The Coup Steal This Album
The Coup, led by Marxist MC Boots Riley, were and are one of the most overtly political groups in hip-hop. Their 1998 release,Steal This Album, is not just an album you put on, but a world you can escape into. Boots takes the every day experiences of an impoverished people, and turns them into cinematic, complex, and emotional pieces.
"'Me and Jesus the Pimp in a '79 Granada last night" tells the tale of a young man picking up a friend from jail. As he drives home Boots gives us the whole story. How the pimp, Jesus, was his mother's pimp and eventually ended up killing her in front of him. Jesus went away to jail for some other murder. Jesus schooled Boots character in the game and raised him up to be a man while he was in jail. In a seemingly Machiavellian or Macbeth like tactic he tricks him and agrees with what he has to say. He then picks up Jesus under the guise of a friend. He confronts him about it and then traps him in the car and kills him.
This is just one track. The rest of the album features a list of highlights, including the black humor of 'Breathing Apparatus," a song about Boots dying in the hospital from a gunshot wound. Then there is the hilarious and dark "Repo Man Sings for You," which features the amazing Del The Funky Homosapeian. For indie/underground hip-hop aficionados this is the meeting of two great minds. Steal This Album is a world full of humor, drama, hatred, love and redemption. Can any other hip hop album in your collection make the same claim?
