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Rittz And Krizz Kaliko Keep It Strange With Their New Albums And Tour

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Strange Music, the Missouri-based independent record label that has gotten plenty of attention over the last few years for its business savvy and its high-powered, hip-hop-centric roster, has a lot figured out. When it comes to touring, merchandising, album sales, and more, the label has not only survived, but thrived during a perilous time for the music business overall.

The strategies developed by the label are in full force on their current tour, "Tech N9ne's Independent Powerhouse Tour." It features six of the label's acts, including label co-founder (and Forbes Cash King) Tech N9ne. Two of them, the speed-rapping powerhouse Rittz and Tech's longtime onstage foil Krizz Kaliko, have brand new albums to share with the crowd. Rittz' Top of the Line is out May 6th, and Kaliko's GO was released a few weeks prior on April 8th.

The audience for the tour, and for Strange releases in general, is very broad, going well beyond the normal hip-hop crowd.

“The thing about Strange Music is that you don’t even have to like rap to like us," explains Kaliko. "We get a lot of people saying, ‘I’m a metalhead, but I love you guys’ or ‘I love horrorcore, but I love your songs when you sing.’ We infect the masses, no matter what type of music you like.”

Krizz Kaliko. Photo courtesy of Audible Treats.

One particular crew that has been showing up in spades are fans known as "Juggalos" – followers of the group Insane Clown Posse. Their relationship with Strange dates back over a decade. Kaliko suggests that it's because of a shared affinity for "darker content in the music."

"ICP hit us up to perform at their Gathering of the Juggalos [annual festival], and I was like, ‘What is a Juggalo?’," he remembers. "We saw these kids, and they were kind of the outcasts of the world. They loved us, because we’re kind of the outcasts of the world, too. They adopted us as people they looked up to besides ICP. Our music is totally different, but we share their fanbase. Even yesterday, we were in Charlotte, North Carolina, and most of the crowd was Juggalos."

The Independent Powerhouse offers a VIP package, which includes a meet-and-greet and a whole bunch of merchandise, from a ring to car mats to playing cards – you can find the complete list here. Seeing this, Rittz got ideas on how to build his own brand, Clintel [pronounced "clientele"].

"These kids, when they get a pre-order package to the show, get all this merchandise," Rittz says. "Merchandising is so important, and Strange has just got it down to a t. So I’m trying to take that model into my own and take it to my fan base and slowly start building my fan base, and my brand as well. I think people want something to stand for and something to belong to. So I’m trying to build the Clintel thing up."

The rapper's initial plans for Clintel include a clothing line and "vape juice" (liquid for vaporizers), both for sale via the brand's website.

"I started teaming up with TVC Liquids, in Canada, and we’re doing Clintel Liquids," Rittz tells me. "I'm also doing the clothing. It takes a long time to get started, but I’m starting it now. And those are all things that I’ve learned from Strange. I'm one hundred percent involved. I'm picking out the designs from the designers, paying the designers, picking out every single thing."

Rittz has visions of expanding Clintel merchandise beyond those two products, envisioning shot glasses and other products in the near future. Whatever he makes, though, he wants it to stay on-brand, which is something he learned from friend and fellow rapper Yelawolf, who sells a lot of merchandise under his Slumerican label. 

"They have their own look, their own style, their own thing," Rittz says of the brand. "Slumerican can make leather biker belts, but they might not make a ring or socks like a Strange would do. So for me, I’ve got to find my niche. What kind of products do I put out?"

Kaliko, meanwhile, is excited to bring his material from GO – a pop-friendly album featuring far more singing than rapping – to Strange's core audience. Unsurprisingly, he has Tech N9ne's full support. Krizz tells me about a conversation the two had after he performed several of the new songs at a recent Strange showcase for radio programmers and media.

"After the showcase we did in Kansas City, Tech said, ‘Some people look at you as my hypeman. Some people look at you as a singer. Some people look at you as a rapper. But when I saw you on the stage, I was like, this dude’s a f*****g star,’" Kaliko recalls. "He’s like, ‘You are such a superstar, dude. We gotta do whatever we gotta do to get you there. People need to hear these big records that you have, and people need to hear your message, too. It’s worthy of the world’s ear.'”

As for Rittz, after signing all of the 4,500 CD pre-orders himself ("It sounds like a small number, but when you get a tub full of booklets, it’s a nightmare," he laughs), he remains excited about building up anticipation his new album while on tour. 

"The touring exposes me to so many fans, especially as an opener for a bigger artist," he says. "It’s opening me up to people that were either on the fence with me, or didn’t necessarily buy my first two albums. Now they’re seeing me live. When I signed to Strange, they may have seen me come and go. Now they’re like, 'Man, I like Rittz, and he’s got an album coming out. I’m gonna go ahead and get that.'"