WEBVTT - Portrait Of: Immortal Technique 0:00:00.560 --> 0:00:02.880 I'm wondering if you're wondering. When I said, you know what, 0:00:02.920 --> 0:00:05.400 I want to interview in Mortal Technique, people kind of 0:00:05.400 --> 0:00:07.720 looked at me like, wait, what why? 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:10.039 Violent lunatic. 0:00:13.440 --> 0:00:17.720 From Fudur Media and BrX. It's Latino USA. I'm Mariano 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:27.000 Josa today a portrait of rapper Immortal Technique. So why 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:28.320 don't you introduce yourself? 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:31.560 My name is Felipe Cornell. A lot of people know 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:34.680 me as a Mortal Technique, Immortal Technique, stuck in your thoughts, 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:37.040 talking in dreams. No one's as good as me, just 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:38.560 got better marketing schemes. 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:42.760 Born in Peru, as Phelippe Coronel in Mortal Technique is 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:46.560 a legendary underground hip hop artist known for his skills 0:00:46.600 --> 0:00:49.640 on the mic as well as for his raw, super 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:50.640 political lyrics. 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:54.440 You listen this ponts of my corporations. That's why Halliburton 0:00:54.560 --> 0:00:57.640 gets paid the rebuilt nations. Tell me the truths. I 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:01.240 don't scare into paralysis. I know this. CIA saw been 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:04.200 Latin on dialysis in ninety eight when he was top 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:07.760 ten for the FBI. Government ties is really what it? 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:09.440 Government lies redigious. 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:12.640 His family immigrated to Harlem New York from Peru when 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:15.960 he was just a toddler to escape the armed conflict there. 0:01:16.400 --> 0:01:18.760 He grew up in Harlem during the eighties and nineties, 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:22.840 at a time when New York City was notoriously rough checked. 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:25.960 The Czech costant struggled to make the payments work in 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:28.560 your whole life, wondering when a day when the subway 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:32.720 stays packed like a multicultural slave ship is Russhawa thirty 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:36.440 to eight nonstopping the people come and home app the corporate. 0:01:36.080 --> 0:01:39.920 Share cropperty Pettybas says that because of the way that 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:42.840 he grew up, he harbored a lot of rage, and 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:47.040 eventually that rage led him to prison. He was incarcerated 0:01:47.040 --> 0:01:50.800 for a year during his college years for assault related offenses. 0:01:51.640 --> 0:01:54.480 While he was in prison, he honed his rapping skills, 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:57.640 and when he was paroled in nineteen ninety nine, he 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:01.640 took up freestyle rap battling. He became a champion in 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:06.480 the underground New York City battling scene. Just two years later, 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:11.240 he released his first album, Revolutionary Volume One, which launched 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:14.919 him to fame, eventually collaborating with famous artists such as 0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:18.800 Dead Prez, Most Deaf and Chuck d of Public Enemy, 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:22.639 but his brutal song Dance with the Devil is what 0:02:22.720 --> 0:02:24.360 he mostly became known for. 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:29.080 He started hanging out selling bags in the projects, checking 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:31.040 the young chicks looking for more. 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:35.600 Recently, Mortal Technique has turned to philanthropy activism, but he 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:40.040 also continues writing music with his trademark focus on Harlem, 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:43.520 our favorite neighborhood. I sat down with Immortal Technique in 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:46.160 twenty nineteen to hear about his life and how he 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:49.400 used his rage to get to where he is now. 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:53.080 As fans hold their breath for the release of his 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:56.440 first album in over ten years, we thought the time 0:02:56.760 --> 0:03:00.079 was right to bring that conversation back to you today. 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:05.040 Just a heads up. In this interview there will be 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:09.960 some discussions about rape and sexual violence. So, Felippe, you 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:12.840 were born in Peru. Where in Peru? 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:15.520 I was born in ros Pittelmilita de Lima. 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:16.600 And what area of Lima. 0:03:17.320 --> 0:03:20.000 I lived in a place called sam martin Bors. I 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:22.880 have a house there now. It's very much like Harlem 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:25.840 in the sense that it was, you know, a dilapidated 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:29.720 neighborhood for years, even though it has its originations in 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:33.720 a very very upscale area. Right fifty eighty years ago, 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:36.760 and then it turned into a slum. And it's funny 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:39.880 because you know, my father, who grew up in Peru, 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:42.440 who thought he would live his whole life there, experienced 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:46.000 you know, five thousand percent inflation in a year, a 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:49.480 