"This is the business, and ya’ll ain’t getting nothing for free and if you devils play broke, then I’m taking your company you can call it reparations or restitution lock and load n*gga, industrial revolution" Industrial Revolution – Immortal Technique According to Immortal he and a fellow artist, Poison Pen were in Boston to do a show when they dropped by Landspeed and as the relationship progressed things got flaky. "I’ve seen other artists get paid off Landspeed. Some people make money off of it, but you know what, me and a whole lot of other people have witnessed firsthand the way that they just jerk people out of money. I took myself out of that situation before it happened. They were like ‘Oh maybe you should give us some of "Vol. 1" and we’ll put it out for you a little something.’ And then I said ‘Alright, well when do I see a return and don’t I have to sign some consignment stuff’ and they’re like ‘Nah, nah, nah. Just send it.’ And I was like whoa, whoa, whoa! What, Dog? I was like "Hold on, I heard a lot of stories about ya’ll not paying people. Now what’s really going on.’ And then they got real hesitant. "Make sure that he’s a thug and intelligent too" Made You Look – Nas Whether in composition or conversation, Immortal easily shifts between the monumental and mundane, seamlessly weaving together the practical and the political from discussing the power of popping sh*t to proclamations of high philosophy. In talking with Immortal one sees his songs come alive through his lively yet well-thought exchanges. His mind is one with his art, living and breathing, and from the abundance of the heart, as the saying goes, the mouth speaks. "I felt like there wasn’t enough stuff being said and people were talking too much about taking it back to the streets in they rhymes and they wasn’t talking about the streets. They was talking about fake crack deals that never went down. They wasn’t talking about the systematic destruction of the Black Panthers under the COINTELPRO. They was talking about Allah and Islam, but they wasn’t talking about the demonization of it. They was talking oh yeah all praise to Allah but they wasn’t talking about how the media was demonizing Islam. That’s what bothered me." "And you can’t fathom the truth, so you don’t hear me You think illuminati’s just a f*ckin’ conspiracy theory?" The Cause of Death – Immortal Technique "I don’t believe in conspiracy theories there are certain facts that we can take from world history and that we can talk about. The whole idea of an illuminati means a people that sit behind the public figures and dictate not only foreign and domestic policy but world issues world economy and I think that people who don’t understand that are kind of naive because to think that George Bush is the only man calling shots in America is a little bit foolish. I mean he has not just a conglomerate of corporate interests involved but it almost seems as if his vice president has more to so with the decision making capability of the White House than he does. You can find examples in Halliburton’s no contest bids for contracts for the reconstruction of Nations. People have a negative view of people who believe in conspiracy theories but I like seeing the reaction on people faces when you can back some of these conspiracy theories up with facts." "Word to Ground Zero. The Devil crept into Heaven God overslept on the 7th The New World Order was born on September 11" The Cause of Death – Immortal Technique "In America we like to think of our country and our nation as being more advanced than other people’s. Politically, economically, whatever. But we have fixed elections. We have political assassinations in this country too. Kennedy was killed because he was going to end the Vietnam War. He was killed by people who had an interest in continuing the Vietnam War. People who were making money off the Vietnam War. Vietnam was a black eye. America got the black eye, but the hand took the money and put it in its pocket. There were certain people who benefited from the war. Just the same way September 11 is a tragedy but there are people benefiting from that day now. People who say: ‘We need more security. Give us more money, more money, more money.’ There are weapons companies that are benefiting and this is so close to the hood and so close to the voting population that I feel like we need to speak on it because that’s the poverty of our philosophy. People are in the ghetto struggling just to pay rent; just to put food on the table for their children that’s why when you talk about sh*t like this they’re like ‘What does that matter? I don’t care about what Bin-Laden does or Hussein or whoever Tariq whatever the f*ck, n*gga, I don’t care about that, Dog. What that got to do with me?’ Actually it has everything to do with you, you stupid motherf*cker. It has a direct effect on how you live your life whether you realize or not because some people can’t rationalize politically, and I’m not saying all of them because there are some people who are broke as a motherf*cking joke that can sit down and break down the history of the world and the political spectrum a lot better than me. But, I put it like this, that the majority that are ignorant are kept ignorant. That they are put in the situation where they don’t have the time to learn. I mean, it takes dedication to do things like that and when you have three or four kids and you holding down two jobs just trying to maintain their lives. It’s a whole another thing to say and now I want to […]

