Felipes Andres Coronel (born February 19, 1978) is a Peruvian born and
Harlem raised rapper, better known by his stage name, Immortal Technique. Extraordinarily political, Immortal Technique is a completely independent rapper known for his outspoken lyrics, dense wordplay and well-spoken activism. He's been known to collaborate with
Tonedeff.
Examples of Tropes in Immortal Technique's work:
- Being Evil Sucks: The main theme of "Dance With the Devil". The protagonist wanted to live out "the Scarface fantasy stuck in his brain" and gain the money, power, women and respect that can come with being a crime lord. He ended up killing himself after finding out that he raped his own mother as a gang initiation. The song ends with the lines "So when the devil wants to play with you, you better say never / Because the dance with the devil might last you forever".
- Bilingual Bonus: Some of his lyrics are, perhaps unsurprisingly, in Spanish. "Golpe de estado" is almost entirely in Spanish.
- Boastful Rap: "Obnoxious"
- "Rich Man's World (1%)" is a Villain Song in this vein.
And it is hilarious. - "Peruvian Cocaine" is another, but is not nearly as happy or funny as "Rich Man's World (1%)".
- Cluster F-Bomb: Not as much as some other hip-hop, but it's still there.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Just...listen to some of his songs.
- Crapsack World: "The 3rd World"
- Driven to Suicide: The protagonist of "Dance With the Devil", after finding out that he just beat and raped his own mother.
- The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: At the end of "Dance With the Devil", the singer turns out to be one of the gangsters in the story and says this:
And now the Devil follows me everywhere that I go/In fact, I'm sure he's standing among one of you at my shows
- Hidden Track: The 3rd World has at least two, one at the end of the album as one would expect and one hidden in the gap before the first song begins (rewind from the first song to hear it, although not all CD players will support this). If you count tracks merged in at the end of songs that aren't at the end of albums as hidden tracks, there is a third hidden track on The 3rd World after "Hollywood Driveby" and another on Revolutionary Vol. 1 after "Dance with the Devil".
- If You're So Evil, Eat This Kitten!: In "Dance With the Devil", the protagonist asks a local gang if he can join them. They don't take him seriously just yet, partly due to his lack of reputation but mostly because he once snitched to the cops after getting caught. So they suggest he prove himself by doing something truly cold hearted, such as raping a woman. He does. And it turns out to be his own mother.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: One interpretation of him, he could possibly be an example of Good Is Not Nice or even an especially cynical Knight in Sour Armor, or all three.
- Literary Allusion Title: "The Poverty of Philosophy" is named after a book Karl Marx wrote in response to a book entitled "The Philosophy of Poverty" by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. (This actually represents a rather important point in the historical divergence of anarchism and communism, since before that point, Marx had praised Proudhon's book What Is Property?).
- Moral Event Horizon: Invoked in "Dance with the Devil," combined with My God, What Have I Done?.
"I'm falling and I can't turn back."
- Also the aptly entitled "Point of No Return."
- Pitbull Dates Puppy: Due to the chemistry of their back and forth, many people believe he's dating RT's Marina Portnaya.
- Political Rap: Pretty much every song he's done.
- Sampling: In addition to the expected sampling from other songs, Tech is also fond of sampling film dialogue to underscore his lyrics. The films he's sampled include Deep Cover, New Jack City, Scarface (1983), and Pinocchio. Goonies Never Die samples the theme of The Goonies together with several shout-outs to the movie.
- Shout-Out: To everything from adult film star Peter North to Egyptian monarch Tutankhamen. Most songs have several of these.
- Start of Darkness: The whole story of "Dance with the Devil."
- Surprise Incest: Turns out the protagonist of "Dance with the Devil" was tricked into gang-raping his own mother.
- Take That!: At least once a song. In fact, a strong case could be made that this trope is the primary reason Tech's music even exists.
- Viewers Are Geniuses: Unless you're extremely conversant with politics and history, you will probably not understand even half the references in many of his songs. Even if you are, there are probably some you'll still miss.
- Wham Line: Two horrific ones in "Dance with the Devil":
- "Cause he was staring into the eyes of his own mother." followed by "Cause I was there with Billy Jacobs, and I raped his mom too."
- Working Class Anthem: "The Poverty of Philosophy" is a rap number pointing out that working to change an inherently broken system — from the US to various Latin-American countries — within its own rules is a fruitless endeavor because many of its societal-ills are based around manufactured crisis that those suffering from under it are forced to work under.
