Anyone who is familiar with Hip Hop knows that social and political themes have always been present in the lyrics of the music. However, with the popularity of “gangsta” rap in the late 1980’s, much of those positive themes seemed to become obsolete as a new era of corporate rap was ushered in. Thankfully a few artists “defended the faith” so to speak, by maintaining the themes of social and political awareness as dominant factors in their music. Some of the more well-known of these torch-bearers are old-schoolers like Public Enemy and KRS-One. One of the lesser known of those artists is the Oakland based rap group, The Coup.

While the trio, consisting of rapper E-Roc, deejay Pam the Funkstress, and group leader Boots, was certainly inspired by “conscious” emcees like KRS and Chuck D, the group was obviously also influenced by much heavier political figures such as Karl Marx and Chairman Mao. In 1993, The Coup’s debut album Kill My Landlord received a great deal of notoriety from rap critics, but unfortunately was lost in a sea of similar-sounding gangsta rap. 1994’s Genocide & Juice was the sophomore album from the political rap band, and armed with and assortment of funk, soul, and hardcore rap beats, they continued their dedication inundating rap music with inspired leftist political resistance.

Track Listing
1. Intro (G-Nut Talks Sh*t from The Gut)
2. Fat Cats, Bigga Fish
3. Pimps (Free Stylin' at the Fortune 500 Club)
4. Takin' These
5. Hip 2 Tha Skeme
6. Gunsmoke
7. This One's A Girl
8. The Name Game
9. 360 Degrees
10. Hard Concrete
11. Santa Rita Weekend - (with Spice 1/E-40)
12. Repo Man
13. Interrogation
14. Outro

“Fat Cats, Bigga Fish” is the first song off Genocide & Juice, and it’s really the best song on the album. For the beat, The Coup put combine a familiar funk guitar sample (if you’ve heard Method Man and Redman’s Blackout CD, it’s the loop from “Serial Killers” ) and strings over a basic bassline with uptempo percussion. The track is tight, but the true highlight on this song is the lyrics. For the entire song, Boots raps the part of a small time street hustler, trying to squeak out some kind of living by robbing, stealing, and conning people. He infiltrates a Fortune 500 party as a waiter with the intent of robbing the gathering. While serving the guests, he overhears a conversation between the CEO of Coca Cola bottling and the city’s mayor that makes him understand just how small time his hustle really is:

“Mr. Coke said to Mr. Mayor,
"You know we got a process like Ice T's hair /
we put up the fund for your election campaign /
and oh, um waiter can you bring the champagne? /
A real estate fronts as opportunities arousing /
to make some condos out of low income housing /
immediately, we need some media heat /
to say that gangs run the street and then we bring in the police fleet /
harassing everybody till they look inebriated /
when we buy the land motherf*ckas will appreciate it /
don’t worry about the Urban League or Jesse Jackson /
my man that owns Marlboro donated a fat sum” /
that’s when I step back some to contemplate what few know /
sat down to wrestle with my thoughts like a sumo /
ain’t no one player that could beat this lunacy /
ain’t no hustler on the street that could do a whole community” /


If there was an award for the “Most Clever Hip Hop Segue Ever”, then the Coup would win it easily for the lead-in from “Fat Cats, Bigga Fish” to “Pimps (Free Stylin' at the Fortune 500 Club)”. The track starts out with Boots and E-Roc as John Rockefeller and J.P. Getti at the party described in the previous track, talking about how they’ve recently gotten into rap music. One of the guests, asks them to rap for her, so Rockefeller gets the house orchestra to switch from playing a classical arrangement to “something more funky” so he can flow. After a few alterations to their voices, Rockefeller and Getti start rapping in the gangsta style of rap, but instead of the usual gangsta “street” aesthetic, they rap about how they use their money and influence to “pimp” the country (hence the title of the track). Donald Trump even comes in at the end of the track to drop the Reggae-style vocalizations. Boots and E-Roc do an excellent job here with their lyrics to compare street gangstas to corporate raiders.

On the next song, “Takin’ These” the group rap about themselves as modern-day Robin Hoods, snatching the wealth held by the upper echelon of the population and redistributing it amongst the people. For the hook, they borrow the first few lines of “Siamese Cat Song” from Disney’s The Lady and the Tramp and modify them to go, “we are taking these, if you please.” Musically, this song is really laid-back, a sharp contrast to the two tracks that preceded it. It’s just a reproduction of a funk-soul type of Hip Hop track featuring keyboards and some simple percussion.

Track 8, “The Name Game” is a great song about how being famous in the rap industry does not necessarily translate into huge bank accounts for rappers. I like this song, because it deconstructs the myth that once a rap artist gets signed, they’ll be showered with all kinds of money. Boots & company use only a straightforward track here with a little bass and piano accompaniment.

The Coup echoes much of NWA's anti-police sentiment with the next to last song, “Interrogation”. Here Boots and E-Roc rap about some of the less than ideal questioning tactics of the police. For the beat, they construct a nice, full track using a funk bass guitar, horns, and keyboards. Rappers Osagyefo and Point Blank Range guest star on this selection.

So all in all, Genocide & Juice is a good album with thoughtful lyrics focusing on social and political topics. However, the lyrical deliveries are sometimes erratic. On songs like “Fat Cats, Bigga Fish” and “Pimps”, they’re near perfect, but on “Hard Concrete” E-Roc’s technique is very disjointed. Also, even though the production is easily on par with the rest of 1994’s West Coast rap scene, it’s nothing special. Boots rarely deviates from the usual funk/soul inspired type of tracks that dominated the “gangsta rap” subgenre at that time.

As a final point, I do recommend picking up Genocide & Juice by The Coup. They’re a very talented group with nice musical ability and a lot of thoughts and ideas that make the listener think; something that’s been missing from far too much Hip Hop music lately.


Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Reading or Studying