How is Tech N9ne related to Nelly and E-40?
Tech N9ne has long been a fixture of the rap scene, but it turns out that his connections within it run deeper than even he initially realised. He has some famous relatives in the community, but he only learned about it relatively late in life.
It’s quite common for famous rappers to be related to other famous rappers. The Wu-Tang Clan’s founding members RZA, GZA and the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard are all cousins, while ODB was also a cousin to Flavor Flav. Ice Cube and Del the Funky Homosapien are cousins, as are Snoop and Nate Dogg, Cardi B and GloRilla, and Kendrick Lamar and Baby Keem. Dr Dre, meanwhile, is the step-brother of Warren G.
Tech N9ne, it turns out, is related to fellow rappers Nelly and E-40, although he didn’t know about that until he was an adult. As he explained during an appearance on Drink Champs in 2017, he was more than a little bit taken aback to learn about these connections.
When asked on the show about his relationship with E-40, Tech repeatedly referred to him as “family.” This sounded like a figure of speech, but he then made clear that he was speaking literally. “When I say he’s my family, I didn’t find out that was my family until recently,” he said.
He was asked to clarify if he meant that E was a literal family member, related by blood. “All these years,” he beamed back. “All these years.”
Describing E-40 as a “cool cat” that he had worked and toured with for many years, Tech explained that one day, “like two tours ago,” he got a call from E who, in turn, handed the phone to Tech’s cousin Christopher, whom he had once shared a house with growing up.
Tech N9ne, naturally, was surprised, and he asked Christopher why he was with E-40. That’s when he was told by Christopher, “That’s our family, you didn’t know that all these years?” He did not know that. Nobody had ever thought to tell him about it.
So Tech learned that he was maybe third cousins with E-40, which blew the Drink Champs hosts away. But then Tech went a step further, slipping in very casually, “Same thing with Nelly, man.”
He revealed that his great-grandmother’s name had been Maude Haynes, which is relevant because Nelly’s real name is Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. Tech, it turns out, is a Haynes, too, albeit not in name. Tech went to a family reunion with the Haines family one day, and that’s where he learned about his connection to Nelly. They, too, are cousins.