Immortal Technique - The 3rd World

Following a five year absence from making records, Immortal Technique comes out with his newest album/mixtape; "The 3rd World", produced with none other than DJ Green Lantern... but don't let the deter you, he's still hitting with hardcore-political hip-hop with an angry focus, and a militant agenda concerned with freedom of speech.



"Death March" starts with an introduction from DJ Green Lantern... directly after his introduction- the song starts straight up in "Immortal Technique" fashion, with impressively written, impressively laid-down, and extremely angry.

"That's What It Is" is a song about the roots of hip-hop, how about he started, and where it's gone. In the course of the album this song lyrically stands out, it's a call to many "rappers" who have simplified the game. People like "Soulja Boy", "Lil Wayne", "Arab", and "Hurricane Chris" are rather prime examples of the over-corporatism of rap music- How the main concern over the music has left from making a change... talking about how it was hard growing up, to songs like "Crank Dat", which is simple, mindless drab.

"Harlem Renaissance" is about the era when Harlem was exploding with culture; Music, Art, Poetry, etc... and how it's reflected as being a completely different place today, questionably because of the Government.

"Lick Shot" paints a vivid picture about the coming revolution, and how it would be perceived by certain people- shooting the President, painting the White House black, and city the being run by gangster rappers.

"Mistakes" is a song about just that, Mistakes- how we make them, how we move on, and how to live with them. The beat polluted with this one is actually very catchy, something surprising to find in an Immortal Technique album. The song tells a sort of story about how he got put in prison and how he gets out.

Immortal Technique is a very angry man. He's pissed at the world, and it's interesting to hear his perspective, and how he finds this country to be messed up.

The music is VERY thought provoking, and it's easy to get wrapped up in it, but the fact that he's more political than Jello Biafra rivals what makes a good song, and after releasing two previous records, It seems as though it's about time to put some more change into the material. The songs where he talks about how hard it was growing up, and the things he saw while growing up, they seem to be the ones that actually reflect who he is, instead of all of the material about murdering big business. 3/4 of the songs on "The 3rd World" are probably about wanting to kill the president, and cause the revolution, which is fine- those are the thought provoking songs, but after a while... you've kinda said all you can say with that.

Final Score: 7.5 out of 10 Giraffes