‘He’s always been family, no matter what’: Tech N9ne and E-40 return to ‘home away from home’ for two-night run

Between yet another run of shows with West Coast legend E-40 and a return to the Knitting Factory stage he has known so well, Tech N9ne’s two-night Spokane residency looks to be a true homecoming.

As veterans of the game, Aaron Yates (who goes by Tech N9ne) and Earl Stevens (who goes by E-40) have been on more tours together than Yates can count, but it’s been a number of years since their last run. When the co-headline “Strange Wid’ It Tour” came to fruition, he couldn’t have been more excited.

“I was happy that they even brought it up again, for us to hit the road again, because it was so successful last time, I can’t believe it’s taken this long to get back out there together,” Yates said. “Both pioneers in the game; it’s a blessing.”

In the mid-90s, when Yates was signed to a fresh record deal, Stevens was a member of his family-made hip-hop group the Click. The two first met when they performed in Yates’ beloved hometown of Kansas City, Missouri, at a club called the Palace.

Although Yates and his trademark chopper sound was up and coming, he was well aware of Stevens, his Bay Area sound and the debut 1991 EP, “Mr. Flamboyant” – the title track, in particular.

“That was E-40’s first song that I’d heard,” Yates said. “E-40 took this place by storm, way back then.”

The two kept winding up in the same rooms until working together with a co-headline tour. The 20-year anniversary of their first official collaboration, “Jellysickle” from Yates’ album “Everready (The Religion),” is approaching in November.

“We did music so well, I knew it was coming sooner or later, that we’d tour,” Yates said. “We do music really well together, but we do music on different spectrums. He used to call me ‘October 31st’ because I like darkness, you know, Mr. Halloween … it’s a funny marriage, musically, but it works.”

After decades of musical collaboration and tours, the two found out they are actually related. While out on the road, Yates received a phone call from his cousin Christopher in Kansas City, who told Yates, “I want you to talk to somebody.” He proceeded to hand the phone over to an all too familiar voice that said, “What’s up family.”

“I was like, ‘Who’s this?’ and he said, ‘Who you think it is?’” Yates recalled. “I said, ‘Well, there’s only one person in the world that sounds like that, and that’s E-40.”

Turns out, Yates and Stevens are actually blood relatives, most likely third cousins. While playing a show in Kansas City, Stevens stopped by a family house and realized Christopher was their shared cousin.

“Last time we toured, we didn’t know that we were family,” Yates said. “This tour, we’re aware that we’re kinfolk. It always made sense why I liked him so much, because he’s always been family, no matter what.”

Now, this spring co-headline tour will take the two back out on the road and to places they know so well, such as Spokane’s Knitting Factory for two back-to-back nights next week. Yates is so familiar with the venue that he still remembers when it was known as the Big Easy Concert House prior to the 2007 acquisition and rebranding. He first started performing in the Lilac City when he “still had spiked red hair” and even had a girlfriend in town at one point.

Yates used to perform in Spokane like clockwork, often holding shows multiple times a year. Although it’s been a number of years since the last Tech N9ne show in his Inland Northwest “home away from home,” Yates is excited to return.

“They had stories about me having a house there, but I never did, that’s how much I was there,” Yates said. “It’s humongous, man. I’ve been there, I’ve partied there, it’ll be like a family reunion. Like it always is.”

Although details are still slim, Yates is particularly excited about his upcoming record – which he said he was working on in the studio just before stepping away for this interview.

The producers are all from Kansas City and have worked with artists like Rihanna, Usher, Justin Timberlake, Cardi B and GloRilla.

“I feel like I’m working on the biggest album I’ve ever done in my career, and that’s crazy to say when you’re Tech N9ne and you’ve got 26 or more albums,” Yates said. “This seems like a new beginning. In my 41 years I’ve been doing music.

“A new beginning. Ain’t that crazy?”