{"id":928,"date":"2013-09-22T07:39:21","date_gmt":"2013-09-22T14:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/venturarocks.com\/blog\/?p=928"},"modified":"2014-04-11T23:40:44","modified_gmt":"2014-04-12T06:40:44","slug":"interview-immortal-technique-with-adam-clark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/venturarocks.com\/blog\/interview-immortal-technique-with-adam-clark\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview – Immortal Technique with Adam Clark"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Immortal<\/a>

Immortal Technique
photo by Pam Baumgardner<\/p><\/div>\n

Immortal Technique’s management contacted VenturaRocks.com to see if we’d like to do an interview with Tech when he would be headlining the War and Peace Tour at the Ventura Theater on Thursday, September 12.\u00a0 We put out our feelers immediately to a couple of artists here in Ventura who know Hip Hop and Rap.\u00a0 We thought it would be interesting to have one of our local artists conduct the interview and drummer Adam Clark immediately stepped up to the task.<\/p>\n

About Immortal Technique:<\/strong>
\n<\/b>A Harlem-based emcee who progressed through the ranks of the New York City battle rap scene and found success as a recording artist. Although he is a accomplished lyricist, Immortal Technique is also widely known as a voice of Revolution\/activism. The Billboard charting artist has sold over 250,000 records and been hard at work preparing his long awaited 4th album\u00a0The Middle Passage<\/i>, and recently released an award winning DVD entitled\u00a0The (R)evolution of Immortal Technique<\/i>\u00a0(directed by Cary Stuart).<\/p>\n

About Adam Clark:<\/strong>
\nAdam arrived on Ventura’s local music scene a little over a year ago and quickly earned a reputation as one of the best jazz drummers on the scene. Ken Winter, writer for L.A. Jazz Scene, wrote recently, \u201cOne of the best drummers I have ever heard, Adam Clark, drives any band he plays with.\u201d\u00a0 Adam quickly became one of the hottest drummers in demand and can be found either playing with Tommy Marsh and Bad Dog, Two Trees, his own Adam Clark Band, along with a number of different projects.
\nAdam has been a fan of Immortal Technique since 2007 and was well-prepared for the interview.<\/p>\n

Interview between Adam Clark and Immortal Technique took place the evening of the Ventura Theater’s War and Peace tour stop on Thursday, September 12, 2013.<\/em><\/p>\n

NOTE:\u00a0 This interview has been transcribed and contains adult language that could be offensive to the reader:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Adam Clark<\/strong>:\u00a0 Today we have one of the most influential hip hop artists of all time and what I consider to be the most thought provoking of all the conscious hip hop MCs of the 21st century, Mr. Immortal Technique.\u00a0 Thank you for coming to Ventura man and taking the time to do this interview.
\nAs musicians and artists, we always start off as fans of the music, I\u2019d like for the people listening to this interview to get to know who influenced you as a conscious hip hop artist.\u00a0 Which of the legendary MCs is Immortal Technique a fan of and consequently who should the younger generation of hip hop artists get to know as a foundational artist of hip hop?<\/p>\n

