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Akir is an American hip hop artist, producer and songwriter known for his complex lyrics and social-political content. His name is an acronym for Always Keep It Real. He is also the co-founder of One Enterprises.

Biography[link]

Akir first entered the hip hop scene as an on-air personality at the high school radio station, WNMH, from 1994 to 1996. In 1998, he ranked second out of 50 in Howard University's Verbal Armageddon, MC competition.^{[citation needed]} Akir sought to improve his musical talent and began to focus on production. Collaborating with his brother and business partner SouthPaw, he co-produced one track on Immortal Technique's Revolutionary Vol. 1. Soon after, Akir released his first song, "Best Friend", on DJ N'finit's mix CD, The Blockbuster Vol. 1, through his own production company, One Enterprises.

In November 2005, Akir and ten other up and coming emcees formed the group The Reavers, and released the album Terror Firma. Soon after, One Enterprises and Viper Records joined to release Akir's debut solo album, Legacy. Soon after the release of Legacy, Akir was featured in The Source's Unsigned Hype sidebar in the January/February 2005 issue,^{[1][unreliable source?]} and the "Off The Radar" spotlight in the April 2006 issue.^{[2][unreliable source?]} Akir was also featured in XXL magazine's Chairman's Choice in the October 2005 issue,^{[3][unreliable source?]} and Show and Prove spotlight in the June 2006 issue.^{[4][unreliable source?]} In 2006, Akir appeared as a model for Mecca 5star apparel, appearing in ad campaigns in magazines and billboards.^{[5][unreliable source?]}

Akir has completed 6 international tours (Rock the Bells 2006-2008, Vans Warped Tour 2004, Fort Minor 2006, Redman Tour Fall 2007), 9 domestic tours and over 500 shows.^{[citation needed]}

Additionally, Akir has been involved with the Flocabulary project collaborating with 9th Wonder on a track to transform the story of Romeo and Juliet into a hip hop song for school curriculums.^{[citation needed]} He was also referenced in one of their texts called The Rappers Handbook.

In 2007, One Enterprises and Viper Records in partnership with Koch Distribution reissued Akir's second album Legacy.

In 2008 he was made the head of artist relations at the Hip Hop Caucus during the Respect My Vote '08 campaign which featured such celebrities as DJ Green Lantern, TI, Maino, Dawn Richard, and Pharoahe Monch.^{[citation needed]}

He's currently working with at risk youth teaching writing, production, and recording with the non-profit organization Art Start.

Akir is also a member of a production/writing team called The Boiler Room and is part of a hip-hop activist collective called Rebel Army (a.k.a. Rebel Armz) Including: Immortal Technique, Poison Pen, Diabolic, Swave Sevah, Da Circle (Slim & Fatz), Hasan Salaam, CF, DJ Static, SouthPaw, and DJ GI Joe.

In the fall of 2009 he released a mixtape entitled The Secret by DJ Static and Statik Selektah. His next album will be entitled The Plan and is scheduled for release in Spring 2010.^{[citation needed]}

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Street Edition Volumes 1 & 2 (2003, One Enterprises)
• Legacy (2006, Viper)
• Supporter Sundays (2011)

Mixtapes[link]

• The Secret (2009)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Akir on Myspace
• www.alwayskeepitreal.com

Immortal Technique
Immortal Technique performing in March 2010.
Background information
Birth name	Felipe Andres Coronel
Born	(1978-02-19) February 19, 1978 (age 34) Lima, Lima Province, Peru[1]
Origin	Harlem, New York, United States
Genres	East Coast hip hop, alternative hip hop, political hip hop, Underground Hip Hop, Hardcore Hip Hop
Occupations	Rapper
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Viper Records
Associated acts	Akir, Diabolic, Lowkey, Chino XL, DJ Green Lantern, La Coka Nostra, Jean Grae, Rockin' Squat, Mos Def, Dead Prez, Ras Kass, Krs-One, Pumpkinhead, Reppin MG
Website	myspace.com/immortaltechnique

Felipe Andres Coronel (born February 19, 1978), better known by the stage name Immortal Technique, is an American rapper of Afro-Peruvian descent as well as an urban activist. He was born in Lima, Peru and raised in Harlem, New York.^[2] Most of his lyrics focus on controversial issues in global politics. The views expressed in his lyrics are largely commentary on issues such as class struggle, poverty, religion, government and institutional racism.

Immortal Technique has voiced a desire to retain control over his production,^[3] 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 copies of his three official releases.^[4]

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Coronel is African-Peruvian and was born in 1978 in a military hospital in Lima.^[1] His family emigrated in 1980 to Harlem.^[5] 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.^[1][6] After being paroled, he took political science classes at Baruch College in New York City for two semesters at the behest of his father, who allowed Coronel to live with him on the condition that he go to school.^[7] Honing his rapping skills in jail, and unable to find decent wage-paying employment after his release, Coronel began selling his music on the streets of New York while battling with MCs whenever the opportunity arose.^[8][9][10] This, coupled with his victories in numerous freestyle rap competitions of the New York underground hip hop scene such as Rocksteady Anniversary, Braggin Rites and others, led to his reputation as a ferocious Battle MC.^[11]

