Sunday, August 14, 2005

immortal technique

One of the coolest things I came back from Louisville with is Immortal Technique's second album Revolutionary, Vol. 2. He's better than any columnist I know of:
I break it down with critical language and spiritual anguish
The Judas I hang with, the guilt of betraying Christ
You murdered and stole his religion, and painting him white
Translated in psychologically tainted philosophy
Conservative political right wing, ideology
Glued together sloppily, the blasphemy of a nation
Got my back to the wall, cause I'm facin' assassination
Guantanamo Bay, federal incarceration
How could this be, the land of the free, home of the brave?
Indigenous holocaust, and the home of the slaves
Corporate America, dancin' offbeat to the rhythm
You really think this country, never sponsored terrorism?
Human rights violations, we continue the saga
El Savador and the contras in Nicaragua
And on top of that, you still wanna take me to prison
Just cause I won't trade humanity for patriotism.

I wish more hip hop were like this. It makes me feel the way I did when I first heard Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back way back in high school. Back then, I felt I'd caught a sneak peak of a revolution. I guess it was. Hip hop went big. But it also went bling and bang bang. Not that it was all bad (the world would be duller if Dr. Dre had never dropped the Chronic albums). Still, this Immortal Technique reminds me of what hip hop could be, or could have been.

But then again, the new Kanye West album comes out on Tuesday. College Dropout was deep, and it still managed to sell. Counting the hours...

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