Immortal Technique’s brand of hip-hop is probably more political and more aggressive than anything you have ever heard. The rapper from New York focuses on spreading his message using lyrical talent. The 3rd World is Immortal Technique’s newest release. DJ Green Lantern joined Immortal Technique to collaborate on the album. Unlike his previous releases (Revolutionary Volumes 1 & 2), he features an army of guests on The 3rd World, including American rappers (Crooked I, Rass Kass) and Latino emcees (Temperamento, Veneno).
Immortal Technique is a Peruvian-born, Harlem-bred emcee who has won many notable freestyle competitions. He is the only rapper to have a “Hip-Hop Quotable” in The Source Magazine while unsigned. In 2001, he independently released his debut album, Revolutionary Vol. 1. His follow-up album, Revolutionary Vol. 2, came in 2003. All of his albums were released on the Viper Records label, where Immortal Technique serves as Executive Vice President.
Technician: What’s the story behind your new album, The 3rd World?
Immortal Technique: I wanted to make people not just understand that there is a different dimension of poverty and violence and struggle in the third world than there is in America, so no matter how bad we think we have it here, it’s 10 times worse over there. But also I wanted to show the duality that exists in the fact that, you know, in the same way that first-world nations oppress third-world countries and exploit them for their land, resources and labor, it’s the same way that major superpowers, major label superpowers exploit the third world, which is the underground of hip-hop, for their resources, for their industry.
They tell us in the third world, the only way we can be successful is if we privatize our water, privatize our communications, our transportation, everything that has to do with the infrastructure of our country. Then they tell us that we can be a part of their unions if we give them the rights to our oil, our diamonds and that’s the exact same thing they do in the underground. When they come tell the artist, “Look, the only way you can be successful, the only way you can break into the industry, is by signing with a major, by selling them the masters, the publishing, doing the 360 deal for the merch and the performance rights.
That’s why I can’t tolerate that, I can’t have them have that type of control over my economic foundation which is really why what facilitates me being able to say all of this. The fact that I’m independent makes me capable of saying a lot of the things that I do.
Technician: One of the tracks on the new album, a track called “Golpe De Estado,” features Temperamento who voices his opinion about reggaeton. What’s your opinion on reggaeton?
Immortal Technique: It was described to me, before I heard what it was, as our people’s music. I thought to myself, it doesn’t matter what we talk about because old school rock-and-rollers used to talk about murders, sex, drugs and violence. Now, they didn’t have any videos to facilitate those messages, but they definitely touched on the subject matter. The 80s was the glory day of hip-hop, [along with] the 90s, but that was some of the most violent, most screwed up, abusing, socially degrading times, when people got killed over a pair of sneakers. I said it on Volume Two, “He’s doing time over Reebok Pumps. [He’s] doing life over some sneakers [that] don’t even help you jump higher.” That’s an embarrassment!
I feel like when it was described as our music, I said, “Look, if it’s a movimiento, if it’s really a movement for our people, how come we don’t own it? How come there’s still other executives that have nothing to do with our culture, that are controlling the message that we send to our people? Haven’t we learned anything from hip-hop?” I mean, come on, Latino people have been around since the very beginning. We invented hip-hop along with black people and that’s something that’s overlooked a lot. We haven’t done our homework, our research to talk about how we control our own culture … are you serious? Is it that bad? Are we another Univision, where we have a bunch of white people who speak Spanish that tell us about our culture and tell us what our standard of beauty is going to be?
That’s what I don’t like. In terms of the music, I’m not hating on nobody because I know there’s real artists that are going to talk about real [topics] and I know there’s fake [artists] that talk about [topics] that they never lived and they’re never going to see. So, you take the good with the bad and there’s nothing personal about it. [Temperamento] said it that way because he has a little more personal involvement with certain artists but for me, it was just more talking about taking the industry back and that includes the Latino side.
Technician: Can you talk a little bit about Project Green Light?
Immortal Technique: For a long time, I worked with organizations that reached out to me about human rights issues or issues in the community, and I decided I would work with them. Pretty much, I’ve been doing that for a long time. But then Project Green Light came about because I wanted to dedicate myself solely to one of these particular organizations over the course of a year. So I did that with the project to build the orphanage and medical center in Afghanistan, and that’s what we’re doing right now.
Technician: What made North Carolina your next stop?
Immortal Technique: I was on my way south to Miami and I realized I had never played here. I heard that there was a hip-hop audience here, so I felt the necessity to stop and to give the people of this area exactly what they were waiting for. Maybe they’ve never seen a show like this. So I guarantee they’re going to be surprised.
Technician: What should your fans expect from an Immortal Technique show?
Immortal Technique: Mercilessness.
Technician: Do you have anything you want to say to the N.C. State community?
Immortal Technique: Hopefully, y’all will see me when I come back. But if you don’t, I hope that you guys put together your own showcases, to give an opportunity for independent artists that may be signed to a major label but have some real [messages] to say and then work hard for an opportunity to showcase, you know, real message in the music.
