I’ve been discovering a
lot of great music lately, but more and more I can’t find those albums on CD.
It is a dying format, and I’m having a hard time letting go and converting to
the sad and sterile land of the download code.
Rap is one of the worst
genres for this, as modern rap artists have embraced the digital-only world with
enthusiasm. Fortunately, this next album came out during the golden age of the
compact disc, and I found it almost immediately.
Disc 1342 is…Kill My
Landlord
Artist:
The Coup
Year of Release: 1993
What’s up with the
Cover?
Members of the Coup welcome us into their kitchen. Well, maybe 'welcome' isn't the right word here. Band leader Boots Riley is brandishing a frying pan. Maybe he's just going to cook up some breakfast, but all those angry glares suggest otherwise.
How I Came to Know
It: I was reading some music
article or other (as I often do) and the Coup song “Magic Clap” got mentioned
in a capacity I no longer remember. At the time, however, I was interested
enough to check out the song and I liked what I heard.
“Magic Clap” isn’t even
on this record, but that’s how it all started. From there I dug through the
entire Coup discography with wild abandon. And here we are.
How It Stacks Up: The Coup have six
albums and they are all good. Unfortunately, I’ve only managed to find four so
far. Of the four I have, “Kill My Landlord” comes in 3rd.
Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4
“Kill My Landlord” is the first album from the
Coup, a very funky, very political rap act from Oakland, California. If you’re
wondering if the title of the album is a bit of playful hyperbole the answer is…I
hope so. The Coup’s lyrics can be funny, it is also clear they are not joking.
This is music for the revolution. While listening
to it did not make me feel particularly revolutionary, I did admire the band’s
rap flow. Their rhymes are clever, with thoughtful turns of phrase that drive
their points home with a controlled rage.
Along the way they skewer Bill Clinton, George
Bush and a host of police departments. They even call out Donald Trump (who
back in 1993 was just a famous businessman).
The album song list is set up like a baseball lineup,
with the center of the lineup featuring the heaviest hitters. Track four is the
title track, and a broad call to revolution followed by a song imagining
revenge on a violent cop (“I Know You”), a song exploring the power of
language over behavior (“I Ain’t the Nigga”) and finishing up with “Last
Blunt” a song about how getting high too often saps you of your will to
achieve anything. You definitely won’t care about joining the revolution after
too much dope, which for the Coup is a big deal.
The chocolate coating that helps all this go
down easier is the incredibly funky beats and bass lines. The Coup doesn’t rely
solely on a bunch of snare samples and breaks; they’ve got a full band of their
own, with drums, guitars, drums and keyboards. This gives their songs a strong
R&B feel and a great organic quality. They also throw in a small amount of
jazz, but not so much to detract from the groove or to annoy my anti-jazz sensibilities.
There is still lots of scratching and sampling, but it is blended well with the
‘live’ band elements.
It's clear the Coup wants “Kill My Landlord”
to generate impassioned political debate and push people to action. I hate to
disappoint them, but I’m going to stick to the music. I’m sure there are plenty
of other websites out there where you can scratch your political itch.
So, from a musical perspective, does the Coup deliver?
This is a damned funky record, and the rhymes are solid, and it makes it easy to
enjoy over multiple listens. All that social commentary comes off as a bit
strident at times, but I suppose that’s the point.
Best tracks: The Coup, I Know You, I Ain’t the Nigga, Last Blunt,
Liberation of Lonzo
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