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  • F**K the political debates for the moment; this is a REALLY hot song!!!!!! Can we let that sh!t go (given the obvious subtext) and let the real be the real?

  • GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION MUST END!

  • @maderuh thats right, human greed brought it all down. Communism proved that 'for the greater good' is not enough of an incentive for people to work hard or train for years to end up with the same stuff as the mailman. People are ambitious and greedy. That's why capitalism is so successful, it is based on human greed, it uses the beast rather than fights it. This why idealistic political systems like communism belong in a fantasy, not reality.

  • The Coup is an extra tite crew (E Roc, Boots Riley & DJ Pam The Funktress) that gave us some real mental cognitive dope music to marinate on in the form of hiphop!!

  • where are y'all now? gotta get that tat re-did on my arm... the first pic

  • tight.

  • get down...

  • The reality is that all major forms of western govt was either started or at least fomented and supported by the same few monied interest. The same money changers funded Hitler at the same time they were funding the Bolsheviks (whom they propped up to overthrow the Czars cuz they would not allow a centralized banking system.) They ALWAYS support both sides. It's the Hegalian Principle gone wild. you need a constant threat to make people submit to your control.... Ala al qaeda, communists etc.

  • 4:06 Masonic handshake. 

  • @ThaReaalness: Interestingly, a true communist society as envisioned by Marx would have NO government.

  • What's the deal with a clean version? That just sounds weird!

  • horseshit

  • a whateverhappened to that other dude from the coup? i cant remember.

  • @thegreatgatspy E-Roc took a job as a Longshoreman to support his family on the advice of Boots. Boots told him that it would be easier working a steady job to take care of his family because the music business was too unpredictable. So he left on good terms.

  • @thegreatgatspy e-roc decided to drop, he got a real good job doing something else and needed to support his family.

  • @thegreatgatspy you mean E-Roc? im gonna get on twitter and ask pam

  • True Classic

  • I STILL can't get enought of this song. This is Hip Hop.

  • baloo or little john, jungle book or robin hood, same voice at the beginning

  • The issue with communism is that it is an an economic and social extreme, somewhat like libertarianism on the opposite side of the economic spectrum

    Communism would require absolute democracy, which involves the participation of EVERYONE. So would a truly libertarian society--people would need to participate completely to make it work. There aren't any watchdog government agencies--citizens all have to do that themselves.

    Really, either belief system would only work on a small regional scale.

  • @hoocarez I think that the problem with comunism would be corruption, because people that gain power don't usually wan't to give it back, so it would be hard to actually establish a comunist country and hand the government complete authority over the country without having inequality the same as in capitalist countries, maybe no one would starve, but there's no guarantee

  • We need more socialist rap..

    enough of that hedonistic/capitalist way of hip hop.

    tupac, biggie, eminem all big hedonists.

  • @Zizekian You never heard "Keep your head up", or "changes"? You can't put Pac in any one category cause like most humans he had many different sides. And socialism doesn't work because you can never do away with greed. In a socialist society rappers would be selected by the government and the ones with talent like The Coup could never shine because only in a capatist state will the best fit rise to the top from competition. Socialism sounds nice but is a fantasy.

  • I love The Coup

  • Why did they drop a verse? I love the story in this song and how it blends into Pimps.

  • HIP HOP STILL LIVES

    FUCK WHOEVERSAID ITS DEAD!

  • dope

  • GEIL GEIL GEIL

  • good

  • This is a JAM! "I got game like I read the directions" I'm wishing that I had an automobile.... But let me state that I'm a huSTLA 4 real ....so I got tha stolen bus pass"  LOL !!!! :-)) I NEED LOOT..... I SPOT THE MARK walkin'..... Damn this punk trick had hella Andrew Jacksons!!!! Dang....I guess I like each & EVERY lyric of this rap!! <3 :-) GET DOWN, GET DOWN, GET DOWN !!!!! no doubt!

  • Fire!!

  • I just want to add, children schooled in Capitalist countries had/are being taught to fear communism. A capitalist system takes very little time to establish and results are seen quickly. A communist system on the other-hand is established very slowly; It would take years, a decade. While capitalism may take even less than a year. True communism has never been established in any country, people are not evolved enough, capitalist/anti-com. always interfere causing socialism, totalitarianism

  • BOOTS all day!!!!!!

  • these guys r dope

  • There is so much cut out of the song, its an awesome video otherwise though.

