Immortal Technique
Encyclopedia
Felipe Andres Coronel better known by the stage name
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...

 Immortal Technique, is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 rapper of Afro-Peruvian
Afro-Peruvian
Afro Peruvians are citizens of Peru mostly descended from African slaves who were brought to the Western hemisphere with the arrival of the conquistadors towards the end of the slave trade.-Early history:...

 descent as well as an urban activist. He was born in Lima
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...

, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

 and raised in Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...

, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. Most of his lyrics focus on controversial issues in global politics. The views expressed in his lyrics are largely commentary on issues such as class struggle
Class struggle
Class struggle is the active expression of a class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote "The [written] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle"....

, poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...

, religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...

, government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...

 and institutional racism
Institutional racism
Institutional racism describes any kind of system of inequality based on race. It can occur in institutions such as public government bodies, private business corporations , and universities . The term was coined by Black Power activist Stokely Carmichael in the late 1960s...

.

Immortal Technique has voiced a desire to retain control over his production, and has stated in his music that record companies, not artists themselves, profit the most from mass production and marketing of music. He claimed in an interview to have sold close to 200,000 copies of his three official releases.

Early life

Coronel is African-Peruvian and was born in 1978 in a military hospital in Lima
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...

. His family emigrated in 1980 to Harlem to escape the ongoing internal conflict in Peru
Internal conflict in Peru
It has been estimated that nearly 70,000 people died in the internal conflict in Peru that started in 1980 and, although still ongoing, had greatly wound down by 2000. The principal actors in the war were the Shining Path , the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement and the government of Peru.A great...

. During his teenage years he was arrested multiple times due in part to what he has said was "selfish and childish" behavior. He attended Hunter College High School
Hunter College High School
Hunter College High School is a New York City secondary school for intellectually gifted students located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. It is administered by Hunter College, a senior college of the City University of New York. Although it is not operated by the New York City Department of...

 on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Shortly after enrolling in Pennsylvania State University
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...

, he was arrested and charged with assault-related offenses due to his involvement in an altercation between fellow students, the charges stemming from this incident led to him being incarcerated for a year. After being paroled, he took political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

 classes at Baruch College
Baruch College
Bernard M. Baruch College, more commonly known as Baruch College, is a constituent college of the City University of New York, located in the Flatiron district of Manhattan, New York City. With an acceptance rate of just 23%, Baruch is among the most competitive and diverse colleges in the nation...

 in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 for two semesters at the behest of his father, who allowed Coronel to live with him on the condition that he go to school. Honing his rapping skills in jail, and unable to find decent wage-paying employment after his release, Coronel began selling his music on the streets of New York while battling
Freestyle rap
Freestyle rap commonly refers to rap lyrics which are improvised through a acapella or with instrumental beats, i.e. performed with no previously composed lyrics, or "off the top of the head"...

 with MCs whenever the opportunity arose. This, coupled with his victories in numerous freestyle rap
Freestyle rap
Freestyle rap commonly refers to rap lyrics which are improvised through a acapella or with instrumental beats, i.e. performed with no previously composed lyrics, or "off the top of the head"...

 competitions of the New York underground hip hop scene such as Rocksteady Anniversary, Braggin Rites and others, led to his reputation as a ferocious Battle MC.

Revolutionary Vol.1 and Vol.2

In 2001, Immortal Technique released his first album Revolutionary Vol. 1
Revolutionary Vol. 1
Revolutionary Vol. 1 is the debut album by rapper Immortal Technique in 2001, and re-pressed in 2004. The first edition had no distribution and no bar code; it was sold by the artist on the streets and at his shows. The album re-press was manufactured with a bar code and is being distributed...

without the help of a record label or distribution, instead using money earned from his rap battle triumphs. Revolutionary Vol. 1 also contained the underground classic Dance With The Devil. In November 2002, he was listed by The Source
The Source (magazine)
The Source is a United States-based, monthly full-color magazine covering hip-hop music, politics, and culture, founded in 1988. It is the world's second longest running rap periodical, behind United Kingdom-based publication Hip Hop Connection. The Source was founded as a newsletter in 1988...