Revolutionary Vol.1 and Vol.2[link]

In 2001, Immortal Technique released his first album Revolutionary Vol. 1 without the help of a record label or distribution, instead using money earned from his rap battle triumphs^[11]. He also battled but lost to Posta Boy in 106 & Park's Freestyle Friday. Revolutionary Vol. 1 also contained the underground classic Dance With The Devil. In November 2002, he was listed by The Source in its "Unsigned Hype" column, highlighting artists that are not signed to a record label. The following year, in September 2003, he received the coveted "Hip Hop Quotable" in The Source for a song entitled "Industrial Revolution" from his second album. Immortal Technique is the only rapper in history to have a "Hip Hop Quotable" while being unsigned.^[11] He released his second album Revolutionary Vol. 2 in 2003. In 2004, Viper Records and, in 2005, Babygrande Records re-released Immortal Technique's debut, Revolutionary Vol. 1, to make it available to a wider audience. "Point of No Return" from Revolutionary Vol 2 was used as the entrance theme for Rashad Evans during the UFC 88 Main Event between Chuck Liddell and Rashad Evans.

Revolutionary Vol.3 and The Middle Passage[link]

Immortal Technique (left) at the Roskilde Festival, 2006.

Between 2005 and 2007 Immortal Technique began working on The Middle Passage and The 3rd World, the two albums that would serve a follow up to Revolutionary Vol. 2 and complete the series. He was also featured on several movie soundtracks and video game soundtracks, all the while touring relentlessly and becoming heavily involved in visiting prisons to speak to youth and working with immigrant rights activists and raising tens of thousands of dollars for children’s hospitals overseas. He invested his money not in items that are usually associated with fame but rather in large pieces of farmland in Latin America. He created a writing grant program for high school students as well.^[12]

The Martyr[link]

In October 2011 Immortal Technique released The Martyr, a free compilation album of previously unreleased material and new tracks. ^[13]

Collaborations[link]

The summer of 2005 saw the release of "Bin Laden", a vinyl single 12" featuring Mos Def and DJ Green Lantern. The single also contained a remix of the song featured Chuck D of Public Enemy and KRS-One. In early 2006, the song "Impeach the President", featuring Dead Prez and Saigon turned up in the mixtape "Alive on Arrival" DJ Green Lantern. This is a simple version of The Honeydrippers, 1973, in which Immortal Technique urged fans to organize a vote of censure against George W. Bush. In April 2009, a new song leaked on the internet named "Democratie Fasciste (Article 4)" by Brazilian-French rapper Rockin' Squat which featured Immortal Technique. The official release of the song and Rockin' Squat's album Confessions D'un Enfant Du Siècle Volume 2 was on May 12, 2009. The instrumental from the song was sampled from Wendy Rene's "After Laughter". The song expresses the inequalities of the Third World and revolutionary events throughout history against tyranny and oppression. The song contains lyrics in English (Immortal Technique), French (Rockin' Squat) and brief shout outs in Spanish (Immortal Technique). This song is Immortal Technique's first official international collaboration.^[14] In early 2009, it was announced that there would be a collaboration between Technique and UK underground artist Lowkey, on a single called "Voices of the Voiceless". On September 11, 2009, a "snippet" of the song was released on YouTube.^[15] The preview was released ahead of its September 21 launch on iTunes, as part of a web-campaign that included updates, promotion and links on forums, E-Magazines and several social networking sites. The song's lyrics cover a broad range of issues that are familiar to listeners of both artists – racism, world revolution, war, socialism, government control, rape, famine, colonialism, Classism, self-determination and the war in Iraq.^[16]

Charitable work[link]

Immortal Technique performing in March 2010.

In June 2008, Immortal Technique partnered with Omeid International, a Non–Profit Human Rights Organization, to lend his support. He dubbed the work as "The Green Light Project". With the profits of The 3rd World album, Immortal Technique traveled to Kabul, Afghanistan to help Omeid build an orphanage without any corporate or external funding. The orphanage, having been successfully established, currently houses over 20 orphaned children from Kabul.^[17]

Films[link]

[edit] The (R)evolution of Immortal Technique

A documentary about Immortal Technique was released in September 2011 and premiered at the Harlem Film Festival.^[18]

[edit] This Revolution

Immortal Technique appeared as himself in a docudrama film entitled This Revolution, which was recorded during the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York. The tape contains the protests surrounding the convention in the form of a documentary. It also featured Viper Records affiliates Akir and producer SouthPaw in roles.

Since then Immortal Technique has taken control of Viper Records and has signed a distribution deal with Babygrande Records / E1 Entertainment to vent to their next album. SouthPaw has managed to establish himself as A&R of Viper Records.

Discography[link]

Studio Albums[link]

Compilation Albums[link]

• 2011: The Martyr

Singles[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Find more about Immortal Technique on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Images and media from Commons
	Quotations from Wikiquote

• Official website
• Immortal Technique on Twitter
• Immortal Technique on Myspace
• Immortal Technique at Allmusic
• Immortal Technique at MTV
• Immortal Technique at AllRovi
• Immortal Technique at the Internet Movie Database