written by Tonedeff on May 16, 2008



Immortal Techinique – “The 3rd World” [Produced By DJ Green Lantern]” – Available 06.24.08

When I first came to NYC, I was fresh out of school. I was living over in Bayside Queens, taking the LIRR into the city everyday. For those unfamiliar, that’s like…45 minutes worth of an additional train ride before you even get into Manhattan. I was fortunate enough to get a full time graphics gig the first day I got here, but I didn’t know anyone or anything about the city. I was just sorta of “warped” into things.

At this point in my life, I had spent the past couple of years couped up in a lab learning how to accumulate $38k in student loan debt for something I could have taught myself for free (Thanks Full Sail!). I had completed my first solo project, The Monotone EP, away from the group restrictions of my former ‘kid-group’ RBM Crew and I was antsy and looking to get involved in the Hip Hop scene. Cause…FUCK IT!! I’m IN NEW YORK, NOW! Within my first couple of battles, I met PackFM and the cat you see in the picture above.

First Impressions

The first time I’d met Immortal Technique, *(who was simply ‘Technique’ then) was at the United Hip Hop battle at the now defunct Spiral Lounge in 2000. Battling was hot and heavy back then in NYC – on any given night, you could see the likes of Breez Evahflowin, Wordsworth, C Rayz Walz, Pumpkinhead, Many Styles, PackFM and plenty other underground mainstays attempting to chop each other’s skulls off on stage for nothing more than peanuts, puma sweats and respect.

That night, I battled my way up to the semi finals via clashes with Plague-alumni Pumpkinhead [see video]. The end of the night consisted of a multiple final-round battle between Many Styles & Technique. Lines were flying back and forth faster than you can you could imagine, including the decisive “I’ll put cement boots on your mother and throw that bitch in the river” – sure it was purely disrespectful – but this is what would come to embody this man’s rep. A blatant, bottom of a gutter barrel, in your fucking face, lack of respect for anyone or anything style that folks really hadn’t seen just yet. Tech was more inclined to call you a “fucking f*ggot” and curse your dying sister in the hospital than to flip a witty worldplay joke. It was completely gutteral and unpolished, but still managed to make you laugh at the sheer audacity and shock of it. There was talent here. Plus he was a fellow Latino MC. Immediately, I was impressed.

We crossed paths in front of the club and gave eachother props for our wins that night, immediately striking up a mutual respect and friendship then and there. He’d given me a beat tape (yes, an actual cassette) to do a song called “Root of Evil” for a record he was working on (that would become “Revolutionary Vol.1”), to which I finished a verse for – just about 6 months too late. haha. I’m a notoriously slow writer (and it’s probably obvious why), and I missed the boat on Vol.1. I still got that verse though, so who knows.

Origins of Political Brutality

Throughout the entire time I’ve known Tech, he was always interested in politics and world events. We’d have hour-long phone conversations where I’d profess my lack of interest in anything governmental and he’d call me an ‘Anti-Castro Cuban’, and I’d confess that it didn’t matter that I was or not. We did a plenty of gigs together locally and he was always spitting wild shit about the government and whatnot. This is pre-Bush, Pre-War, Pre-911 shit we’re talking here. At this point in time, no one really seemed interested in anything but Ally McBeal, Biggie and Ecko tees. It was all going over people’s heads. Revolutionary Vol.1 came and went without fanfare, yet, he kept on and he kept on.

Shows kept happening, I was doing the whole Extended Famm thing and time rolled on. A year or so passed. One day, I got the call to come down to this studio he was recording at (which would become Viper Records) to record a posse cut with some of the regulars. I remember sitting in a room with Poison Pen (yowwww!), Pumpkinhead and his girl, and we were all trying to figure out what the fuck to write. We hadn’t even heard any of the other verses to go off of. All we knew were was what part we would play.

Whoever finished first would go down into the booth and drop vocals and pretty much disappear. Pen & I were in there for what seemed like an eternity until the first phrase just kinda hit me. “HONEY I’M HOME!” the rest just poured out from there. The song turned out to be “Peruvian Cocaine”

Lightning In A Bottle


Tech & Domingo @ Rocksteady Anniversary (2003)

9/11 happened. The war started. Rocksteady Anniversary’s last hurrah at Chelsea Piers happened. Tech was slated to perform that day – it would be the first time we’d perform this song we recorded. We were running the QN5 booth that year and I bumped into him pre-show. He literally rolled out hand truck with boxes that contained his new project Revolutionary Vol.2.

Imagine a crowd of people who’d never seen this stocky latino cat shouting the most brutal shit in front of 8,000 people. He performed “Obnoxious” – a song with verses many of us had heard many times at his local shows – and it was a collective jaw drop. We rocked “Peruvian Coke”, and then he proceeded to get his mics cut off during an acapella. Initially, I thought it was because the set ran over time – but I later came to find out it was because the sponsors were furious at his language. (Ever wonder what happened to RSC? Well, now you know). hahaha

You could just feel the energy in the air. Everything was right on the money that day – new president, a new enemy, a new war, a new disparagement over a stolen election, a newly galvanized people met head on by a new MC, a new voice with a new album and a new method of delivery – Street Shock Politics. Shit that was high minded enough to be politically poignant yet served up in the coldest platter of vulgar street slang that would hold the average Crip’s attention. This was lightning in a bottle folks. I was there. I felt it.

The Third World


Tech reppin the Akomplice Liberty Tee in Copenhagen

Since then, Tech has gone on to do some truly incredible things. I’ve watched him speak at political rallies, bust the noses of coked-out hipster rappers, and grow his audience all over the world. You can catch him on tour with Rock The Bells this year, providing a welcome dose of reality during a day filled with skinny jeans, flourescent yellow t-shirts, glitter kicks and regurgitated 80’s drum patterns. (Check this year’s lineup if you don’t know what I’m talking about).

I was fortunate enough to rock that now classic “Peruvian Coke” track with him recently at last years RTB event [see video] and I was floored by that crowd of over 30k+ singing along to his shit. I felt good to know that one of us had truly did the damn thing – in our own way with no compromises, gimmicks or trickery. Just raw unadulterated words from the heart.

It’s over 4 years since Revolutionary Vol.2 and he’s finally about to serve up his next release. I wanted to write something with some experience behind it as opposed to just posting an mp3 link and that being it. Here is the first bit of music from the forthcoming project “The 3rd World”, produced by DJ Green Lantern. DO NOT MISS the incendiary second verse of this song – this is classic Technique right here – seamlessly flipping from Spanish to English without losing an ounce of ferocity. The production is handled nicely as well, complimenting Tech with heavy kicks and a sinister flute melody that works towards an indigenous South American tribal feel. If you gave up anticipating the oft-delayedThe Middle Passage, this is all you need to keep the faith that another monster release is on the way.

And On That Note…

I know Tech and I are on pretty opposite ends of the spectrum as recording artists, but one thing we certainly share in common – we both stand behind what we say 100% and will not give up our position on anything we feel strongly about regardless of popular opinion. THAT’S fucking Hip Hop.

I’m still an Anti-Castro Cuban though. [Not that it matters].

;)

Hollerate,
Tone