Immortal Technique

At 46 years old, Immortal Technique has this physical status:

Felipe Andres Coronel (born February 19, 1978), also known as Immortal Technique, is a Peruvian hip hop recording artist and activist.

From a radical left-wing viewpoint, the bulk of his lyrics address controversial topics in global politics. Immortal Technique is an attempt to hold power over his work, and has stated in his music that record companies, not artists, profit the most from mass production and marketing of music.

He said in an interview that his first three official launches had sold nearly 200,000 copies.

Early life

Coronel was born in a military hospital in Lima. He is mainly of Amerindian descent, and he has Spanish, French, and African roots, as well as African, French, and African ancestry. In 1980, his family immigrated to Harlem, New York, to escape the Peruvian Civil War. He was arrested multiple times during his teenage years for various reasons related to what he describes as "selfish and childish" conduct. He attended Hunter College High School on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where his classmates included Chris Hayes and Lin-Manuel Miranda, who he mocked, but the two later became friends. He was arrested and charged with assault-related offenses following his participation in an altercation among fellow students shortly after enrolling in Pennsylvania State University; the charges stemming from this incident culminated in his detention 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's behest, who allowed Coronel to live with him on the condition that he went to school. Honing his rapping skills in jail and struggling to find decent wage-paying jobs after his release, he began selling his music on the streets of New York and competing with other MCs. This, as well as his victories in a number of freestyle rap competitions of New York's underground hip hop scene, such as Rocksteady Anniversary and Braggin Rites, contributed to his fame as a ferocious Battle MC.

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Musical career

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.

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.

In an interview in 2020 with Latino USA, Immortal Technique discussed that he was working on writing a book. He also mentioned that he was in the process of creating his new album, but had faced setbacks because of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

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.

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