Immortal Technique<\/strong> (hereafter \u201cTech<\/strong>“):\u00a0 I grew up listening to Miles Davis, Coltrane, Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, Jesus Christ anybody\u2026the Beatles, people rapping on the street corner.\u00a0 I think for me it was less of listening to it solely on the radio or having 45\u2019s.\u00a0 I know a lot of people tell me, they\u2019re like, \u201cOh man, I grew up watching this or doing that.\u201d\u00a0 For me, I grew up in New York City in the 80s, all I had to do to see hip hop was to walk out my front door.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t have to fuckin\u2019 buy a CD.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t have to buy vinyl, I didn\u2019t have to anything.\u00a0 I had to go to a park on a Friday and people were rapping.\u00a0 I had to walk down the street towards the high school and people were battling.\u00a0 You know what I mean?\u00a0 Obviously, I was exposed to it a lot more as I got older because they let you out of the house, but it was everywhere.\u00a0 You\u2019d see people beatboxing.\u00a0 When I started rhyming, I\u2019d tell people I could rhyme every since I was about nine years old.\u00a0 I started making up rhymes in the car. And it was because brother, back in the day on the radio it wasn\u2019t just Top 40 all the time.\u00a0 On the radio they actually use to spin breakbeats. But that\u2019s crazy for us to think about now.\u00a0 Imagine a major radio station here, It\u2019s like \u201cOh for the next fucking two hours I\u2019m just gonna have a DJ slice up, cut up breakbeats.\u201d\u00a0 You know, going back and forth. \u201cHey if anybody\u2019s out there, we got some shit for niggers to rap to.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s unheard of now.\u00a0 So I think I had the benefit of immersion.
\nIt\u2019s like . . . how come this Rosetta Stone program is working such a slow pace for this kid or he\u2019s got French class, and here\u2019s this other kid, he picked it up like this [snaps his fingers]. Well he lives in France dude, or you dropped him off, you dropped him in some immersion school where people speak nothing but.\u00a0 So when I was a child, I spoke the language of hip hop.<\/p>\n

Adam<\/strong>: Nice. You know they say the best way to learn the language is to move to that country.<\/p>\n

Tech<\/strong>: Well the country for hip hop was New York City.<\/p>\n

Adam<\/strong>:\u00a0 Exactly.\u00a0 For the older generation that didn\u2019t grow up with hip hop music, how would you describe the difference between conscious hip hop and rap, or rhythm and poetry?<\/p>\n

Tech<\/strong>: well for me it\u2019s funny, the people always ask me how I feel about that word, that connotation.\u00a0 I don\u2019t really consider it, what I do conscious music per se.\u00a0 Because conscious doesn\u2019t really imply that you\u2019re going to do anything. It\u2019s just that you know things. For example, how many people do you think in this city know that their fucking congressman is a crook? Or that the President doesn\u2019t have the people\u2019s best interest in mind when he signs things like the Monsanto Act?\u00a0 You know what I mean?\u00a0 How many people know that?\u00a0 Being conscious of something doesn\u2019t imply that you\u2019re going to do anything about it. Because you\u2019re going to be pacified and placated by all of the amenities of society offers an individual to be lead astray or to be put aside. So for me, I prefer to say that there are people who in my life who influence me to be a revolutionary, to be active. To say you know what? I don\u2019t just want to know what\u2019s wrong, I want to know how it\u2019s been wrong in the past.\u00a0 I want to know what\u2019s been done about it in the past.\u00a0 Because all these problems that we see today of a Republic that moves towards empire becomes militarized, you know, that\u2019s part of history.\u00a0 That\u2019s part of the Roman experience where you can go back 2000 years and see evidence of that.\u00a0 The problem is that we have a real issue with confront the mythology of America which prevents us from putting things into the proper perspective.\u00a0 We think that this is the first time we\u2019ve seen this.\u00a0 We have a tendency to look at other governments and be like, \u201cYou guys are really fucked up.\u00a0 Damn, what a bunch of savages.\u201d\u00a0 As if we haven\u2019t killed a handful of our presidents, assassinated . . . .\u00a0 Does that make us savages? We\u2019ve only had twenty years of peace since the Republic was founded in 1776.\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t that make us warlike and just completely hell bent on our own destruction or the destruction of the world because that\u2019s the ultimate course that non-stop war can only lead us to?\u00a0 So I think that without considering those particular things, you know I look at myself a lot more as a revolutionary rather than a conscious artists and if I have to explain it to people who didn\u2019t get it, I would say hey listen man, the differences between someone who knows what wrong and someone who\u2019s willing to change it.\u00a0\u00a0 You know, someone who knows everything about the world, yeah congratulations! That means you\u2019re the wisest fool in existence.\u00a0\u00a0 Because you know everything that could help anybody, and rather than doing something about it, you just keep it to yourself and you\u2019re sitting on a rock doing nothing.<\/p>\n

