Following the release of his new mixtape The Martyr, Immortal Technique stopped by MTV News to explain the message behind the project. During the interview, he said that he attempted to dismantle the ego of Hip Hop in positioning himself as a martyr for the culture.
“For me, it was more the process of saying OK, as a revolutionary, there are aspects of the ego that have to die. You have to lose this sense of self, self, self all the time, which is very hard, because Hip Hop is centered around oneself. Like, ‘I’m the best person in the world, I’m the best rapper. I’ve got more money than you,’” he said. “It’s interesting to see the public’s reaction to that, like they’re singing along to the lyrics like they’re the richest person, like they have money too. And then they go home to a hovel. So it’s interesting to note that in itself, The Martyr was more a reflection of the evolution of a human being.”
Tech, who recently visited Occupy Wall Street in New York City, New York, also reflected on the track “Rich Man’s World (1%),” on which he rhymes from the perspective of a wealthy person.
“I basically rhyme from the perspective of someone who is richer than the richest rapper. This is how I see the world,” he said, doting on the humorous elements of the cut. “It’s just funny. I like to inject humor into something, because if everything is such a serious, ‘the world is crumbling, revolution, blood in the street’ [topic], then music becomes one-dimensional. And even though I make music that might be different from what you find in the commercial mainstream, I don’t want it to be one-dimensional.”
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