Кори тейлор tech n9ne

Hip-hop artist Tech N9ne has earned tremendous respect within the rap community, but with his genre-bending experimentations, he’s conjured some serious love from the metal world, as well. On Tech’s upcoming 15th studio album, Special Effects, the rapper collaborated with Slipknot’s Corey Taylor for “Wither,” a track we’re debuting exclusively here at Loudwire (listen below).

The near five-minute track is a blast, with vocal parts shared between Tech and Taylor throughout. Corey Taylor’s full vocal range is used with surgical precision.

Tech N9ne recently dropped by our offices to tell us about “Wither,” and you can check out our chat below, followed by the song itself.

Tell me about ‘Wither’

When you’re a natural nice guy, people around you pick at you with so much with bulls–t that you start getting tired. The good guy starts withering away. So when I was explaining it to Corey, I was like, ‘I’m slowly turning into an a–hole and I like it.’ “I don’t care, they say my angel glow is subsiding / I’m sliding outside of these high-beams and I won’t dare / Try to mend this tare / I love I’m fading / The good once there is just dying / So I’m withering away and I’ma trigger when I spray / And I’m attacking everybody till the feeling’s gone!” So much love to get disrespect in return. You gonna wither away and be like, ‘F— you.’

I know a lot of people who wish they didn’t care about people so much.

Me too! I always say that. I wish I didn’t care. I wish I didn’t give a f—. I said that about so many relationships too. I wish I didn’t give a f—.

So it’s about embracing that dark heart you haven’t been able to connect with, but now you’re starting to feel it.

You’re not born with that s–t, that’s some s–t you acquire over time. People turn on you, man. For money, over women, all kinds of s–t. A lot of s–t that will make you want to wither away. That good guy image and that good guy feeling that you’ve had your whole life; people run that s–t down. That song was necessary. Corey heard what I was saying, “All my life I love with people / So passive back then I thought i’d be above this evil / My tolerance level then was of doves and eagles / Currently I’ve hit ground zero, under bugs and beetles.”

Corey, other than his voice just being great while utilizing his whole range; he’s a guy that can relate to that. When he was in the studio recording his vocals, were you with him?

No, I sent it to him.

Okay, then after talking with Corey about the song, did he know exactly how to approach it?

Yes. He knew, man. He said he loved the title off the top and I let him hear the verses and it was like, ‘Wow, I got ideas. I can do it like this!’ I’m like, ‘F— yes!’ It was a while after that before he recorded it. I was like, twiddling my thumbs like, ‘Oh, I really need this, I really need this.’

The day before they were about to go fly, he sent that [vocal track] back and he said, ‘I can feel the wrong coming up through the cracks of my heart again.’ I’m like, ‘Wow!’ I didn’t even know, dude! It’s like, it touched him the same way, I guess. He said, “What am I supposed to do? / Do I just keep faking f—ing forsaking? / Everything I am, another pissed motherf—er with a fist and a plan? / Oh, but you’re making me do this / I can scream while you stand there clueless / If you’re listening I’ve made up my mind /
Take another step and I’ll snap this time!” I’m like, ‘Damn!’

It’s all that emotional back and forth that I think a lot of real artists tend to have within them. Someone like Corey, who went through some dark stuff, he’s a really awesome guy. Super nice, got his life back on track. He’s the type of guy who can just tap into that darkness without having to necessarily make it a part of who he is again. Is that something that you two connect with?

Well, I write my darkness as it happens. I wish that I didn’t have so much of it. It brings me the f— down, man. I write the s–t as it happens. Everything that’s happening in my life is on that album right now, waiting to be let out to people on May 4 and some people are not going to like it. If you do something to me, you can bet that if it affects me in my heart, that it’s going down on paper and I’ll be able to say the same thing to your face.

If I wasn’t withering away I couldn’t have wrote that song. I couldn’t have done it. I hate that I have those kinds of songs to write about, but it makes for good music. When I see it come out, all that emotion, my girl listens to, “My lady backin’ out cause I’m becoming really mean and vicious / Watching me wither, how can I give her / Blood when I been so tainted round these b-tches” She hears that and is like, ‘F—, I’m losing this motherf—er.” I’m slowly withering away. I don’t know how to stop it and I don’t know if I want to stop it, that’s the scary part.

I’ve got people in my phone right now trying to call me that don’t deserve to have my love around them because how bad they talk to me. Being my blood, you don’t talk to me like you’re gonna come and kill me. I’m in Australia and I read how Mick [Thomson’s] brother stabbed him in the head and I’m looking at this s–t like, ‘I can’t go through this with my family, man. I’ve just got to stay away because your blood will kill you. What if Mick died, man? Paul [Gray] was enough. What the f—?

I’ve been a maggot since 1999. To actually have those major features like that on a hip-hop album, man? You know, I’m sizzlin’. This album should be called ‘Genre Bender’ because anything we took to the hilt, if we’re going to do the darkness, we went to the darkest.

Listen to the exclusive premiere of Tech N9ne’s ‘Wither’ featuring Corey Taylor in the player below. Be sure to grab Tech N9ne’s Special Effects on May 4. To pre-order the album, click here.

Tech N9ne feat. Corey Taylor, “Wither”

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