Adam<\/strong>:\u00a0 Right on man.\u00a0 Actions speak.\u00a0\u00a0 Going back to when you were talking about some of your influences man, that was really cool that you listened to Miles and Coltrane because those guys were heavy influences for me; I went to school for jazz music, so I was always listening to that.<\/p>\n

Tech<\/strong>: Well, I use to play jazz trumpet.<\/p>\n

Adam<\/strong>: Oh, nice!<\/p>\n

Tech<\/strong>: Yeah, when I was a little kid, and my dad had all these little tapes with that stuff on there, and he had an old Chick Corea tape. . . and I\u2019d be like, \u201cAlright cool, I\u2019ll listen to it.\u201d I always liked jazz and I guess since I grew up listening to it because of my father, and then a bunch of oldies, classical music and different sits, so for me, I guess\u2026 I mean I can read music, so it\u2019s not like one of these artists that thinks \u201cOh I\u2019m a musician\u201d and he can\u2019t read music. You don\u2019t know what the fuck you\u2019re doing.\u00a0 But at some point, when I heard the amount of influence that jazz had on the 80s and 90s hip hop, it was a natural transfer for me.\u00a0 It was like: Oh! He took that loop and turned it into this, or blues or soul\u2026 You know, that\u2019s so natural.<\/p>\n

\"Tech<\/a>

Tech and Adam<\/p><\/div>\n

Adam<\/strong>: Having that musical background shows in your music too.\u00a0 How important is James Brown\u2019s influence on hip hop as far as his rhythmic and sometimes improvised vocals as well as his drummers such as Clyde Stubblefield.<\/p>\n

Tech<\/strong>:\u00a0 They call him the Grandfather of Hip Hop; and I think that\u2019s the proper terminology. I think his influence is definitely huge. I think also his story mirrors some of the pitfalls that exist in this industry for all artists as well.\u00a0 You get out of control with drugs and all kinds of other shit, you know not to take away from his legacy but that is also an indicator of things that we need to change about this business.\u00a0 You know when you get involved, you got to separate the street from the business. You got to learn to separate what you want to do from what you have to do. It feels good to party every night, but you can\u2019t do that if you\u2019re sitting here trying to get something done, if you\u2019re trying to get a project advanced.\u00a0 I know motherfuckers who go on the road and every night\u2019s a fucking festivity.\u00a0 (Laughs) And I gotta admit, I don\u2019t mind jumping on the tour for three or four days, but God Dammit, if I\u2019m on that tour for four months, when I get home I won\u2019t know who the fuck I am!\u00a0 Which is crazy.\u00a0 I think everything in moderation has to be considered.\u00a0\u00a0 But in terms of James Brown\u2019s legacy, like the musical aspects of it, he went through so many periods of change in his sound.\u00a0 If you go back to the 50s, he\u2019s the same guy singing \u201cPrisoner of Love\u201d and that sounds like some old doo wop shit.\u00a0 Know what I mean?\u00a0 He was sitting there, doing a completely different sound and then said, \u201cYou know what? I\u2019m going to take this sound now and I\u2019m going to revolutionize it. I\u2019m going to put my best foot forward, I\u2019m going to choreograph all this stuff or I\u2019m going to have this choreographed.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to have this be spontaneous; I\u2019m going to give it all to the show.\u201d\u00a0 That was a true showman.\u00a0 You know what I mean? That was someone when you went to see a show; you got 100% of that man\u2019s mind, body & soul.\u00a0 You could see almost as if it pained him.\u00a0 He fell down on his knees and damn near broke his knees sometimes falling down on the floor.\u00a0 It was like he wanted to hurt himself or sacrifice what he had to show you that the soul in his music is alive in you, even though you didn\u2019t realize it.<\/p>\n