virtual civil war between you know, MAOIs gorillas and a 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:53.760 CIA backed paramilitaries, and in order to find peace and quiet, 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:56.480 he moved to Harlem in the nineteen eighties. And that's 0:03:56.520 --> 0:03:58.840 the life I began to live. I'm on the border 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:02.000 of Bolivia, work for pennies, treated like a slave. The 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:04.800 poker fields have to be very discovered. Of my people 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:07.840 is starving, broken and sweaty, and treatment about the revolution, 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:10.440 looking that ma machete. As a youth, I would go 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:14.000 back there whenever. My parents. We wouldn't buy like fancy things, 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:15.960 you know what I mean. We didn't have the newest 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:17.560 toys or something like that. If we got them, we 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:19.680 got them off secondhand. And my clothes all came from 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:22.320 a church. Everything that we had was saving up to 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:24.920 go home to see my family and to make sure 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:28.000 that we maintained that cultural connection, because I think it 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:30.279 was it was very important for my parents to make 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:33.440 me understand what it meant to be here and to 0:04:33.520 --> 0:04:36.599 have those opportunities. It definitely was an eye opener in 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:39.560 the sense that it exposed poverty to me in a 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:41.880 way I had never seen it. In America, you live 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:44.440 with the illusion of a safety net, right, the illusion 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:46.560 of the safety net. You're gonna have Medicare, you got 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:48.800 social Security, all these things are gonna take care of you. 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:51.240 And I think out in Bedu, it was more like 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:54.359 you're swimming in the ocean alone and you realize that 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:56.160 you're swimming in the ocean alone. 0:04:56.480 --> 0:04:59.840 At what point did you, as Philippe, as a young person, 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:05.000 did you begin to kind of process, well, there's this reality, 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:08.720 but then there's the illusion, because so much of your 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:12.040 work as an artist, as a musician is about kind 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:13.360 of pulling back the cover. 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:18.760 In terms of the world itself. I think my father 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:20.599 was one of the first best teachers I had, Like 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:23.240 he was recruited out of the Peruvian military to be 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:26.479 at Columbia University. But it wasn't until I started actually 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:30.680 studying human beings that I came to certain realizations about 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:33.440 the society that we live in. It wasn't an epiphany 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:35.719 that I came to these realizations. I think it was 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:38.240 more of a slow burn of realizing that they were 0:05:38.279 --> 0:05:41.560 just one other layer, one other thing. You know, I'm 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:45.120 a person who's visibly Latino, but you know, my mom's 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:48.840 father is black originally his families from the Caribbean. So 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:52.919 I grew up with a very, very different idea of 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:57.159 African Indigenous Latino relations. You know, in many ways, I 0:05:57.279 --> 0:06:00.640 witnessed a lot of people, both especially Puerto Ricans and 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:03.320 Dominicans that I grew up with friends of mine that 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:06.280 were in total denial of their African ancestry. And I'm 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:09.560 looking at them and I'm like, dude, you're blacker than Pepper, 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:12.400 and you're talking about how you're not black. You're calling 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:15.440 people Brieto and all these other names, and you're talking 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:17.479 about your mom. You know that, right, just like the 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:21.080 Spanish ex terminating tin News, raping the black and Indian women, 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:23.240 creating lazihos support. 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:25.560 Your parents had a lot of hopes, maybe about the 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:29.360 illusion of the United States. You're actually going to at 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:32.000 that time, You're going to one of the best public 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:33.520 schools in New York City. 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:35.920 That's the reason my parents stayed in the city. They 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:38.600 were originally going to move to Canada for the free healthcare, 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:41.080 and I got into I was living in Harlem and 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:42.839 I got into Hunter. 