Tech N9ne grew up as a kid in Kansas City being haunted by the myth of the killer clown. The story went that a clown drove around town in a yellow van and kidnapped students at the local middle schools and high schools.
“Now we never heard about it on the news or anything so no kids were ever kidnapped, but it was like a fear,” he says in the debut episode of Myths Exposed. “When we would walk out or stay at school, after school activities, when you’re waiting on your ride, you see a yellow van, you go crazy. It went as far as maybe like 5th grade or so all the way up to like 10th grade, sophomore year, the legend of the killer clown or the myth of the killer clown, just the mystique of the killer clown on how that myth made people shiver.”
When he became a rapper, Tech N9ne took on the persona of the killer clown through his sharp lyrics and demanding stage presence.
“I became what I feared,” he says.
He continues that the first time he put on his trademark face paint was in 1994 while he was on tour.
“I noticed when I was out there with that face paint, it was different from when I didn’t have it on when I was on stage,” he says. “I felt more free to do whatever the fuck I wanted to do or say whatever the fuck I wanted to say. As time went on, it started to feel like a shield, not to mention it started to get more tribal like my ancestors over the years, but just having it on my face made me feel like I can bring whatever I had inside that I wouldn’t do in a normal form, out. More vulgar, more forceful with my words and no fear at all.”
He says that the killer clown brought him full circle from being a little kid scared of yellow vans to now performing for kids.
“It doesn’t seem like it scares kids at all,” he says, “’cause kids come to my show. It seems more like it scares grownups now, Tech N9ne does, and that’s fucking weird.”