Immortal Technique is one of the best rappers alive right now. He is totally and completely unfuckwittable. Which is a bit strange, because the dude talks a lot of crap when he’s up on stage.

Not that having him over to support his upcoming album release wasn’t a treat, and the Coronet got packed nicely while Triple Darkness, Skinnyman and Stig of the Dump heated things up. By the time NY duo The Circle came out, the venue was a solid, heaving, boiling mass of revolutionary volume.
It was such a low-key entrance that for a second most heads didn’t even click that Tech was staring out at them from next to DJ GI Joe. He just stood there for a minute before launching into one his trademark politically-stinging freestyles. This is what we came to see.

He started his set with slower songs – make no mistake though, ‘Harlem Streets’ still bangs in a club sound system.

And in fairness, the songs he did perform got the crowd going. But good heavens, between songs he just didn’t shut up, spouting endless, badly-thought out rubbish about the third world and politics. It blew the pacing of the set completely off. For someone who makes such penetrating, powerful songs that force you to pay attention, one would’ve thought he’d let the music do the rhetoric.

Still, totally unfuckwittable, as his last freestyle of the night proved – pushing the words out with such brutal energy and force that they all but exploded from his lips. Was this worth it? Um…er…yes. Definitely yes. And go pick up his new joint The Third World when it drops. Rawest album of the year? It just might be.

Rob Boffard