10 years. Men’s will can shatter during a 10-year bid in jail. Technology has advanced in hulk-like leaps and bounds in the past 10 years. Onyx’s Fredro Starr has survived the tumultuous rigors of the hip-hop music industry for over 10 years. Whether he was altering the hip-hop landscape with his Onyx brothers Sticky and Son See or taking to the demanding (and profitable) Hollywood screen – Fredro has survived. But survival isn’t always the goal. Mindful of the beast, Fredro has sided with a pair of former G-Unit Soldiers as Onyx crumbles into nothingness. With a new crew (Silverback Guerillas), a new movie (Torque), and a new TV show (“360”) the grimy Queens native eyes another 10 years entertaining the masses in and out of the hood. AllHipHop.com: First off, what’s the deal with you and 50, man? Fredro Starr: We came under the same umbrella Jam Master Jay. I just think that its like a hood beef , its like a neighborhood type of situation where two guys from the same hood. It s a rivalry that’s been going since How to rob a ni**a. He made a comment on Sticky. Whatever happens to Sticky happens to me. We family. It’s always been like a rivalry. 50 Cent is irresponsible when it comes to the hip-hop community . He doesn’t have respect for the streets. He doesn’t have respect for the game of hip-hop. He likes to speak about people from his neighborhood and its basically indicting ni**as on wax , speaking about what they did or what they done or who they murdered or how many drugs they sold basically when you do that you disrespecting the ghetto. You disrespecting the streets by speaking about somebody else’s cases and their indictments and what they going through with the law. He doesn’t really know these people. He be talking bout people like Tah Tah and Freeze and Supreme. These are people from an era. I’ma little older than 50. I’m the same age as Pac. I’m from Pac era. He just speaking about these people from what he heard-word of mouth. When I actually know these people, sat down building with all the people that he speaks about and I would never put their name in a rhyme and disrespect them or put them in a position that they cannot deal with. As far as the rap game , he’s coming out in the rap game the same way, he’s disrespecting people. The kid is talented. He’s a genius at publicity stunts. He definitely rides the beef drama all the way ‘til the wheels fall off. I give him that for creating beef and controversy around him. AllHipHop.com: Why would he do this, in your opinion? Fredro Starr: He doesn’t respect the game. I just heard he dissed Cheeks from Lost Boys and Onyx knows Cheeks. We built outside. You got other rappers from Queens , Nas from Queensbridge and Nore but Southside we put Southside on the map 10 years ago. We was double platinum in ‘92 so basically ‘92 you double platinum that’s like selling 10 million records [these days]. I just feel that he doesn’t respect his elders in the game. The OG’s in the street or from the rap game. I’ma let god deal with the situation and keep doing my movies keep doing my TV shows. AllHipHop.com: A lot of people don’t know , he first appeared on an Onyx song Fredro Starr: Right. he appeared on “React,” the record we did. We shot a video for it. At that time it was all good with the god. All smiles all cool, everything was cool. We didn’t really know him. We gave him a shot to be on out record even though he wasn’t down with our clique. I let the ni**a rock on my record just out of respect for Jam Master Jay. I feel like Jam Master Jays death, he’s not respecting that. He put me in the game, 50 in the game. But meanwhile this ni**a talks about 2pac and Biggie like he knows these guys. AllHipHop.com: I heard you actually brought Tah Tah to him. Fredro Starr: In a song he said who shot me Freeze ‘Preme or Tah Tah. These is really ni**as on the streets who been doing they thing and me and Tah Tah is real cool peoples. He was holding me down, a real gentlemen but he’s definitely a thug. He definitely doing what he do . I thought he at least knew how [50] looked , seen his face. Tah never even met the ni**a , never even seen the ni**a so he wanted to meet 50 Cent . They met they sat down and I guess they squashed everything out. Right now Tah is facing 20 years in a federal prison so he has a high profile case and meanwhile your man 50 cent is tarnishing his name in the industry. He can’t even get a check, he cant even walk into an office building because they think Tah Tah might shoot him. AllHipHop.com: So whats the deal with your new crew, The Silverback Guerillas? Fredro Starr: Its a kid named Bang ‘Em Smurf that was down with 50’s camp [and] a kid named Domination that raps, that’s Freaky Tah from the Lost Boyz’s younger cousin. They not rocking with the G-Unit no more. I don’t know why they not rocking I don’t know what the case is but I feel that Domination has a real talent. I stepped in and we sat down with Smurf and Domination and I’ma part a company to help them build a village, to help them back up, t build Southside back up. I’m helping these guys out with their company. 50 Cent can’t take it. He can’t take it. AllHipHop.com: Do ya’ll have an album situation yet? Fredro Starr: We got a couple deals on the table. We put out [mixtapes] Groundwork 1 and 2 and […]

