Review Summary: My word is through the father, holy spirit and his fucking son
Cause when I grab the mic device in front of Christ and start to rip it
I'll make Jesus turn around and say "yo pop this nigga flipped it"
Immortal Technique is an interesting artist. The conditions in which he conceived the lyrics for this album (imprisoned) had a profound impact on the MC's style. Tech is notorious for his raw and aggressive delivery, his in-your-face flow and of course the conspiracy theorist tendencies ever present in his songs. Over time the MC has evolved into something more down to earth, however on his initial release
Revolutionary Volume 1 Tech secured a massive following in underground hip-hop; the subject matter is varied and heavy, the beats are solid and together the music is exquisite. Its important to take into account the conspiracies and other unusual subjects Immortal Technique spits about - they truly make the music. Tech sometimes brags about his lyrical prowess, and its not as though he doesn't deserve to:
I jerk off inside books and give life to words
Leaving concepts stuck together you probably never heard
I love when people think I'm psychologically disturbed
Cause it means I overloaded their neurological nerves
-Positive Balance
Obviously the man doesn't care for the negative opinion of critics. His confidence is never overdone; often you will hear a line glorifying the MC spit by himself however lyrically he does not digress from his themes. Technique utilized his time behind bars quite well - educating himself with complex philosophical and political theories, argumentative skills, history, mathematics, science, etc. This is clear in his songs; rhyme schemes that could go on for days, impressive language shifts in the middle of songs ('No Me Importa' check that *** out), and he also isn't afraid to school his own fans with knowledge that contradicts the actions of many,
many average hip-hop heads (look for Beef & Broccoli and The Poverty of Philosophy).
Raw, man. 'Dance With the Devil', 'Revolutionary', 'The Illest', 'Dominant Species'...all of these tracks reflect perfectly on Tech's ability to tell stories, brag, and school us all on the same album, sometimes in the same track. Some songs will envelope the listener in a gritty street-life world and cause brain cells to pop into their head filled with newfound awareness and passionate knowledge about the Earth they live on and the people who run it. A lot of skeptics bash Tech for his undying belief in government conspiracies but the beauty of his music is that its not without reason; he will take the time to deliver an educated speech that
will help you think differently no matter how intelligent you think you are. His originality is unmatched and he's not afraid to tell you about that, either.
The beats are typical underground lo-fi stuff. Nothing so catchy you'll think every rapper in the game needs to do a remix, however that isn't exactly the guy's style. His rough lyrical style compliments the simply groovy beats and helps the album move along much quicker than an instrumental version would. Which is a problem...we all know rap music is always repetitive to an extent, however Tech is one of those artists who doesn't mind flowing over a monotonous beat because in the end the vocals are the focus of the album, which is the way most MC's see it. It would be nice if on songs like 'Top of the Food Chain' and 'The Illest' (two decent songs either way) we could hear some instrumental creativity and not just simplistic loops that I could throw together in a couple minutes on Pro Tools. But its not like
all of the beats are boring, I mean damn, 'Revolutionary' and 'Positive Balance'? Two instrumentals that deserve any recognition they receive.
No matter what the *** life throws at me
I continue to make it through indefinitely
Immortal technique defeats the odds repetitively
Until there ain't *** ahead of me competitively
Surviving the tough times is imperative to me
Looking at the whole world revolutionarily
The lyrics and the beats, lyrics n' beats. Honestly there is not much to say about early Immortal Technique work other than he's a wonderful Mic Controller who puts on a good show and sounds like he can kill every rapper and their mama in a battle on a bad day. His concepts are unproved but interesting, his lyrics are beyond solid, and he could find the potential to find a flow to compliment the work of
any decent producer. I have faith in Immortal Technique's music; I look forward to the future of underground hip-hop. If you like underground hip-hop there are scarcely reasons why this record shouldn't be on your shelf.