in its "Unsigned Hype" column, highlighting artists that are not signed to a record label. The following year, in September 2003, he received the coveted "Hip Hop Quotable" in The Source for a song entitled "Industrial Revolution" from his second album. Immortal Technique is the only rapper in history to have a "Hip Hop Quotable" while being unsigned. He released his second album Revolutionary Vol. 2
Revolutionary Vol. 2
Revolutionary Vol. 2 is the second album released by rapper Immortal Technique and is a follow-up to his debut album, Revolutionary Vol. 1.Revolutionary Vol...

in 2003. In 2004, Viper Records and, in 2005, Babygrande Records
Babygrande Records
Babygrande Records is an independent record label based in New York City founded by Chuck Wilson. Babygrande is distributed by the The Orchard, and represented by the Creative Artists Agency in Hollywood.-Discography:...

 re-released Immortal Technique's debut, Revolutionary Vol. 1, to make it available to a wider audience. "Point of No Return" from Revolutionary Vol 2 was used as the entrance theme for Rashad Evans
Rashad Evans
Rashad Anton Evans is an American mixed martial artist from Niagara Falls, New York, currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship where he is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Evans won the heavyweight division of The Ultimate Fighter 2. Evans lost the UFC Light Heavyweight...

 during the UFC 88
UFC 88
UFC 88: Breakthrough was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on September 6, 2008 at Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. The event was headlined by a light heavyweight bout between Chuck Liddell and Rashad Evans....

 Main Event between Chuck Liddell
Chuck Liddell
Charles David "Chuck" Liddell is a retired American mixed martial artist and former Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight champion. Liddell has an extensive striking background in Kempo, Koei-Kan karate and kickboxing, as well as a grappling background in collegiate wrestling.As of his...

 and Rashad Evans.

Revolutionary Vol.3 and The Middle Passage

Between 2005 and 2007 Immortal Technique began working on The Middle Passage and The 3rd World
The 3rd World
The 3rd World is an album/mixtape by rapper Immortal Technique, following a five-year absence since Revolutionary Vol. 2. It was released on June 24, 2008, on Viper Records. The 3rd World peaked at number 99 on the Billboard 200 chart. He claimed in an interview from September 2009 to have sold...

, the two albums that would serve a follow up to Revolutionary Vol. 2
Revolutionary Vol. 2
Revolutionary Vol. 2 is the second album released by rapper Immortal Technique and is a follow-up to his debut album, Revolutionary Vol. 1.Revolutionary Vol...

and complete the series. He was also featured on several movie soundtracks and video game soundtracks, all the while touring relentlessly and becoming heavily involved in visiting prisons to speak to youth and working with immigrant rights activists and raising tens of thousands of dollars for children’s hospitals overseas. He invested his money not in items that are usually associated with fame but rather in large pieces of farmland in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

. He created a writing grant program for high school students as well.

The Martyr

In October 2011 Immortal Technique released The Martyr
The Martyr
The Martyr is an Compilation album by Immortal Technique released on October 27, 2011 through free digital download on ViperRecords.com. It is a collection of previously unreleased and never before heard music from the artist. This album contains a never before heard song, called "Toast to the...

, a free compilation album of previously unreleased material and new tracks.

Collaborations

The summer of 2005 saw the release of "Bin Laden", a vinyl single 12" featuring Mos Def
Mos Def
Dante Terrell Smith is an American actor and Emcee known by the stage names Mos Def and Yasiin Bey. He started his hip hop career in a group called Urban Thermo Dynamics, after which he appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. With Talib Kweli, he formed the duo Black Star, which...

 and DJ Green Lantern
DJ Green Lantern
James D'Agostino , better known by his stage name DJ Green Lantern, is an American-Italian-Puerto Rican DJ and hip hop music producer from Rochester, New York. In 2002, D'Agostino was signed by Eminem to become the official DJ for Shady Records after DJ Head stepped down for undisclosed reasons...

. The single also contained a remix of the song featured Chuck D
Chuck D
Carlton Douglas Ridenhour , better known by his stage name, Chuck D, is an American rapper, author, and producer. He helped create politically and socially conscious rap music in the mid-1980s as the leader of the rap group Public Enemy.- Early life :Ridenhour was born in Queens, New York...

 of Public Enemy and KRS-One
KRS-One
Lawrence Krisna Parker , better known by his stage names KRS-One , and Teacha, is an American rapper...

