The Aristocrats

Tech: [Laughs.] But at the same time, that's my comfort zone. Just like Kansas City is my comfort zone, being out there on the road, I hate sitting down for too long, man, I hate it. It makes me get fat. I like to eat.

Tech: There's a lot of things that happened to us this year. We did the MTV Super Sweet 16, we got called for that.... That's when the young, 16-year-old rich kid calls someone to perform.... It was Long Beach, California, on the Queen Mary. My kids are big fans of that show, so they came with me. It's dope. They only had to drive, like, 30 minutes because I live, like, 30 minutes from there, in Sherman Oaks. Well, I have a home there....

Mac: I didn't get a DUI this year. That's the only highlight of my year. As long as that happened, everything else is fine.

Tech: Oh, a big highlight: The day after my birthday, I bought a brand-new Benz, an '08 Benz. And I don't even have a driver's license! Paid for it cash, man, $40,000. I'm'a have to show you a picture of it right now. [Produces cell phone.] It's sitting in my garage waiting for me to get a motherfuckin' license. It's wonderful, man. It's a C-Class Benz, and I was able to buy it thanks to touring and record sales.... That's special, man, I said I wasn't gonna buy a car until I could buy a Benz, and I did it this year.

Mac, did you make any exciting purchases?

Mac: I've just been paying off my house. But it's the same thing to me, just slowly touring, put a big dent in my house payment. Then I'll get a Benz next. I'll get a Benz helicopter.

Tech: What else happened this year? Alpha Dog came out on DVD. It's on HBO every night, and I get to hear my music all through that 'cause I did a lot of the music for that, me and Krizz Kalico [who has just arrived at this interview].

Mac: I was a featured MySpace artist. That was a good feeling. Little 15-year-old bitches....

Tech: We started our lawsuit this year.

O'Guin: Oh, shit!

[Conversation moves off the record.]

Tech: We had a lot of things happen this year.

Mac: I had a beer come out named after me — Mac's Beer.

O'Guin: Where's that at?

Mac: Flying Monkey Brewery. It's out in Olathe. You can get it on tap at a lot of places.

[Touring talk ensues until someone mentions Tech's hair.]

Tech: Guess what, Krizz! So I went to go take my mom money yesterday, and you remember when I told you Agony called — Agony is my son's mom — she said, "Why is my son's hair like that? Why is his skin like that?" I said, "What?" She said, "He don't look like regular black kids he goes to school with — his hair's different. His skin's different." I'm like, "I don't know. My mom's black, and my daddy's black, so I don't know." So it made me wanna know. I'm 36 years old, and all I know is, I'm black. So I go and take my money to my mama, and I tell her the story, her and Suzie. Suzie's got this long black hair, like my mama, like all my aunties. So I told her that I told Agony that we're black, and she says, "No, we're Chawtaw Indian and Creole." [Tech slams one palm on the table and looks around, wide-eyed.] "Thank you! Thank you for telling me!"

Kalico: But Creole's black, though, isn't it?

Tech: Creole's French and black, but what the fuck is Chawtaw Indian?

Mac and O'Guin: Choctaw.

Tech: But she said Chawtaw!

Kalico: That's just the hood curvature.

Tech: That's what I say after all my shit: chaw! [Laughs.] But wouldn't I have wanted to know something like this when I was little, man? They told me like I should know it. They said, "Look at your grandma. Didn't you remember she was Indian?" I'm like, OK, she looks like my mama.

Kalico: I thought mine was, too, but I turned out to look like a resident nigga.

Did you learn anything about yourself this year, Mac?

Mac: I'm part wolf. I didn't know. That's why I always go woo-oo-oof on my songs, 'cause I'm part wolf.

Tech: Do you go woo-oo-oof on your songs?

Mac: Sometimes. We always mix it way down so you can't hear.

Now that you've been in it a while, do you have any thoughts on the industry now?