Tag Archive for 'Revolutionary Vol 2'

Immortal Technique Interview, Part 1

published
on June 16, 2008
by
ACtual
in genres, interview, music, and music business
. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Immortal Technique has been on the scene, steadily gaining in influence and word of mouth for several years now. His first two albums, Revolutionary Vol. 1 and Revolutionary Vol. 2 redefined what rap music could be by not just mentioning public and political issues, but by intelligently, eloquently and powerfully incorporating them into a coherent message meant to spur action in the listener.

On this blog, we’ve previously reviewed an Immortal Technique show, as well as given many readers a first glimpse of Tech’s highly anticipated new album with DJ Green Lantern, The 3rd World. Last week I had the opportunity to speak with Immortal Technique and ask him a few questions. Due to the length of the conversation, and in preparation for the June 24th release of The 3rd World, I’ll be posting this interview in 3 parts, because how else can you tackle posting an interview where you talk about everything from writing rap lyrics to local politics in over 9 pages? Check back later this week for parts 2 and 3 of the interview with Immortal Technique.

AC: I want to start first by talking about your music in general, then I want to talk about The 3rd World release and the recording industry specifically, and then I’m going to ask you a few questions about your ideologies, political philosophies and views on some of the current global issues.

One of the strongest things about your music is that you remain independent, and you’re honest and unfiltered. On your first two albums, you incorporated a wide variety of styles from songs like “Caught in the Hustle,” which has a very South American sound to “Freedom of Speech” that borrows from Pinocchio. You also routinely include lyrics in Spanish. On The 3rd World track that I’ve heard, “Golpe de Estado,” has Spanish lyrics over a Godfather song. What’s your process in terms of writing your lyrics, and finding the music for them when it comes to your Peruvian birth, Harlem upbringing, and subsequent global experiences?

IT: I think that all of these things bring themselves together in a crux of cultural diversity. I’m from New York City, which is very different from the rest of America I must say. Anyone who is reading this who is in New York, or anyone who is reading this from a place in San Francisco or a place in LA, they have to realize that these large cities are very different than what the rest of America looks like.

Due to the fact that we have so much influence from other places that even Hip-Hop itself comes from the fact that Kool Herc brought all these records back from Jamaica and started spinning different things, and the African drum influence comes from so many different cultures and we have so many different people to thank for the advancement of this type of music. And I think that that being the case, it’s just another example of diversity for me about the music that I make.

AC: In your online postings and your blogs and song lyrics, you have a vast knowledge of social, economic and political issues and you cover a lot of topics almost all at once. Then at other times, the battle aspect of your rapping background comes out more. When you’re writing your lyrics, how do you approach dissecting a topic that you want to talk about and forming the structure of the message that you’re trying to get out?

IT: It really depends. There are some songs that have taken me, for example, two or three years to write. Something like “Dance with the Devil.” Then there’s a song like “Bin Laden” that took me one night to write. I wrote “Point of No Return” in a week, I wrote “Caught in the Hustle” in an afternoon. So I think that it just depends on how inspired I am. And not just how inspired I am by a track or if one takes longer to write, it doesn’t mean I’m less inspired by the subject matter or by the effect it’s had on my life, but more in how I’m inspired about conveying that message. Because something may be a little more delicate in terms of the way I want to analyze it in my mind, say, listen, this is surgical precision that I need in order to get this subject across because it deals with something so serious. Not that stuff that I write very quickly doesn’t deal with something serious, but maybe it’s a more natural flow and it’s more like, alright, I just feel this right now, so worse comes to worse, I come and edit the lyrics later. Sometimes I edit them, sometimes I don’t. So it depends a lot on the conceptuality of the record, that’s usually what it starts with.

In the past, when I was in prison, I just wrote lyrics that were based on what I felt and what I was seeing around me and what I was seeing going on in the world even though I wasn’t there, and how I felt about that. And how I felt about being a slave. The reality about me being released and saying to myself, “Hey, I’m actually free,” and all the different levels of freedom I felt. Because when I was incarcerated, I felt like I was trapped. Then, when the CO’s threw me in the hole and 23/1 where I’m in a restricted housing unit and I only get to leave my cell for half an hour a day, you know then I think I’m even more trapped. I get out of that and think I’m free, then I get out of prison and I think I’m free but I’m still on parole, then I get off parole and think I’m free, but I still can’t get a regular paying job because of my criminal record, and I can’t get into Canada because they won’t let me in there because of my criminal record.