  • "i use peoples before they use me cuz you could get got by and uzi over and OZ thats what an OG told me i need to find a place thats warm and cozy to eat the vittels that i just got came to an underground parking lot this place is good as any fuck it its all good walked in found a car hopped up on the hood ate my burger threw back my cola somebody said hey it was a rent a pig thought it was a rolla "want me to call the cops?" i dont want them to see me looked down saw i was sittin on a lambogini

  • This song is awesome!

  • I just realized where the "Well now. What have we here?" comes from......Jungle Book... it's Baloo.... now there something you don't first think of when you hear this song.

  • classic hip hop

  • dam I like this song

  • I got game like a read the directions...

  • "That's cool you want some ice?"

    "Yeah.. and some fries would be hella nice"

  • One of the best songs I ever heard. I couldn't believe how seamless the story was when I saw the video as a kid.

  • It's water tight. Not a single crappy or throwaway line. Top 10 rap verses ever.

  • they changed the whole structure of the song to make the story in the video flow better.

    i like the album version better... it's quite seamless.

  • dj premier also used this sample for brand nubian's "the return"

  • both this Coup joint and Meth & Red's "Cereal Killer" used George & Gwen McRae's record "The Rub" as the foundation for their beats.

    the difference is, Boots replayed [interpolated] "The Rub" with synths, while RZA just sampled it for Meth & Red's joint.

    "Fat Cats" dropped in 1994, five years before "Cereal Killers," which dropped in 1999.

  • Yeah, just like cjnv said, Premo used it, and Mobb Deep used it for their song Came Up.

  • this one. The Coup was around in '92, Red & Meth didn't start until '94.

  • This is one of the greatest rap songs of all time, lyric-wise. It tells a story, from beginning to end. A classic.

  • "let me state that Im a hustler for real cuz I got that stolen bus pass" thats some 90's ish for real.

  • The album version is a hell of a lot better than the "hip hop band" type live performances that boots does w/o Pam.

  • Although we still can't deny that Stalinism was more genuinely a reaction to a failed global revolution - a consolidation and ergo bastardisation of socialism. The isolated position of the relatively backwards bloc forced its rulers into concessionary internalism, in that it rejected the idea of global revolution in favour of trade agreements.

    And yes! The Industrial Revolution in the 1st world was all out class war, a near genocide against workers, it's been outsourced to elsewhere.

  • I hope you're not making an apology of state communism of any kind.I know capitalism's flaws very well but you have to admit it's the "lesser evil";and I'm not a capitalist enthusiast,far from it.

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  • capitalism sucks but state communism is much worse

  • never noticed my boys cougnut and lou-e-lou were in this video

  • the street light reflects off the piss on the ground

    which reflects off the hamburger sign as it turns round

    which reflects off the chrome of the bmw

    which reflects off the fact that i am broke

    now what the fuck is new

    XD i loved that one

  • REAL hiphop

  • 3:38 FTW

  • Let me state I am a hustler for real so you know I got the stolen bus pass

  • This is the Absolute Shit! IT Will be rememberd long after us fucks shuffle off..

  • Marx lives in music too...

    Even if you are against communism you must accept that Karl Marx was one of the greatest philosophers of all time, maybe the one with the biggest impact. I also like Adam Smith the father of capitalism, but karl was just smarter.

  • Why? Not saying he's a dumb guy, but Marx ended up getting most of it all wrong.

  • Not really, some was wrong but he knew for examples that financial crisises will come.

    And he wrote maybe the most difficult to read piece of literature. Das Kapital. It's so complex.

  • I agree that his theories are complex. I would even call them visionary if not for the fact that the core of it, equal distribution of resources, has proved to fail miserably in the 20th century.

    If I recall correctly, the crisis we're in now is not the type of crisis Marx predicted.

  • I am no Marx expert :S

    But yeah you're kinda right, but that half of the world has followed his theories, showed, ye, how visionary he was.

    Therer has never been a political system which was so dominated by one person.

    Who invented capitalism? A few british generations :D Hume, Smith and many more

  • I know that Marx said every 50 years or something there will be a finincial crisis, that's what capitalism needs to survive.

    Dont know if he directly knew that this is going to be this kind... but they had banks and properties at that time too :P

  • its true that the practice of a communist government failed in all countries that attempted to implement it BUT this is not because the communist ideals were faulty, the fault lies in human greed and how only a few corrupt government officials, who sought to better life for themselves instead of the country as whole, are able to bring the whole system crashing down. In order for it to work, all of the country's people MUST be devoted to the country as a whole instead of solely themselves..

  • @maderuh No, you're wrong, it is precisely because the communist ideals were wrong. They were wrong in the very way you described, corruption and greed. Communist ideals rely on a world where there is no corruption of greed, it relies on near flawless human beings who do not experience greed. Such humans do not exist, greed is part of our nature, and thus communist ideals are flawed.

