I’m off to a late start today after staying up all night to watch King Charles III’s coronation. I’m a sucker for lavish ceremony, and the outfits alone made it worth the price of admission. In this case, that price was sleep deprivation.
I’m still a bit groggy but I’ve given this next album a full week in the car and despite how much I liked it, it is time to move on. Odyssey rules say I can’t do that until I write the review so…here you go!
Disc 1640 is…Genocide & Juice
Artist: The Coup
Year of Release: 1994
What’s up with the Cover? The Coup hang out down at some dock. E-Roc appears to be pouring out a 40. Pam the Funkstress provides a “what the hell?” pose and Boots revels in the glory of being Boots.
How I Came To Know It: For the second straight album I had to resort to Amazon. Even there, this album wasn’t available for years so when a copy popped up on a search, I snatched it up before it was too late.
How It Stacks Up: I have six Coup albums, which, as it happens, is their entire career. I like all six, but since I’m here to make the hard choices, I’ll put “Genocide & Juice” in at #1. Yeah, you read that right. The best.
Rating: 4 stars
“Genocide & Juice” has that quality that is always a dead giveaway that I’m listening to a classic rap record, which is that it is hard to listen to while also writing about it. Typically, I steep one last time in an album as I write a review, but when the rhymes and flows are as compelling as they are on “Genocide & Juice” concentrating on your own words is a challenge. I turned the volume down a titch – a crime all its own – and was able to power through.
Later in their career, the Coup become funkier and funkier with danceable tunes and a radio-friendly groove. Early on, they are more likely to steer toward thought-provoking rhymes and innovative beats. Their talents for both are never better than on “Genocide & Juice”.
After the oft-included (but rarely welcome) “Intro” track from hip hop records of this era, the Coup get down to business with “Fat Cats, Bigga Fish” a song about the dog-eat-dog world they see in modern America and characters driven to crime through poverty. Our anti-hero of the song starts his day riding the bus with a stolen pass, before he begins taking a closer look at how he’s managing:
“The streetlight
reflects off the piss on the ground
Which reflects off the hamburger sign, it turns round
Which reflects off the chrome of the BMW
Which reflects off the fact that I'm broke, now what the fuck is new?”
Images that conjure sight, sound and even smell – if you’re lucky the latter being the hamburger.
“Pimps” uses a free style “rounds” approach, as members of the band take turns making fun of the accents of the rich, before dropping some innovative and compelling raps. Full kudos if this was done free-style as advertised, because it is great. My only disappointment was the references to Donald Trump, which have aged awkwardly given events of more recent years. The band’s hilariously put-on “upper class twit” accents between verses makes even this forgivable, however.
The beats on this record are harbinger of the truly funky stuff that will come later. Here, the lyrics are forward in the mix, but there is no denying those back-loosening beats on “Gunsmoke”, “Hard Concrete” and many others.
While I like a lot of Coup albums equally, the song that puts “Genocide & Juice” over the top is “Repo Man”. Telling the tale of a Repo Man cruising through the neighbourhood, repossessing cars and property from folks making a marginal living. Just as they do, throughout the record, the Coup paint a clear picture of another of the ‘hood’s recurring characters:
“Seen him slidin'
through the town about eleven o'clock
A 1994 850 and the tires were stock
He'll make a visit to your house like without no knock
And if you pulls out a pole it wouldn't be no shock
I gives a fuck how much you bench press, if you ain't pushin' up
That twenty-five percent interest, your property gets chin checked”
On top of the great imagery, this is the Coup’s funkiest tune which is saying a LOT, because this band is damned funky, and the albums that follow this one just keep raising the bar. Nothing beats “Repo Man” though, and ultimately nothing beats “Genocide & Juice” either. It is a rap classic.
Best tracks: Fat Cats, Bigga Fish, Pimps, Gunsmoke, Hard Concrete, Repo Man, Interrogation
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