Immortal technique // The 3rd World Track : Open your eyes "the free market has never been free, because the market does not regulate itself. It is manipulated like a puppet, and it survives because of its image. Destroy the image and the enemy will " http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la1ke_h-KRs
"Immortal Technique quite rightly says that the developed world looks down on the third world as being 'backward' because economic aristocracies argue that they lack freedom of speech. However, if we view the music industry in the developed world, the concept of artists being signed to the major labels is extremely hypocritical- especially in 'the land of the free'. Why? Because whatever comes out of the artist's mouth is restricted and manipulated. As an artist you are owned by those major labels, which are corporations run by people who simply view the artist as an asset, the music as a product and us, as mere consumers. Therefore the major labels' central aim is PROFIT. To me, if profit is the goal of corporations of the music industry, they are in complete contradiction to hip-hop. Let us not forget that hip-hop came into existence because it was the only mechanism for an oppressed coloured man to hold a mic and say whatever he wanted. Hip-hop was the platform for free speech- essentially it was the voice of the voiceless. Besides just being 'party music', the music and the lyrics held a spiritual and intellectual weight. It gave the people an opportunity to speak about what they thought could be possible. Thus hip-hop encouraged the achievement of values derivable from life, it recognised independence, individuality and most importantly- it had the people's interest at heart. This is the true soul of hip-hop. However, as soon as a corporation's executive is the one defining the rules on that oval table in the office, the music is no longer real and meaningful. The aim of hip-hop music has shifted from caring about people, to profit maximisation. This has disrupted the very foundations of hip-hop and is exactly why we currently see a lot of empty music being produced. Corporations will not invest in artists who have something meaningful or true to say, mainly because they will not be profitable from a sales point of view since they only cater to the needs of the deceived mass market. Even marketing strategies have catalysed an incorrect perception of what hip-hop is. Many artists become so blinded by the flashing lights and profitability that they become oblivious to the fact that to be a hip-hop artist, a level of responsibility exists to preserve and build on the foundations of hip-hop. The instant an artist becomes commercialised, their music, their lyrics and even they themselves, become compromised. I am in no way implying that all artists who are signed to the majors have lost the true meaning of hip-hop. No doubt a few great artists exist, but they have been in the game for a very long time. These are the artists who realise the significance of the very origins of hip-hop and are not motivated by making a dollar. Their music and objectives are parallel to the true soul and culture of hip-hop. It is very rare for a new emerging artist in the commercial music industry to hold those same values. I believe that there is definitely a great deal of potential currently out there, but it is outweighed by the strength of corporations to mould hip-hop potential into meaningless money-making crap. Indeed, making money is the objective of every artist (including independent artists) and I would be lying if I said otherwise. But there is a big difference between an aim and an objective. The central aim of a true hip-hop artist, is to entertain and educate the people. Multiple layers within entertainment exist. It can inspire people, it can alter perceptions and it can make people relate to something they are going through in their lives. But entertainment can also deceive, delude and 'dumb down' people- corporations have taken full advantage of the latter. 'Open your eyes' reflects the two-fold meaning of The 3rd World album. While corporations are enjoying increasing sales, the profits generated supports imperialism. Why would corporations prevent artists to speak about things like government cover-ups, the demolition of towers and the illegal occupation of Palestine (despite the fact that hip-hop's foundations was strongly Islamically influenced from the onset)? It is because these censored things fuel their existence. It is the same money, along with our tax, that pays for illegal wars, robbing third world countries of their resources and taking advantage of cheap labour which adds to the uneven distribution of wealth and prevents the poor countries from economically advancing. This concept of taking advantage of the third world also occurs in the rap industry, whereby the underground can be viewed as 'the 3rd world' and artists are exploited for monetary gains. I commend independent artists who find mechanisms to circumvent corporations because they prefer lyrical independence over being commercialised. So if your goal is to be Mr. successful platinum artist, you are motivated by money and not by the love of hip-hop. hanaaB " the comment on the right in youtube...
"Therefore the major labels' central aim is PROFIT" You don't need no stinkin record company. Have a little sing along in your own house in the hood to get yer message out. Put your song on youtube where everyone is equal and has a chance. You will get millions of hits in no time cause your message is so real. Cheap tech has made it possible for the poorest of poets to get their message out there. Yeah, man, cool. Or is it about making lotsa money in return for your glorious message?
