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The album's press sheet draws comparisons to Prince's Dirty Mind and Too Short, and while that's not inaccurate, the references could just as easily be Digital Underground, Paris, Above the Law, E-40, late-'70s Parliament/Funkadelic, any previous Coup album, or just about any other funk-steeped rap album that has come from the West Coast.
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Some who fondly remember Kill My Landlord or Steal This Album might initially wince at the less-abrasive sonics, but just as Riley's rhymebook includes more of himself than ever, so have his rhythms become more intimate and seductive.
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With each album the Coup’s lyrical messages come across stronger because the music has grown tighter, fuller, more alluring.
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UncutRiley has mellowed with age, so the politicking is shot through with humour. [Jun 2006, p.94]
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MojoSmart, sensual, self-loving and self-critical, pissed-off and hilarious. [Jun 2006, p.112]
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Q MagazineA winning combination of party grooves and Bush-baiting politics. [Jun 2006, p.113]
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At seventeen tracks, Pick a Bigger Weapon isn't as focused or as thoroughly block-rocking as the Coup's 2001 classic, Party Music. But it's the rare record that makes revolution sound like hot fun on a Saturday night.
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Boots fuses sexuality and celebration with naked politics just as seamlessly as he combines irreverent humor and heartwarming humanism.
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Entertainment WeeklyA psychedelic funk and soul session. [28 Apr 2006, p.137]
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[Riley's] lyrics are simultaneously clever and uninteresting: he rarely transcends an ABAB or AABB rhyme scheme, practically never rhymes within the lines, and his meter and diction lack intricacy.
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Alternative PressHis low-riding G-Funk has morphed into a faster, catchier brand of soul that's often a dead ringer for early Prince. [Jun 2006, p.192]
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Their liquid funk/R&B/hip-hop hybrid has never been more refined.
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Of all the group's works, Pick a Bigger Weapon has a greater sense of inclusion and belonging.
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BlenderThe group's unreconstructed P-funk would sound tired were it not so irresistibly spry. [May 2006, p.105]
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FilterThe year's finest agitprop. [#20, p.96]
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In making these songs more personal and more intimate, they’ve managed to make them more poignant, and even if the quality of the overall album doesn’t match the brilliance of the four or five phenomenal songs here, nothing is so cantankerous as to really offend.
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Riley's clearly shooting to become hip-hop's answer to Billy Bragg or Steve Earle, and he's getting there. His ambitions outweigh his results, but there's very little about his "Weapon" that won't spark a response.
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Los Angeles TimesThe Coup returns with its polarizing politics in tow and an interesting -- for them, at least -- side-focus: sex. [23 Apr 2006]
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Pick a Bigger Weapon would’ve made a truly killer party album, but two factors hold it back--no one cares about Riley’s politics, and he’s not nearly as clever as he thinks.
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UrbThe music on this album is inspired and seriously sex-centric, repeatedly connecting politics with physical intimacy. [Apr 2006, p.82]
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Boots is more than just a fiery orator, he's a powerful composer who adds the funk to the mix to make his words stick. While at times his style has been hit or miss, "Pick a Bigger Weapon" finds him at his most musically consistant and enjoyable.
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As lyrically inflammatory as ever.
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Their low-slung rhythms imagine what might have happened if Reagan-era Prince had been less into getting some action and more into kicking up some activism, or if P-Funk had dabbled in politics as well as psychedelics.
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His lesser songs would be dookie gold on an ordinary undie-rap album.
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Five albums in, The Coup have just made their best since their debut.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 10 out of 11
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Mixed: 0 out of 11
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Negative: 1 out of 11
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ToddSJan 3, 2007
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justinmJul 17, 2006Seriously, best album of the year.
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JeremiahMMay 9, 2006As usual, the Coup delivers an outstanding album. The beats are great and Boots Riley's straightforward politi-funk is awesome...