in 1999 as a 50/50 joint venture. “People are showing us big love, man,” echoes Tech, born Aaron Yates, 41, who serves as vice president and flagship artist of the label.

Strange Music currently employs more than 30 people and oversees all aspects of its business. The label’s headquarters, which includes Strangeland Studios, is a veritable compound that houses everything under one roof including a sound stage for tour rehearsal, promotional buses wrapped in-house and a dedicated video production department.

But life wasn’t always this good.

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When XXL profiled Strange Music back in the July/August 2010 issue, the label was barely a blip on the rap radar. The article helped reveal the power moves being made in the Midwest by Strange. “That XXL article showed the rest of the world what was going on that they might not have known,” says O’Guin. “It exposed what we’d be doing quietly all this time to the rest of the hip-hop community.”

One artist who began to get especially interested in the Strange Music movement was Lil Wayne. While locked up at Rikers Island in 2010, Weezy even called Hot 97’s Funkmaster Flex and said on air that he wanted to work with Tech immediately upon release from jail.

A few weeks after Wayne’s claim, Tech flew to New York to visit Wayne so the two could get to know each other. Soon after Weezy’s release from Rikers, Tech was on a plane to Miami to record with the superstar MC. The result was the raunch fest “Fuck Food” on Tech’s All 6s And 7s and the even higher profile “Interlude” on Wayne’s Tha Carter IV in 2011. “That article really validated us and built a lot of respect within the hip-hop community,” says Tech. He gives the article props for upping his name recognition with artists like Nas and Talib Kweli, stating, “It woke a bunch of motherfuckers up!”

As hip-hop increasingly embraces Tech, Strange continues to forge ahead with the same grassroots business model that made it successful. Strange specializes in personalized marketing tactics that major labels have deemed largely outdated like handing out snipes to street teams and setting up point-of-sale displays at brick-and-mortar record stores. It’s “infecting one fan at a time,” as Tech describes.

O’Guin specifically focuses on ways to increase efficiency and ownership so as to maximize profits. Starting a video production department in-house, for instance, allows Strange to create quality content without waiting on outside editors. YouTube videos are a promo tool and generate real money. “A lot of people, in hip-hop especially, don’t realize the ways to monetize that,” O’Guin says and reveals how the investment in video is paying off. “We get millions, tens of millions of hits on YouTube, and that turns into a lot of revenue. If I can fuck around and make $50,000 a month in just YouTube revenue, why not?”

Even when it comes to brand extensions, Strange wants to control the entire process. For their upcoming KC Tea cognac drink, which is one of Tech’s signature recipes, Strange is working directly with a distillery in France to hand-select which barrels the alcohol will be made in.

The label’s crowning glory and most symbolic gem is its massive merchandise warehouse. Filled with dizzying rows of items as varied as Strange’s fan base, the warehouse really has something for Strange fans of all ages from $25 artist T-shirts to neckties and baby clothes. Rappers who have visited, like Snoop Lion, Lil Wayne and Wale, have left in awe. Merchandise makes up around one-third of the label’s annual revenue, between online and on-the-road sales, so quality is crucial. Strange uses only the best suppliers, off ers refunds for defective products and refuses to put out anything imperfect. Merchandise is pushed on the road with savvy V.I.P. packages. $150 will buy you a ticket to the show, meet-and-greet with the artists and a variety of merchandise to be autographed.

Merch aside, the live show itself is a big payday. Tech N9ne’s Hostile Takeover Tour with Machine Gun Kelly last year broke the record for longest consecutive rap tour in history with 96 shows in 104 days. The label handles all of its booking in-house and can funnel multiple show offers from South Africa to India. Rejecting a traditional booking agency saves Strange from paying agent commissions or, worse, having an agent leverage Tech N9ne in favor of their other non-Strange artists. Touring is serious business to an independent artist. Everyone on Strange’s roster is expected to be an adept live performer and, at one point or another, go on tour with Tech. Before the team prepared to embark on the national Something Else Tour, artists and staff powwowed for a boardroom-style meeting. Friendly competition was stoked as the artists were told that they would open up for Tech in the order of their recent album sales (e.g. whoever sold the least records would go on first). Then, everyone reviewed the official handbook of tour rules in which everything from curfew to dress code is regulated. Violations result in fines and being ultimately kicked off the tour (e.g. $500-$1,500 for drugs on the tour bus, $500-$2,500 for random females on the bus) while adhering can lead to bonuses. The book has been circulated externally in camps like Kendrick Lamar’s Top Dawg Entertainment and incorporates issues from previous runs. Machine Gun Kelly’s wild boy stage diving is now addressed in the book. As are all things Strange, the rulebook is meant to keep things rolling efficiently so as to keep the money coming in. It’s simple mathematics.

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The last bastion for Strange Music to conquer is the airwaves. “The only thing that we haven’t won at is radio,” says O’Guin. “That’s the only area that we haven’t succeeded in in a really big way.” The Strange honcho admits to blowing nearly $1.5 million trying to unsuccessfully break into radio in the early aughts. “It’s the only muthafuckin’ part of the business I haven’t won at, and it’s pissing me off,” he laughs, half-joking. The time may be ripe very soon as several tracks from Tech’s Something Else including “Fragile” with Kendrick Lamar have started to bubble at stations like Power 106 in Los Angeles. “There hasn’t been the right radio song, and he hasn’t really cared to embrace radio,” says Gee Spin, programming manager of Power 105.1 in New York City. He cites that radio is ready for something from Tech N9ne. “The groundwork is there,” says Gee. “If he comes with something and works it at radio, I absolutely think we would embrace it.”

Radio is crucial in making Tech a household name, according to O’Guin. “That’s something I’m supposed to do. He’s one of the most talented artists in rap history, and he fucking deserves it. I’m hoping to accomplish that for the other artists on the label too.” How the zealous Tech N9ne fans—the ones with his face tatted on their backs who attend every V.I.P. meet-and-greet and break down into hysterical tears—will feel about sharing their kept secret with the world at large is anyone’s guess. O’Guin predicts some will be disappointed when Tech crosses over while most will be happy because they genuinely care about the rapper. Tech is quick to spread the love with his cohorts and wants to see the Strange roster thrive separately of him. Rittz and Krizz Kaliko are now headlining their own tours to build up their individual careers. Strange has been on a signing freeze as of late, but whenever they do add more names, Tech wishes newcomers success. This was the same label that relinquished Kendrick Lamar to Interscope with no hard feelings so that he could work with Dr. Dre. “If someone blows up, we’re fucking happy. There’s no egos,” Tech says.

As for him? At 41 with 13 albums under his belt, Tech is just starting to hit his stride and has no plans on stopping. “I’m gonna forever do it. It just tickles me to still be relevant,” he laughs. If it all ended tomorrow, financially at least, they would be just fine, according to O’Guin, but Strange Music is too close to taking over hip-hop to quit the hustle now. “We’re finally getting really, really good at this,” he says. “Why would we stop?” ♠

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