So there are lots of degrees to the way I perceive things, and I guess the change in my life and the way that I conduct myself, and my maturing process, not just my voice getting a little deeper and raspier because of the 100-150 shows I do a year, but all these factors coupled with the evolution of my flow and how I decided to make music has definitely changed the way I do songs now. Whereas in the past, I might have wrote verses first and then found a beat, now it’s more about constructing a concept, then maybe getting a hook together, and then structuring lyrics that really cement the subject matter into one perfect unison.

AC: It’s one thing to be on an independent label, and then it’s another thing, like you, to have complete control over your lyrics, your music and your message. Could you talk a bit about the beginning to end process that you have to personally go through to create an album where everything on it is yours?

IT: (long sigh) Ya, that’s the process. That’s the process right there. Work, work, work. Like you just said, you summed it up, I have to do pretty much everything myself. I’m learning to delegate responsibility a lot more, but most of it still falls on my shoulders. And while I have people that help me out like the people at Viper Records, and people that help with the visuals, and then I have people who are constantly trying to come in and contribute whatever they can, I appreciate all of that. I don’t ever look down on anybody just based upon what their particular position is, because I started out not being very well known, just selling my records around the hood, and then when I was finally able to expand my fan base, I never ignored the people that originally bought my records. I never changed my style up to suit other people and make them feel better about themselves. I still wanted us to be able to talk about the problems that we have, but not just in a complaining manner, but also how to fix them, how to take personal responsibility for some of our issues, or I should say for all of our issues, because we’re the only ones who are going to fix them, not somebody else.

It’s definitely an incredibly huge process from the conceptualizing of all the records like I just said, to writing all the lyrics, cause don’t nobody else write music for me. Sometimes I bring samples to people because I want to use these specific samples, or I’ll come into the studio with a melody in my head and be like, “Can we play this out,” and people will say alright. When I have to meet up with other MCs, or I have to get to someone else’s studio, I’m driving up there myself. A lot of do it yourself stuff, of course, that’s why I get the lion’s share of the paper.

AC: That provides a perfect segway, as the next couple questions I wanted to ask are dealing specifically with The 3rd World. This album has been highly anticipated and the collaboration with DJ Green Lantern is kind of a new direction for you. How did the idea for this collaboration come about?

IT: Well, it’s a new direction in the fact that I’m doing an album with him, but I’ve done plenty of songs with him in the past. I did the “Bin Laden” remix and the original “Bin Laden” back in 2004, and I did the “Impeach the President” in 2006, and I just recently was featured on the Grand Theft Auto 4 soundtrack that he was on. So I’ve always worked with Green Lantern, it’s just that I had originally come to him telling him I wanted to do a mixtape, and he had come to me telling me, “I don’t want to do a mixtape, I want to do an album, I want to have an album in stores,” and I was like, “Alright, we’ll make that happen.” And he was telling me, “Whatever I need to do to help you with that, let me get you some instrumentals,” so he gave me some instrumentals, and we basically started out doing stuff for The Middle Passage and Revolutionary Vol. 3, but eventually, it became such an overwhelming display of music. Not that it didn’t match the conceptuality of The Middle Passage, although some of the songs didn’t, it was more of the fact that it was its own project as soon as I stepped back from it. I was like, “Wow, I have like 19 songs here. What the fuck? I’m sitting here with 20 songs, I’m sitting here with 25 songs.”

Some of these are definitely for The Middle Passage, some of these, like the song “The 3rd World” talks about the correlation between poverty here in America and police corruption here in America, and those same issues being mirrored in the Third world. To me, it was incredibly important to make those subjects known, especially now since we’re going into a different political climate. It’s important not to lose sight of that, because I feel like certain demographics of people in this country benefit from their relationship with the places they come from, and why shouldn’t Black and Latino people have the same? Why shouldn’t we be able to express ourselves on a national platform? I think the fact that Latino people have allowed immigrants to be demonized so much, that’s not all on the White media, that’s on us, because we’re living with that, it shows us how weak and pathetic our community leaders are in the face of all this stuff, because they put up the most minimal struggle. I really think that there has been a complete under representation of the struggle against this. One march on May Day is the culmination of all this? It’s an ongoing fight that’s never going to end, and yet we’re not unified about this, and that’s why they’re capable of demonizing us and vilifying us, and I believe it’s a disgrace to our people to allow something like that. So it’s a personal responsibility of our people to get it together.

