Mixed Signals, But Coup Has Power to Spare

If a revolutionary starts courting the mainstream, is that selling out? If your tour is corporate-sponsored, can your anti-corporation messages emerge untainted? If you believe in black power but court a white audience, will you lose your soul?

These questions came to mind Monday during a House of Blues concert featuring Oakland hip-hop group the Coup, whose leader, Boots Riley, has recently struggled with such dilemmas while seeking to more widely disseminate his views against capitalism and the war in Afghanistan, and for black and female empowerment.

The show, which also featured human beatbox Kenny Muhammad and New York turntablist ensemble the X-ecutioners, was part of a tour sponsored by an energy-drink company. That aspect was represented by 20 minutes of clips capturing wild stunts by crazy fools on skateboards, surfboards, et al. Often the background music was the sort of rap-rock that is so popular among mainstream--i.e., white--audiences. Indeed, the X-ecutioners’ trio of seasoned DJs--Rob Swift, Total Eclipse and Roc Raida--got a big response from the racially mixed crowd for “It’s Goin’ Down,” a track that features alt-metal act Linkin Park.

The Coup easily obscured the tour’s frivolous trappings, delivering a powerful, P-Funk-like performance that was ideologically riveting at times. The 45-minute set slightly lost focus by the end, but the six musicians who joined Riley and fellow core member DJ Pam the Funkstress helped fill out and energize the material drawn from last year’s “Party Music,” which was named the No. 8 album of 2001 in the Village Voice critics’ poll.

Where the album’s laid-back ambience belies the urgency of Riley’s statements, the energetic live show underscored the power and fury of his words. Which just proved that for the Coup, demanding attention from inside the enemy’s own logo-festooned territory was well worth the risk.