Pick a Bigger Weapon

When conscious and political hip-hop had risen to its zenith in 1993, the radical anti-capitalist hip-hop group The Coup, led by politically-minded emcee and producer Boots Riley, released their first album, "Kill My Landlord." The video for the Oakland, California-based group's first single, "Not Yet Free," was on regular rotation on BET's Rap City and Yo! MTV Raps.

When the genre of politically conscious hip-hop was removed from the mainstream spotlight soon after, Boots and DJ Pam the Funktress remained active, receiving acclaim and praise for their follow-up albums. Their last ablum, "Party Music," was named the best rap album of 2001 by Rolling Stone and best album of 2001 by the Washington Post.

Now signed to Epitaph and armed with a better record deal, the Coup is ready to make another killing with their upcoming release, "Pick A Bigger Weapon." PopandPolitics.com caught up with Riley, a former youth activist, at his home in west Oakland to rap about politics, hip-hop, and the new album.

PopandPolitics.com: What motivated you to become an activist and what motivated you to pick up the mic?

Boots: Everyone wants to connect to the universe. I found that to really be part of it all, to really connect to the universe is to help to change it as opposed to just being there watching everything go past me. I think once I started organizing when I was 15, I realized that this is why I wanted to get involved. This is what I wanted to do. I wanted to feel like my time here is significant.

PandP: On "Laugh/Love/Fuck," (a song from the upcoming album "Pick a Bigger Weapon") you say on the chorus that you're here to, "Make the revolution come quicker." How do you plan on doing that through your music?

Boots: Hopefully, my music can be used by organizers as something to inspire themselves and others to keep doing the work they're doing. Also, there are messages that can be rallying cries to rally more people to the cause of what they're doing. I think music in and of itself serves as a cultural point of reference. People can hear an idea, a theme, and some music and know that everyone else that is listening to this music is relating to that theme or idea or goal in some way -- so it can help and create a unity of thought in some way, shape, or form. Hopefully my music can be used that way.

PandP: The new album's heavy on funk. How does The Coup's sound fit in with the current Bay Area scene, juxtaposed with the hyphy culture that's going on?

Boots: We've always been very funky in our music. And what's coming out is a variation of that funk that's been in the Bay Area for a long time. So we're right there in the middle of it. Our bass has always been low. Our stuff has always been crazy. My rhyme patterns have always been unorthodox. I think some of what people call "hyphy" music is mainly drums with few instruments. There are a few hits that are out that sound like that, and people call it hyphy. People think of Mac Dre's music as hyphy and his stuff is very much bassline, keys, guitars, everything. It's the same sound…. And our music is part of that sound that's always been there. The hyphy thing is more of an attitude than a sound change.

PandP: How did the industry react to the original cover art for "Party Music?" [The original artwork, completed three months prior to 9/11, depicted the twin towers blowing up and was slated to hit shelves around the same time.] What was your personal reaction when 9/11 happened?

Boots: I heard about it [9/11] on the radio and I didn't make a connection to the cover really, because planes slammed into the World Trade Center and I didn't picture it looking similar. On the album I have a bass tuner and Pam [the Funktress] has conductor's wands. It's supposed to make the statement that our music is destroying capitalism. I was fine with pulling the cover. My music talks about masses of people coming together to affect change. The album cover was only a metaphorical piece of art that talked about what we wanted our ideas to do… I was fine with pulling it so that people didn't mistake what I was talking about.