Adam<\/strong>:\u00a0 For sure man, he\u2019s kind of like a fighter who leaves it all in the ring; like no regrets after the show, like gave it complete 100%.\u00a0\u00a0 So when it comes to politics in the arts, I think of artists like Fela Kuti, the inventor of Afro Beat music, Zack de la Rocha, Public Enemy, and of course Immortal Technique.\u00a0 What are some other artists or scholars that influence you and aren\u2019t afraid to speak the truth, that we can be on the lookout for in the 21st century?<\/p>\n

Tech<\/strong>: Of course there are greats that are still around like the illustrious Harry Belafonte, I really consider him an absolute pioneer and a great man.\u00a0 [He\u2019s] someone who reaches out to a younger generation.\u00a0 There\u2019s Dr. Cornell West who is definitely a positive influence in a lot of things that I do. For some of the people who may not know, in terms of historians, there\u2019s a man by the name of John Henry Clark who passed away but his works are still available.\u00a0 Incredible historian about antiquity to put life 2000 or 3000 years ago into perfect perspective into how people behaved and what they believed in at that time. You know the origins of Samarian and Mesopotamia and that mythology and confronting the fact that people believed in that, the same way that people believe in Christianity, Judaism and Islam.\u00a0\u00a0 And the same way brother, I mean the same fanaticism, the same zealotry and I\u2019m sure the same cynicism from a few people (clapping sarcastically) \u201cYeah\u00a0\u00a0 yeah, I\u2019m here in church doing what I need to do, but I don\u2019t really believe in any of this.\u201d\u00a0 Because that\u2019s the unspoken truth, it\u2019s the reality behind faith today.
\nThe majority of people who believe in a religion aren\u2019t fanatics at all. You know what I mean? The majority of them are just Christian because their parents were Christian; or Jewish because their parents are Jewish; or Muslim because their parents are Muslim.\u00a0 It\u2019s not like they had a choice.\u00a0 You know? It\u2019s not like they sat down one day and took a big book of religions and said, \u201cOh I like this or that.\u201d No!\u00a0 You were put into that life homie.\u00a0 And your parents were put into that life because their people were conquered by someone who had their religion.\u00a0 It\u2019s wasn\u2019t like someone just prophesied it.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the majority of the percentage of people who believe in that sort of thing.
\nBut I think reading Mr. Henry Clark\u2019s work\u00a0 and the fact that he\u2019s from Harlem and that he was one of those people who reached out, like I said, to a lot of younger generation people and said, \u201cYou need to listen young brother, we\u2019re not talking about Black history, we\u2019re talking about human history.\u201d\u00a0 You know, we\u2019re not talking about Indian history, we\u2019re talking about\u2026or about Latino history, we\u2019re talking about indigenous people who lived on this planet who were the first Americans.\u00a0 Let\u2019s talk about their lives. Let\u2019s talk about the mass defections from European colonies because they didn\u2019t want to live under some rigid you know religiously impressive society; whereas they sought this as a paradise.<\/p>\n

Adam<\/strong>:\u00a0 Nice.\u00a0 Well to continue Mr. Clark\u2019s knowledge and encouragement to the younger generation, what are some words of encouragement that you could offer to some high school teenagers who may be feeling depressed or maybe misunderstood by their friends or family?<\/p>\n

