Tech N9ne’s Music Helps a Car Crash Victim Learn to Speak Again

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For years, critics and fans have celebrated rap music’s ability to give a voice to the voiceless. Kansas City MC Tech N9ne recently was able to do so in the most literal way when a fan on the long road to recovery after a ghastly car accident that left him in a near vegetative state was able to become responsive and regain the use of his vocal chords thanks to Tech’s music.

Kyle Pinelli was a studious Virginia teenager when he went for a ride in his truck after completing his junior year of high school. That night, May 31, 2014, would change his family’s lives as Kyle’s truck hurtled off the road and smashed into several trees. Kyle was ejected through the windshield, headfirst into a bundle of barbed wire. Beneath the broken bones, torn flesh, and spilled blood, the worst of the impact happened to Kyle’s brain where he suffered a DAI (diffuse axonal injury). Among the most serious of brain injuries, it’s estimated 90 percent of victims who suffer from DAI never awaken.

While she was hesitant to call it a “vegetative state,” Kyle’s mother Joan described the severity of the injury by saying Kyle couldn’t even track with his eyes. After three weeks in a Virginia hospital, Kyle’s family was suggested to look into Shepherd Center, a rehab facility in Atlanta. It was at Shepherd Center that Kyle’s mom was asked a question that wound up having a profound effect on Kyle’s recovery.

“His therapist asked me what kind of music he liked. I told her rap. She asked who was his favorite artist. I said Tech N9ne. She was a young, hip therapist and said ‘Oh, I know Tech N9ne!’” After pulling out an iPad that the therapist had Tech N9ne music already loaded onto, she played Kyle “Fragile,” followed by “Dysfunctional.” It was when “Dysfunctional” started playing that Kyle’s mom took a few pictures, and the moment wound up being a turning point for Kyle as two months later his first words since the accident were “Dysfunctional”’s chorus.