The Coup
The Pyramid Scheme, Grand Rapids
Feb. 6, 9 p.m.
$15 in advance, $17 day of the show
21+
pyramidschemebar.com, (616) 272-3758
They may rap about guillotines, Molotov cocktails and deep-frying CEOs, but anyone who calls The Coup's music angry isn't listening close enough. For more than 20 years, the Oakland hip-hop collective has paired poetic social commentary with infectious grooves to inspire a rather different feeling.
"It's a practical hope that's so overwhelming that it seems impractical," said Boots Riley, frontman and songwriter. "I come from a background of organizing, and what I've realized is that anger doesn't motivate people to do a lot. ... To actually participate in changing their situation, there needs to be some hope that they have the power to do so. Otherwise, the anger just turns into frustration."
Riley, whose work as an activist dates back to his high school days, could have easily succumbed to frustration after the Occupy Movement (he was heavily involved in the Oakland branch) was stymied by in-fighting. Instead, The Coup hit the studio in late 2012 after a six-year recording hiatus to make Sorry To Bother You, a genre-defying sonic amalgamation that Riley believes captures the group's live energy better than any other album in their catalog. Like Occupy, Sorry To Bother You benefited from an organic sense of collaboration.
"The thing that was large and different [about Occupy] was that all of these separate groupings were down to work together to create this beautiful piece of music that gave a lot of people all over the world hope," Riley said.
Riley brought a similar work ethic to Sorry to Bother You, which he collaborated on with producer Damien Gallegos. Previous releases Pick a Bigger Weapon and Party Music were engineered by Riley solo.
"There were a lot more possibilities," Riley said about his work with Gallegos.
The result was an album so enthralling that The Coup is still touring off the material, despite the fact that it was released in October of 2012. But don't expect redundancies this time around; as of late the band has been treating audiences to songs from a forthcoming EP, La Grande Boutique. Do, however, expect the kind of raw, pulsating energy that has made The Coup a force to be reckoned with.
"You'll see that the whole band is bringing the show," Riley said. "It's not just a rapper with a band."
