Given the release of the Seepage EP and the positive response it has garnered from fans, we thought it’d be good to hear from the man himself what he thinks about the EP and the acclaim that it has generated. In between shows on the Independent Grind Tour and Meet and Greets, we were able to get Tech on the phone to share his thoughts. Here’s what he had to say.

A lot of response from Seepage has been pretty positive–

Yeah I’ve been reading everything on therealtechn9ne.com and thesiccness.net for the last three days.

Oh yeah?

I’ve been reading everything.

It seems that your core fanbase really loves the darker stuff. How does that make you feel? Does it ever make you feel limited in what you can do in terms of your output?

I think I did it to myself by being inside-out so I can’t cry about it, you know what I’m saying? Obviously, if I couldn’t do that kind of music I wouldn’t. I guess I’m good at it: the stuff that I want to get away from. So it’s like, I can’t be a crybaby. Maybe I should start talking about Seepage, because I’m going to continue to get mad when people ask me and they don’t really understand so it’s like…I can’t cry about it if I’m the one who put it out there! You know what I’m sizzlin’? Why the fuck am I going to cry about it? I just got to take it in and realize that they love me for the crazy things that I say and the crazy things I’ve been saying since Anghellic or even before that.

Did any claims that you went soft inspire any of the material?

It pissed me off. It pissed me off before I went to Europe–and with all the bad news on top of it, that fueled me to go ahead and make it. But yes, it pissed me off, and when I say “you fucktards” it’s dedicated to those people who said I was going soft on The Gates Mixed Plate when it was an album where I wanted to relax, you know what I’m sizzlin’? They didn’t peep that they just put it like “Oh he’s whack. He’s sucking mainstream dick. Oh he’s losing his touch” and everything. In “Seepage” when I say “fucktards” it’s dedicated to those people who said they weren’t looking forward to seeing my next album because I was going mainstream and sucking mainstream dick when I told them that the mainstream was going to go me.

It seemed to me that you let people know well ahead of time that you were just going to be kicking it with The Gates Mixed Plate.

Yeah.

And yet they still responded the way they did.

It pissed me off hella! After that I felt like I had something to prove to my fans. I always feel like I have to impress my fans, even people on the siccness, zero media…a lot of people that usually say the negative stuff: those people, as much as it pisses me off sometimes with what the fuck they say, they motivate me to do something even harder. I’m going to always need people like Zero Media to not agree with everything I fucking do. I mean, that’s just me talking real even though I don’t like a lot of shit that they say.

How did you come up with the name Seepage? What does that mean to you?

If you look at the K.O.D. cover, I have black tar substance coming out of my hands. That seepage is coming out of my eye on the cover.

When did you record these? Was it after you got back from Europe?

Yes.

Tell me about “Alucard”. A lot of fans are digging the hell out of that song. What does it mean to you and what does the title mean?

“Alucard” is Dracula backwards and the reason I say I’m Dracula is because I’ve been in this rap game since it started and I’ve seen the rise and fall of a lot of MCs and I’m still here on the incline. So I feel like a vampire, Dracula: everlasting life in this music game, you know what I’m sizzlin’? At the end I said names like 40-water (E-40), Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Outkast, because I feel like all these other people have been around just like me and still on the incline.

Click here to purchase your copy of The Seepage EP on iTunes.