Quick Facts
Biography
Felipe Andres Coronel (born February 19, 1978), better known by the stage name Immortal Technique, is an American hip hop recording artist and activist. Most of his lyrics focus on controversial issues in global politics. His lyrics are largely commentary on issues such as politics, socialism, class struggle, poverty, religion, government, imperialism, economics and institutional racism.
Immortal Technique has aims 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 a combined total of 200,000 copies of his first three official releases.
Early life
Coronel is Peruvian and was born in a military hospital in Lima. He is of mostly Amerindian descent, although also has Spanish, French and African ancestry. His family emigrated to Harlem, New York in 1980. 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 on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Shortly after enrolling in Pennsylvania State University, 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 classes at Baruch College in New York City for two semesters at the behest of his father, who allowed Coronel to live with him on the condition that he goes to school. Honing his rapping skills in jail, and unable to find decent wage-paying employment after his release, he began selling his music on the streets of New York and battling with MCs. This, coupled with his victories in numerous freestyle rap competitions of the New York underground hip hop scene such as Rocksteady Anniversary and Braggin Rites, led to his reputation as a ferocious Battle MC.
Musical career
2000–2005: Revolutionary Vol. 1 and Revolutionary Vol. 2
In 2001, Immortal Technique released his first album Revolutionary Vol. 1 without the help of a record label or distribution, instead using money earned from his rap battle triumphs. He also battled but lost to Posta Boy in 106 & Park's Freestyle Friday. Revolutionary Vol. 1 also contained the underground classic Dance With The Devil. In November 2002, he was listed by The Source 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 in 2003. In 2004, Viper Records and, in 2005, Babygrande Records 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 during the UFC 88 Main Event between Chuck Liddell and Rashad Evans.
2005–present: The 3rd World, The Martyr and The Middle Passage
Between 2005 and 2007 Immortal Technique began working on The Middle Passage and The 3rd World, the two albums that would serve a follow up to Revolutionary Vol. 2 and complete the series. He was also featured on several movie soundtracks and video game soundtracks, all the while touring relentlessly. In October 2011, Immortal Technique released The Martyr, 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 and DJ Green Lantern. The single also contained a remix of the song featured Chuck D of Public Enemy and KRS-One. In early 2006, the song "Impeach the President", featuring Dead Prez and Saigon turned up in the mixtape "Alive on Arrival" DJ Green Lantern. 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 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 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, on a single called "Voices of the Voiceless". On September 11, 2009, a "snippet" of the song was released on YouTube. The preview was released ahead of its September 21 launch on iTunes, as part of a web-campaign that included updates, promotion and links on forums, E-Magazines and several social networking sites. The song's lyrics cover a broad range of issues that are familiar to listeners of both artists – racism, world revolution, war, socialism, government control, rape, famine, colonialism, Classism, self-determination and the war in Iraq.
Activism
Charitable work
Immortal Technique visits prisons to speak to youth and working with immigrant rights activists, and raising money for children’s hospitals overseas. He created a writing grant program for high school students as well.
In June 2008, Immortal Technique partnered with Omeid International, a non–profit human rights organization, and dubbed the work as "The Green Light Project". With the profits of the album The 3rd World, he traveled to Kabul, Afghanistan, 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.
Other work
Films
Immortal Technique featured in Ice-T's documentary Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap.
The (R)evolution of Immortal Technique
A documentary about Immortal Technique was released in September 2011 and premiered at the Harlem Film Festival. It was released on DVD on July 10, 2012.
This Revolution
Immortal Technique appeared as himself in a docudrama film entitled This Revolution, which was recorded during the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York. The tape contains the protests surrounding the convention in the form of a documentary. It also featured Viper Records affiliates Akir and producer SouthPaw in roles.
Since then Immortal Technique has taken control of Viper Records and has signed a distribution deal with Babygrande Records / E1 Entertainment to vent to their next album. SouthPaw has managed to establish himself as A&R of Viper Records.
Discography
Studio albums
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B | US Rap | ||
| 2001 | Revolutionary Vol. 1
| — | — | — |
| 2003 | Revolutionary Vol. 2
| — | — | — |
| 2008 | The 3rd World
| 99 | 36 | 12 |
| TBA | The Middle Passage
| — | — | — |
Compilation albums
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2011 | The Martyr
|
| TBA | The Martyr 2
|
Singles
| Year | Song | Album |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | "Industrial Revolution" | Revolutionary Vol. 2 |
| 2004 | "The Point of No Return" | |
| 2005 | "Bin Laden Remix" | |
| "Caught in a Hustle" | BAADASSSSS! Soundtrack | |
| 2007 | "Stronghold Warriors" (with Poison Pen) | Pick Your Poison (The Mark of the East) |
| 2008 | "The 3rd World" | The 3rd World |
| 2009 | "Voices of the Voiceless" (with Lowkey) | Soundtrack to the Struggle |