Tech N9ne On Lil Wayne Waking Up His Slept-On Image, "It's Time To Clique Us Up"

Midwest rap veteran Tech N9ne recently reflected on Grammy-winning rapper Lil Wayne publicly co-signing his music while incarcerated last year and how his slept-on status has awakened.

Reflecting on Wayne's August 2010 radio interview, Tech credited the rapper for upping his profile.

"When [Lil] Wayne said my name on an interview with Funkmaster Flex from RIker's Island, when he said he wanted to work with Andre 3000 and Tech N9ne, I knew that was going to awaken a lot of other people that wouldn't usually look my way," Tech explained in an interview. "I thought, 'I already got my fan base. It's time to clique us up for the new fans coming in, to teach all the new fans how to become technicians.' So I came up with a pledge." (Backstage W/ Brooklyn Martino)

A month after Wayne's co-sign, Tech revealed his visit to see the rapper while locked up.

"If anybody got anything bad to say bout Wayne, don't say it to me cause that's a real n---a I just visited in there" Tech tweeted September 10th. (Tech N9ne's Twitter)

Tech previously talked about learning of Wayne's interest to record with him.

"His people have been contacting us already, so I'm anxious to see what he sends me," N9ne said in an interview. "I'm hearing his camp is all ready to send over some music. And I'll be in NewYork soon so hopefully I can visit him before he gets out. I just want to thank Wayne for even mentioning me. I've been following his career since he started. Just watching him evolve--he was always clever with the rhymes. My own quest was always to get my music out to everybody in [the] world and working with Wayne is truly a way to get it out there." (VIBE)

While locked up on a gun conviction last year, Wayne revealed his admiration for the rap vet.

"I've been saying to myself that I really want to do a song with either Andre 3000 or my man...Tech N9ne," he said. "Other than that, I've been really trying to do a song with this little dude, this boy Weezy. That boy Weezy, he's stupid [laughs]." (Hot 97)