|
Originally due in U.S. stores on Sept. 11, the latest longplayer from Oakland's hip-hop duo The Coup got the bump due to the insane, almost comic coincidence of its cover image, depicting the combo's Pam the Funktress and Boots Riley blowing up the World Trade Center towers in what was considered a fanciful statement of symbolic anti-capitalism. Ahem. Now that it's finally been issued (with much more sanguine artwork), the silver lining in that dark cloud of media reportage is that all that attention may now fall on the quality of their fine fourth longplayer, with The Coup able to exercise the super-capitalist notion of capitalizing on exposure. All publicity being good publicity, and all. Musically, The Coup haven't really changed that much as they've marched on to the beat of their own militaristic mindset. They still owe a huge debt to Afrika Bambaataa, but their lustily-delivered late-'80s/early-'90s Afro-centric vibe has now become a delicious twist on subtle hip-hop retroism. Where retro hip-hop is normally reserved for the most anemic old-skoolisms, The Coup recall a time in hop-hop when the ass met the mind; Party Music straddles a politico/booty line, seeking to move hearts as well as feet. The Coup take this notion so far that cuts of such somewhat silly lyrical thematics as "Pork and Beef" and "5 Million Ways to Kill a CEO" recall the funkiest heights of gangsta rap, when those bad-ass boys discovered Funkadelic and everything changed.
|
