(thing) by nasreddin Tue Sep 23 2003 at 1:22:26

Kill My Landlord is the debut album of Oakland rappers The Coup. It was released on Wild Pitch Records in 1993, and reissued in 1999.

The track list is as follows:

  1. Dig It!
  2. Not Yet Free
  3. Fuck a Perm
  4. The Coup
  5. I Know You
  6. I Ain't The Nigga
  7. Last Blunt
  8. Funk
  9. Liberation of Lonzo Williams
  10. Pam's Song
  11. Fo Da Money
  12. Foul Play
  13. Kill My Landlord

This is a great collection of songs. The Coup show that the great political rap tradition of the 80s is not yet dead, and they do it funk (or they can do it soul). Marxist rhetoric combined with the funk they lay down makes a very good impression. The acuteness of this album's politics is tempered by the humor in some of these songs--vid.:

I'm wearin' shades so my eyes don't reveal the red haze
caused by my yung, cause days like Frankie Beverly
Amazin' em back it's tried again, no roaches and no safety pins
Now I'm pennin rhymes about gettin on the wagon
and I get skittish when I think of how the British
put the opium in Asia, fat one to that tactic
Gankin' black folks while they daze ya, if you're gettin perved
you're gettin served this economic, like the gin and tonic
Brothers get moronic from the chronic bionic, and it's ironic
cause we're not gettin' fucked up, we're just gettin' FUCKED.
--The Coup, Last Blunt

I would say the best track here is "Dig It!". It's extremely smooth, and the politics and humor mix effortlessly ('masses move as well as asses do'). DJ Pam the Funktress is excellent; her samples give this song an irresistible beat. I would recommend this to any leftist or rap/hip-hop fan.

I like it!