HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD & TECH N9NE TOUR HITS NYC!
Photography By: John Campise
On November 8th, 2023 Tech N9ne and Hollywood Undead brought their massive rap/rock co-headlining Hollywood & N9ne Tour to one of New York City’s biggest underground venues, Terminal 5 with King ISO supporting.
First up was King ISO. King ISO, whose real name is Tarrel Gulledge, is a rapper from Omaha, Nebraska who emerged onto the scene in 2015. King ISO is known for writing music that focuses on mental health struggles and his personal battles that he fought in his life. In 2020, he signed to Tech N9ne’s label Strange Music and released his first album under it, and his third album overall, World War Me. His most recent album, iLLdren was just released on October 27th and one of its songs, “Feel” sits at #3 on Spotify with over 200,000 streams.
Before the king took the stage, DJ Doc got up on stage to hype the crowd up for what’s about to come and then introduced King ISO. As soon as ISO took the stage he immediately got into it with his insanely fast paced rapping skills.
King ISO wasn’t impressed with how the crowd was reacting so far so he proceeded to ask “Can we get a little crazy in this motherf*cker tonight??” to which the crowd responded with a loud roar. Taebo The Truth came out on stage and the two proceeded to bounce rapping off each other. It was so hard to keep track of who was going next with how fast they were going.
King ISO took the time to shout out the veterans and thanked them for their service and told the entire crowd to make some noise for them. The crowd screamed with their hearts out while DJ Doc played an air horn sound to hype the crowd in making even more noise. He dedicated the next song called “World War Me”, off his 2020 album of the same name, to people who struggle with their biggest battles which is themselves. The song changed the pace of the night for a little bit and definitely set a mood with me as someone who has had this struggle in the past. I saw fans at the front of the barrier and could tell they were really into this one as it hit a certain nerve within them.
King ISO shouted out everyone that struggles with their mental health, suicidal thoughts, and just overall, stuck inside their heads 24/7 and proceeded to dedicate the next two songs called “Nightmare” and “IMH” to them. These songs were slow ones as well and they were definitely the darkest songs of the set, for me anyway. During “IMH” everyone raised their hands out and waved them back and forth while they sang along to the chorus. This was definitely a song that resonated with a lot of people in the crowd.
Before getting into the last song, King ISO instructed the crowd “When I say ‘mental health’, y’all say ‘matters,’” and when he shouted out “MENTAL HEALTH” it was instantly met with the crowd shouting back in unison “MATTERS!” and they shouted it back 4 times. He then played his last song “Hypocrite” which is off his 2022 album, Get Well Soon. He dedicated the song to anyone who felt like they reached the point of giving up their fights and reassured them that he’s still standing and he’s there fighting with them. That really gave a comforting feeling and looking around, I know there were people who felt that.
King ISO’s set was a great way to start off the night. I really like how he touches on the subject of mental health and suicide and uses it in his music to inspire others to keep going and to never give up. There’s not many artists that touch on this subject the way he does and I hope he paves the way for more artists to do that.
KING ISO: FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | YOUTUBE | SPOTIFY
Next up was Hollywood Undead. Hollywood Undead was formed in 2005 in Los Angeles, CA and its members consist of J - Dog, Funny Man, Johnny 3 Tears, Charlie Scene and Danny Murillo. Matt "The Cat" Oloffson serves as their touring drummer.
Hollywood Undead turned this predominantly rap show into a rock show in the blink of an eye. They didn’t waste any time getting right into it with the song “CHAOS” off their most recent album Hotel Kalifornia. During the song, Scene and Danny switched between guitars after Scene played his verse while Danny sang the chorus. The next song they played was “California Dreaming” off their fifth studio album Five which was released in 2017. Funny Man and J- Dog alternated roles in rapping for the beginning portion while Johnny 3 Tears took the main verses towards the end of the song. Danny sang the chorus and played the keys throughout the song. The crowd loved this song a lot as they were singing along to every word Danny sang.
Going through the set, they reached their seventh song of the night “Comin’ in Hot” which is on their second album American Tragedy. For this one, Scene brought his son out to play guitar on it. The entire crowd chanted his son’s name to encourage him to come out. His son came out and he played a little guitar solo before going into the song. For a kid, he had excellent stage presence and had the skill of a professional guitar player. Towards the end of the song, Scene put his son on his shoulders and he still kept playing and didn’t even miss a note. During the song I heard Funny Man casually tell the crowd “tip your bartenders” and Scene told the crowd to scream which they did, closing out the song. It was a very nice and wholesome moment for Scene to have his son out there. I can definitely see him being a really good guitar player in the future.
The stage they had set up was scenic. They had three platforms in the back with the one in the middle being a little smaller than the other two. Funny Man emerged in the middle platform while the drummer was on the left platform and the turntables that had a cardboard sign that said “Hotel Kalifornia” where Danny would often be at on the right. The LED screens below them would often show the albums of each song that was being played and sometimes, they had the lyrics on them. In the back, going across the stage they had palm trees to represent the ones in California. The whole setup had a nice California vibe to the show which made it look like a piece of Los Angeles made a stop in New York City.
Towards the end of the set they played a nice cover melody of “Enter Sandman” and “Du Hast” by Metallica and Rammstein respectively. The crowd enjoyed the small cover, singing along to both songs. They closed their set out with 3 old school fan favorites; “Hear Me Now, “Everywhere I Go” and “Undead” from their first two albums Swan Songs and American Tragedy. The crowd went wild for them and a mosh pit broke out during “Everywhere I Go” and kept going all the way up to “Undead”. I saw people in the pit dressed up and wearing old school Hollywood Undead masks from the American Tragedy era.
Hollywood Undead had an explosive performance overall and that really made them steal the show. Definitely wanna catch them on a headliner of their own sooner than later.
HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD: WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | TIKTOK | YOUTUBE | SPOTIFY
Closing the night was the legendary Tech N9ne. Tech N9ne, whose real name is Aaron Dontez Yates, is from Kansas City, MO and he emerged onto the rap scene in 1999 in multiple rap groups before founding the record label Strange Music with Travis O'Guin. He has sold over two million albums and has had his music featured in film, television, and video games. In 2021, released a single titled “Face Off” which features Joey Cool, King ISO and former WWE wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and it currently sits at #1 on Spotify with over 180 million streams.
Tech N9ne takes the stage and gets right into it with “Stamina” and I gotta tell you, he had some stamina in rapping that short verse. I couldn’t even keep up with what he was saying but the skill to pull that off was amazing to see live. Tech N9ne had a full band with him on this run and it brought more energy out in the songs and made them sound more lively which is something I’ve always preferred over just having backing tracks.
The fifth song he played was “Straight Out The Gate” which features Krizz Kaliko and Serj Tankian (System Of A Down). Unlike its studio version, the song had a more rock vibe live and it was thanks to the backing band. The whole crowd sang Tankian’s chorus while it was being played in the backing tracks and the guitarist threw a nice, but subtle guitar solo in there to twist it up a bit.
Tech N9nes set had a lot of flashing lights and it was constantly changing colors, it almost looked like a light show with how crazy it was. At one point in the set, he came out wearing a clown mask with a red light on the nose and was rapping into a megaphone.
I’ve always been aware of Tech N9ne and the impact he has had on rap and hip/hop and I saw it for the first time here. His insane, but dynamic rhyme schemes and ability to rap at rapid speeds gave the crowd something to be amazed at. It’s clear Tech N9ne’s reputation precedes him.