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:46.360 So when you say Hunter, that's Hunter College High School, 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:49.200 which is this public school in New York City. It's 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:52.400 very high performing. You can test into it, so you 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:55.000 have to be super bright to get in. And speaking 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:58.080 of Hunter College High School, we've got to bring up 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:01.640 somebody who has also been on Latino USA a couple 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:05.400 of times, Lean Manuel Miranda. You know, the accusation is 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:07.680 that you were actually a bully to Lean Manuel, that 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:10.320 you he says you terrorized kids and that you even 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:11.640 threw him in a trash can. 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:14.600 Well, his rapper name is Immortal Technique. He's one of 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:18.400 the most sort of politically ideological. He really made sort 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:21.240 of an incredible life for himself as a rapper. Right, 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:25.600 he was a school bully and he terrorized kids. He 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:27.240 throw them in the garbage. I got thrown in the 0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:28.000 garbage by him. 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:30.960 Isn't that interesting? And yeah, he was a really angry kid. 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:34.240 And how are you and lean Manuel? How is that? 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:37.720 No? We talked and he was like, Yo, I'm sorry 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:39.920 about the way the story came out. I mean to 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:41.880 say that you were like the most wicked person in 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:44.720 the world. And obviously, you know, you change as an 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:47.360 individual since then, and we have been on good terms. 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:51.120 You know, I've never had like an outstanding issue because 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:53.800 of that particular interview. It was more about what other 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:57.880 people have brought into the conversation, because, to be honest, 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:00.240 he wasn't the only one that got thrown in the 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:03.240 trash can. There were dozens of people thrown in the 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:08.720 trash can. I was a definite, definite violent person, and 0:08:08.760 --> 0:08:12.240 I think that the contrast came because I was expected 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:14.480 to be a certain way at school, and then when 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:17.040 I left school, a lot of the kids from school 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:19.840 didn't have to deal with the same repercussions and same 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:23.440 issues that I had to. It's like cambodiatic killing fields uptown. 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:26.240 We live in distress and hang the flag upside down 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:30.000 the sound of conservative politicians on television. People in the 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:32.440 hood are blinds, so they tell us to listen. They 0:08:32.600 --> 0:08:35.640 vote for us to go to war instantly, but none 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:38.920 of their JITs serving the infantry to all just stacked 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:41.800 against us like a casino. Think about it, most of 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:45.280 the army is black and Latino. The rage and anger 0:08:45.320 --> 0:08:48.600 that I experienced as a kid was from living in 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:50.640 that dual life, you know what I mean, from going 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:52.960 to a good school with a bunch of people who 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:55.880 you know, maybe sometimes would have a gratitude problem, and 0:08:55.920 --> 0:09:00.400 then me going home to Harlem, which was just totally different. 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:03.240 Like with Harlem, I reminded people in nineteen eighty eight 0:09:03.360 --> 0:09:04.760 eighty seven, it was. 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:06.240 Tough, yo, it was tough. 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:08.560 I mean, my brother's out Paul of me came home 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.719 one day and a dude no lie in front of 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:14.720 my building down on the street corner, knocked his air 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:17.040 conditioner out and it hit a lady in the head, 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:19.199 and he pulled out a rifle and just started firing 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:22.040 at people. I never discussed these things. Other kids maybe 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:24.400 had therapy to talk about it. I didn't have no therapy, 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:26.800 So I maybe a lot of the things that I 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:30.280 had seen and witnessed really kind of changed stuff. Like 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:32.320 a lot of kids. Sure you lived in New York, 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:34.280 but you didn't see the same things that I saw. 0:09:40.040 --> 0:09:48.199 What's the problem. So at one time you were asked 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:50.760 about the bullying and the violence, and you said, quote, 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:53.319 I guess at seventeen, it was hard for me to 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:56.040 see that the person I was really fighting was myself. 0:09:56.440 --> 0:10:00.280 I chose violence to be the tool of deconstructing other 0:10:00.320 --> 0:10:03.800 people's issues, and it led to creating more issues to myself. 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:07.000 So every time someone thought just because he's smart, he soft, 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:10.240 I reminded them every day that I would hurt them 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:13.120 in some way. Like everything about me was structured to 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:16.320 fight with people. To be honest, While I imagine that 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:18.880 I liked that, at the time, really inside of me, 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:21.560 I didn't like that. It wasn't something that I enjoyed. 