Aaron Dontez Yates (born November 8, 1971 in Kansas City, Missouri) better known by his stage name Tech N9ne (also, Tech N9NE), is an American rapper. His musical career has spanned 20 years, during which he has performed sold out shows from Los Angeles to New York City. He is also the best selling MC out of his hometown of Kansas City.

Tech N9ne is known for his wide range of collaborations with other well-known artists. In 1999, Tech N9ne was included on the track (and accompanying video) "The Anthem" from Sway & King Tech, two radio personalities based in California.

He started his rap career because of a dare from one of his friends in high school. Early in his career, Tech N9ne was a member of a group called "NNUTT HOWZE", which he pays tribute to in many of his lyrics by saying "Six, six, triple eight, forty six, ninety nine, three" (6688846993), which spells out NNUTT HOWZE on the touch pad numbers of a telephone. However, the group disbanded when they were dropped from their label, Perspective Records. Additionally, he saw glimpses of success as a member of the 57th Street Rogue Dog Villians - also a Kansas City-based group - with their single "Let's Get Fucked Up".

Tech N9ne is a member of The Regime, a large collective of MCs including Yukmouth, Dru Down, Gonzoe, Tha Realest and Messy Marv among various others. Fellow Kansas City rappers, BG Bulletwound and Grant Rice, are also included in the collective's roster. Tech N9ne is one of the original members of The Regime, as he has been with the group since its creation by Yukmouth in 1997.

In September 2008, Tech N9ne officially hit a milestone his career, recording over a million album sales to date, thanks to the release of his most recent double album, Killer. Despite the accomplishment, the rapper remembers the struggles of his career, up until this point. However, he wasn't surprised. "It just reminded me of all the work we done in the past, up until now.

It's something. It's dope," the rapper told BallerStatus.com. "I don't think it's sunken in yet. I've been celebrating for the last two days because that's a hell of an accomplishment. I've been planning success all my life. I'm not even a bit surprised, I'm happy about it. That just means I was right." He is now hard at work on his next album, Sickology 101: The Study of Being Sick.

Tech N9ne and Travis O'Guin co-own the record label Strange Music, which was created in 2002 after Tech N9ne's release from JCOR Entertainment. Under the label, Tech N9ne has released six albums, Absolute Power, Anghellic: Reparation, Vintage Tech, Everready (The Religion), Tech N9ne Collabos: Misery Loves Kompany, and Killer.

The label has signed several other performers and bands including Kutt Calhoun, Skatterman & Snug Brim, Project: Deadman which consists of Prozak, and producer Mike E. Clark, Big Krizz Kaliko, and Kabosh which is a joint effort by Tech N9ne and Kaliko where they will venture into the rock world.

Recently, Strange Music signed Dirty Thug Records, the label that houses Grave Plott (Killa C & Liquid Assassin), to a distribution deal. Strange Music has also signed Brooklyn-area rapper and member of La Coka Nostra, Ill Bill, to release his upcoming second album The Hour of Reprisal. There are rumors that Ill Bill has signed with Strange Music to join the actual label, although there has been no direct word as to whether his deal is for distribution only or not. Ill Bill later announced that Uncle Howie Records was effectively a sub-label of Strange now, similar to "like how Jay Z brought Roc-A-Fella to Def Jam."