UNIVERSITY OF CONNEC TICUT STUDENT SUPPORT SERV ICES PORTAL SUMMER 2007 Dayna Tran ~ First Place ~ The Autonomy of Immortal Technique Hip hop was once used as a way for the community of minorities to engage in politics. As times passed, hip hop became more known to the media and was changed. Hip hop went from representing the voice of the people to controlling ―corporate white men who really don‘t understand what the culture is really about‖ (Chennault). Hip hop was changed from a form of an artistic expression to a way of making money. The majority of people identify rap as a negative music genre that portrays sex, drugs, and money. Although there are a lot of positive elements in hip hop, the negatives are far more noticeable and far more numerous (Harris). What people don‘t know about rap is that there is a difference between the more commonly known gangster rap (mainstream rap) and underground rap. While most mainstream rap artists of today utilize rap as a way to entertain and make money in the music industry, Immortal Technique isolates himself from conforming to the mainstream genre, and uses rap as a way to express his perception on the issues of our society. In his albums Revolutionary Vol.1 and Revolutionary Vol.2, Immortal Technique separates his music from what we know as ―rap‖ and targets the issues of poverty, class conflict, and corruption within our government. In the twentieth Century, rap music and hip hop culture played a large role in shaping the United States and gave voice to minorities ―who had previously existed on the periphery of the nation‘s consciousness‖ (Bynoe). Rap and hip hop ―not only highlighted their struggles, but also shed light on their aspirations (Bynoe). Political rap was born; and continued on from the early seventies through the twenty- first Century from Gil Scott-Heron, KRS-One, De La Soul, Native Tounges and A Tribe Called Quest. The genre of political hip hop was something new for the mass to look into. Issues like racism, violence, and corruption became a trait of political hip hop that was never introduced to the public before. Political hip hop has become more apparent in recent years; artist such as Tupac, Public Enemy, Jedi Mind Tricks, Dead Prez, and Immortal Technique, are expanding their revolutionary message. Even though some of these artists were mainstream, they weren‘t really known in their time. As rap and hip hop became more known to the masses, the fundamentals of hip hop were discarded and was replaced with making money. Before there was mainstream rap, there was Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G and their influence in the hip hop community. Tupac and Biggie were two of the many influential rappers of their time. Although their music was ―street‖ and ―gangster,‖ they talked about issues of our society whether it may be about poverty, corruption within the government, or any other political issue. After the shootings that lead to their death, 50 Cent was introduced to the rap industry and he changed the way people viewed 1 rap. Using his adverse past of drug dealing, the death of his mother, and surviving 9 bullets, 50 Cent became widely known to the mass of the country. His past ―earned him the most important credential in corporate hip hop, street credibility‖ (Watkins). With the help of corporate music industries and his respected street credibility, 50 Cent was able to spread his music throughout our country. ―In exchange for global celebrity, pop prestige, and cultural influence hip hop‘s top performers had to immerse themselves into a world of urban villainy that by the new millennium had lost sight of the line between pop life and real life‖ (Watkins). The problem with corporate hip hop, also known as mainstream hip hop, is that when people think of rap, people think of the stereotypical definition. People think of rap as a pessimistic genre that focuses on the ―negative stereotypes that black men are thugs; interested in violence, sex, drugs, money, and materialistic things that satisfies the self‖ (Harris). Corporate hip hop encourages black leaders of today to maintain the stereotypical definition instead of recognizing that they are ―leading us in the wrong direction‖ by ―characterizing our [hip hop] culture‖ as something negative rather than positive. Underground rap is entirely different from the rap that we normally know as ―gangster‖ rap. It‘s music that isn‘t influenced by fame or money. Underground rap is music that strays from corporate hip hop and focuses on the fundamentals of hip hop; whether it‘s about making music for themselves or about the issues of our society. Although Immortal Technique lacks the advantage of being widely known to distribute his music, being a freelancer allows him to write about what ever issues he wants without the restriction of record deals. Unlike the mainstream artists who are about fame, making money, and being restricted on what they sell, Immortal Technique doesn‘t care about his fame or making money because he has declined record labels, so he clearly doesn‘t get any advertisement to sell his music. His history of living in poverty and dealing with drama and altercations influenced him to express his thoughts and emotions through the physical form of poetry known as ―rapping.