Back when I was 13 and 14-years-old, I would constantly listen to Immortal Technique. After stumbling upon his most famous song, “Dance with the Devil“, on a bus headed to school, I was oddly hooked.
Let me be clear; this song is easily the most horrific and lyrically disturbing song I had ever heard, that I still have ever heard. But he seemed contrarily interesting, seemed lyrically inclined (as he is). So I delved deeper. By my Freshman year of High school, I was listening to Immortal Technique nonstop on the way to school, in class, in the hallways, and at lunch talking to my friends. There was something captivating about his music — his way of using enriched vocabulary to tell stories about gentrification, capitalism, and political events like The Iran Contra.
By that age, I knew every song on Revolutionary Vol. 1 and Vol 2. and had been exposed to all of his singles: My favorite was clearly “Bin Laden” featuring Mos Def and Eminem — which was three prolific rappers’ perspective on the widely televised terror attack. But by the time I had become obsessed with his music, it had been quite some time since any releases. The last album I listened to was The Martyr, which featured hard beats, a Styles P track, and killer bars by one of the greatest ever. Immortal Technique was a street-smart, conscious, rapper — who had deep roots in the underground rap scene of the mid-2000’s. He was the most articulate rapper I had ever heard.
Fast forward to today, where has Immortal Technique been?
The NYC legend is actually touring right now with long-time collaborator, Poison Pen. He continues to perform classic bangers like “The Cause of Death”, “Harlem Streets, “The Point of No Return”, and “Obnoxious”. While his last individual album was released over a decade ago, he remains relevant in many original fans minds. Because of the intelligence he displayed in his music throughout his career, people care what he has to say: they really do. He has over 250K Twitter followers as to date and typically tweets about current political issues. Immortal was featured in Ice-T’s documentary “Something From Nothing” and he even debated Alex Jones on the InfoWars show.
But we all must wonder, or at least I do, will he ever release another album, let alone single?
Below are some examples of some of his most witty, articulate rhymes.
“One” (Feat. Akir)
Immortal Technique in the trenches with my nigga Akir
Our family survived the genocides so we can be here
And now we enterprise the aftermath, one in the same
“The 4th Branch”
It’s like MKUltra, controllin’ your brain
Suggestive thinking causing your perspective to change
They wanna rearrange the whole point of view of the ghetto
The fourth branch of the government want us to settle
“The Point of No Return”
Malcolm Little when he knelt before Elijah Muhammad
The comet that killed the dinosaurs, changin’ the Earth
They love to criticize, they always say I change for the worse
Like prescription pills when you misusin’ them, nigga
The Templar Knights when they took Jerusalem, nigga
And figured out what was buried under Solomon’s temple
Al-Aqsa, the name is not coincidental
“Bin Laden”
This shit is run by fake Christians, fake politicians
Look at they mansions, and look at the conditions you live in
All they talk about is terrorism on television
They tell you to listen, but they don’t really tell you they mission
“Dominant Species”
I drop knowledge so heavy it leaves the world unbalanced
Exterminate the spiritual force of all that challenge
I’m the lyrical apocalypse that crumbles the granite
Replacing you as the dominant species on the planet
Honestly, I feel this article doesn’t even do Immortal Technique justice. What he brought to the rap game has yet to be mimicked or even minorly touched upon. No one will ever be able to replicate the intensity that he put out on every song. I just hope that one day I’ll be able to listen to the latest Technique album. Until then, I nostalgically listen to his old hits.
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