Technique chemically unstable, set to explodeForetold by the Dead Sea scrolls written in codesSo if your message ain’t sh*t, f*ck the records you sold’Cuz if you go platinum, it’s got nothing to do with luckIt just means that a million people are stupid as f*ck!Industrial Revolution -Immortal Technique At this time Immortal began to see the next stage in his development was moving from the battle to the recording studio. "After I got out and I won all these battles, I dedicated myself to not just being a battle MC because I got bracketed. Put it that little hole where people are like ‘Oh he’s a battle rapper.’ People would say that. ‘Immortal Technique is an ill battle rapper.’ I found it in the streets. I found it at shows. And even stupid little message boards people were writing ‘oh he’s a good battle rapper.’ I’m like oh, now I really got to write some songs. I said to myself I don’t want to be bracketed as a battle MC because I think I got a lot more potential. So I took a lot of the songs that I had written in jail and I hooked up with DJ Reach and this brother told me he’s like ‘My peeps make beats. They could hook you up with some tracks.’ So I went over there and I ain’t have no money. I was telling people I couldn’t do nothing and I basically got them to give me some tracks and I put out "Volume 1" and I worked with them and they did like most of the beats but they did all the recording. It was like off like an 1880 and a Shure mic, but they mixed it down real well. So after I put our "Vol. 1" people were like this guy is not just on some hardcore stuff, he’s on some revolutionary stuff. I did that at the end of ’99 the beginning of 2000, but we put it out in 2001 and really there’s songs on "Vol. 1" from like 1997." Immortal Technique’s name already rang bells around the battle scene but after several performances his reputation a showman also began to increase. "In terms of my seasoning, I learned the stage presence from being in the battle," said Immortal. "I can handle a heckler in the crowd. It ain’t nothing to me whether you want to handle it physically or you want to handle it lyrically; that’s up to you. But the point is that you learn a lot more than you think you do about stage presence because in the battle, even with the judges because usually the judges go along with the crowd. You don’t win by beating your opponent, you win by winning the crowd. "There were a lot of times I had to perform for free and I ain’t mind all at that because I was getting my name out there. But as I started getting my name out there more and more that’s when I was like alright you know what. I don’t mind doing a benefit show but just like "The Message and the Money." I better not be the only person that’s not getting paid because that seems to be the deal nowadays, people want to pay their mans and them; kinda’ like a political kickback. Whether you like politics or not politics is a part of everything. ‘Oh, I’m not into politics.’ Well then you must not be into life you dumb-ass n*gga ’cause that’s what life is. Life is politics. "So in that respect I grew very angry with the scene because as the battle scene deteriorated and I had won so many battles I got this thing called the "Unsigned Hype." After I got the "Unsigned Hype" in The Source some labels hollered at me. But their whole image of success was me changing the persona of who I was. They wanted me to make the type of records that I would just feel embarrassed spitting. I’m like this isn’t me. This isn’t who I am. This has nothing to do with hip-hop. This is party music and why are you dictating it? You don’t know hip-hop. You’re just using it to market a product in the future to them. "That’s the problem in hip-hop. That’s the situation in hip-hop. That people are using hip-hop today to market their product to a different audience that they normally wouldn’t have access to and when I said that at Rock Steady, the sponsors cut my mic off. And then Crazy Legs came back and was like; nah you got to let him rhyme, you got to let him say whatever he wants to say." "I think hip-hop is standing on a cliff right now and there are certain people are trying to pull it back and say: ‘No, no, no! You’re too close to creativity. We might lose control of where it’s going to go.’ And there are people who have decided to just fly around in the air and tell hip-hop ‘Nah, come on. Just walk with us. You could walk in the sky. You can live without boundaries.’ There’s good and bad things that come with that. There’s abstract hip-hop that I think is not hot. People just rambling with big words on the microphone that really don’t say anything. "I take a p### on a development deal from Sony, or Def Jam cuz your like all of the rest man" -Obnoxious – Immortal Technique Immortal’s excursions into the music industry led to him putting himself out on his own imprint Viper Records. On the album, along with the music industry in general, Immortal calls out independent label Landspeed by name. "My beef with Landspeed, it’s not like I want to kill those cats. They’re just geeky white people. They’re no threat to me." says Immortal . "I don’t have no serious issue with Landspeed and I say that because I don’t want them to be […]

