But I'm sick of feeling impotent watching the world burn

There is no artist with more biting, socially exposing lyrics than Immortal Technique. No artist bold enough to push boundaries, to express an intelligent opinion with such vigorous force and spite. His music speaks about a plethora of social and political issues, from urban plight to religious indifference. Where there is a topic for debate, you will probably find Immortal Technique on one side of the fence with a microphone and a snarling grin.

Revolutionary Vol. 2 is a continuation of the activism started in the first volume. I've listened to the album so many times that it dominates the most played list on itunes, right ahead of Blur, which I listened to continuously during my recent Britpop phase. Its difficult to tell what I like most about the album, whether its simply the lyrics or the way each beat and rhythm appropriately fit the message of the song.

Revolutionary Vol. 2 is one of my favorite albums of all time and it deserves a more in depth analysis than any album I will ever review in the Comaforum -- an individual analysis of a few of my favorite songs.

The Point of No Return

The first song of the album, after an introduction by Mumia Abu Jamal, throws down a gauntlet of fury and aggressiveness. It is the cannon in Tchaicovsky's 1812 overture, except at the beginning of the album. It is the unveiling of Immortal Technique and his onslaught on mainstream culture and ideas.

In Point of No Return, Immortal Technique begins unraveling an avalanche of conspiracy theories. He attacks the government for supporting terrorism and fascist regimes and outlines a history of human corruption and destruction.

The evolution of the world, bloody and dramatic
Human beings killing monkeys to conquer the planet
The kingdoms of Africa and Mesopotamia
Machine gunnin' your body with depleted uranium

His ideas are too broad and numerous to cover in a single song. Its purpose is to plant the seed of revolution, to push forward the fact that these ideas need to be said, need to considered, and need to be acted upon.

Peruvian Cocaine

Like most rappers, Immortal Technique plays homage to the movie Scarface. He samples a beat from the track used in the opening scene in Bolivia and also puts in audio clip, at both the beginning and end of the song. Overdone? Yes, but song is catchy and use of Scarface is appropriate and not overly cheesy.

After reading the song title, its fairly evident what the song is about - coke, and more elaborately, the corruption and disparity that underlies the drug trade.

Born and bred to consult with feds, I laugh at fate
And assassinate my predecessor to have his place
In a third-world fashion state, lock the nation
With 90% of the wealth in 10% of the population
The Central Intelligence Agency takes weight faithfully
The finest type of China white and cocaine you'll see

A bunch of other rappers provide lyrics for the track, names like Poison Pen, Diabolic, and Loucipher, that seem equally as angry as Immortal Technique. Each add additional fuel to a growing conspiracy theory that builds and builds throughout the entire album. Most of the time it is so drawn out that the theories become ridiculous. Unfortunately, Immortal Technique often loses his vision in these theories, one of the main criticisms of his music. He takes a cursory glance at too many social issues and ties them together in a confusing mess.

His lyrics, at times, are too much to swallow for the listener -- its paramount to taking every genre of music and trying to listen to it all at the same time. There is just an overabundance of information, a complexity that leaves the listener feeling hopeless. Immortal Technique often gets caught in his own fury. He connects events for the purpose of pushing boundaries, creating a new fallacies over the untruth that already exists in the topics he discusses.

So why even listen to his lyrics? They are meant not to be believed entirely, but instead, they provide a basis for a continued discussion about social injustices. Someone needs to say it first and Immortal Technique just grabbed the cat by the neck and threw it out of the bag. To argue whether his opinion is right or wrong is nearly irrelevant. The importance lies in speaking up, something that has not occurred in hip-hop since the early 90's with artists like NWA, Public Enemy, Ice Cube, and Ice-T. Rage Against the Machine assumed the mic for a few years but disbanded. Its difficult for an artist to keep a revolutionary voice throughout his career -- to be able to maintain the same edge and cynicism with more and more exposure to the mainstream.

Immortal Technique did not sign with a major label. He joined Viper Records, an independent label that released his first two albums and avoided Song BMG and Def Jam because he understood the creative influence labels have over their artists, propelled by the need to produce marketable tracks. He kept his voice pure and powerful and shunned popularity for a better message.

You Never Know

At night in my cell, I'd close my eyes and I'd see her
Hold her close in my dreams, but when I woke she disappeared
Just an empty cell until the state gave me parole in the summer
came back, in tact and on track
But the fact of the matter, is I still felt cold

This is a definitive example of pure expression and emotion in music. My own words would fail to describe the magnanimity of the story told and the despair realized at the end of the song. So check out the rest of the lyrics here.

Immortal Technique
MySpace
Biography