Hello and welcome to Colonial Outcast, the anti-imperialist podcast, that your uncle would,

if he said things about the Super Bowl halftime performance like, I didn't understand a word,

he said, why don't you play actual music he would hate?

I'm your host, Greg Stoker, and we're going to be talking about music, revolutionary ideology,

the precarious

position of empire within the context of this dark American experiment and whatever else we feel

like talking about.

Because I am joined today by immortal technique, rapper and activist who you, if you are and

a rap or have any sort of robust politics probably know about. I don't have much of a

knowledge base in the genre. I came to him through activism circles. In 2001, Immortal Technique

released his first album, Revolutionary, Volume 1, without the help of a record label or distribution,

instead using money earned from his rap battle triumphs.

In September 2003, he received the coveted hip-hop quotable

in the source for a song entitled Industrial Revolution from his second album,

and he is the only rapper in history to have a hip-hop quotable while being unsigned.

And you've been spreading the word ever

since, a foundation of activism here in America. Thank you so much for coming on.

Thank you very much for having me. But ever since that happened, a couple of other people got

an unsigned without being assigned. But I definitely was the first one. But I think a lot of people have asked me about that and said to me, you know,

what was your conflict about the traditional route?

And I'll just tell you for all the young people that are watching your show, Craig.

I once told myself, hey, if I don't have a record deal by the time I'm 23,

...