Racking Up Plays: “My Murder, My Love” by The Coup
These are the posts where I gush about some song that I’ve got a huge crush on at the moment, and you put up with it and listen because you’re a good friend.
“My Murder, My Love,” The Coup
Oakland’s own left-wing hip-hop crew The Coup is quickly becoming one of my favorite things I’ve discovered about my adopted home. Intelligent lyrics are always appreciated, but The Coup also backs up Boots Riley’s rhymes with truly adventurous music. The beats on Sorry to Bother You, the group’s latest album and its first in six years, span a spectrum of genres—from fuzzed-out raves to kazoo-driven punk to heartbreaking chamber music—but they still manage to pull off a cohesive, consistent, not-at-all-haphazard groove.
Given The Coup’s Marxist political leanings and Oakland roots, it should come as no surprise that there’s plenty of railing against the 1% on Sorry to Bother You, but the album is more than just a soundtrack for an especially irreverent, funky Occupy rally. “My Murder, My Love” appears to be a breakup song, although the the lyrics are just intriguingly cryptic enough to keep the listener guessing for several replays. There’s humor, as Riley claims that he owes his life to “Colt 45 and a busted Trojan.” There’s that infectious beat, complete with chants of “Hey!” and “Hiiii-yah!” that sound like they were sampled from a Japanese anime (maybe they were). And then there’s the sing-song chorus:
My murder, my love
What were the cookies made of?
My murder, my sweet
What kind of pills did we eat?
What does it all mean? I’m not sure, but damned if I can’t stop listening to it. Puzzle over the lyrics here, and stream the full album here.