Tech<\/strong>:\u00a0 I could just tell them, listen man, people always ask me how I feel about younger artists that are doing crazy shit like for example, someone asked me, how you feel about Chief Keef or one of these other artists, and I always say, hey listen dude, how do you expect me to judge somebody who I was probably worse than, when I was a kid?\u00a0 You know? I definitely carried guns and knives; I had a beef with all kinds of people.\u00a0 I used to strap a meat cleaver to my forearm. I wasn\u2019t playing. I didn\u2019t give a fuck.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t give a shit about school.\u00a0 So I completely understand the worst of the worst of that reality.\u00a0 What I don\u2019t understand and what I can\u2019t understand is not having, for example, things like a father. I had a father and you know, he\u2019s a really hard man on me, but he told me one thing that always stick in my mind, is the only thing you can control about your kids is who you have them with. Because they\u2019re going to grow up to do whatever they want to do.\u00a0 You know? And at some point, irrespective in as much love and affection as you give, all that, I think I can control you and manipulate your life, you know kids aren\u2019t stupid.\u00a0 They start to see through that shit. You know kids are tired of being talked about in the third person.\u00a0 Like, \u201cOh yeah, he\u2019s such a good kid.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m right here motherfucker.\u00a0 Why you talking about me like I don\u2019t exist? And then you expect me to exist and be everything that you want me to be.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to be anything that someone wants you to be. As long as you\u2019re successful doing what you love to do.\u00a0 Motherfucker, if you want to paint.\u00a0 Paint.\u00a0 But fucking learn how to paint!\u00a0 Or you know what?\u00a0 If you\u2019re going to do a job or you have a dream? Always have a side gig.\u00a0 I remind people, dude, from my personal experience I didn\u2019t just jump into rap and expect someone to pay my fucking bills, I didn\u2019t just leach off a woman like some fucking deadbeat coward. No dude! I had a part time job.\u00a0 Three days out of the week I had to be at some place from nine o\u2019clock in the morning until fucking six p.m. at night, working at some bullshit office.\u00a0 Not because I wanted to, but because I had to pay these bills, you know? I pretended I didn\u2019t speak English to work at some sweatshop, so I could get the money for fucking Revolutionary Vol 1.\u00a0\u00a0 I invested in the most important dream.\u00a0 My dream.\u00a0 You know, not somebody else\u2019s pipedream. That\u2019s what I tell kids.\u00a0\u00a0 And get your fucking side gig on my nigger. If you want to get your job done, if you have a dream, you want to start a low-rider business, you want to start a promotional company, you want to be a fucking artist like I said, or a DJ, you want to be a journalist, you want to fly airplanes. . . whatever the fuck you want to do man, realistically speaking, have something that\u2019s going to help you learn discipline, that\u2019s going to provide you with money to feed your family and yourself, all that.\u00a0 But do it in conjunction with what you\u2019re doing.\u00a0 Learn two skills not just one.\u00a0 Don\u2019t devote yourself to the dream until you\u2019re ready to give up that other life; or rather don\u2019t give up that other life until you\u2019re willing and capable of devoting yourself to the dream.\u00a0 Because there was a point in my life where I finally said, OK, this is starting to pop off for me. I\u2019m starting to get offers for shows a lot. I\u2019m starting to get people who want to buy my CD.\u00a0 I\u2019m looking at getting some distribution.\u00a0 Or I can tell all this to fuck off and go back to going to college part time or working part time for the next three or four years.\u00a0 What\u2019s it going to be? I took my shot.\u00a0 But you know what?\u00a0 I took my shot after aiming for about a year and half of what the fuck I wanted to do.\u00a0\u00a0 Fire with conviction.<\/p>\n

Adam<\/strong>: Smart way to be. What advice could you give to a younger independent MC?\u00a0 For instance, now that you have hindsight as an independent artist, what are some problems you have encountered, and furthermore what are some of the solutions to those problems?<\/p>\n

