Futuristic Reveals Tech N9ne Collaboration on New Album, Drops Pop-Punk Banger ‘Dead to Me’ With Loveless (Exclusive)

For well over a decade, Arizona-based rapper Futuristic has been cranking out hit after hit, linking up with other artists such as NF and Layzie Bone along the way. Now, he has his sights set on carving out himself a space on the rock charts with a brand new album of pop-punk and rock bangers, including his newest single, “Dead to Me,” which features L.A. duo Loveless. The new album will also feature Magnolia Park and Ryan Oaks — two acts making massive waves in the pop-punk scene lately — as well as legendary rap artist Tech N9ne, who Futuristic has collaborated with in the past.

Recently, PopCulture.com had a chance to talk with Futuristic — real name Zachary Lewis Beck— about his upcoming project, which he revealed sort of came together by accident. “I’m so focused on my own mission, usually, that I’m aware of what a lot of people do, I have to be, but at the same time, I’m so focused on my own mission that I actually wasn’t planning to make the music I’m making right now.” He explained that he was working with producer Boy Lord and the pair were crafting some rock/R&B fusion tunes that essentially may never see the light of day. “It was cool rock guitars, but more R&B stuff. So I have a whole album that’s never going to come out that sounds like that.”

Eventually, Futuristic connected with Phoenix-based rockers This Modern, which catapulted his musical creativity into a new stratosphere. “I went to a session with them and I’ve just never felt more natural making music. It was weird. They were playing me stuff. We started from scratch. They were just playing licks.”

The first song to emerge from their collaborative session was “Dead to Me,” and along with it came the self-assurance that Futuristic was on the right track. “That was the first one we did that day. It was just like, This feels really right,” he said. “It feels like all my hip-hop stuff is very energetic. So the R&B stuff, I never had a great time performing it because I’m always bouncing around and going crazy. So slowing it down was hard for me when I would perform. But then when I made this, I’m like, Oh, this feels really good. So I pretty much made this whole album in a week and a half, two weeks.”

Another special element of Futuristic’s new project is that it will see him re-team with Tech N9ne, who he’s worked with a few times in the past. “I got him on this song called ‘True Colors’ on the upcoming album,” Futuristic revealed. “It’s a rock song. He bodies it.” 

The two men have known each other for years, and have worked together a few times in the past. Opening up about meeting Tech N9ne, and opening a show for him, for the first time more than 10 years ago, Futuristic recalled, “How I met him or found out about him, was kind of crazy because I had never heard of him in my life. Then I got asked to open for a show of his and I was like, who the hell is this? And then I looked at the venue. I’m like this at Marqui theater. This is like a 3000-capacity room. This is 2011.”

He continued, “I did a show with MGK, then Yelawolf, then Hobson all in 500-capacity rooms. I did a Mac Miller show and then I got asked to do the Tech show and that was in a five-month span probably. I never heard of Tech until that night. Then I remember I sold so much damn merch and I like, ‘oh yeah, his fans are different. They’re different.’”

Ahead of his new album, Futuristic is heading out on the 21st Century Meltdown Tour with another rapper-turned-rock star, Ekoh, for a run of west coast shows. After that, he’ll team up with Loveless for a handful of concert dates in the east. Fans can check out Futuristic’s website to get more info on tour dates. Keep it locked to Pop Culture.com for more musical interviews, reviews, and exclusives!