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Tech N9ne returns to Bend

Published: April 11. 2008 4:00AM PST

Kansas City rapper Tech N9ne has toured through Bend at least three times since I started this job two years ago. Still, I had never seen him until Monday night’s double-bill with Paul Wall at the Midtown Ballroom.

I like hip-hop, but I’m drawn more to the understated side of the game (think Blue Scholars or our own Person People) than big beats, bass and braggadocio. I’m not slagging that stuff, I’m just saying it’s not as appealing to me.

But there are plenty of people who love it, as evidenced by the fact that Tech N9ne — a man who’s never had a huge hit record — is one of Bend’s bigger concert draws, thanks in part to his repeated visits. His last show at Midtown Ballroom sold out, and while this one didn’t look like a packed house, it definitely attracted a mob of rap fans.

By the time I got to the venue, it was after 10 p.m. and already humid with hundreds of sweaty teens. I was later than I would’ve liked, and I missed Paul Wall. I blame the fact that CBS took a ridiculous number of commercial breaks between the end of the men’s national basketball championship game and the network’s annual video tribute to the NCAA tournament, “One Shining Moment.”

Yeah, I wanted to see the Houston-based, bling-bridled Wall, but c’mon — a guy has to have priorities. “One Shining Moment” is a tradition for me.

What I can tell you is that Wall truly is, as he calls himself, The People’s Champ. When I arrived, he was sitting at his merch table, signing autographs, shaking hands, posing for pictures and flashing his jewel-studded smile at anyone who wanted to chat. The guy clearly knows that making a personal connection with fans will pay off on the bottom line.

By the end of the night, it was obvious Tech N9ne knows that, too. Right at 10:30 p.m., Tech and his two cohorts, Kutt Calhoun and Krizz Kaliko, hit the stage to the deafening thump of bass and a blinding light show, with the main man wearing white face paint from the cheeks up and the word FATAL painted in red across his forehead, like some sort of nightmarish Phantom of the Hip-Hopera.

For more than an hour, the trio ran through a slew of fan favorites, from “I’m A Playa” to “Bout Ta’ Bubble” to some unfamiliar cuts that I’d guess are from his new album, “Killer,” due out this summer. After a while, I could barely tell when one song changed to another because the beats began to run together to my ears.

But that wasn’t a problem for Tech’s legion of fans; every time a beat they knew would kick in, hands shot up to the sky and heads started bobbing. Many knew every word to the songs and rapped along — no small feat when you’re aping someone who can spit rhymes as fast as Tech N9ne.

Some of the show was typical hip-hop fare, such as when Tech brought out a gaggle of women in short shorts to dance. But mostly, you could see why people like this guy. He put a ton of energy into the performance. His lyrics are sometimes boastful, but just as often paranoid, anxious or fearful.

The most striking thing was the way Tech, Calhoun and Kaliko worked together; at times their vocals had an almost choral quality. At least once I heard them rapping in harmony. And on stage, they ran a three-man weave that looked better than anything Memphis did during overtime of the basketball game earlier in the evening.

And when the music stopped, Tech was always quick to tell all of us just how much he loves Bend. He credited his fans for making him successful. He thanked them for putting food in his kids’ mouths. He said Bend really knows how to party. That last one got the biggest cheer of the night.

Overall, I thought the music Monday night was decent — certainly party-worthy — but not spectacular. More impressive, though was Tech N9ne himself, a larger-than-life character who seems to work hard for a living and seems to appreciate the people who make it all possible.

Ben Salmon can be reached at 383-0377 or bsalmon@bendbulletin.com.

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