Steve 'Flash' JuonTech N9ne has a master plan for the music industry, and it’s so large that even havingAbsolute Power isn’t enough for this man – he has to have MORE POWER on top of that. Don’t worry though, it’s the consumers who benefit from this monopoly. Tech N9ne put his “More Power” DVD on first release copies of his brand new CD as a bonus disc. He’s not the first artist to go this route. Eminem and Pacewon both included bonus discs of video material with their new CD’s in 2002, and Kurupt included a bonus disc of new music with his “G-TV” DVD. This DVD is so large though that it’s the first time RapReviews.com has dedicated a seperate review JUST to a bonus disc.
The main menu of Tech N9ne’s DVD is a smorgasboard in and of itself. The layout is set up to look like a television set, with each section being another “channel” you can tune in. It starts with the photo shoot for the cover of his new album and follows with three live performances. Then he goes in the studio to record two seperate vocal layers for his song “Imma Tell” – a slow rap and an indescribably fast one that could even give Twista a run for the Guinness; then his homey Big Krizz records the hook for the song “I’m a Playa.” It’s worth noting that the DVD was mastered with chapter breaks in these performances so you can skip to the parts you want – a very nice touch.
If you ever went to see the lengths an artist will go to to makes his album a success, the sixth section “Anghellic Art – Behind the Scenes” takes you to the costuming for that album’s cover, which Tech did HIMSELF – no body doubles for this dedicated artist. Next is the “Slackercam” showing Ben Mor’s (former artist from Blood of Abraham) behind the scenes direction of Tech N9ne’s video “Slacker.” This section as much as any gives you a behind the scenes look at the man behind Tech. Even though it’s a serious shoot and money is obviously involved, he’s still managing to joke around and have fun – after all he’s rapping on a mic in the BATHROOM. Somebody should tell the cheerleaders they were standing in the wrong order to spell “N-9-N-E” though, although as a “slacker” that may have been the point. 🙂
It doesn’t end with the ninth channel and the “TechTalk” interview though. If you select the actual channel knob itself with your DVD remote, you get bonus footage of Tech talking trash and laughing it up. If you select the volume control knob, you get a selection of six bonus songs not included on the CD; including a bonus on top of THAT – a song by his homey Kutt featuring Big Krizz called “Walk With a Limp” from an album coming out in January 2003. It’s truly mind-boggling how much extra material they crammed on to this DVD disc, which was given away FOR FREE with the album. Quite honestly, the quality of this bonus DVD is so good they could have released it seperately in a longbox and sold it to Tech N9ne’s fans.
The bottom line? Any two or three parts “More Power” would be a really superb giveaway as an extra disc for the fans, but ALL of them put together is an incredible artist retrospective that rivals the ones you pay $19.99 and up for in the stores. Some people would say that’s insane (Tech himself might agree, he likes to court the reputation he’s nuts) but it’s just his humble way of giving something back to the fans who supported him through the ups and downs of his career. Kansas City is about to be put on the map by N9ne in a MAJORway.