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:23.880 It was something that I saw as a necessity. It's 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:25.640 touch and go. It's not like I was just a 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:26.720 purely wicked kid. 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:30.880 So the rage actually lends you in prison? Is it 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:34.720 in prison where you basically decide that that's where you 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:37.920 want to move into rap? Or how is it that 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:40.480 you decide rap is the place where you're going to 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:41.640 find your expression. 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:45.640 I think one of the things about prison isn't that 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:48.520 it decided to make me choose rap as a career. 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:53.160 I chose rap in prison as a form of meditation, 0:10:53.480 --> 0:10:56.320 as a form of finding peace. I was thrown in 0:10:56.360 --> 0:10:58.880 the hole one time. For people who don't know what 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:01.520 that is. That solitary ca infinement where you basically live 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:04.480 in and exist in a very dark space. Native American 0:11:04.520 --> 0:11:08.480 cat named Judge. He came by my cell and he 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:11.480 shoved a piece of paper and like a half broken 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:13.600 pencil in the cell and he was like, Yo, man, 0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:17.800 don't go crazy in there. And I really, man, you know, 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:21.120 if there's a person out there who I owe, you 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:23.560 know what I mean to pay their rent, it's definitely Judge, 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:27.880 because man, that piece of paper was covered with so 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:31.120 many writing it looked like like I only had one 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:32.640 piece of paper to write on. So it was like 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:34.480 I wrote on all the lines that I wrote on 0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:36.000 the sides, and I wrote on the other sides, I 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:38.640 wrote on the back, I wrote on the outside lines. 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:42.320 This thing was like the Holy Grail. And get caught 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:44.400 in a hustle to let him know that I died 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:46.640 while I fought in a struggle from the hood rats, 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:49.200 the rich kids, lost in the bubble spray painted on 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:51.440 the street set in the subway. So I used to. 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:56.239 Coming up on Latino, USA, we talk about Immortal Technique's 0:11:56.360 --> 0:12:00.720 first album and this song that launched his career, Stay 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:01.800 with Us. 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:04.839 One night more than a Self, And then I saw 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:07.480 the way they portrayed us that everyone else that coached 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:09.959 us the whole see the worse than ourselves. Glad that, 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:12.240 in fact, the whole time you are heart and ourselves. 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:22.319 I used one night, One night, Hey We're back, And 0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:26.079 when we left off, Immortal Technique was telling us about 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:28.320 how he got into rap. We're gonna pick up now 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:31.839 with his first album and the infamous song Dance with 0:12:31.920 --> 0:12:35.600 the Devil. Justa heads up in this section of the conversation, 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:38.800 we're gonna be talking about rape and sexual violence. You 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:42.319 released Revolutionary Volume one that was your first album in 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:45.680 two thousand and one, and on that album is basically 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:48.959 the song that launched your career, Dance with the Devil, 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:53.280 which I was listening to it this morning in preparation again. 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:55.840 Just yeah no, and I'm sitting here like. 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:01.280 They drove around a project slow while it was raining, 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:04.880 smoking Blunt's, drinking and joking for entertainment until they saw 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:07.600 a woman on a street walking along three in the morning, 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:09.760 coming back from work on their way home, and so 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:12.679 they quietly shot out the car and followed her walking 0:13:12.720 --> 0:13:15.360 through the projects. The darkness swallowed her. They wrapped the 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:17.520 shirt around their head and knocked the roll to the floor. 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:20.360 This is it, kid, What was it about to Dance 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:23.600 with the Devil that you think launched your career? 