Tech<\/strong>:\u00a0 Sometimes it\u2019s not great to do business with friends and family, because it\u2019s harder to fire friends and family. And sometimes, people just need to be fired. Learn the business. Fuck the art and all that other shit, if you want to do this as your life, that\u2019s only one side of this, as fucked up as this sounds.\u00a0 You know, I\u2019m not saying, fuck art. I\u2019m saying your art will be fucked if you don\u2019t learn the business.\u00a0 That\u2019s what I\u2019m telling you.\u00a0 I\u2019m telling you that having great power without perception is not just economically and politically, it\u2019s also spiritually useless.\u00a0 If you\u2019re going to be put in that position, you know, that\u2019s your livelihood. You have to ensure you\u2019re not the one that\u2019s used; you have to ensure the people aren\u2019t manipulating you for your music to go somewhere.\u00a0 Let\u2019s say you\u2019re song is about artist freedom, and then someone wants to get it to be on like a cigarette commercial. So what you really do my nigger? (laughs and says sarcastically) \u201cWow! You\u2019re really free sucking on that cancer stick bro.\u201d\u00a0 And at some point, what are you really going to do with what you\u2019ve done?\u00a0 Consider that. Consider what impact you want your music to make with other people.\u00a0 Do you want to inspire or change?\u00a0 Or do you not care and just want to get the money?\u00a0 I mean answer these questions honestly.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to answer to me.\u00a0 Fuck me, you don\u2019t care about me and my opinions are useless.\u00a0\u00a0 Answer them for yourself. If you\u2019re in hip hop to get women, then you\u2019re a fucking idiot, you know?\u00a0\u00a0 You should be doing Salsa, or some sort of Spanish music; (laughs) because the amount of women at those shows far outweigh anything you\u2019re going to see in hip hop.\u00a0\u00a0 You know, if you\u2019re going to do music because you want money, then more likely to [sic] get a job being a lawyer, or doing some other shit because that\u2019s a guaranteed payday. As oppose to this which is not a guaranteed payday. Not always.\u00a0 The people you see on TV are not the rule. They\u2019re the exception to the rule. And everything is political about it.\u00a0 So I tell people regardless of what you think is the measure of success, realize that\u2019s only something that is applicable to your life.\u00a0 And I tell artists all the time if you\u2019re not going to participate in getting that business right, then you will find yourself taken advantage of.\u00a0 You will find yourself being a pawn in someone else\u2019s game, unfortunately.\u00a0 I definitely have experienced people trying to control my career and that\u2019s why I remain independent, that\u2019s why I work with people I trust.\u00a0 And it also helps to be around motherfuckers that known you for a long time, and they can tell you about yourself.\u00a0 You know if you surround yourself with a bunch of yes men, then you\u2019re never really going to have perspective.\u00a0 You\u2019ll just have people who agree with all the bad decisions you make.\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s all I can tell you bro.<\/p>\n

Adam<\/strong>:\u00a0 Right on.\u00a0 Cool.\u00a0 Thanks for your time and for speaking with us.<\/p>\n

\"Adam,<\/a>

Adam, Tech and Pam<\/p><\/div>\n

Pam<\/strong> (sneaking in at end of interview):\u00a0 Can I ask a question?\u00a0 What do you hope the kids take away from your show?\u00a0 What do you hope to inspire in them?<\/p>\n

Tech<\/strong>:\u00a0 See that\u2019s one thing I\u2019ve always kind of left up to them, because people have used it for so many different things.\u00a0 I just say that I hope that it inspires some positive thing in their life, or inspires them to confront some negative things in their life.\u00a0 I\u2019ve had people come up to me and say, \u201cI really wished that you had been there for me.\u201d And I\u2019d be, \u201cI don\u2019t know you.\u201d \u201cYeah but like your music, I wish I had it when I was 12.\u00a0 Some really fucked up things were happening in my own house.\u00a0 I found a way to confront it and found that it wasn\u2019t my own fault.\u00a0 Through your music.\u201d\u00a0 If I could do that for people, if I can make them confront their demons and show them that if they call them by their name, then they have no power.\u00a0 That\u2019s the way you caste the devil out. You call it by its name.\u00a0\u00a0 You can\u2019t stop being an alcoholic until you admit you have a problem with alcohol.\u00a0\u00a0 You can\u2019t stop being a drug addict until you admit that you have a problem with drugs.<\/p>\n

Pam<\/strong>:\u00a0 Nicely put.\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n

TECH:<\/strong>
\nwww.twitter.com\/ImmortalTech<\/a>
\nwww.ViperRecords.com<\/a>
\nwww.MySpace.com\/ImmortalTechnique<\/a><\/p>\n

ADAM:<\/strong>
\nwww.twitter.com\/AdamClarkDrums<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AdamClarkDrums<\/a>
\nwww.LosAngelesDrummer.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Photos of that evening’s concert plus a few with fans and Tech after we did the interview:<\/p>\n\n\t\t