Friday, October 08, 2004:

Pimps

The Coup -- Pimps
The Coup are a radical hip hop group made up of Boots Riley, Pam the Funkstress (the DJ), and (formerly) E-Roc. Kill My Landlord is a solid album that came out in 1993 when gangsta rap was big; it got a lot of critical praise and not much in the way of sales. Genocide and Juice is a better album that came out the next year, also got a lot of critical praise, and also didn't sell much. The Coup left their label and quite making music; E-Roc took off in search of greener pastures; their first two albums went out of print; Pam and Boots started making music again and have released two recent albums that aren't as good but are still in print.

This is a track from Genocide and Juice. The previous track, "Fat Cats, Bigga Fish," has the narrator going to Burger King, picking pockets along the way, flirting with the cashier to get a free meal, and meeting his cousin coming out of some high society meeting where he's working. He changes into his cousin's tux so he can go in and pick some more pockets--"they be thinkin' all black folks is resemblin'"--and hears all the businessmen and the mayor of his city talking about exploiting the poor and playing the media.

"Pimps" is the next track and is also satirical and sharp--David Rockefeller, J. Paul Getty, and Donald Trump stand around drinking martinis and trading raps about their wealth.

Honey, Where You Been So Long? posted "Kill My Landlord" last month, and Soul Sides posted "Fat Cats, Bigga Fish" in August. If you missed those, you missed something good ("Fat Cats" is my favorite Coup track).
Official site Poke around a bit, pick up "5 Million Ways To Kill a CEO"
[Amazon.com] Used and expensive.
ebay isn't much better.

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