Before the world came to know him as rapper and activist Immortal Technique, the Peruvian emigre Felipe Andres Coronel was a teen-ager growing up in Harlem, trying to figure things out. The way forward was difficult: Coronel honed his lyrical skills while incarcerated, and emerged with the desire to address politics, religion, institutional racism and humanitarianism, and not solely through music.
Immortal Technique’s first two albums immediately struck a chord. Revolutionary Vol. 1 featured the infamous “Dance With The Devil,” about the terrors of gang initiation. At a different point on the subculture spectrum was “Beef & Broccoli,” which skewered the moral pieties associated with veganism but gave the actual practice respect. The 2001 album remains one of the most pirated independent releases of all time.
The 2003 follow-up, Revolutionary Vol. 2, found Immortal Technique contemplating “Industrial Revolution” in a world besieged by marketing: Over a dreamy piano-drum duet, he sounded like MF Doom if that trippy MC had turned deadly serious about his subject matter. Another standout on Vol. 2 was the posse track “Peruvian Cocaine,” told from the viewpoint of the growers, processors, mules and street dealers caught between cartels and cops.
Immortal Technique has not stuck to music. He used the proceeds from his 2008 third album, The 3rd World, to build an orphanage in Afghanistan. He mentors youths in prison. His Rebel Army Runs charity, founded during the pandemic, funds elder care in New York and other cities.
A promised fourth album of new material, The Middle Passage, has been gestating since the mid-2000s. Coronel has previewed it as a sweeping survey of modern-day slavery, totalitarianism and corporate greed, and he’s been touring tracks intended for the album for years.
He’ll be joined on stage in West Palm Beach by two longtime collaborators, producer DJ Static and fellow lyricist Poison Pen. Opening the show at Respectable Street is Broot McCoy, who locals know variously as as one of the club’s doormen, a sneaker salesman, and a very talented rapper.
Immortal Technique with Poison Pen and DJ Static, and opener Broot McCoy, perform 7pm Tuesday, March 3 at Respectable Street in West Palm Beach. immortaltechnique.com ~ Erik Kvarnberg