Follow this link to part 2 of this interview where Tech talks more about The 3rd World, the music industry and global politics.

Immortal Technique at The Fillmore

published
on March 10, 2008
by
ACtual
in artist/album reviews, concert reviews, culture, genres, and music
. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , .

When word of underground revolutionary rapper Immortal Technique‘s visit to the Fillmore in San Francisco reached me, I knew it had to be first on my list of concerts for the year. Having never seen live footage of him, I had no idea what to expect from a rapper that brings a huge variety of social, political, economic and musical issues to his songs. Considering the detail and complexity in his lyrics, I was a bit concerned with how it would translate to concert where numerous MCs have failed due to an unfamiliarity with their own lyrics, or a habit to truncate songs for a live setting. And I can say that while there are only a handful of artists that could share a stage with Immortal Technique based on their lyrical complexity and stage intensity, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to replicate the tenacity and focus Tech brings to his issues. From opening song to his finale, Immortal Technique’s show was a textbook demonstration of a rapper using an unreal level of energy, an extreme amount of intelligence coupled with social consciousness, and an uncompromising approach to his own music to put on a show that was incredible from start to finish.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from the crowd at this show…IT is only slightly well known, even among people into underground hip-hop, but at the same time has built up a huge following from the grassroots level. His subject matter attacks various issues from several perspectives, and I was interested to see if there would be one overriding demographic to his live audience. There wasn’t. The crowd was incredibly diverse both in ethnicity and style. It ranged from serious hip-hoppers wearing hoods to bikers with neck tattoos. It seems the social aspects of rap that Tech represents hit home and help to unify a large and disparate group of people.

When he arrives on stage he goes into an almost a cappella version of “The 4th Branch,” and I can hear people all over the audience join him as he spits out, “Jesus is the most quoted prophet in the Qur’an/and bombed innocent people trying to murder Saddam when you gave them those chemical weapons to go to war with Iran.” It’s clear from this early point that not only does the crowd know his songs, but the anger and identification they share with him over views of the systems in place within our social infrastructure is what brought a good number of them out. Following this, he drops the cricket sounds of “Industrial Revolution” and at the first beat the crowd is already moving with the beat. Tech’s delivery is crisp and clear. Unlike other live rappers, there aren’t any muddled lyrics or incomprehensible words here, just viciously deployed sentences with a staccato tempo that makes it feel like every word and sentence is waiting to explode from him into the mic. And the energy is contagious throughout the crowd.

When he slows it down with “Harlem Streets,” he still manages to keep the crowd engaged with a call and response of “Homicide Harlem/ blaow what’s the problem?” In a lot of hip-hop shows, the MCs will keep a call and response segregated throughout the audience, pitting the left against the center and the right. While he addresses the different segments of the audience on this call and response, the entire crowd is asking what’s the problem on every call, uniting the entire venue, not caring if it wasn’t for their section. Following these three well rehearsed openers, Tech rips into freestyles addressing revolutionary practice and rapping about the conditions on the streets where he’s from. Following this, he turns it over for a song to DJ GI Joe who blisters through a turntable set centered around samples from NWA‘s “Fuck the Police.” His scratches and record matching here are astounding as he juggles two records seamlessly, even going so far as to switch the crossfade with his nose at one point, mix one table while reaching behind his back for the other one, and even at two separate points spinning around, flipping records and the crossfader with his elbows.

When DJ GI Joe finishes the track, Tech informs the crowd that as serious as his lyrics are, as intentionally angry as he can come across sometimes, that on this particular evening he happens to be in a “jovial happy good mood.” He shares this good mood with the crowd when the next track he drops is “Point of No Return.” As the opening notes drop, the crowd starts moving in anticipation before starting to slam as the beat comes in and Tech starts ripping the lyrics. One of the things you notice in his live performances is that there is no halfway with any of his delivery. It feels like every word and sentence that comes out of his mouth is incendiary, and he’s going to catch fire if he doesn’t get them out hard enough. It’s an intensity of delivery that even in the best shows is rare, and Technique manages to keep that level up throughout the entirety of the show. When “Point of No Return” gives way to “Peruvian Cocaine,” the crowd starts bouncing with the Scarface/South American style sample. They do a great job of this live, as each rapper on stage takes on a different verse of this song that examines the various levels of employment within drug production and distribution.