Seated in the rear of parked RV on a wintry December afternoon, DJ Kay Slay is waiting. In fact, he’s been waiting for four hours. And with no communication between him and label reps inside the Brooklyn warehouse where he’s filming the lead video for his sophomore effort, The Streetsweeper, Vol. 2., Kay Slay begins to boil. “Where the f*ck is my food,” he yells, after being told it’s on the way for the umpteenth time. If we’ve learned anything about Kay Slay, it’s that he doesn’t tolerate disrespect. Now, the Drama King returns spewing vitriol at all who stand in his way. Okay, he’s reloaded. AllHipHop.com: So Slay, what’s going on with the album? What’s been the changes since the first one dropped? Kay Slay: The changes on this album right here is that it’s being done with one situation. My last album started on Violator, then it went to Columbia, then to Sony Urban. So this one here is starting off with—well actually, it’s called Sony BMG now, because they merged again. AllHipHop.com: Is the album title staying the same, like the mixtape [the original Streetsweeper series]? Kay Slay: Yeah, it’s The Streetweeper Vol. 2, but it’s subtitled The Pain From The Game. It’s just really expressing the pains through this. Everybody thinks that you get a deal and it’s rosy. Nobody talks about how artists get raped for their royalties and their publishing. You know, all you really do is get an advance. After that, unless you sell Eminem numbers, you ain’t going to see no paper. That’s where you just gotta build a name to establish that credibility to sell units, where you can get a production deal, a joint venture, or something to see your paper. It’s just a stepping-stone. People don’t really know about that. It’s not a really as sweet as it looks. It’s a really hard struggle. At the end of the day, you could come out this s### broke. Nobody expresses the situation to the younger brothers. The intro of my album, I speak about the b####### politics, and so on and so forth, in the game. It’s just another learning experience coming from me; trying to put some knowledge in the music industry. AllHipHop.com: Do you think coming from the mixtape game, that you are your own A&R? As far as doing the legwork to get people together because of the relationships you have from putting out the original Streetsweeper mixtapes. Kay Slay: Both A&Rs I’ve had, I actually know more about music than them. I’ve been deejaying for like 27 years. What can you tell me about a track, about an artist’s flow, or anything of that nature? You might have just got interested in music six or seven years ago. You might have want to school to learn about it. It’s something that I went to, from the house parties, out to the park, to the centers, to Bronx River, you understand what I’m saying? I watched hip-hop evolved into what it was. Cause, even before hip-hop, I was playing disco records, I was playing my mother’s old records. I ain’t have no two turntables and a mixer; I turned one component set up, and brought the next one up. So its like, what can an A&R tell me? You can give a suggestion, but you can’t direct my album the way I can. And 90 percent of artists don’t respect them. So if they go to them to get them on the album, I may hear some dumb s### like $50,000 [to be on the album]. As opposed to if I step to them, it’s going to be like you wash my back, I wash yours. Or in some cases, some brothers’ careers might look big, but it’s really not and they may ask for 20k, and you know, we work it out like that. AllHipHop.com: How is the process different to you when you put together a major album versus a mixtape? Is it more business, or is the love still there? Kay Slay: With me, it’s still the love. Cause with me, I know, in all actuality, this is what’s going to help me get to the next level. It ain’t like I’m going to get a gang of paper for doing this album [laughs]. But I always look at the situation that comes after. The difference to me, you getting other people records for mixtapes. On the album, YOU making the records, so it’s definitely more love. Cause at the end of the day, you made this record. This record represents you. If it’s trash, mufuckas is going to look at you like, “You heard that s### Slay put out. But if it’s hot, it’s going to be like, ‘Yo, n#### did his thing.’ So it’s definitely way more love when you doing an album. Especially when you spending money to do the records and money to be in the studio and so on and so forth, rather than you just taking a n#### record he gave you and throwing it on a mixtape. AllHipHop.com: With your mixtapes, you got plenty of people throwing records your way, is it the same when you put together a major album? Kay Slay: It’s the same; It even worse, now. I got a lot of people throwing records at me and I feel bad, cause it’s too late. They have to wait for the next go round. I got 27 records and everything isn’t going on the record. It’s hard. I like every record I do. Then it’s hard telling somebody, ‘yo dog’ [laughs] AllHipHop.com: You ain’t making the album [laughs] Kay Slay: You know what I’m saying? I know how people take this s###. They take it to heart. AllHipHop.com: Cause you got a face, they know where to find you. They can go up to Hot 97 like, ‘Yo Slay.’ Kay Slay: Nah, nah, they ain’t coming to Hot 97 AllHipHop.com: I’m just saying you […]

