Tech N9ne

In 1995, Tech N9ne married his girlfriend, Lecoya LeJuene. They had two daughters, Alyia and Reign Yates, both of whom grew up to be singers. The couple separated in 2005. In 2015, ten years after their initial separation, Tech N9ne filed for divorce, which was granted in November 2017.

Tech N9ine also had a son named Dontez Yates, born out of his liaison with Agonee, one of his co-musicians at ‘Nnutthowze’. He received his custody because Agonee was found to be schizophrenic.

Trivia

Tech N9ne was born as Aaron Dontez Yates on November 8, 1971 in Kansas City, Missouri. His father, Carlton Cook, a man of low morality, lived in Los Angeles, where he worked in the Police Department (LAPD). He abandoned the family when Aaron was very young, but often visited Kansas City.

Aaron remembers seeing his biological father for the first time when he was five years old. Whenever he came to Kansas City he would put up with his own mother, whom Aaron called May Ma and threw lavish parties. As a child, Aaron enjoyed them very much.

Aaron was brought by her mother, Maude Sue Yates-Khalifah, a proficient musician, in strict Christian tradition. They lived in a small house in the Wayne Miner projects with his grandmother and a few aunts and uncles. Liquors and parties were taboos in their home.

As a young boy, Aaron was greatly disturbed by his mother’s epilepsy and lupus, from which she had been suffering since she was 18. In his distress, he began to search for ‘God’, roaming around in the abandoned buildings with his best friend, Brian Dennis, hoping to film a ghost.

When Aaron was twelve year old, his mother married Abdul Hassan Khalifah, a Muslim gentleman. Thereafter, he moved to a new house with his mother and stepfather, eventually having two half-brothers, Hakim Khalifah and Kiraameen Khalifah, and one half-sister, Basimah Khalifah, from this union.

Living with his grandmother, Tech N9ne for the first time enjoyed freedom to pursue his goal. It also introduced him to a darker side of life. Nonetheless, he continued to dance and sing, attracting the attention of a girl named Tanya, who would later become known as rapper Sole.

Tanya invited him to join her at a rap convention in New Orleans, eventually providing him with his first break. In late 1991, when he was just 20 years old, he became a member of ‘Black Mafia’, a rap group formed in the same year.

In 1993, he moved to Los Angeles with few of his fellow musicians including Dynomack and Mark Hill. There they were offered their first recording deal with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Unfortunately, it failed to materialize and they returned to Kansas City crestfallen.

One day in 1993, after they had returned to Kansas City, they were talking about the missed opportunity at Los Angeles. All of a sudden, Mark Hill said that they could not do anything because they were already in the ‘Nut House’. It gave Tech N9ne a new idea.

He called his childhood friend, Brian Dennis, declaring that he was going to form a new group called ‘Nnutthowze’. Eventually the group was formed and they did a few shows in their region before it broke up.

Tech N9ne is best known for his eleventh studio album, ‘All 6's and 7's'. Released on July 7, 2011, it sold 55,715 copies in the first week and debuted at number 4 on the US Billboard 200, peaking at number 1 on the Billboard's Top Rap Albums chart.

’Something Else’, released on July 30, 2013, is another of his memorable work. Broken up into three portions, Earth, Water and Fire, the album was not only critically acclaimed, but was also a commercial success, selling 58,300 copies in the first week alone.