Immortal Technique arrived at the Observatory for his “People's Champions” tour stop last night with Talib Kweli when apparently he saw something he didn't like. According to Santa Ana police, the rebel rapper and his entourage approached two people selling bootleg t-shirts with his trademarked logo outside the venue around 7:45 p.m.
Tech and crew didn't take kindly to that and confronted them about not getting a cut of the money. An altercation ensued with the bootleggers telling police that they got beat down by the group who then jacked their shirts, cell phones, and cash.
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Immortal Technique took the stage for his show about two hours after. Santa Ana police investigated the incident but weren't able to recover anything the two victims had reported lost in the dispute. They identified Tech and another man out of the group of 10-12 people that confronted them.
The rapper, whose government name is Felipe Coronel, got taken into custody alongside 40-year-old Steven Alexander McDaniel of Mission Viejo. The two were booked for suspicion of robbery and trying to prevent victims from reporting a crime.
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Immortal Technique is now out of jail tweeting a meme about Syria and Gaza about an hour ago. Santa Ana police are asking people with info on the alleged crime or additional suspects to come forward.
Bootlegging merch is as underground a hustle as there is. Just don't let Immortal Technique catch you doing it with his merch outside a show!
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Gabriel San Román is from Anacrime. He’s a journalist, subversive historian and the tallest Mexican in OC. He also once stood falsely accused of writing articles on Turkish politics in exchange for free food from DönerG’s!