. In early 2006, the song "Impeach the President", featuring Dead Prez
Dead Prez
Dead Prez stylized as dead prez is a hip hop duo from the United States, composed of stic.man and M-1, formed in 1996 in New York City, New York. They are known for their confrontational style, combined with socialist lyrics focused on both militant social justice and Pan-Africanism...

 and Saigon turned up in the mixtape "Alive on Arrival" DJ Green Lantern
DJ Green Lantern
James D'Agostino , better known by his stage name DJ Green Lantern, is an American-Italian-Puerto Rican DJ and hip hop music producer from Rochester, New York. In 2002, D'Agostino was signed by Eminem to become the official DJ for Shady Records after DJ Head stepped down for undisclosed reasons...

. This is a simple version of The Honeydrippers, 1973, in which Immortal Technique urged fans to organize a vote of censure against George W. Bush. In April 2009, a new song leaked on the internet named "Democratie Fasciste (Article 4)" by Brazilian-French rapper Rockin' Squat
Rockin' Squat
Mathias Crochon, better known as Rockin' Squat, is a French MC . He is the son of the actor Jean-Pierre Cassel and the brother of Vincent Cassel and Cécile Cassel. In the mid-80s, he created the famous rap group Assassin , becoming the first artist of this scene to mention politics and social...

 which featured Immortal Technique. The official release of the song and Rockin' Squat's album Confessions D'un Enfant Du Siècle Volume 2 was on May 12, 2009. The instrumental from the song was sampled from Wendy Rene's "After Laughter". The song expresses the inequalities of the Third World
Third World
The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either capitalism and NATO , or communism and the Soviet Union...

 and revolutionary events throughout history against tyranny and oppression. The song contains lyrics in English (Immortal Technique), French (Rockin' Squat) and brief shout outs in Spanish (Immortal Technique). This song is Immortal Technique's first official international collaboration. In early 2009, it was announced that there would be a collaboration between Technique and UK underground artist Lowkey
Lowkey
Kareem Dennis is a musician and political activist of English and Iraqi descent, better known by his stage name Lowkey. He first became known through a series of mixtapes he released before he was 18, before taking a hiatus from the music business...

, on a single called "Voices of the Voiceless". On September 11, 2009, a "snippet" of the song was released on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

. The preview was released ahead of its September 21 launch on iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....

, as part of a web-campaign
Internet marketing
Internet marketing, also known as digital marketing, web marketing, online marketing, search marketing or e-marketing, is referred to as the marketing of products or services over the Internet...

 that included updates, promotion and links on forums, E-Magazines
Online magazine
An online magazine shares some features with a blog and also with online newspapers, but can usually be distinguished by its approach to editorial control...

 and several social networking sites
Social network service
A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, who, for example, share interests and/or activities. A social network service consists of a representation of each user , his/her social...

. The song's lyrics cover a broad range of issues that are familiar to listeners of both artists – racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...

, world revolution
World revolution
World revolution is the Marxist concept of overthrowing capitalism in all countries through the conscious revolutionary action of the organized working class...

, war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...

, socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...

, government control
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...

, rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...

, famine
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...

, colonialism
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...

, Classism
Classism
Classism is prejudice or discrimination on the basis of social class. It includes individual attitudes and behaviors, systems of policies and practices that are set up to benefit the upper classes at the expense of the lower classes...

, self-determination
Self-determination
Self-determination is the principle in international law that nations have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no external compulsion or external interference...

 and the war in Iraq.

Charitable work

In June 2008, Immortal Technique partnered with Omeid International, a Non–Profit Human Rights Organization, to lend his support. He dubbed the work as "The Green Light Project". With the profits of The 3rd World
The 3rd World
The 3rd World is an album/mixtape by rapper Immortal Technique, following a five-year absence since Revolutionary Vol. 2. It was released on June 24, 2008, on Viper Records. The 3rd World peaked at number 99 on the Billboard 200 chart. He claimed in an interview from September 2009 to have sold...

album, Immortal Technique traveled to Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...

, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

 to help Omeid build an orphanage without any corporate or external funding. The orphanage, having been successfully established, currently houses over 20 orphaned children from Kabul.

This Revolution

Immortal Technique appeared as himself in a docudrama
Docudrama
In film, television programming and staged theatre, docudrama is a documentary-style genre that features dramatized re-enactments of actual historical events. As a neologism, the term is often confused with docufiction....

 film entitled This Revolution
This Revolution
This Revolution is a 2004 political film starring Rosario Dawson. Directed by filmmaker and activist Stephen Marshall, creator of the video news magazine Channel Zero and founder of Guerrilla News Network, the docu-drama film blends fiction with reality, focusing on the effects of the media's bias...