After this, Tech talks for a few minutes about the future of our system and the way religion and politics intertwine in the distribution of economic resources and media attention. He goes on to explain that the revolutionary ideals he carries through his music extends to creating changes on a community level, and proves his dedication to this ideal by handing over the stage at separate points in the concert to two different groups…one a revolutionary faction based in Watsonville called the Brown Berets, concerned with the unification of races and religions to overcome the division fostered by political initiatives, and the second a group called Omeid International, that is focused on rebuilding the war ravaged streets and communities of Afghanistan (thanks to Empire-81 for the correction). While other rappers spend concert time hyping their newest release or exhorting their audience to go buy more merchandise, Immortal Technique makes it a point to give up the stage to groups that work on a social level to address the problems and injustice he raps about in his music. This supports his idea of a true revolution started through the community and brought to a much larger focus by concentrated efforts of those involved in making change. Then he goes into “Dance with the Devil.”

Heading up to the concert, I had thought throughout the day about how I would feel if he played this song in concert. It’s a graphic song that describes the rise of a young man on the street, who, through efforts to be recognized and respected, ends up engaging in a particularly violent sequence that eventually leads to his death. It’s an intense and emotional song that focuses in large part on the violence perpetrated on innocent people by those attempting to look good in a gang related lifestyle, as well as the global and individual issue of rape. Its lyrics are haunting and deliberate, and Tech delivers it at once in both a method of warning and horror. Most of all, his emotion throughout and emphasis on the subject matter makes the song disturbing and powerful in concert, especially when he finishes and talks for a few moments on rape and how it needs to be viewed by everyone on a personal level, rather than a hypothetical one.

Following this very direct and personal monologue about rape, Tech talks about how a large number of rap songs focus on time spent in jail, or going to jail, but you rarely hear a song about leaving jail. This opens “Parole,” a song about never going back to jail. As the song ends, he rips into another piece that ends with the poignant statement, “When the terrorists come back again, they’ll either say, ‘draft them,’ or send us back again.” I know the end of the concert is getting near, and when he brings up a song that some people haven’t heard, a bonus track that he doesn’t often play in concert, I start to get excited. I’m hoping that he means none other than my favorite Tech song, “Caught in the Hustle,” and I’m not disappointed.

As the first unmistakable notes come out, the song lifts me in the same way it did when I heard the album version for the first time. This song, in its tempo, guitar sample and lyrics, is a fantastic summation of a lot of Tech’s philosophies. It’s one of the first songs by him I’ll play for a new listener as it evokes a sense of hope mixed with a fleeting melancholy that’s eerie to listen to. When he moves through lines like, “Even though we survived through the struggle that made us/we still look at ourselves through the eyes of people that hate us” and “The cold war’s over, but the world is still getting colder/Atlas walking through the projects with the hood on my shoulders,” you feel the mixture of promise and desperation that fuels Tech’s music. This dichotomy is brought out as he laments that he’d like his “children to grow up to be soldiers, but then a general will decide when their life’ll be over,” and you can feel his conflict between the things he knows must be done, and the consequences that he knows may follow. And despite all of this, he’s willing to overcome as he knows it must be done to serve his philosophy of social change.

He closes the concert with a call to political uprising delivered in Spanish before he jumps into the upbeat and energetic “Obnoxious” which has everyone in the venue dancing. The hands and fists are in the air as the entire crowd seems to dance as one. When he’s finished, he invites everyone to come talk to him, once more demonstrating his dedication to a community action approach and his willingness to interact with the fans. I believe at this point that he has to be absolutely exhausted from the show he just put on.

If you get a chance to see Immortal Technique in concert, even if you’re not a huge hip-hop fan, do it. Never have I seen a performer more in tune with the audience while at the same time being so incredibly focused on a message of activism and change. His faithfulness to his music and lyrics, his unparalleled intensity during the set, and his well rounded inclusion of groups supporting the causes he cares about made for an amazing concert. Only once or twice have I seen an artist bring that kind of energy and perfection to a performance, and the fact that he centers all of this focus on important social causes rather than women, money, guns and drugs as MCs usually portray them that elevates Immortal Technique beyond the standard rapper and into a performance category of his own.