Immortal Technique "The Martyr" Review

After a three year hiatus, New York's underground legend Immortal Technique is back with a gift for fans as he released “The Martyr” for free download on October 27th.

Packed with a revolutionary outlook and a wordsmiths delivery, Immortal Technique is in pure form with his hyper-political lyrics, which could serve as the soundtrack for the country's #Occupy movement. For the product, Technique has enlisted like minded activists and revered hip hop acts such as Chuck D, Killer Mike, Brother Ali and dead prez amongst others to help him deliver and spread his message of people's power and fundamental change to our once great nation.

Fear not though, “The Martyr” is not full of politically charged songs as Immortal Technique finds a nice balance and shows his battle rap aptitude on over half the tracks. The raw straight-spitter raps infernal fire with help from some of the games top lyricists like Joell Ortiz, Styles P, and Vinnie Paz of Jedi Mind Tricks fame.

When it comes to sheer rapping, Immortal Technique is in the upper echelon of hip-hop's Mount Olympus and it would be hard pressed to find a smarter or more driven artist. Staying independent his entire career, Immortal Technique has built a massive fan base on his own with his own skills, instead of the backing of a major label. While “The Martyr” does not feature the top producers in hip-hop today, Immortal Technique does rap over a J.Dilla beat which is tenfold better then anything heard on the radio today.

The J.Dilla produced beat “Toast To The Dead” is one of the album's standout tracks and is a homage to hip-hop's deceased. Passionate and on point with his lyrics, Technique pays his respects while still keeping his edge spitting gems such as “I pray to God that your soul will come back again So I can see you in the next life and finish it then A toast to the dead for criminals, burning in hell I wonder how many presidents are burning as well.”

The self titled track on “The Martyr” is a song which is sure to get your blood pumping. Setting the pace with it's aggressive nature and marching beat, “The Martyr” is an anthem for all people to stand up for themselves and for their beliefs. It is a call for our generation to stop following the blind and for us to become our own leaders who will lead our nation out of its current turmoil because as Technique puts it, “the purpose of life is a life with a purpose So I’d rather die for a cause than live a life that is worthless.”

Changing the tone at least beat wise, comes the short but powerful “Eyes In The Sky.” From a technical standpoint, Immortal Techniques flow is a thing of beauty here. Impeccable breath control, my favorite line in this song was “tell them the truth and they call you a traitor, talk to them honestly and they call you a hater, losing my composure cause the message is urgent, talking reckless drunk on the mic like Larry Merchant.” Technique is a poet and I like seeing him on softer songs like this because I feel the softer beat makes his voice stand out more and therefore his message more powerful.

The most politically fueled song on this record is aptly titled “Civil War.” Featuring hip-hops most prevalent emcees in terms of world issues and politics Chuck D, Killer Mike, and Brother Ali “Civil War” is a tune which kicks you straight in the ass. Using the Civil War as a metaphor, the song speaks on those who rebel against the system who get oppressed opposed to those who acquiesce to it and gain favor. Issues such as economics, religion, corruption in the government and race are also spoke about and how they still roil this country today.

Another all-star assembled cast is “Black Vikings” featuring Styles P, Vinnie Paz and Poison Pen. With Poison Pen doing the chorus and narrating the track, it leaves Technique, Styles and Paz to simply try and out rap each other in cypher fashion. All three come with brutal verses but due to my personal taste I have to say Ghost comes the hardest followed by Tech then Paz.

One last highlight of the record is “Ultimas Palabras” which is not even a song but a seven minute long speech. Truly inspiring, Technique not only makes a good point of the evils committed in America, but also analyzes the situation and gives his own input. Technique's intelligence shines here as he blesses us with this amazing quote, “the greatest flaw that any intelligent person has, is to think they are smarter than everyone else.” It's a shame Technique is not a more mainstream artist, because if he was given the opportunity to display his knowledge to a wide media oriented audience, our nation might awaken to the corruption.

For a free download, “The Martyr” is a nice release however the only problem I have with it is some of the features. While the heavyweights like Styles P, Vinnie Paz, Brother Ali and Joell Ortiz all compliment and add something positive to their tracks, most of the other guests do nothing and greatly bring down the quality of the song. There are 22 guests on a 16 track album and on most of these songs Immortal Technique only spits one verse which is unfortunate.

I wish Technique was featured more since he is one of the dopest rappers alive today but it seems like we are going to have to wait a little while longer for a full fledged Immortal Technique album. “The Middle Passage” should hopefully be released sometime in 2012 but if not enjoy the strong points of “The Martyr” because the album does have standout tracks, it's just the posse cuts which drag the album on and make it feel redundant.

Ranked on the Beavis and Butt-Head Scale:
3 Beavis' out of 5 Butt-Heads

Songs I Recommend:
The Martyr, Toast To The Dead, Eyes In The Sky, Civil War, Black Vikings