Immortal Technique is a rather unusual individual. Below his
intimidating persona as a raper of mixed latino and African-American descent lies
a social and political activist. And he’s not doing it just for the sake of
attracting attention or some other marketing reasons – by clicking here, you can see a very well
educated IT expressing his views on corporate America, and he’s also built an
orphanage in Afghanistan. He be real,
yo.
His second go round, Revolutionary Vol. 2, had better distribution but is nearly
identical in structure, beliefs and passion to its predecessor, Vol. 1 . IT
spits his left-centered ideas with the same intensity, attacking the Bush
administration and discussing subjects like crime, poverty, drugs, war and racial discrimination. He’s vicious, furios, funny as hell (‘’ With
skills unused like fallopian tubes on a dyke’’) and he’s not afraid to resort
to street-level platitudes (‘’ I hope somebody you love dies, so fuck
your crew’’) right in the middle of a political debate just for the sake of showing how much better
he is than you.
First of all, let’s get the downsides of Revolutionary Vol.2
out of the way so we can fully enjoy its awesomeness later on. Being a sequel to
its predecessor, Vol 2 has the same
bland, poorly worked beats that tend to get repetitive pretty early into the
song. At some point it can get really distracting, because it’s hard to focus on his
heavy lyrics while a screeching electronic worm keeps swarming towards my earsone. Then again, the sampling is pretty darn good
and IT has always been about the lyrics, so I forgive him.
The songs on Revolutionary Vol.2 are powerful, both in
lyrics and message. The chilling Cause Of
Death is 6 minute long conspiracy-themed rant about almost every thing you could find in a Deus Ex game, Harlem Streets is an all too true vision
of New York, with its filth and perverted hobos The 4th Branch is and
heartily fuck-you to the Bush Administration.
And it gets even better once you run into Freedom of Speech, You Never
Know and Industrial Revolution; the
first one is a hilarious satire on the musical industry with its mischievous
managers and record companies, the second is a heartbreaking love story told from the first person, while
the latter contains more one-liners than a Mitch Hedberg stand-up.
Still, my one true love has to be Peruvian Cocaine, which I
consider as being one of the best hip-hop songs ever created. This Tony
Montanaesque drug narrative features six notorious rappers, Pumpkinhead,
Diabolic and C- Rayz Walz among others, each assuming a different role in the
drug world. From the common field worker, the paranoid low-class drug dealer,
the cynical undercover cop to the corrupt government official, Peruvian Cocaine
depicts a filthy, corrupted world that once it drags you in, there’s no way
out. The best verses come from the
greatest flow in underground hip-hop, Tonnedeff, who assumes the role of an
American Drug Distributor who tries to rationalize his actions by declaring
that he’s just a product of the world he’s living in ( "Come on, our
fucking home was built on a foundation of bloody throats/ The hungry stolen of
their souls, of course this country's running coke").
All in all, Revolutionary Vol.2 is a great album with a strong
message to which everybody could relate, despite IT’s obvious leftie beliefs .
His charisma, passion and intelligent, creative rhymes make him one of the most
promising mcees out there, so go check
him out.
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