Revolutionary Vol. 2
Encyclopedia
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. 2 attacks the United States government
, especially the Bush Administration
.
In an attempt to reveal the hypocrisy of American jingoism
, Technique makes a large number of historical and contemporary references: to slavery; the genocide of North America's indigenous peoples; Project MKULTRA
; the Patriot Act
; the War on Terror
; Acid rain
; American companies with Nazi
ties; the Catholic Church
's platform of non-involvement during the The Holocaust
; the Church calling Muhammad
a "terrorist"; the supply of chemical weapons to Saddamn Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War
; the conviction of the US by the International Criminal Court
for sponsoring terrorism in the case of the Contras
in Nicaragua; the assassination of progressive Senator Paul Wellstone
in 2002; the Jenin massacre; US imperialism in oil-producing nations; the occupation of Palestine; and media censorship and racism under the tagline "Fair and Balanced."
Perhaps the album's most memorable line is, "Turn off the news and read nigger, read."
Immortal Technique claimed in an interview to have sold more than 85,000 copies.
The CD included Immortal Technique's phone number.
The album features Mumia Abu-Jamal
, who introduces the album and also provides a speech about hip hop
's relationship to Homeland security
.
s, "just like the Spanish
exterminating Taíno
s, raping the black
and Indian
women..." and mentions the Templar Knights
taking Jerusalem and figuring out what was buried under Solomon's Temple
. He raps about Mary Magdalene
giving birth to the children of Jesus
and about the depleted uranium
scandal.
He quotes Scarface
and New Jack City
in "Peruvian Cocaine", describing the journey that cocaine takes as it reaches American cities. Each MC featured on the track takes on the role of a character involved in the drug flow, including a Coca
field worker, a Peruvian drug kingpin, a corrupt leader of Peru, an American CIA Agent, an American drug dealer, a corrupt policeman, and a prisoner incarcerated for drug trafficking. First, a worker describes the slave-like conditions endured by Latin Americans working on coca plantations. The next voice is a cocaine boss with substantial political power, and the next a government official who says, "The Central Intelligence Agency takes weight faithfully." The next voice, a CIA official, asks his wife, "Would you mind if I told you that I had two governments overthrown to keep our son enrolled in a private school and to keep our tummies swollen?", then says, "Of course this country's running coke [...] The CIA conducts the flow for these young hustlers that lust for dough."
Technique's views expressed on the track 'Peruvian Cocaine' appear to be drawn from the evidence of government involvement in cocaine-trafficking in the Iran-Contra affair. After their Congressional funding was cut off due to human rights abuses, US intelligence agencies trafficked cocaine in order to fund the counter-revolutionary project of arming the Contras in Nicaragua, who were fighting against the socialist Sandinista government in power in the 1980s. The CIA connection with the Somoza family, who were ousted by the Sandinistas in 1979, and Rick Ross
was exposed by journalist Gary Webb
in 1996. Webb argues that through Rick Ross, the CIA caused the crack explosion in Los Angeles in the early 1980s.
This story, along with the mainstream media's vilification campaign against Webb, is told at length in the book Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Press.
One of the more graphic songs on the album, "Obnoxious," contains some of the most offensive subject matter. "I'm going to prank call (1-800) cop shot just for kicks, payback for every time that they called me a spic, and Puerto Rican chicks tell me that I fuck like I'm loco, and Dominican women call me the rompe toto". Along with its humor and vulgarity, the song is politicly charged and attacks multiple angles of popular culture. The song was noted in several magazines as one of the most downloaded hip hop songs on the Internet in 2004
, only beaten out by Eminem
and The Neptunes
.
"The Cause of Death" suggests that the United States government was responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks
. Immortal Technique also discusses the seven-headed dragon of the Book of Revelation
, rapping that he will reveal "George Bush
and Bin Laden
as two separate parts of the same seven headed dragon". In the song he is also mentioning that the United States government is related to the Illuminati
and the New World Order
.
