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No one has rated this album. You can be the first. | Coup, The - Pick a Bigger Weapon | Underground hip hop has in recent years faded further and further from the public eye. Mainstream acts aggressively continue to command the undivided attention of the casual listener with no room for sharing space. This may be due less to insufficiencies exhibited by lesser known emcees and more to the adaptability of those in the limelight. Artists of late have shown an impressive ability to mix the stereotypical party song pimping ass shaking and booze downing with the occasional ballad or otherwise heartfelt, genuine address.
Boots Riley and the Coup are largely recognized as a phenomenally talented and almost overwhelmingly political crew. The Oakland heroes also represent a force in the underground community alongside persons such as Talib Kweli. On Pick a Bigger Weapon the group follows the lead of more commercially accepted acts by delicately stirring their rendition of crunk tracks with their more comfortable reign of political pieces.
Everything kicks off with a simple bouncing bass line immediately assuming a revolutionary stance with choral bursts of “we came to fight – it’s your disgrace, smash up your place, that’s just polite.” Boots puts an underground spin on trap music by illustrating the economic and lifestyle sacrifices of the unsuccessful dealer. Riley admits on “Laugh/Love/Fuck” that he lives to “laugh, love, fuck and drink liquor,” but yet again he drops a line to solidify his status as a political rapper with the following “and maybe make a revolution.” Bringing in fellow stars Black Thought and Talib Kweli for the once again movement crazed “My Favorite Mutiny” proves a musically justified move as the guests bring beautiful complimentary pitch variations with significantly less nasal vocal work. Boots Riley’s ability to assume a comedic tone throws listeners for a loop and yields impressive diversity to the disc. Such is the case on “Ass-Breath Killers,” a track dedicated to calling out suck-ups, sycophants, and ass-kissers.
However, Riley doesn’t always hit the mark with his lyrical prowess. In fact, oftentimes he misses it by a fairly large margin. An otherwise impressive track, “Head (Of State)” lets somewhat clichéd but still acceptable lyrics like “war ain’t about one land against the next, it’s poor people dying so the rich cash checks” prove entirely futile efforts as childish lashings “Bush and Hussein together in bed, giving h-e-a-d head” effectively ruin the track. It’s at times like this when Riley’s creativity drops off where political attempts fall flat and lose all pop. When this occurs the entire song proceeds to lose its appeal.
Musically, a lack of focus lets the album as a whole hone in on the lyrics as the unifying factor. The beats present and the crew’s incredibly tight, cohesive musical accessorizing which often showcases more traditional instruments over turntable work allow for Riley to churn out one hit after another. But incredible stylistic indecision destroys any notion that this CD plays out as an album as opposed to a collection of singles.
The Coup does show an impressively decisive disposition as they get straight to the point in each of their songs. They hardly ever circumlocute, but rather state their intentions at the outset by introducing a beat to lurk throughout the whole of the song at its very inception. As is vocalized by a female companion on “ShoYoAss,” the listener easily declares “ooh that’s it – that’s my song” when background music first kicks in. This elimination of unnecessary foreplay proves one of the most redeeming qualities of Pick a Bigger Weapon; fans appreciate not having to deal with stereotypical skit interference at regular, frequent intervals.
The Coup shows with their latest release that they still are one of those acts to whom the words are just as important as the music. But those words have gone for a spin here. Boots Riley has picked his bigger weapon; it’s the intervention of fun into obsessively political music. |
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Displaying posts 1 - 11 of 11. |
12:30 PM on 07/25/06 | Nice review of a genuinely interesting album. I would disagree about your assessment of mainstream hip-hop though. The best hip-hop really has been coming from major label rappers in the last 2 years, and if you listen back to older underground stuff-- it really didn't age very well. All that Okayplayer/ Talib/Roots stuff sounds pretty stiff and awkward in retrospect (although, at the time, it did sound better than Juvenile and Master P). Lil Wayne, Kanye, T.I., Clipse, Cam'ron, and a pretty long list of Major label acts released the best hip-hop in 05/06, while Mos Def, The Roots, Atmosphere, and the rest of the underground heavyweights put out some bonified yawners. | | |
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12:33 PM on 07/25/06 |  Originally Posted by GDSP Nice review of a genuinely interesting album. I would disagree about your assessment of mainstream hip-hop though. The best hip-hop really has been coming from major label rappers in the last 2 years, and if you listen back to older underground stuff-- it really didn't age very well. All that Okayplayer/ Talib/Roots stuff sounds pretty stiff and awkward in retrospect (although, at the time, it did sound better than Juvenile and Master P). Lil Wayne, Kanye, T.I., Clipse, Cam'ron, and a pretty long list of Major label acts released the best hip-hop in 05/06, while Mos Def, The Roots, Atmosphere, and the rest of the underground heavyweights put out some bonified yawners. |
No, we have the same point of view. I must not have articulated mine as clearly as I had wanted to. While I think that underground rappers dropped the ball a bit, I maintain that the main reason for commercially successful rappers' jump further into the limelight was their excellence and diversity rather than lesser known floundering. | | |
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12:38 PM on 07/25/06 | Originally Posted by Greg Dona No, we have the same point of view. I must not have articulated mine as clearly as I had wanted to. While I think that underground rappers dropped the ball a bit, I maintain that the main reason for commercially successful rappers' jump further into the limelight was their excellence and diversity rather than lesser known floundering. |
For Real. Any time I hear some scenester tell me to check out this group called "Blackstar" because he hears that I like T.I., I wanna throw up. Thanks for the big secret dude. Too bad its boring as crap. | | |
