Metaphors Are Dirty Like Herpes But Harder To Catch

Immortal Technique: Bin Laden ft. Mos Def
from Sirius Bizness Mixtape (2005)

Immortal Technique: Bin Laden (Remix) ft. Chuck D & KRS One
from Bin Laden Single (2005)


Seeing as how the remix for Bin Laden was just leaked I thought now would be a good time to do a post on Immortal Technique. An inflamatory song (but then again, which Immortal Technique song isn't) that uses the Jadakiss sample to drive it, the original version features Mos Def on the chorus and Chuck D and KRS on the remix, but oddly enough none of the three drop any verses which means Immortal Technique has to carry the song which he is entirely capable of.

The original goes for a more stripped down sound with I.T. rocking over a haunting keyboard sample. His lyrics, as usual, are full of quotables even when he's going off the deep end, claiming that "Fahrenheit 9/11 thats just scratching the surface." The surprising thing about this song is that it was included on a Sirius satellite radio mixtape put out by Eminem's Shady Records, but then Eminem was on that Rock the Vote tip for a minute.

Opening with an Al Sharpton soundbite, the remix with Chuck D and KRS brings a more ominous sound with it's faux guitar and it's head scratching opening line "what the industry did to Pac they did to Jesus." The song covers a lot of territory that the original did, which is both a positive and a negative. Lifting a lot of the same lines and images that the original used just as effectively I.T. covers everything from money grubbing christians "preaching out their bentleys" to Schwarzenegger to steroetyped portrayals of blacks in cinema and the music industry, the song is essentially treading the same ground as the first and bringing very little that's new to the song. The fact that neither Chuck D or KRS drop any verses is a bit of a puzzler as well as you have three of Hip-Hop's most outspoken voices and two of them are relegated to the chorus. I'll assume that somewhere down the line a remix with all three will show up.

But in the end, an average Immortal Technique song is guaranteed to be ten times better and infinitely more provacative than anything else you will hear on the radio.