In "You Never Know", Immortal Technique laments a missed opportunity at love as well as huge tragedy which he experienced personally, with Jean Grae
singing the chorus.
"Harlem Streets", "Leaving The Past", and "You Never Know" are known for using a spanish guitar
"Sierra Maestra" was the only instrumental track, with a Latin sound to it.
Immortal Technique
Felipe Andres Coronel , better known by the stage name Immortal Technique, is an American rapper of Afro-Peruvian descent as well as an urban activist. He was born in Lima, Peru and raised in Harlem, New York. Most of his lyrics focus on controversial issues in global politics...
and is a follow-up to his debut 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...
.
Revolutionary Vol. 2 attacks the United States government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
, especially the Bush Administration
George W. Bush administration
The presidency of George W. Bush began on January 20, 2001, when he was inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...
.
In an attempt to reveal the hypocrisy of American jingoism
Jingoism
Jingoism is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as extreme patriotism in the form of aggressive foreign policy. In practice, it is a country's advocation of the use of threats or actual force against other countries in order to safeguard what it perceives as its national interests...
, Technique makes a large number of historical and contemporary references: to slavery; the genocide of North America's indigenous peoples; Project MKULTRA
Project MKULTRA
Project MKULTRA, or MK-ULTRA, was the code name for a covert, illegal CIA human experimentation program, run by the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence. This official U.S. government program began in the early 1950s, continued at least through the late 1960s, and used U.S...
; the Patriot Act
USA PATRIOT Act
The USA PATRIOT Act is an Act of the U.S. Congress that was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001...
; the War on Terror
War on Terror
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
; Acid rain
Acid rain
Acid rain is a rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it possesses elevated levels of hydrogen ions . It can have harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals, and infrastructure. Acid rain is caused by emissions of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen...
; American companies with Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
ties; the Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
's platform of non-involvement during the The Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
; the Church calling Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
a "terrorist"; the supply of chemical weapons to Saddamn Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War
Iran-Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between the armed forces of Iraq and Iran, lasting from September 1980 to August 1988, making it the longest conventional war of the twentieth century...
; the conviction of the US by the International Criminal Court
International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .It came into being on 1 July 2002—the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the...
for sponsoring terrorism in the case of the Contras
Contras
The contras is a label given to the various rebel groups opposing Nicaragua's FSLN Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction government following the July 1979 overthrow of Anastasio Somoza Debayle's dictatorship...
in Nicaragua; the assassination of progressive Senator Paul Wellstone
Paul Wellstone
Paul David Wellstone was a two-term U.S. Senator from the state of Minnesota and member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which is affiliated with the national Democratic Party. Before being elected to the Senate in 1990, he was a professor of political science at Carleton College...
in 2002; the Jenin massacre; US imperialism in oil-producing nations; the occupation of Palestine; and media censorship and racism under the tagline "Fair and Balanced."
Perhaps the album's most memorable line is, "Turn off the news and read nigger, read."
Immortal Technique claimed in an interview to have sold more than 85,000 copies.
The CD included Immortal Technique's phone number.
The album features Mumia Abu-Jamal
Mumia Abu-Jamal
Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted of the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner and sentenced to death. He has been described as "perhaps the world's best known death-row inmate", and his sentence is one of the most debated today...
, who introduces the album and also provides a speech about hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
's relationship to Homeland security
Homeland security
Homeland security is an umbrella term for security efforts to protect states against terrorist activity. Specifically, is a concerted national effort to prevent terrorist attacks within the U.S., reduce America’s vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage and recover from attacks that do...
.
Track listing
- "Revolutionary Intro" (feat. Mumia Abu-JamalMumia Abu-JamalMumia Abu-Jamal was convicted of the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner and sentenced to death. He has been described as "perhaps the world's best known death-row inmate", and his sentence is one of the most debated today...