0:13:23.720 --> 0:13:26.760 Essentially, I could give you a million different answers, but 0:13:26.840 --> 0:13:33.400 I'm gonna give you the ugliest one. Everybody either knows 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:39.520 someone or has been sexually assaulted themselves, And I think 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:43.160 the song came at a time when people were trying 0:13:43.280 --> 0:13:48.120 to kind of weed through a new generation of hip 0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:51.000 hop during the two thousand era and looking for who 0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:53.960 had kind of substance in the music. We never had 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:57.560 a song about rape ever in hip hop. Ever, we've 0:13:57.720 --> 0:14:00.800 probably discussed that it's been thrown around, but a song 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:04.600 in which we showed how that really means you're raping yourself, 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:08.320 you're destroying yourself. And then the underlying themes of its sister, 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:11.120 which are that all human beings that are alive right 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:14.520 now have to be related. And I wanted that point 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:17.600 to resonate in the people's minds when they were out 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:22.600 there listening to that music. I'm pull in and I 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:25.400 can't surve back. Right before he pulled it and the 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:27.800 end of the life, he thought about the Copaine with 0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:30.840 the platum ice, and he felt strong standing along with 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:33.440 his new brothers. Cocked it to a head and pulled 0:14:33.480 --> 0:14:35.720 back the shirt cover. But what he saw made him 0:14:35.760 --> 0:14:38.200 start to cringe and stutter because he was staring into 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:40.480 the eyes of his own mother. She looked back. The 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:43.720 benchmark of Western society that people base all of European 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:48.080 civilization on monarchies, is Rome. And when you look at 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:50.840 Rome as a society, you say, where did Rome begin? 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:54.280 We see that the beginning of Roman society begins with 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:57.120 an act called the rape of the Sabines. And I 0:14:57.200 --> 0:14:59.200 think that's a part of all of our genetic memory. 0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:01.800 I think every single little human being who's living right 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:04.800 now is a product of rape at some particular point, 0:15:05.040 --> 0:15:07.640 and they've just never dealt with that. The trauma exists 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:10.160 within them as a genetic memory. Some of them have 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:14.520 that in their bloodstream, more recent than others. When you 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:18.400 look at it, it's incredibly humbling as a man to 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:22.880 realize that I stand upon the achievements of murderers and 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:26.040 rapists to claim the position of power that I have 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:29.520 in this society. You could be standing right next to 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:31.920 you and you wouldn't know the devil pros inside the 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:35.200 hearts of the selfish white, brown, yellow, and black color. 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:36.120 That's not restricted what. 0:15:36.240 --> 0:15:38.480 Comes up for you as you're processing that song. 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:44.360 I mean, it's a difficult thing to talk about only 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:46.840 because there are women in my family and people I've 0:15:46.920 --> 0:15:50.320 known my whole life that have been survivors of rape. 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:56.600 And you know, obviously it's it's not my choice whether 0:15:56.680 --> 0:16:00.680 I share their story. It's not my place without their permission. 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:05.640 But I felt like I wanted to draw some idea 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:08.520 towards the disgusting nature of what it is and how 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:12.680 it actually has a huge place in our human society. 0:16:13.160 --> 0:16:17.120 It's really tough to hear that. And so when I've 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:20.640 been able to listen to, for example, your love song, 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:22.320 you never know, people. 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:24.720 Like you set out so paraut to be a problem 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:27.359 with the bronsuse de bo. 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:30.240 Which I just love because you know, you talk about 0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:35.040 taking your love whether to the Metropolitan Museum about or 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:39.440 to Mussel del Barrio, you know, and seriously, just hearing 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:42.600 that in a rap song, that's a love song. That's 0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:46.520 a side of you, you know, the gentle kind of 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:47.520 romantic side. 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:51.680 There is a romantic side, Yeah, I remember the I 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:54.000 think I've written a lot of interesting tweets. I think 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:56.880 one of the ones that went the most viral is 0:16:57.560 --> 0:16:59.680 I don't know how many thousands it had, but I 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:02.120 I wrote something and I said, you know, if I 0:17:02.240 --> 0:17:05.240 really like her, I might buy her flowers. I said, 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:07.359 but if I love her, I'll write her a story. 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:10.200 After all, What good are flowers when you can create 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:14.080 a universe just for her. Writing brought me out of 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:16.600 misery and pain, you know, like a lot of Volume 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:19.200 one that you hear is a lot of rage and anger. 