Grant Rice His Own Hypeman (published July 2008 by Demencha Magazine)

By Chris Mills | September 12, 2008 at 9:13 pm | 2 comments | Uncategorized

Several famous hip hop artists got their start by being the hype man for other acts before their own solo careers took off. Tupac was the hype man for Digital Underground back in the day, before selling millions of records as a solo rapper. Even Flava Flav, hype man for Public Enemy, has gone on to host his own television show on MTV.

Enter former hype man for Tech N9ne: Grant Rice. Straight out of Kansas City’s East Side, Rice has earned the respect of everyone from Just Blaze to Yukmouth to Power 106 in LA, while pumping up hundreds, possibly thousands, of packed venues at Tech N9ne shows around the world. Tech arguably has the most energetic live show of any hip hop artist out there, local or non, which Grant Rice has taken lessons from.

But being as successful as at Tech has been on the independent, Strange Music, Rice has built a solid knowledge of the music business while playing the background role, and has been taking notes, in a sense. Poised to launch the new label, Three Crowns, with some of his associates, Grant Rice has a ton of things to be excited about, but discusses some real life stuff in this interview also. But it’s all good though, because for G-Rice, he’ll no longer be stage diving for Tech N9ne, because now he’s poised to make an even bigger splash in the national hip hop scene for dolo.

Chris Mills: So tell us about the new label, Three Crowns…

Grant Rice: Three Crowns is a label that I started with Brandon who was in the insurance game. I had heard of Brandon around the city because of mutual people that I know. Brandon owned an insurance company that was in the Fortune 500 for like three years in a row, and then last year it was a platinum 400 company, (and he was one of) Forbes top CEOs under the age of 30. Brandon said he was a fan of my music and we got to talking. (At the time), I was in the middle of this Atlantic deal right when the industry was turning and they were giving out these 360 deals, which are terrible deals. And I told him I’ve been in the game and I’ve turned down like three different deals, and I was about to get offered another one. Then Brandon and I came up with this concept of starting this label. (We wanted to) do it independent, because nowadays, the difference between an independent and a major is very slim when you grow your independent to a certain level. I mean, fuck, Jim Jones was an independent artist and he’s almost as big as any major artist, to a certain degree. When you become an independent and you gain so much stature, majors will offer you more money. So Brandon and I started Three Crowns, and we said we were gonna have a year of development. With Strange Music, we took about a year and a half for development, and we recorded our asses off, and now we’re getting to the point (with Three Crowns) where we’re starting to do some interviews and make everything visible.

CM: On your myspace page, you described your music as “Jesus writes it and the devil performs it.” What did you mean by that?

GR: I think I was in the studio with Kutt (Kalhoun). And he said to me, “When you write, you write from your heart and you’re really sensitive and passionate. But when you get on the mic and deliver it, it’s still got this edge.” I’m still on some street shit. It’s kind of like Tech’s version of Anghellic…an angel being pulled two ways. It’s kind of like that.

CM: I’m wondering what your live shows are like, since you were Tech’s hype man for so long…

GR: From ‘98 through ‘05, I was doing shows with Tech. Tech to me is hands down one of the best on stage. And we developed that show. The first show I did with Tech, he just put me on stage. And that’s the same thing he did with Spin (Spinstyles, who is Tech’s DJ). That’s Tech’s way. We did the same thing with Kutt, just to see what he was gonna be like on stage. When we first got Kaliko (Krizz Kaliko), he was an r&b dude. After being on stage and doing a bunch of clubs, people started coming up to us saying, “Yo, we need you guys to do bigger shows.” We started rehearsing, and I mean, we rehearsed our fuckin’ ass off. Everybody fed off the energy. (The other guys) were all doing synchronized steps, and I was like, “Man, I ain’t black! I ain’t got the rhythm to do all the moves and shit.” So we’d always joke around about that shit. Tech told me to be focused and keep your energy a hundred percent. And he always told me to never scream, always keep your vocals in the same pitch. You gotta look like you’re really performing, but you gotta keep your voice calm.

CM: You have a line on one of your songs that says “I’m half B-Real, half Pete Nice.” What did you mean by that?

GR: I said, “I’m G Rice – half B-Real, half Pete Nice.” I’m half-Hispanic and half-white. I saw B-Real rapping the way he was and I was like, “Yo, I can get in the game.” Because back when I started rapping, there was nobody white or Hispanic in the game. Like when I rapped, people were like, “Yo, you heard the Mexican or the white boy?” And Pete Nice was of 3rd Bass with MC Search. They were my favorite rappers because they were Hispanic or white and they could really rap.

CM: Do you guys have plans to get more artists on Three Crowns?

GR: Yes. Actually, right now we’re talking to BG Bullet Wound about putting his album out. Another artist I’d like to bring over here is Seven’s artist, XV. X is pretty hot right now. I’ve talked with Seven, and he’s really involved with this label also. So, we’re gonna talk to XV. Another artist that I’d like to bring over here is Stik Figa. I’ve recorded some songs with him. And Stik is like really hype over the whole situation. I was telling Seven the other day that like, fuck, Stik’s one of my favorite MCs in the game. The other one is Joe Good. We’re talking to distributors right now. We met with Travis (CEO of Strange Music), and Tech was like “All that stuff (with Grant Rice and Travis) is water under the bridge.” So we’re talking with them about distribution. And we’re talking with this guy Damon at 101 D who heard “Hallelujah” through Jeremy Miller (executive at The Source). 101 D offered me a deal, and they do like all the Game’s mixtapes, all the Gangsta Grillz. A lot of DVDs too. They did the Beatle’s Anthology. So those are the people I wanna mess with.

CM: I was talking with Spin and he said that you’re in the process of rebuilding your fan base.

GR: With Tech, I had a certain fan base. A lot of Hispanic people latched on to me. And then I did the Empire group, which was like a collective of different MCs, who all hung out together. So we recorded a bunch of songs with Luna, Panic and S.G. (around 2004), and they all started to have this feel to them. Mike Savage and Shorty, from the Morning Show, are both friends of mine. Mike came on and was like, “Just let me manage you guys.” We ended up putting an album together, shot the artwork, and it came together really, really well. Then we started getting played on Power 106 in LA, by Kool-Aid. The Baker Boyz picked up on it. Next thing you know a bunch of people from LA start calling. Overnight, it kind of like, took off. Mike (Savage) called me and said our shit was in the top 10 on Power 106. I was like “What?” After that distributors started calling us, Spanish MTV started calling us, started doing radio stuff. We were in LA doing a Cinco De Mayo show and talking to labels out there. (That show fell through). Then Empire kinda sizzled out. Right after that I was caught up in an indictment, and they were questioning me on this murder charge, and my brother was on America’s Most Wanted. I went completely underground. And I went down to Atlanta and I was staying with Bubba (Bubba Sparxxx). I was like, “Fuck the music.” People started wondering like, “Come on man, you gonna do anything?” It wasn’t fair to the fans that I wasn’t giving them something. I think people out there have the wrong impression of me. They think I’m with Tech N9ne, or I’m a Hispanic-type of rapper. The spectrum is so much bigger. We’re not really redirecting the fan base, but redirecting what they think I am. And I’m trying to put them on the right track (as to) who I am. What they have is just a smidgen of what this really is, you know what I mean?