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At the turn of the millennium, Tech N9ne cofounded his own label, Strange Music, conceived as a home for his intellectually charged lyrics and experimental approach to vocal patterns-namely, the Midwest-native chopper style, an unrelenting rapid-fire delivery that features hard-edged pronunciation and a breakneck cadence. With his third album, 2001's sordid Anghellic, Yates secured his horrorcore supremacy. And though he's never actively pursued aboveground success, each of his 11 full-length releases over the next two decades landed on the Billboard charts, and he found room for collabs with the mainstream-beloved likes of Eminem and Kendrick Lamar. "Never faked it, look, mama I made it, that's a fact now," he spits on "Look What I Did," off 2020's Enterfear.
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