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01:00 PM on 07/25/06 | Originally Posted by GDSP For Real. Any time I hear some scenester tell me to check out this group called "Blackstar" because he hears that I like T.I., I wanna throw up. Thanks for the big secret dude. Too bad its boring as crap. |
Haha I can deal with Blackstar but it's gotten kind of old now. I hear it any time I tell somebody I'm into rap. But I'll never tire of T.I. - I can promise you that. | | |
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01:30 PM on 07/25/06 | Originally Posted by Greg Dona Haha I can deal with Blackstar but it's gotten kind of old now. I hear it any time I tell somebody I'm into rap. But I'll never tire of T.I. - I can promise you that. |
Have you heard Girl Talk? I think you neeeeeed to review that next. | | |
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01:39 PM on 07/25/06 | Originally Posted by GDSP Nice review of a genuinely interesting album. I would disagree about your assessment of mainstream hip-hop though. The best hip-hop really has been coming from major label rappers in the last 2 years, and if you listen back to older underground stuff-- it really didn't age very well. All that Okayplayer/ Talib/Roots stuff sounds pretty stiff and awkward in retrospect (although, at the time, it did sound better than Juvenile and Master P). Lil Wayne, Kanye, T.I., Clipse, Cam'ron, and a pretty long list of Major label acts released the best hip-hop in 05/06, while Mos Def, The Roots, Atmosphere, and the rest of the underground heavyweights put out some bonified yawners. |
yea, i'd have to agree. the underground its really hard to listen to rightnow. | | |
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10:08 PM on 07/25/06 |  I love how there's a discussion about how underground hip hop isn't as great as mainstream hip hop on an ABSOLUTE PUNK review thread. Now I've never posted on here before, but after reading this I really felt like I had to say something. Seriously, underground hip hop is thriving right now. Just because you all could name folks like Talib Kweli, Mos Def, The Roots, and Atmosphere and claim that they've put out not so great albums (which I greatly disagree with) doesn't mean you're all up on your hip hop. Mainstream hip hop right now is some of the absolute worst hip hop ever created. It's commercialized and represents the complete opposite of what the original hip hop lifestyle represents. Granted there are some great mainstream hip hop artists i.e. Nas, Jay-Z, Wu-Tang, Kanye, Common (if you consider him mainstream), Outkast, Mary J. Blige. But all of these artists have been around for over a decade (excluding Kanye) and started out as underground, independent artists that gained a reputation for creating great innovative music.
The underground hip hop music scene right now is alive and better than ever with artists like MF Doom, Mr. Lif, Cage, El-P, Blackalicious, Saul Williams, RjD2, Jurassic 5, Immortal Technique, Dead Prez, Vast Aire, and that's really just the beginning. Everyone knows who Talib and Mos are. Name dropping them on a hip hop message board is like name dropping Fallout Boy and Taking Back Sunday here. | | |
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04:59 AM on 07/26/06 | yeah, i don't know wtf you're talking about when you say mainstream stuff is better right now...there has been an amazing amount of great underground releases this year...
mr. lif
aceyalone/rjd2
both j dilla releases
oh no
bronze nazareth
murs
lightheaded
cut chemist
boot camp clik
etc etc etc...killa season better than all this? pleeeeease | | |
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07:43 AM on 07/26/06 | Originally Posted by TheChrisArena I love how there's a discussion about how underground hip hop isn't as great as mainstream hip hop on an ABSOLUTE PUNK review thread. Now I've never posted on here before, but after reading this I really felt like I had to say something. Seriously, underground hip hop is thriving right now. Just because you all could name folks like Talib Kweli, Mos Def, The Roots, and Atmosphere and claim that they've put out not so great albums (which I greatly disagree with) doesn't mean you're all up on your hip hop. Mainstream hip hop right now is some of the absolute worst hip hop ever created. It's commercialized and represents the complete opposite of what the original hip hop lifestyle represents. Granted there are some great mainstream hip hop artists i.e. Nas, Jay-Z, Wu-Tang, Kanye, Common (if you consider him mainstream), Outkast, Mary J. Blige. But all of these artists have been around for over a decade (excluding Kanye) and started out as underground, independent artists that gained a reputation for creating great innovative music.
The underground hip hop music scene right now is alive and better than ever with artists like MF Doom, Mr. Lif, Cage, El-P, Blackalicious, Saul Williams, RjD2, Jurassic 5, Immortal Technique, Dead Prez, Vast Aire, and that's really just the beginning. Everyone knows who Talib and Mos are. Name dropping them on a hip hop message board is like name dropping Fallout Boy and Taking Back Sunday here. |
Out of the artists you listed I think only RJD2, Mr. Lif, Jurassic 5, and Dead Prez have put out albums this year. RJD2 was good, Mr. Lif is a little worse, and Jurassic 5 and Dead Prez came out yesterday so I haven't been able to hear them yet. The only Doom thing I know of was the Danger Doom release which wasn't anything incredible.
Originally Posted by perrone yeah, i don't know wtf you're talking about when you say mainstream stuff is better right now...there has been an amazing amount of great underground releases this year...
mr. lif
aceyalone/rjd2
both j dilla releases
oh no
bronze nazareth
murs
lightheaded
cut chemist
boot camp clik
etc etc etc...killa season better than all this? pleeeeease |
sucked compared to his other releases. Lupe Fiasco, T.I., E-40, Bustah Rhymes, Ghostface Killah, Juelz Santana, Lil' Wayne, Chamillionaire, Young Jeezy, Kanye West, and many others have put out respectable discs in the past year.
Plus, it wasn't declared that mainstream rap is better than underground rap. We said that underground rap is in a downswing while mainstream rap is doing better than usual. I also stated that mainstream rap is pulling more weight and taking it from underground material; as we all know from the success of Nickelback, that oftentimes has NOTHING to do with talent. | | |
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03:40 PM on 07/22/10 | Registered Infant Consumer i love the coup so much :D | | |
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