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Hip hop social worker, doctor, father, confidant and self-proclaimed protector, Immortal Technique is a fighter for peace in the most literal sense. On Tuesday night, he captured the hearts and minds of a packed WOW Hall during his nearly two-hour-long set.
The artist, whose birth name is Felipe Coronel@@http://www.learn-and-serve.com/music_website/immortal_technique/felipe_coronel.html@@, is much different than your average rapper. Unlike many rappers of his stature who rap about possessions, sex or women, Technique’s raps often focus on political oppression, class struggle, religion and poverty.
Between songs he talks about staying away from drugs. He speaks about the importance of helping one’s sisters grow up with confidence in themselves. But he also talks about getting up at 4 a.m. to go “beat the shit out of that motherfucker who isn’t treating her right.” A fighter, indeed.@@It’s not just a hood thang, it’s a DTP thang…@@
The New York-based rapper grew up in Harlem, but was born in Peru. He completed high school in Manhattan and briefly attended Pennsylvania State University before he was jailed for a year for aggravated assault.@@http://www.immortaltechnique.info/@@
At one point on Tuesday night, Technique described himself in his earlier days as “selfish and childish.” He then went on to explain that he liked to rap about his earlier mistakes so that he could bond with his audience and so they could learn from his errors and “grow like family.”
The crowd waved their hands and jumped from the second he came onstage until after he left.
It was Hallie Roberts’ first time seeing Immortal Technique, but she said that it was a great show.
“I didn’t know where I first heard of it, but I checked him out on YouTube. His lyrics carry a lot of meaning,” Roberts said. Specifically, she said that in light of the recent remarks of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, artists such as Immortal Technique who tackle multicultural issues are more important than ever.@@http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgebradt/2011/11/30/how-merkel-can-lead-the-euro-zone-out-of-crisis/@@
“I believe that it’s important that we have people like him to say that that’s bullshit and that we can live together,” she said. “Just for the politics, for the message, I definitely came out for that and it was great.”

The BBC reported German Chancellor Angela Merkel as saying, “the approach (to build) a multicultural (society) and to live side-by-side and to enjoy each other … has failed, utterly failed.”@@http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11559451@@
Despite his aggressive lyrics and tough-guy stories, the rapper still has a soft spot for fans. University sophomore Nicole Price saw Immortal Technique give a lecture Tuesday afternoon at the University’s Multicultural Center. After the talk, she told him that she wanted to go to the show but didn’t have tickets. His response? He put her on his guest list.@@Hahahaha…@@
“He has so much to say — for me I just started listening to him and he brings something new to me,” Price said.
On Oct. 27 Immortal Technique released his latest album as a free download from his website.@@http://huey3man.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/immortal-technique-the-martyr-new-album-october-27-free-download/@@ According to a press release, there have already been nearly 400,000 downloads of the album, which can be found at www.viperrecords.com.