Caffeine-Headache

“Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)”
- Walt Whitman

“I’m a walking contradiction,
Like bullets and love mixing”
- The Coup

The Coup are Oakland duo Boots Riley and Pam The Funkstress. Their new album Pick a Bigger Weapon features a backing band that includes: Tom Morello, Dwayne Wiggins, and veterans of Parliament-Funkadelic, the Gap Band, Toni! Tony! Toné!, Jesse Johnson, and Maze. This album showcases Boots' signature humor/rage storytelling that produced the classic "Me & Jesus The Pimp In A '79 Granada Last Night" (from Steal This Album).
You may remember hearing about the controversy surrounding their last album, Party Music, which was scheduled for release shortly after 9/11, but became a cultural flashpoint amidst Cheney-Ashcroft hysteria. The album’s original cover (completed three months prior to 9/11) depicted The Coup setting off an explosion in the World Trade Center using a guitar tuner and drumsticks. The band's label, 75 Ark, pulled the cover immediately after the attacks. "As far as the record industry was concerned, it was the end of my career," Boots says. Instead, the album's became an underdog favorite making many year-end critic's lists.
Here's a couple tracks from Pick A Bigger Weapon that I especially dig. "I Just Wanna Lay Around All Day" features Boots is talking to his gal towards the end, tellin' her 'We go together like grits and cornbread, we be in bed together like Bush and Hussein', funny stuff. And I just can't seem to get this hook from "Laugh/Love/Fuck" out of my head...'I'm here to laugh, love, and drink liquor/ and help the revolution come quicker'...

"Laugh/Love/Fuck"

"I Just Wanna Lay Around All Day"

Hear more from The Coup's MySpace.

Stream the album in it's entirety here

Purchase Pick A Bigger Weapon here.