Check it out as LA-based and South Carolina-bred rapper Tek–Neek continues to push his new single, “Play Some Tek–Neek” which swindles Siri with a command to play his new single at the top of the track.
Hoping to infiltrate phone after phone, Tek–Neek hangs on to words and themes he found as a youth reading comic books and diving into the world of superhuman characters of anime. In releasing this song Tek–Neek hopes to set off every Apple phone within earshot of the DJ spinning his record almost like an anime supervillain taking over people’s phones.
“You know, Play Some Tek–Neek is a crazy song because first and foremost, the song starts off, like, ‘Hey Siri, play some Tek–Neek.” I’m hoping that when the song plays, everybody who has an Apple phone will immediately see their phone go off with the command. And it kind of like, it’s my way of hacking Apple, you know what I mean? But I’m the first to do it. I’m doing it as an artist almost like an anime villain would do, you know what I mean?”
Growing up in South Carolina, Tek–Neek comes from humble beginnings as his rap career started off with nothing more than a Casio keyboard and a vision that he wanted to make music with and for his friends.
Extremely proud of his roots in South Carolina and the Gullah Geechee way of life, Tek–Neek hopes to help people find their own roots by discovering his music as he seamlessly incorporates the Gullah culture in his music.
“Gullah Geechhee is where, my people basically come from. We are all from places like Sierra Leone, the Congo, Angola, you know, and the islands were like a mixture of all of that into one. When we were brought into slavery, it was either that we were born into slavery or we were brought into it. So, if you were brought into it, you know, you still stuck to your roots, your heritage, the way you talk and everything. So, us Gullah people, we’re the remnants, we are exactly, what it was when we got here, how we talk, how we eat, how we carry ourselves, our culture, everything,” Tek–Neek said.
Also influenced by his mother’s work in the church playing for the gospel choir, Tek–Neek grew up around 80’s R&B, gospel and soul music which you can hear permeating through his music to this day.
“If I wanted to listen to music, I was listening to it on record. So I was listening to Billie Holiday records, you know, the Herbie Hancock records, the gospel records, that was first and foremost for me. Then my mother, she played piano in the church, so when she wasn’t there I was always playing on it and learning my way on the keys. But the music I was really influenced by was eighties music, really heavy. You can definitely hear that in my sound.”
Bringing everything full circle and aside from the trickery of “Play Some Tek–Neek,” this Gullah Geechee artist is more than 2500 miles away from home with a passionate vision to live out his dreams of musical success while also sharing his cultural roots which have clearly and rightfully made him proud to be who he is, Tek–Neek.
“I want to be 1% better than I was yesterday. That’s, that’s my goal for every day, every single day.”
Continuing forward, Tek–Neek has plans to perform at The Virgil, a popular venue in Hollywood at the end of the month, culminating with a month-long promotional push to fill up the venue.
“Between rehearsal and selling these tickets, I’ve been super busy. We got DJ Pia B, DJ Ash D and a bunch of very special guests so I’m expecting a great turnout and attendance for the show,” he explained.