The Coup

The Coup
Origin	Oakland, California, United States
Genres	Hip hop
Years active	1991–Present
Labels	Wild Pitch, EMI, Dogday, 75 Ark, Tommy Boy, Warner Bros., Epitaph, ANTI-
Associated acts	Street Sweeper Social Club, Dead Prez, Talib Kweli, E-40, Black Thought, Spice-1, Rage Against The Machine, Anti-Flag, Star Fucking Hipsters, Les Claypool, Galactic, Del the Funky Homosapien, Das Racist, Latoya London, Atari Teenage Riot, Killer Mike, Jolie Holland, Joe Henry, Japanther, Vernon Reid
Members	Boots Riley Pam the Funkstress Silk-E B'nai Rebelfront Hassan Hurd J.J. Jungle L.J. Holoman
Past members	E-Roc T-K.A.S.H. Latoya London

The Coup is an American hip hop band from Oakland, California. Their music is an amalgamation of influences, including funk, punk, hip hop, and soul. Frontman Boots Riley's revolutionarily-charged lyrics rank The Coup as a renowned political hip hop band aligned to radical music groups such as The Clash, Dead Prez and Rage Against the Machine.

The Coup's music is driven by assertive and danceable bass-driven backbeats overlaid by critical, hopeful, and witty lyrics, often with a bent towards the literary. The Coup's songs critique, observe, and lampoon capitalism, American politics, patriarchal exploitation, police brutality, marijuana addiction, romance, working at fast food places, and disparities among race and class.

The Coup's debut album was 1991s The EP and almost all of the songs on it (except "Economics 101") were put on 1993's Kill My Landlord. In 1994, the group released its second album, Genocide & Juice. The group took a four-year recording hiatus to work as community activists before releasing Steal This Album to critical acclaim in 1998. The record's title pays tribute to 1960s radical Abbie Hoffman's yippie manifesto, Steal this Book. Steal This Album featured the stand-out single, "Me and Jesus the Pimp in a ’79 Granada Last Night." The online magazine Dusted called Steal This Album "the best hip-hop album of the 1990s".

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