Immortal Technique - The Poverty of Philosophy: Most of my Latino and black [like himself] people who are struggling to get food, clothes and shelter in the hood are so concerned with that, that philosophising about freedom and socialist democracy is usually unfortunately beyond their rationale. They don't realize that America can't exist without separating them from their identity, because if we had some sense of who we really are, there's no way in hell we'd allow this country to push it's genocidal consensus on our homelands. This ignorance exists, but it can be destroyed. Nigga talk about change and working within the system to achieve that. The problem with always being a conformist is that when you try to change the system from within, it's not you who changes the system; it's the system that will eventually change you. There is usually nothing wrong with compromise in a situation, but compromising yourself in a situation is another story completely, and I have seen this happen long enough in the few years that I've been alive to know that it's a serious problem. Latino America is a huge colony of countries whose presidents are cowards in the face of economic imperialism. You see, third world countries are rich places, abundant in resources, and many of these countries have the capacity to feed their starving people and the children we always see digging for food in trash on commercials. But plutocracies, in other words a government run by the rich such as this one and traditionally oppressive European states, force the third world into buying overpriced, unnecessary goods while exporting huge portions of their natural resources. I'm quite sure that people will look upon my attitude and sentiments and look for hypocrisy and hatred in my words. My revolution is born out of love for my people, not hatred for others. You see, most of Latinos are here because of the great inflation that was caused by American companies in Latin America. Aside from that, many are seeking a life away from the puppet democracies that were funded by the United States; places like El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru, Columbia, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Republica Dominicana, and not just Spanish-speaking countries either, but Haiti and Jamaica as well. As different as we have been taught to look at each other by colonial society, we are in the same struggle and until we realize that, we'll be fighting for scraps from the table of a system that has kept us subservient instead of being self-determined. And that's why we have no control over when the embargo will stop in Cuba, or when the bombs will stop dropping in Vieques. But you see, here in America the attitude that is fed to us is that outside of America there live lesser people. "Fuck them, let them fend for themselves." No, Fuck you, they are you. No matter how much you want to dye your hair blonde and put fake eyes in, or follow an anorexic standard of beauty, or no matter how many diamonds you buy from people who exploit your own brutally to get them, no matter what kind of car you drive or what kind of fancy clothes you put on, you will never be them. They're always gonna look at you as nothing but a little monkey. I'd rather be proud of what I am, rather than desperately trying to be something I'm really not, just to fit in. And whether we want to accept it or not, that's what this culture or lack of culture is feeding us. I want a better life for my family and for my children, but it doesn't have to be at the expense of millions of lives in my homeland. We're given the idea that if we didn't have these people to exploit then America wouldn't be rich enough to let us have these little petty material things in our lives and basic standards of living. No, that's wrong. It's the business giants and the government officials who make all the real money. We have whatever they kick down to us. My enemy is not the average white man, it's not the kid down the block or the kids I see on the street; my enemy is the white man I don't see: the people in the white house, the corporate monopoly owners, fake liberal politicians those are my enemies. The generals of the armies that are mostly conservatives those are the real Mother-Fuckers that I need to bring it to, not the poor, broke country-ass soldier that's too stupid to know shit about the way things are set up. In fact, I have more in common with most working and middle-class white people than I do with most rich black and Latino people. As much as racism bleeds America, we need to understand that classism is the real issue. Many of us are in the same boat and it's sinking, while these bougie Mother-Fuckers ride on a luxury liner, and as long as we keep fighting over kicking people out of the little boat we're all in, we're gonna miss an opportunity to gain a better standard of living as a whole. In other words, I don't want to escape the plantation I want to come back, free all my people, hang the Mother-Fucker that kept me there and burn the house to the god damn ground. I want to take over the encomienda and give it back to the people who work the land. You cannot change the past but you can make the future, and anyone who tells you different is a Fucking lethargic devil. I don't look at a few token Latinos and black people in the public eye as some type of achievement for my people as a whole. Most of those successful individuals are sell-outs and house Negros. But, I don't consider brothers a sell-out if they move out of the ghetto. Poverty has nothing to do with our people. It's not in our culture to be poor. That's only been the last 500 years of our history; look at the last 2000 years of our existence and what we brought to the world in terms of science, mathematics, agriculture and forms of government. You know the idea of a confederation of provinces where one federal government controls the states? The Europeans who came to this country stole that idea from the Iroquois lead. The idea of impeaching a ruler comes from an Aztec tradition. That's why Montezuma was stoned to death by his own people 'cause he represented the agenda of white Spaniards once he was captured, not the Aztec people who would become Mexicans. So in conclusion, I'm not gonna vote for anybody just 'cause they black or Latino they have to truly represent the community and represent what's good for all of us proletariat. Viva la revolution!