) – 0:13 - "The Point of No Return" – 4:03
- "Peruvian Cocaine" (feat. Pumpkinhead, DiabolicDiabolic (rap artist)Sean George, better known by his stage name Diabolic, is an American rapper from Huntington Station, Long Island, New York. He started receiving fame on the hidden track after Immortal Technique's song 'Dance With The Devil' on Immortal Technique's debut album, Revolutionary Vol. 1...
, TonedeffTonedeffTonedeff is an American rapper, producer, and singer-songwriter from Queens, New York City.Known for his breathless vocal performances, rapid-fire delivery, which is alleged to be among the fastest in hip hop history, is said by critics as having "the best flows" of the current generation of emcees...
, Poison Pen, Loucipher, C-Rayz WalzC-Rayz WalzWaleed Shabazz, better known by his stage name C-Rayz Walz, is an MC from The Bronx, New York. He is currently a member of the Legendary NY hip hop Syndicate Stronghold. C-Rayz Walz has been a fixture in the New York hip-hop scene for years. He hosts many hip-hop shows and events, has appeared on...
) – 4:50 - "Harlem Streets" – 3:54
- "Obnoxious" – 4:51
- "The Message and the Money" – 3:57
- "Industrial Revolution" – 3:40
- "Crossing the Boundary" – 4:49
- "Sierra Maestra" – 0:49
- "The 4th Branch" – 5:20
- "Internally Bleeding" – 2:47
- "Homeland and Hip Hop" (feat. Mumia Abu-JamalMumia Abu-JamalMumia Abu-Jamal was convicted of the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner and sentenced to death. He has been described as "perhaps the world's best known death-row inmate", and his sentence is one of the most debated today...
) – 2:46 - "The Cause of Death" – 5:55
- "Freedom of Speech" – 3:09
- "Leaving the Past" – 4:30
- "Truth's Razors" – 0:21
- "You Never Know" (feat. Jean GraeJean GraeJean Grae , born November 26, 1976 is an American hip hop artist who hails from South Africa. She rose to prominence in the underground hip-hop scene in New York City, and has since built an international fanbase.- Early life :...
) – 7:50 - "One" (Remix) (feat. AkirAkirAkir 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 :...
) – 4:36
Song descriptions
In "The Point of No Return", Immortal Technique discusses the origin of LatinoLatino
The demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...
s, "just like the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
exterminating Taíno
Taíno people
The Taínos were pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. It is thought that the seafaring Taínos are relatives of the Arawak people of South America...
s, raping the black
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
and Indian
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
women..." and mentions the Templar Knights
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
taking Jerusalem and figuring out what was buried under Solomon's Temple
Solomon's Temple
Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple, was the main temple in ancient Jerusalem, on the Temple Mount , before its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar II after the Siege of Jerusalem of 587 BCE....
. He raps about Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses...
giving birth to the children of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
and about the depleted uranium
Depleted uranium
Depleted uranium is uranium with a lower content of the fissile isotope U-235 than natural uranium . Uses of DU take advantage of its very high density of 19.1 g/cm3...
scandal.
He quotes Scarface
Scarface (1983 film)
Scarface is a 1983 American epic crime drama movie directed by Brian De Palma, written by Oliver Stone, produced by Martin Bregman and starring Al Pacino as Tony Montana...
and New Jack City
New Jack City
New Jack City is a 1991 crime film starring Wesley Snipes, Ice-T, Mario Van Peebles, Judd Nelson, and Chris Rock. Snipes stars as Nino Brown, a rising drug dealer and crime lord in New York City during the crack epidemic...
in "Peruvian Cocaine", describing the journey that cocaine takes as it reaches American cities. Each MC featured on the track takes on the role of a character involved in the drug flow, including a Coca
Coca
Coca, Erythroxylum coca, is a plant in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. The plant plays a significant role in many traditional Andean cultures...
field worker, a Peruvian drug kingpin, a corrupt leader of Peru, an American CIA Agent, an American drug dealer, a corrupt policeman, and a prisoner incarcerated for drug trafficking. First, a worker describes the slave-like conditions endured by Latin Americans working on coca plantations. The next voice is a cocaine boss with substantial political power, and the next a government official who says, "The Central Intelligence Agency takes weight faithfully." The next voice, a CIA official, asks his wife, "Would you mind if I told you that I had two governments overthrown to keep our son enrolled in a private school and to keep our tummies swollen?", then says, "Of course this country's running coke [...] The CIA conducts the flow for these young hustlers that lust for dough."
