Episode 43: Jesse Thorn on The Coup’s “Steal This Album” (1998)

Episode notes

The Album: The Coup: Steal This Album (1998)

Jesse Thorn, host of Bullseye and the MaximumFun podfather, has long been one of our biggest fans and we were delighted to have him come in to talk about one of his favorite albums: The Coup’s stellar 1998 Steal This Album. 

The Coup, by then made up of Boots Riley and DJ Pam the Funkstress, had already established a reputation as one of hip-hop’s most outspoken and unapologetically radical groups out there. Their 1993 debut, Kill My Landlord was a revelation. 1994’s Genocide and Juice catapulted them onto the national stage. But by 1998, hip-hop’s political era seemed distant in light of the era of jiggy rap yet in strode The Coup, resplendent in socialist ideas and that Oaktown funk, to mint a masterpiece devoted to defending the underdog and shedding light on the struggles of working class peoples.

More on Jesse Thorn

• More from Jesse about The Coup
• Bullseye on MaximumFun/NPR
• Website | Twitter

More on Steal This Album 

• Steal This Album title not what it seems.” (MTV.com)
• Album review on Dusted.com
• One of Oliver’s *cough cough* five reviews of the album (Amazon)

Show Tracklisting (all songs from Steal This Album  unless indicated otherwise):

• Swervin
• 20,000 Gun Salute
• Me and Jesus the Pimp in a ’79 Granada
• Digable Planets: 9th Wonder (Blackitolism)
• Canibus: Second Round KO
• Lauryn Hill: Doo-Wop (That Thing)
• Jay-Z: Hard Knock Life
• DMX: Ruff Ryders Anthem
• A Tribe Called Quest: Da Booty
• The Luniz: I Got Five on it (Remix)
• The Repo Man Sings for You
• Breathing Apparatus
• Underdogs
• Cars and Shoes
• Me and Jesus the Pimp in a ’79 Granada
• Busterismology
• The Coup: Pork and Beef
• Los Prisoneros: Tren al Sur
• Prince: For You
• Prince: I Would Die 4 U
• Earl Sweatshirt: Balance
• Foo Fighters: Darling Nikki
• serpentwithfeet: fragrant
• Pusha T: If You Know You Know
• Teyana Taylor: Issues/ Hold On
• Junglepussy: Trader Joe

Here’s the Spotify playlist of as many of the songs above as we can find on there.

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