Immortal Technique was born in a Military hospital in Peru during a civil war between the guerrilla Shining Path and the CIA sponsored Military. He came to NYC when he was young and was raised in Harlem during the Golden Era of Hip Hop.

He went to prison for a year and then came out and started destroying the battle scene. Understanding that the industry would not be a place that would give him creative freedom, and the ownership of his own music, he began to rebel against it and to record, manufacture and distribute his own music. His first album became an underground classic and the second one broke through the roof and continued on to sell 80,000 units.

Immortal Technique went from being a criminal to being a business owner and to helping raise thousands of dollars for children's hospitals, organize kids in gangs to search for a better life, work with prison youth programs and to buy his own land and begin to create the path for the return of Hardcore, Revolutionary Hip Hop.

(from his YouTube page)