‖ The issues that Immortal Technique dealt with as he was growing up in New York motivated him to write about the issues that affected him. He was focused on expressing his opinions on the issues of our society; not about making money. He declines to sign with a major record labels because ―it‘s about principle and about [his] success rate as the president of his own label.‖ Being his own VP, and the president of Viper Records, he sold ―80,000 copies of Vol. 2‖ and about ―35,000 of Vol. 1‖ (―Immortal Technique‖). Before Immortal Technique was with Viper Records, he sold 10,000 on his own, so money isn‘t an issue with him. He does everything himself from using his own money for production to making his own records. Immortal Technique says that he ―represents the streets here in America, and [he] represents the people from other countries that come here as a result of what happened to their homeland.‖ Immortal Technique is his own person, he doesn‘t let things like money or people‘s opinions change the way he portrays his perspective on politics. Immortal Technique is different the majority of the mainstream rap artists because of the approach he chooses to express his perspective on political issues. Instead of casually addressing the issues, he blatantly targets the flaws and corruption of the issue. In comparison to the mainstream artists such as 50 Cent, The 2 Game, and Lloyd Banks rapping mundane subjects about how much money they make and how they survived the ghetto, Immortal Technique ―fills his lyrics with violent imagery that is oftentimes misogynistic, homophobic, and far from constructive‖ on political issues (Chennault). Immortal Technique differs from many mainstream artists because he isn‘t afraid to speak his mind, and address the issues that are important to him. Even though Immortal Technique is perceived to be a hardheaded rapper who is harsh and is inconsiderate in what he says, ―his lyrics are more than inflammatory, they're complex, evocative, and oftentimes poetic, and they've got the ear of hip hop's revolutionary intelligentsia‖ (Chennault). Most mainstream artists rap about sex, money, and portraying women as ―ho‘s,‖ whereas Immortal Technique focuses on the issues of our society whether it‘s about poverty, racism, or corruption. Immortal Technique uses poetry as a way to speak his mind on what he feels about the issues of our society. The language that Immortal Technique uses will affect the listeners because most mainstream rap artists tend to focus on making music for the audience where as Immortal Technique focuses on making his political music to spread his views. In Revolutionary Vol. 1 and Revolutionary Vol.2, Immortal Technique portrays his perception on the issues of poverty, class conflict, and corruption through his language. Even though Immortal Technique may come off as offensive, he at least is saying something rather than wasting his potential as an upcoming artist. ―Harlem Streets‖ is one of the songs that Immortal Technique wrote to express his views on our society, and how poverty is consuming the minority community. In ―Harlem Streets,‖ Immortal Technique says that there are people making an effort to live from ―check to check, constant struggle to make the payments. Working [their] whole life wondering where the day went. The subway stays packed like a multi- cultural slave ship‖ (Immortal Technique). Immortal Technique focuses on the hardships that minorities have to live with by portraying the image of laborers working day and night just to live a half-decent life. There‘s a ―generation of babies born without health care, [and] families homeless, thrown the fuck off of the welfare‖ (Immortal Technique). Immortal Technique uses harsh and inflammatory language to prove his point that poverty exists and is alive as ever. In ―Harlem Streets‖ and ―Crossing the Boundary,‖ Immortal Technique goes over the issue of class conflict whether the conflict is between the minority and the majority, or within himself and the mass. In ―Harlem Streets‖, Immortal Technique said how people ―vote for us to go to war instantly, but none of their kids serving the infantry. The odds are stacked against us like a casino, think about it, most of the army is black and latino‖ (Immortal Technique).