Technique's views expressed on the track 'Peruvian Cocaine' appear to be drawn from the evidence of government involvement in cocaine-trafficking in the Iran-Contra affair. After their Congressional funding was cut off due to human rights abuses, US intelligence agencies trafficked cocaine in order to fund the counter-revolutionary project of arming the Contras in Nicaragua, who were fighting against the socialist Sandinista government in power in the 1980s. The CIA connection with the Somoza family, who were ousted by the Sandinistas in 1979, and Rick Ross
Rick Ross
Rick, Ricky or Richard Ross may also refer to:* Rick Ross , American rapper* Richard J. Ross, a Massachusetts State Senator* Richard Ross , an American photographer...
was exposed by journalist Gary Webb
Gary Webb
Gary Webb was a Pulitzer prize-winning American investigative journalist.Webb was best known for his 1996 "Dark Alliance" series of articles written for the San Jose Mercury News and later published as a book...
in 1996. Webb argues that through Rick Ross, the CIA caused the crack explosion in Los Angeles in the early 1980s.
This story, along with the mainstream media's vilification campaign against Webb, is told at length in the book Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Press.
One of the more graphic songs on the album, "Obnoxious," contains some of the most offensive subject matter. "I'm going to prank call (1-800) cop shot just for kicks, payback for every time that they called me a spic, and Puerto Rican chicks tell me that I fuck like I'm loco, and Dominican women call me the rompe toto". Along with its humor and vulgarity, the song is politicly charged and attacks multiple angles of popular culture. The song was noted in several magazines as one of the most downloaded hip hop songs on the Internet in 2004
2004 in music
See also:* 2004 in music Record labels established in 2004-January:*January 1**The Vienna New Year's Concert is conducted by Riccardo Muti.**Kurt Nilsen wins World Idol....
, only beaten out by Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
and The Neptunes
The Neptunes
The Neptunes are a record production duo consisting of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, who are credited with contributing the sound for many successful hip hop, R&B and pop artists in the late-1990s and 2000s...
.
"The Cause of Death" suggests that the United States government was responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
. Immortal Technique also discusses the seven-headed dragon of the Book of Revelation
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
, rapping that he will reveal "George Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
and Bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
as two separate parts of the same seven headed dragon". In the song he is also mentioning that the United States government is related to the Illuminati
Illuminati
The Illuminati is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically the name refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on May 1, 1776...
and the New World Order
New World Order
New World Order, New world order or The New World Order may refer to:*New world order , any period of history evidencing a dramatic change in world political thought and the balance of power...
.
In "You Never Know", Immortal Technique laments a missed opportunity at love as well as huge tragedy which he experienced personally, with Jean Grae
Jean Grae
Jean Grae , born November 26, 1976 is an American hip hop artist who hails from South Africa. She rose to prominence in the underground hip-hop scene in New York City, and has since built an international fanbase.- Early life :...
singing the chorus.
"Harlem Streets", "Leaving The Past", and "You Never Know" are known for using a spanish guitar
"Sierra Maestra" was the only instrumental track, with a Latin sound to it.
Production
- SouthPaw – track 2-6, 15, 17 ,18
- Metaphysics – track 7
- Necro (co.) – track 7
- Danja Mowf – track 8, 10, 14
- DomingoDomingo (producer)Domingo Padilla, better known as Domingo, is a producer from New York of Latin origin. He has produced for some of hip hop's most respected and well-known artists.-Albums:*Domingo Presents—Behind the Doors of the 13th Floor compilation...
– track 9, 11 - 44 Caliber – track 12
- Omen – track 13