The 4th Branch

Immortal Technique is not a well-known rapper in the overcrowded world of hip-hop, however, he is one of the few highly respected out of the thousands of faceless rappers that only magnify the images of sex, money, and power in their music. Immortal Technique seems to be very aware and open-minded about the world and specific areas where human rights are being violated and cold-blooded murder is being ignored. In his cleverly crafted masterpiece, The 4th Branch, he discusses how the media fails to deliver all the facts to the public due to the government's constricting grip over them. He refers to a couple devastating conflicts presently occurring in the Middle East such as the war in Iraq and the Palestine/Israel crisis and also conflicts from a few years back in El Salvador and Nicaragua. He ties America into all these conflicts and holds them responsible as they sugarcoat their image of "land of the free, home of the brave."

Immortal Technique

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

Immortal Technique at Haverford

In his prelude to The 4th Branch, Immortal Technique describes how history is repeating itself and mistakes did not teach us a thing in such a powerful and elegantly sculpted sentence, "The new age is upon us, and yet the past refuses to rest in its shallow grave..." He uses personification to give the inanimate figure of time the human attribute rest. The addition of imagery to the mix provides such a sour, distasteful bite yet the aftertaste is stunning. He is basically trying to emphasize that the past we buried behind us is back yet again because we obviously did not learn from it. This comment is most likely directed to the thickheaded American government who is bringing back the horror of their own ruthless past.

The first couple of lines in his first verse describe how Uncle Sam...