Bed-Stuy Brooklyn. Million Youth March. A Che Guevara of an emcee laces the crowd with politically astute, precision-crafted punch lines delivered with a veteran performer’s polish and timing. Along the way, he tears a new a### in the mindscapes of the assembled mass, ending his set by telling the crowd to put a middle finger to the sky in order to send a proper greeting to the C.I.A. spy satellites. The emcee is Immortal Technique. Harlem USA. Five Percenter National Headquarters. In the next room some “older gods” are engaged in a lively debate on Osama Bin Laden as a direct result of the cover art on Immortal Technique’s “Revolutionary: Vol. 2.” Immortal is in his glory. The heated conversation is precisely what Immortal sees as one of his primary objectives. “In terms of my political stance and where I want to stand and the way I’d like to be remembered; I am the spirit of argument and discussion. The album was created itself to create a discussion since all discussions were being knocked off the board; since people didn’t want to discuss anything,” says Immortal. “Making music is one thing but when you’re involved in direct action that’s a whole ‘nother story. If your music can influence direct action then that speaks to great lengths about what type of music you make.” Indeed, while the album’s cover art alone is enough to raise eyebrows, raise questions and get people to raise their voices in debates that may raise the level of consciousness, Immortal Technique’s “Revolutionary: Vol. 2” embodies a work of artistic innovation in direct opposition to the current course of commercialized Hiphop cultural product. “The bling-bling era was cute but it’s about to be done I leave ya’ full of clips, like the moon blocking the sun” Industrial Revolution –Immortal Technique From the album’s introduction by Mumia Abu-Jamal and the opening cut “The Point of Return” you know that you’ve left Kansas far behind and this is a Hiphop world akin to something George Orwell would have penned. “Peruvian Cocaine” shoots the concept of the posse cut to a next level with each of the seven emcees adding a thread to the narrative of the path cocaine travels to reach the city streets. The story starts with the rural field worker and moves from druglord to C.I.A. operatives and crooked cops all playing their position in the pipeline. Songs like “Obnoxious” show that even Immortal’s most outrageous concepts and battle rhymes take a stance and make a political statement. The jewel of the album “Industrial Revolution” is a treatise on changing the game featuring scratches courtesy of Dj RocRaida that makes that Roc La Familia track off “The Dynasty” album lackluster in comparison. “Revolutionary: Vol. 2” is a dizzying array of aggressively, yet accurately articulated adjectives and mind melting metaphors that elicit ecstasy from the ear and epiphanies from the mind. Track after track of critical compositions pry into our apathy and awaken the side of Hiphop within us that was implanted by Public Enemy and recently only fed by a handful of artists like dead prez. Immortal Technique’s undying method quenches the parched throat of the consumer in ways that your average neo-soul, wheat-grass wielding wordsmith can never attain. “Immortal Technique is the warlord of raw dog,” he says of himself. “ I put it out there. Facts. I put out street knowledge. Immortal Technique is the truth.” Immortal’s hardcore righteous with emphasis on the streets and brolic beats is a welcome departure from the incense and oils that dominate the so-called progressive wing of rap music. His battle aesthetic puts him in a league above all other extraordinary gentlemen. “Revolutionary: Vol. 2” epitomizes what KRS-ONE meant when he coined the term “edutainment.” It’s hilarious and a history lesson. Lyrics that make you press rewind on the tape deck but also echo in your mind. As you listen you are intellectually injected with a wealth of information and the rhyme animal within gets to feel the rush of well-crafted wordplay. “My metaphors are dirty like herpes but harder to catch Like an escape tunnel in prison I started from scratch” Industrial Revolution –Immortal Technique Immortal’s journey began when he was nine years old, spitting his early rhymes to break beats on the radio and as time progressed his abilities grew from there. “Little by little I realized I could do this,” says Immortal. “At first I didn’t take it seriously at all. It was more of a recreational thing. Having fun.” Back then Immortal says that he was more involved in “reprehensible behavior” and whylin’ out but he was already moving in a determined direction. “There was this one time rhyming with my peoples and the freestlyle just took over and it was just like it was someone else I felt like, but it was really me. It was like I was opening up my eyes and being like wow I can really do this a whole lot better than I thought I could, and then I sat down and started writing rhymes and the rhymes that I wrote were concise and they followed a certain point and I was like cool, this is real. This is more real than I expected it to be. “As I started putting the words together it was more of a hardcore sense ‘cause I was still going through that youthful phase where you want to fight the world and where everything just seems to be against you and when you walk through the hood, not only the police but your own people. So its like a lot of people develop that warrior mentality but without no direction. That’s really the issue I see out there in the street.” A turning point occurred when police arrested a friend and Immortal was also detained when he foolishly acted against the cops in a youthful attempt to defend his companion. “Just down in the tombs. Me and my boy back to back and […]