0:17:19.359 --> 0:17:22.280 But that's anger and rage that's taken out of me. 0:17:22.760 --> 0:17:25.600 You know, sometimes if I really love somebody, I would 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:28.520 write something for them, something that would help them heal, 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:31.359 something that would put their problems, whatever it is that 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:35.159 I know about them, into the proper perspective. Little credit cards, 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:38.439 game and jewelry stealing, crack selling, lick a store Robin. 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:46.879 So, in twenty eleven, you released rich Man's World. You know, 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:48.439 in a lot of ways, it feels like you were 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:51.399 kind of expecting a Donald Trump to appear on the 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:53.359 scene before a lot of other people were. 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:57.560 I mean, I put out a lot of messages in 0:17:57.600 --> 0:18:01.280 the music some people that some people at first accused 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:04.800 me of being a conspiracy theorist. But here's an interesting thing. 0:18:05.560 --> 0:18:08.760 What were my big conspiracies on Revolutionary Volume two that 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:11.880 the Iraq War was based off lies. I then brought 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:14.640 up that the government was listening to all your emails 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:18.200 and tapping your phone, and people said, that's absurd technique. 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:21.160 You live, you live in nineteen eighty four, that's never 0:18:21.280 --> 0:18:24.040 gonna happen. And look what happened. So the idea that 0:18:24.119 --> 0:18:27.760 the demagogue at Gaudio would come in isn't something that 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:31.400 is part of the radical imagination of someone who lives 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:34.080 in the never ending story. It's something that was eventually 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:36.679 going to happen here in the United States because they 0:18:36.680 --> 0:18:38.560 don't want my dirty laundry. And when I fight it, 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:41.240 forget my lawyers excited, because what good is the law 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:44.760 if you can't rewrite it. I got seat eight traders, dictators, 0:18:45.240 --> 0:18:50.159 Yad was the blowers in hats hurt. Indeed, all of 0:18:50.240 --> 0:18:51.760 this money from out there, A lot. 0:18:51.640 --> 0:18:55.640 Of Latinos and Latinas immigrants are waking up and they're 0:18:55.720 --> 0:19:05.600 feeling powerless, angry, filled with rage, confused, sometimes hopeless. How 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:09.320 are you translating those emotions into your art right now? 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:13.320 One of the things I started doing is I started 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:17.080 working with various human rights organizations. That's something that has 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:20.199 always given me a really grounded sense of peace. One 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:23.280 of them, of course, was the Border Angels, the people 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:26.080 that leave water drops and food drops for those people 0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:28.879 walking through the desert. And the other was a group 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:32.920 that I feel doesn't receive enough attention as well. It's 0:19:33.000 --> 0:19:35.960 called the Green Card Veterans, and these are people who, 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:38.800 some of them served in multiple theaters of war. I 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:41.800 think people need to realize a lot of these individuals 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:44.840 have been deported or are fighting deportation. 0:19:45.720 --> 0:19:49.119 Is there any of your writings recently that you can 0:19:49.200 --> 0:19:52.200 share with us about those issues about the creed. 0:19:52.359 --> 0:19:56.120 Yeah, there's actually a song I have. I can't spit 0:19:56.160 --> 0:19:58.800 it right now because I know my producer listen. I mean, 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:01.359 we've kept this under wrap so hard. 0:20:01.760 --> 0:20:05.560 One line, one line, A great hustler. 0:20:05.600 --> 0:20:08.399 I love you, you got a good hustle. 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:11.840 No, I think that what we're. 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:17.720 Talking about is a song that describes the uh. We 0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:21.680 touched on it earlier, the depression and the suicide of 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:24.760 people who have gone to war. And part of that 0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:27.760 was talking about this particular issue. 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:37.640 So what is immortal technique processing now as a musician, 0:20:38.800 --> 0:20:42.159 as an American? Where is it coming together for you? 0:20:42.600 --> 0:20:44.960 My son? Of course, who was your biggest fan, was like, 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:46.320 how come he hasn't. 0:20:46.040 --> 0:20:48.280 Written No, no, no, no, I've written plenty of stuff. 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:51.280 I just haven't I haven't released it, and there's a 0:20:51.400 --> 0:20:52.320 lot of reasons for that. 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:55.600 Okay. So the question of your many many many fans, 0:20:56.040 --> 0:20:59.480 you know that, the question is your dad, your mom. 0:21:00.480 --> 0:21:03.280 We want to know when's the next tech song that 0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:05.280 we can Okay. 0:21:05.680 --> 0:21:08.200 I actually do have a couple of features coming out, 0:21:08.920 --> 0:21:11.720 which are just songs that I'm on for other people's projects. 0:21:12.080 --> 0:21:14.119 And then in terms of the record that I have, 0:21:14.680 --> 0:21:15.680 I'm closer than I've. 0:21:15.600 --> 0:21:18.399 Ever been and we're looking forward to hearing it too. 0:21:19.280 --> 0:21:23.080 Thank you so much, Immortal Technique, Felippe Coronelle, thank you 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:24.840