Tech N9ne dropped a bombshell during a June interview with online music marketplace Beatstars: his impending retirement from rap.

“I’m not complacent; I’m not content with this level of success, even though we’ve reached the higher heights,” the prolific rapper, label owner and producer told Mr. Get Your Buzz Up of Beatstars in the video interview. “Forbes list, keep hittin’ it, boom, boom, boom. We’re going higher. I want to go higher in the next four years, because in four years, woof.”

Since founding Strange Music with Travis O’Guin and releasing debut album “The Calm Before the Storm” in 1999, Tech N9ne has kept up a dizzying schedule. His discography numbers 20 albums, including eight guest-heavy records in his “Collabos” series, and he has worked with some of the top names in hip-hop, R&B and rock: Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, T-Pain, Cee-Lo Green, The Doors and Deftones, to scratch the surface. Thanks to this, Tech has enjoyed surprising longevity in an ever-changing genre, becoming known for his rapid-fire “chopper” flow and a catalogue that balances party anthems with often dark themes.

All this makes Tech’s announcement of an impending retirement hard to believe. And you’d be right not to, as Tech revealed during an interview with GO! Magazine ahead of his return to Midtown Ballroom on Saturday.

“A lot of fans took it like I was retiring, but with music in my bones and my blood and my soul, there’s no way I can just retire in four years,” he said from a tour stop in Wyoming. “Just, I’ll be 50, and I just want to slow down touring as much as I tour and doing music as much as I do. But these next four years are gonna go full bore, you know what I’m saying? Full speed ahead. Nobody knows what’s gonna happen at all — we just gotta keep living and pushing, and who’s to say when four years come, I’ll want to slow down? You can try to plan it just because you try to give yourself a limit, but there’s no limit.”

His four-year plan is well underway. In March, he dropped album No. 20, “Planet,” featuring a mix of aggressive rap-rock (“Habanero”), confessional burners (“Brightfall”) and upbeat braggadocio (“My Fault,” single “Tech N9ne (Don’t Nobody Want None)”). The songs form a loose concept centered around a world created by Tech referenced in the title: Planet P.Y.U.N.E., or Peaceful Youth Unit Neutralizing Earth.

In past interviews, Tech talked about being disappointed by fans’ lukewarm reaction to his 2016 album, “The Storm.” “Planet” has fared much better — “I’m not disappointed,” Tech said — and the shows have been “way more energetic than ever.”

The bill also features Krizz Kaliko, Futuristic and Dizzy Wright; the latter two feature on the new track “My Own Zone” released before the tour. That song and two others released since, “Chuki Fever” and “H.O.B.,” will be on Tech’s next album, “N9na” — pronounced “Nina” and derived from Tech’s nickname, Tecca Nina.

“My last project was called ‘Planet,” so now, I want to reintroduce myself to new fans and that fan that’s been here since day one to the maker of Planet P.Y.U.N.E.,” Tech said.

He also teased possible live collaborations with his tourmates: “I sent Futuristic an idea yesterday, and he said he’s all the way with it,” he said.

National Public Radio released Tech N9ne’s Tiny Desk Concert in September, which featured a live band and Kaliko. The set included stripped-down takes of favorites such as “Fragile,” originally a collaboration with Lamar, ¡Mayday! and Kendall Morgan, and “Speedom (Worldwide Choppers 2),” a riff on folksinger Richie Havens’ “Freedom.” Tech’s original recording featured Eminem and Kaliko, and received support from Havens’ family.

“His daughter, right after she listened to it, she sent me an email like, ‘My dad would have loved this, he would have been a part of this; thank you so much for keeping his legacy alive,” Tech said. “That touched me so much. It kind of felt like how when we got the permission from the estate when we did the song with The Doors (‘Strange Days’), with the remaining members of The Doors, and they all said yes. Aw, dude, Richie Havens and The Doors — come on, dude. That’s a blessing to get the kudos from the people who were there next to these people. And I worked with The Doors right before Ray Manzarek passed, and I had beautiful conversations with him, Robby Krieger and John Densmore.”

Born Aaron Yates, Tech grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, in a Christian home where he was exposed to gospel music. His introduction to rap came from his next-door neighbors.

“The first rap I heard was like Blowfly, ‘Rap Dirty,’ and Curtis Blow and Sugar Hill Gang and this, that and the other, so I already knew I was connected to rap,” he said. “But my uncle, Ike, he worked at the school board, and he had friends of all different types of creeds, colors and everything. So he introduced me to Elton John and Led Zeppelin and Billy Joel later on. Just music, man, you know what I mean? I found rock ’n’ roll with Jimi Hendrix and The Doors, Led Zeppelin like I said — just beautiful artists that made beautiful music.”