Oakland based and bred The Coup consists of Raymond “Boots” Riley, E-Roc and Pam The Funktress. Their debut came in 1994 with Kill My Landlord, a leftist critique of capitalism full of love for the populist. “Takin’ These” is from their second album Genocide And Juice an adventure in acrimonious hilarity checking everything from The Repo Man to the commodification of rap. By their third release Steal This Album, E-Roc was gone and the group was a duo. However Steal received a lot of critical acclaim but the follow-up Party Music garnered the most attention because the original album cover depicted Boots and Pam in front of the World Trade Center getting ready to push the button and criticism from conservative columnist Michelle Malkin. The album was scheduled to come out shortly after 9/11 but was held back until new artwork could be produced. In 2002 they re-released Steal This Album and their most current album is the 2006 Pick A Bigger Weapon. The band has had its challenges along the way such as losing their promoter Tarus Jackson in 2005 to a fatal gunshot wound and their tour bus flipping over and bursting into flames in 2006. No one was hurt but they lost all their possessions and Pam stopped touring with the band that year. Boots came off a tour with Nine Inch Nails in March and continues to make music and he has been working with the Street Sweeper Social Club since 2006.
