New article on The Coup from the LA Times.

A Second Chance For The Coup

One of the most notorious (if advertent) musical associations with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks is going to get new exposure. "Party Music," the album by Oakland rap duo the Coup, originally was to have featured a cover depicting an exploding World Trade Center with member Boots Riley pushing a detonator button. The art was designed before the tragedy and changed to a shot of flaming gasoline in a martini glass before the album's November 2001 release. But especially given the duo's lyrical stance against modern capitalism in such songs as ř Million Ways to Kill a C.E.O.," the image stuck.

That attention overwhelmed the music and lyrical content of the album, which ultimately saw only limited release before going out of print. But Epitaph Records is giving it another chance. The label has signed the group and will reissue the album in November (with the different artwork) and then will release a new Coup album in the spring. "The album "Party Music" is a beautiful album, and people need to hear it," says Riley, who wants fans to be able to get a sense of continuity between it and the next album. While the album languished and the duo has been without a contract for two years, Riley is not charging that the Coup was blacklisted, though he says he has heard of stores and distributors that would not carry the group's albums. Epitaph president Andy Kaulkin, who made the deal and is a big Coup booster, does not expect negative repercussion over the signing.' "There's a time people need to be politically outspoken, and if there's a time people need to hear what Boots Riley has to say, now's that time," Kaulkin says. Riley, though, notes that his politics are always put in personal context, and he hopes people will be drawn as much by the music as the words. "I'm not trying to make a speech on CD because who wants to buy that?" he says. ."I talk about my life and how it intersects with the system. And musically, this album is harder than the last one. It's more Funkadelic than Parliament, more 'Dirty Mind' than 'Purple Rain,' if you know what I mean."

LA Times - August 15

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