Party Music is the fourth studio album by American hip-hop group the Coup. It was originally released on 75 Ark on November 6, 2001. It was re-released on Epitaph Records in 2004.
Album cover The original cover of the album, created in June 2001, depicted Boots Riley and Pam the Funkstress destroying the twin towers of the World Trade Center using what appeared to be a detonator. The apparent detonator was actually an electronic tuner. The album's release had already been pushed back from early September to November by the time the Twin Towers were destroyed during the September 11 attacks. The printing of the original cover was scheduled to begin on September 11; after the attacks, the label halted the print run and began work on new artwork, over the objections of Boots Riley, who argued for keeping the original design.
In a 2001 interview with Seattle newspaper The Stranger, Boots Riley spoke about his fight to keep the album cover following the events of September 11:
In 2024, the original cover was listed in Rolling Stone in a list of "The 50 Worst Album Covers of All Time" as the 46th worst album cover due to the attempt to keep it in spite of 9/11.https://rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/worst-album-covers-1235044141/
Critical reception
At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 85 based on 11 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
Spin included it on the "20 Best Albums of 2001" list.
Track listing
Personnel Credits adapted from liner notes.
The Coup Boots Riley – vocals, claps, snaps, claves, synthesizer, drum programming, production, recording Pam the Funkstress – turntables
Additional musicians Mike Tiger – synthesizer (1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 11), clavinet (3, 7, 8, 11), piano (4, 6, 8, 10, 12), keyboard bass (9, 12), organ (12) David James – guitar (1, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12) Martin Luther – vocals (2, 3, 5, 11) Elijah Hassan – bass guitar (2, 4, 7, 10) Guy Hubbard – whistle (3) Keith McArthur – bass guitar (3, 8) T-Kash – vocals (4, 9) Alisha Calhoun – violin (4) M1 – vocals (5) Stick – vocals (5) Tahir – keyboards (5), drum programming (5), production (5) Lenon Honor – vocals (6, 12) Funkyman – vocals (6, 7) Keneice – vocals (8, 10) Josh Jones – congas (10), bells (10)
Technical personnel Bob Brown – recording Matt Kelley – recording, mixing Tony Dawsey – mastering Victor Hall – cover image Brandon Arnovick – package design
References
External links