Welcome to Strangeland is the twelfth studio album by American rapper Tech N9ne and the fourth installment in his "Collabos" series. It was released on the rapper's 40th birthday, on November 8, 2011, through Strange Music. Production was handled by Michael "Seven" Summers, Jomeezius The Genius, Plex Luthor, Beats 4 Days LLC and David Sanders II. It features contributions from 816 Boyz, ¡Mayday!, Brotha Lynch Hung, Jay Rock, Stevie Stone, Ces Cru, Courtney Kuhnz, Jay Da 3rd, Prozak, Young Bleed, Irv Da Phenom, Liz Suwandi and Magnum PI.
In the United States, the album debuted at number 21 on the Billboard 200, number 4 on both the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and the Independent Albums, and number 3 on the Top Rap Albums charts, with 26,000 copies sold in its first week.
Background In April 2011, Tech N9ne spoke about the album in an interview with 411mania.com, saying that the album would strictly feature everyone on the Strange Music label, only expanding to closely affiliated artists such as Irv Da Phenom and Ces Cru.411mania.com Interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqsSFTn3Clw Then in August 2011, Tech announced through Twitter that he was about to begin work on Strangeland and that producers would include Seven, Jomeezius The Genius, David Sanders II and ¡Mayday!. He also said that the album would most likely feature 18 tracks.Strangeland producers http://blog.therealtechn9ne.com/2011/08/social/tech-n9ne-confirms-producers-strangeland-klusterfuk-social/
On August 11, 2011, Tech N9ne posted an image on Twitter revealing a track called "Kocky" and featuring Kutt Calhoun and Jay Rock.Tech N9ne Reveals New Song Over Twitter [Social] | Tech N9ne On August 31, 2011, it was confirmed through a blog post that the album would be titled "Welcome to Strangeland" and that the release date was scheduled for November 8, 2011.Name Change and Release Date http://blog.therealtechn9ne.com/2011/08/interview-tech-n9ne/tech-n9ne-talks-welcome-strangeland-lil-wayne-eminem-interview/
It was also confirmed that there would be a collaboration between Tech and Prozak, who is a current member of Strange Music and collaborated with Tech on 2009's K.O.D.Prozak Confirms New Collaboration With Tech N9ne [Social] | Tech N9ne
The album was made available for pre-order from Strange Music's online store on September 9, 2011. The cover was revealed with the pre-order. When pre-ordered, the album came with a download of "Beautiful Music". It also confirmed several features on the album including Stevie Stone, ¡Mayday!, Brotha Lynch Hung, Young Bleed, Krizz Kaliko and Kutt Calhoun. Tech N9ne Collabos - Welcome to Strangeland CD - Pre Sale Ship 11/08/2011 Strange Music, Inc Store
On September 14, 2011, Tech mentioned on Twitter a collaboration between Prozak and Brotha Lynch Hung on a track called "My Favorite" as well as a song with Young Bleed titled "Come Dirty". He also confirmed earlier in the day that he had completed recording music for the album.
In an interview with Jomeezius The Genius, he confirmed that he produced a total of 6 tracks for the album and that 4 of them will definitely be on it.Jomeezius The Genius Speaks On Producing ‘Beautiful Music’ [SM Exclusive] | Tech N9ne
On October 13, Tech released the song "The Noose" featuring ¡Mayday!. Then on October 24, he released the song "Unfair". A Behind the Scenes film was also released on October 24 for the music video "Who Do I Catch". Several days later, Tech premiered the track "Slave".
The tracklist was revealed on October 19.
The first music video for the album, "Who Do I Catch" which was directed by Dan Gedman of Liquid 9, premiered on XXL magazine's website on November 5, 2011.
A deluxe edition of the album was made available from Best Buy that contained 3 bonus tracks ("I Need A Drink", "The Real Thing" and "EMJ") and a new Strangeland pendant. A deluxe edition was also made available through iTunes Store which contained the three bonus tracks available from Best Buy, and an additional bonus track ("Road Rage").
Track listing
Personnel
Aaron "Tech N9NE" Yates – lead vocals, A&R Samuel "Krizz Kaliko" Watson – additional vocals (tracks: 1–4, 6, 8–10, 13–15, 18) Jerita Streater – additional vocals (track 1) Mike "Ubiquitous" Viglione – additional vocals (track 3) Donnie "Godemis" King – additional vocals (track 3) Melvin "Kutt Calhoun" Calhoun Jr. – additional vocals (tracks: 4, 8, 13, 15, 18) Johnny "Jay Rock" McKinzie – additional vocals (tracks: 4, 18) Liz Suwandi – additional vocals (tracks: 5, 17) Courtney Kuhnz – additional vocals (tracks: 5, 11) Steven "Prozak" Shippy – additional vocals (track 6) Kevin "Brotha Lynch Hung" Mann – additional vocals (tracks: 6, 11) Bernardo "Bernz" Garcia – additional vocals (tracks: 7, 12, 18) Benjamin "Wrekonize" Miller – additional vocals (tracks: 7, 12, 18) Manzilla Marquis "Makzilla" Queen – additional vocals (track 8) Anita Hilanthan – additional vocals (track 8) Glenn "Young Bleed" Clifton Jr. – additional vocals (track 11) Stephen "Stevie Stone" Williams – additional vocals (tracks: 11, 18) Joe "Jay Da 3rd" Foutain – additional vocals (track 14) Steven Brown – additional vocals (track 14) Cherelle Smith – additional vocals (track 14) Barbara Word – additional vocals (track 15) April Watson – additional vocals (track 15) Crystal Watson – additional vocals (track 15) Mitchell "Irv Da Phenom" Irving Jr. – additional vocals (track 18) King "Magnum PI" Harris – additional vocals (track 18) OG Mugs – additional vocals (track 18) Cross Eyed Joe – additional vocals (track 18) Jose Ramirez – additional vocals (track 18) Brian "Scenario" Fraser – additional vocals (track 18) Lil Rae – additional vocals (track 18) Michael "Seven" Summers – producer (tracks: 1, 3, 5, 8, 11, 13, 15–19) Jomar "Jomeezius The Genius" Dogué – producer (tracks: 2, 6, 9, 10) David Sanders II – producer (track 4) Aaron "Plex Luthor" Eckhart – producer (tracks: 7, 12) Beats 4 Days LLC – producer (track 14) Ben Cybulsky – mixing Tom Baker – mastering Travis O'Guin – executive producer, A&R, marketing
Charts Chart (2011) Peakposition
References
External links