, which was recorded during the 2004 Republican National Convention
Republican National Convention
The Republican National Convention is the presidential nominating convention of the Republican Party of the United States. Convened by the Republican National Committee, the stated purpose of the convocation is to nominate an official candidate in an upcoming U.S...

 in New York. The tape contains the protests surrounding the convention in the form of a documentary. It also featured Viper Records affiliates Akir
Akir
Akir is an African-American hip hop artist, producer and songwriter known for his complex lyrics and social-political content. His name is an acronym for Always Keep It Real. He is also the co-founder of One Enterprises.- Biography :...

 and producer SouthPaw in roles.

Since then Immortal Technique has taken control of Viper Records and has signed a distribution deal with Babygrande Records
Babygrande Records
Babygrande Records is an independent record label based in New York City founded by Chuck Wilson. Babygrande is distributed by the The Orchard, and represented by the Creative Artists Agency in Hollywood.-Discography:...

 / E1 Entertainment to vent to their next album. SouthPaw has managed to establish himself as A&R of Viper Records.

Studio Albums

Year Title Peak chart positions
US
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...


US
Rap
Top Rap Albums
Top Rap Albums is a record chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks Rap and hip-hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart began publication for the week of November 13, 2004....


2001 Revolutionary Vol. 1
Revolutionary Vol. 1
Revolutionary Vol. 1 is the debut album by rapper Immortal Technique in 2001, and re-pressed in 2004. The first edition had no distribution and no bar code; it was sold by the artist on the streets and at his shows. The album re-press was manufactured with a bar code and is being distributed...

  • Release Date: September 14, 2001
  • Label: Viper
  • Format: Digital download
2003 Revolutionary Vol. 2
Revolutionary Vol. 2
Revolutionary Vol. 2 is the second album released by rapper Immortal Technique and is a follow-up to his debut album, Revolutionary Vol. 1.Revolutionary Vol...

  • Release Date: November 18, 2003
  • Label: Viper (104)
  • Format: CD, digital download, LP
  • 2008 The 3rd World
    The 3rd World
    The 3rd World is an album/mixtape by rapper Immortal Technique, following a five-year absence since Revolutionary Vol. 2. It was released on June 24, 2008, on Viper Records. The 3rd World peaked at number 99 on the Billboard 200 chart. He claimed in an interview from September 2009 to have sold...

    (with DJ Green Lantern
    DJ Green Lantern
    James D'Agostino , better known by his stage name DJ Green Lantern, is an American-Italian-Puerto Rican DJ and hip hop music producer from Rochester, New York. In 2002, D'Agostino was signed by Eminem to become the official DJ for Shady Records after DJ Head stepped down for undisclosed reasons...

    )
  • Release Date: June 24, 2008
  • Label: Viper (8)
  • Format: CD, digital download
  • 99 12
    2011 The Martyr
    The Martyr
    The Martyr is an Compilation album by Immortal Technique released on October 27, 2011 through free digital download on ViperRecords.com. It is a collection of previously unreleased and never before heard music from the artist. This album contains a never before heard song, called "Toast to the...

  • Release Date: Oct 27, 2011
  • Label: Viper (1)
  • Format: CD, digital download

  • Singles

    Year Title Peak chart positions Album
    US R&B Sales
    Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales
    The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales chart is the sales component chart of Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. It is not the R&B subset of The Hot 100 Singles Sales, but rather a separate panel of sales of commercial singles in the urban market...

    2001 "Dance With the Devil" Revolutionary Vol. 1
    2003 "The Cause of Death" Revolutionary Vol. 2
    2003 "Industrial Revolution" 63
    2004 "The Point of No Return" 57
    2004 "Bin Laden" ? Single only
    2005 "Caught in a Hustle" ? BAADASSSSS!
    BAADASSSSS!
    BAADASSSSS! is a 2003 American biopic, written, produced, directed by, and starring Mario Van Peebles. The film is based on the struggles of Van Peebles' father Melvin Van Peebles , as he attempts to film and distribute Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, a film that was widely credited with showing...

    soundtrack

    External links

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