We hit up Immortal Technique while he was in Boston this summer for Rock The Bells and a performance at the UGHH store. Tech hit us back this week with some thoughts on foreign policy and the influences behind his latest project, The 3rd World.
Whether or not you like his music, it’s undeniable that Felipe Coronel has balls. The Harlem MC’s lyrics would likely warrant a trip to Gitmo Bay, if not for the first amendment.
On a cut from his latest album, Coronel expresses his desire to engage in sex acts with the first lady and Secretary of State, before encouraging the President to commit suicide.
Dripping in Marxism, revolution, and semi-conspiracy, Coronel would be easy for a mainstream audience to write off. It’s unclear whether his message is a call for social change or a desire to burn everything down and start over.
But the Peruvian artist is too well-versed in history and too keen a social observer to ignore.
Better known by his stage name, Immortal Technique, Coronel has been releasing independent hip-hop records for the better part of a decade, brushing off deals from top-40 labels to maintain control over his production.
“I know that without economic sovereignty, there is no political sovereignty,” he writes.
His first album, Revolutionary Vol. I, was funded entirely by earnings from underground rap battles, and after honorable mentions in The Source and other hip-hop channels, Coronel’s tracks have featured collaborations with Chuck D, KRS-One, DJ Green Lantern, and Mos Def.
And while hip hop grows more vacuous and detached from the urban struggle that gave birth to it with every Lil Wayne remix, Coronel reminds his audience that rap music was once social commentary (look for the W.E.B. DuBois shoutout on Harlem Renaissance).
[audio:http://www.thathottness.com/blog/audio/07-immortal_technique-the_3rd_world.mp3]“The 3rd World” Immortal Technique (ft. Green Lantern)
[audio:http://www.thathottness.com/blog/audio/12-immortal_technique-adios_uncle_tom_(skit).mp3]“Adios Uncle Tom (skit)” Poison Pen (EXPLICIT)
[audio:http://www.thathottness.com/blog/audio/03-immortal_technique-golpe_de_estado_(feat._temperamento_y_veneno).mp3]“Golpe De Estado” Immortal Technique (ft. Temperamento, Veneno)
The 3rd World is heavily influenced by political turmoil, both in America and around the world. What message do you want listeners to take away from the album?
IT: I want them to understand that outside this empire we live in, there is another world — what we call the “third world”. We have this impression that somehow we are superior to these people; that our technological achievements have made us a more evolved form of human being.
But we still murder, lie, cheat, steal and worship false idols.
We assassinate political figures. The lawlessness and the chaos that we see overseas is sometimes a direct result of the intervention that “first world” nations engage in to protect what they see as their interests.
However, I wouldn’t say that America is the solely responsible party here. In fact, I would say that we are more of an enabler than anything else. We are not the great Satan — we find little Satans to do the work we are not willing to do.
How has your worldview changed since your last album four years ago?
I just can’t help but put these things that are occurring now into context — how the gentrification in the ghetto is linked with ethnic cleansing in its conception.
IT: I look at things much more in perspective as to how it relates to history — how much we as a people have evolved in our forms of government, religion, and music and what that signifies for our future as a species.
I’m not trying to be deep. I just can’t help but put these things that are occurring now into context — how the gentrification in the ghetto is linked with ethnic cleansing in its conception.
Growing up in Harlem, you get to see the city change slowly, and when you turn around, you realize the place we once called home is almost gone. I guess when you’re younger it’s easier to buy into things and fantasies until you realize that it’s just been someone else’s hustle, someone else’s life that you have been living through vicariously. You have to find your own path.
Your stance against major record labels is well-known, as is your involvement in every aspect of
your music at Viper Records. How has this control influenced your music and your career?
IT: I continue to be independent, and there are sacrifices involved with that. Although Koch is a very good distributor, if I had a giant major behind me, I’d be in every store — they would ram the record down retail’s throat. They’d pay off the radio so my stuff would play, and any video they designed for me would get some burn. But that’s just the point — it would be their design and not mine.
Do you think Boston has a different vibe than the other places you’ve performed?
IT: When I just got out of prison in 1999, I remember Boston’s underground scene was very strong. So strong, in fact, that people from New York were going up there all the time to build a strong east coast presence.
I used to travel up there with Breez Evahflowin and Poison Pen sometimes and just wild out. Now, whenever I return the scene is very different — not as much support for locals as before. I would like to see it become what it once was, with people releasing records and doing their thing independently. I look forward to not just hearing some familiar names in the near future but being introduced to the new breed that will carry the torch for the underground.
It’s crazy, I always get a lot of love in Boston, I have a ton of supporters in all the places around it too — Lynn, Salem, Lawrence and Lowell. I always argue with my peoples from Boston and even the dudes at the toll about baseball, even though I’m not a baseball addict. I just grew up in NY and I been to a few Yankees games. I think because I have such a strong support base of people who believe in my message, they never take my snaps on the Red Sox as personally as they might from someone else. They know that I’m never gonna be a Sox fan, but I will always be a supporter of hip hop and underground hip hop from Boston.