Immortal Technique, also known as Felipe Andres Coronel, was born in a military hospital in Lima, Peru on February 19, 1978. His family immigrated to the United States in 1980 after a civil war broke out in his native Peru. Although his family and he had escaped the social unrest, rampant poverty, and violence of a Third World Country, his family eventually settled in one of the toughest and most violent areas of the United States: Harlem, New York.
While growing up on the hard scrabble streets of Harlem, he began tagging the neighborhood with graffiti and became enamored with the local, underground Hip Hop culture. Although he was often truant from school and arrested for his wild, unpredictable behavior, he managed to graduate from high school. After high school, he enrolled and attended Pennsylvania State University for a brief time before being arrested again on assault-related charges in a violent altercation between fellow students on campus. While those charges were pending, he continued to compile multiple assault related charges in New York State and the surrounding areas. Eventually, he realized his past had caught up with him and incarceration was the next step in his young life. Unfortunately, he was correct.
Although the Assistant District Attorney wanted Immortal Technique to snitch on his other co-defendants and turn states evidence, he refused both before and during his trial. He never did turn states evidence even though the others did to get their sentences reduced. Since he was facing between five and ten years behind bars, he hired a top-notch attorney who was able to compile the cases into one. Luckily, he received a one to two year sentence in the mountains about six hours outside of New York City. He ended up serving one year in prison.
During his incarceration, he used his time wisely. He worked out vigorously, studied subjects like political science and philosophy, and began to document and develop his lyrics into songs. Although he was involved in a few physical fights while doing his time, he also was involved in many verbal battles. These verbal battles helped him hone his rhythmic lyrics into a style all his own and foretold of great things to come.
After being paroled in 1999, he took two semesters of political science classes at Baruch College in New York City as a condition of living with his father. Since he was unable to find stable and meaningful employment, he began selling his music on the streets and fully immersed himself in the local, underground Hip Hop culture. Since he was able to hone his verbal battling skills during his incarceration, he established himself quickly and became known throughout the Hip Hop underground.
