The (R)evolution
Felipe Andres Coronel (born February 19, 1978), better known by the stage name Immortal Technique, is a Peruvian rapper, and an urban activist. He was born in Lima, Peru and raised in Harlem, New York. Most of his lyrics focus on controversial issues in global politics. The views expressed in his lyrics are largely a mixture of socialist commentary on issues such as class hierarchy, poverty, religion, government and institutional racism.
Immortal Technique has voiced a desire to keep control over his production, and has stated in his music that record companies, not artists themselves, profit the most from mass production and marketing of music. He claimed in an interview to have sold close to 200,000 units of his three official releases.
Coronel is African-Peruvian and was born in 1978 in a military hospital in Lima. His family emigrated in 1980 to Harlem to escape the ongoing internal conflict in Peru. During his teenage years he was arrested multiple times due in part to what he has said was “selfish and childish” behavior. He attended Hunter College High School on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Shortly after enrolling in Pennsylvania State University, he was arrested and charged with assault-related offenses due to his involvement in an altercation between fellow students, the charges stemming from this incident led to him being incarcerated for a year.
