In times like these, groups like the Coup become that much more important. Meanwhile, the press reports little-to-none of this, fearing the possible consequences. In the meantime, our leaders have continued to act in their own best interests, using the current wave of patriotism as permission to hold open the federal wallet to corporations, cut funding to important programs, and refuse to sign the International Nuclear Arms Treaty. There's been a tendency since the World Trade Center attacks to keep talk of political dissent to a minimum. They've already proven themselves worthy, and a few weak songs do not a weak album make. Party Music doesn't quite pick itself up in the two songs that follow, but by this point, it doesn't much matter. "Heven Tonite" is the requisite sensitive rap song, and while the lyrics are stronger than most in this maligned subgenre, any sentiment is negated by the Swiss-cheese guitars lifted right off a smooth jazz station. Only once do they stray too far in their attempt for a broad listenership. The Coup cater masterfully to a wide audience, always holding fast to their values.
But things really hit their stride on "Get Up," where guest MCs stic.man and M-1 from Dead Prez intone, "It's a war goin' on, the ghetto is a cage/ They only give you two choices be a rebel or a slave," while a group of female vocalists sing an atypical mantra in typical R&B backup singer style: "You're 'sposed to be fed up right now/ Turn the system upside down."
Among their suggestions: "Toss a dollar in the river/ And when he jump in/ If you find he can swim/ Put lead boots on him and do it again/ You and a friend/ Videotape and the party don't end/ Tell him that boogers be sellin' like crack/ He gon' put the little baggies in his nose/ And suffocate like that/ Put a fifty in the barrel of a gun/ When he try to suck it out/ A-ha!/ Well, you know this one."įor the less murder-inclined, Riley and Pam offer a few slightly less radical solutions to societal problems simple things like rebelling against unjust authority or merely choosing a stance ("Take a look around/ And be for or against/ But you can't do shit if you ridin' the fence"). In ൺ Million Ways to Kill a CEO," the Coup demonstrates a wickedly dark comic sensibility, taking the cartoonish tendency towards violence often prevalent in popular rap music and applying it to an uncharacteristic victim. Wrapping their political missives in twisted, slithering rhymes like, "This is my resume/ Slash-resignation/ A ransom note/ With proposed legislation," Riley and Pam prove that the music is every bit as important as the politics. As such, the Coup are likely to reach an audience less accustomed to these types of ideas. For one, the Coup's is a sound drenched in R&B and soul tradition, holding more in common with Outkast's raucous funk-driven beats than it does with similarly minded rap groups like Cannibal Ox. The result is music that questions the common presumption that all things political must also be dry and boring. Like Public Enemy and George Orwell before them, the Coup focuses on the art, not the politics, trusting that if they do one right, the other will follow suit. You see, the Coup knows the secret to effective politicization: before you can change people's minds, you have to engage them. And that's too bad, because Boots Riley and Pam the Funkstress deserve to be remembered for their music. Still, no doubt, the Coup will go down in history as a strange footnote to a tragic day, the unfortunate timing of the album cover remembered long after the music. A last minute phone-call stopped the presses and the cover was redesigned. The image, says the duo, was intended as a metaphor for the effect music can have on a corrupt system.
The original cover art for Party Music, planned long before the events of September 11th, and originally intended to go to press on that fateful day, featured an image of the Twin Towers exploding, with the two rappers posturing in front of them- one holding conductor's batons, the other holding a detonator. Oakland-based rappers the Coup are about as adamantly political as hip-hop comes. "#2 Album of the Year" - Philadelphia Inquirer "The Year In Pop, 3 out of 4 Critics Choices" - Village Voice "#1 Album of the Year" - San Francisco Chronicle "#1 Album of the Year" - Time Out New York "Top Albums of the Year"- Los Angeles Times
"Top 40 Albums of The Year" - Rolling Stone
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