Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Song of the Day (11/25/09) [DJ Swine]

Those of you who've heard of the artist who performs today's Song of the Day probably know about him because of "Dance With the Devil" (more on that in the rant below), a haunting track that recounts the supposed true first-hand of account of the rapper's witness of and participation in a gang rape (it's not). However, today, I am posting up a more obscure song from that same album, Revolutionary Vol. 1, which is entitled "No Me Importa." Born in Peru and growing up in the slums of Harlem, Immortal Technique is fluent in Spanish, although he raps primarily in English. Here, though, Technique flows in Spanglish, constructing verses using both languages, which, as you might assume, makes for some crazy wordplay. Accordingly, the beat is laid-back with only some percussion and what almost sounds like a gentler, flute version of the Pink Panther theme, emphasizing Technique's emceeing abilities by removing any potential clutter that a more sophisticated beat would cause. I also selected this particular Immortal Technique song because it's light on the conspiracy theories and antigovernment sentiment, two key elements of Technique's style that occasionally rub listeners the wrong way. The final comment I'd like to make is that both of his studio albums, Revolutionary Vol. 1 and Revolutionary Vol. 2, are classics in my opinion, so check them out if today's Song of the Day is up your alley.

Immortal Technique: "No Me Importa"





















http://www.box.net/shared/1xq2cnpu16
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Rant!!
Many people I've encountered who have heard of Immortal Technique only know "Dance With the Devil," which is fine in and of itself. However, what these people tend to do is follow up the fact that they know this song with, "Yeah, I love Immortal Technique." Upon further questioning, though, I soon find out that this is the only song that they know, which annoys me to no end. Knowing only one song by an artist should forbid you from being able to proclaim that you "love" that artist, but people continue to do it. I'd like to hereby coin this phenomenon the "Led Zeppelin effect" because with no other band and no other song is this more prominent than Led Zeppelin and "Stairway to Heaven." Just because you like "Stairway to Heaven" doesn't mean you are a Led Zeppelin fan. So, next time you witness a case of the Led Zeppelin effect, please do me and every other music geek a favor and politely tell the offender to go play in traffic.

This has been a public service announcement courtesy of Muzjiks. Have a nice day.

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