  • @tracertong2 there are a handful of people that have enough willpower to put others needs above there own.. what i was saying was that if there were more people who would follow their example, because it can be done, then the concept would be made plausible

  • @maderuh Those handful of people are not communists. The most benevolent and egalitarian societies on earth have not been communist, quite the opposite, just look at every nation that has styled itself communist or communist-inspired (DPRK, China, USSR etc).

    So why propagate an ideology that is inherently flawed?

  • @maderuh -- your explaination makes some sence. it's also the reason it will never work. you cannot defeat human nature. you will never find a nation that is populated with 100% true believers. no matter how many people you kill/get rid of. you will always have the lazy/coasters, and they will piss off the hard workers. who will then say "why work so hard, when the lazy get the same treatment?". there will always be somebody to work the system for their own benefit. and that's the fault.

  • @AM2prunejuice i suppose that's true... depressing, but true :/

  • @AM2prunejuice The human nature argument is flawed, because it requires us to distinguish between what we would do given no external influences, and there is no sample of people who have developed without being influenced by their family, society, etc. Also, if workers are consistently lazy, then they will be reprimanded by their fellow workers, and if the situation continues action would have to be taken against the individual, communism doesn't beget laziness as you claim.

  • @Jefferson1894 -- then explain why it has never worked. there is no success that you can point to. the best i guess would be china, in some ways. but nobody is trying to move to china. and people escape china to come here.

  • @AM2prunejuice because no socialist countries made the transition from capitalism to communism, as described in the Communist Manifesto, communism is the final result of capitalism. China, Russia, and other supposedly communist nations could never be communist because they went straight from feudalism to communism. Furthermore the vanguard party based systems endorsed at the time just replaced the old class of capitalists with the new party-member bourgeoisie.

  • @Jefferson1894 -- i think your on the money with the vanguard. new boss same crap. if america went communist, the politicians would be the vanguard. maybe college professors, unions,and celebrities. mostly i think it's something that might look good on paper, but just doesn't work. when the politicians get too much power and you can't vote them out, they will control the press, and then do whatever they want. it's human nature, most people would do the same. plus, why work hard for no reward?

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  • @AM2prunejuice Or the people could stop the whoever was attempting to create a vanguard party with party leadership. It wouldn't be that difficult as long as the revolution was lead, as it should be, by the proletariat and not certain communist leaders. Also, the reward for hard work is having your needs met, if you are consistently lazy, then you will become detrimental to the community and will have to be reeducated/expelled.

  • @Jefferson1894 -- first i enjoy the back and forth. it's not to often you can talk on utube without name calling, or dudes yelling at their keyboards.- i don't follow the idea that a socialist country has a hard time to switch to communism. but a capatalist has a easier time? (i don't think we read the same stuff) this seems reverse to me.- and then, did you know that the re-education camps are usually prisons or worse?

  • @AM2prunejuice If you read Marx, he describes communism as the final result of capitalism, of course he does have a socialist intermediate state right after the worker's revolt called the dictatorship of the republic (direct democracy). So I was merely pointing out that every socialist nation could never have been communist because they missed the important stage of capitalism. Reeducation sentences are based on rehabilitation, prison is for punishment, thats the difference.

  • @AM2prunejuice Hyper Capitalism is pretty much the same as micro communism. The elites people speak of, the illuminobody and the Peemasons are essentially micro communists. I agree with jefferson in a sense.

  • @Jefferson1894 -- almost forgot one of the steps is usually to confiscate all the guns (it's for the children). so it's harder to control vanguard, if they get out of hand.

  • @AM2prunejuice In authoritarian nations that have already aggregated power and wealth into a new ruling class. And yes, if the proles allow a vanguard party(bad idea), and allow it to gain power(worse idea). Then it would be hard to stop it, but by this time their revolution has been crushed. The proles should stop anyone from gaining power before it happens. ie. people want to create a 1 party system that they'll lead and make all the big decisions for. Proles should stop these people.

  • @maderuh u r an idiot

  • @pepamethodman y tank u

  • @maderuh somebody had to tell you that. communism can only flourish on Uranus

  • @maderuh well no country has ever BEEN communistic ;) as it's said: the soviet said they were fighting for socialism for the world, not communism ^^ it's been recorded incorrectly by the ww governments :)

  • @maderuh wait a minute, what has changed in todays capitalism? capitalism will also fall.

  • @maderuh BUT. you must remember communism doesnt make a country rich, it just distributes money evenly to everyone. but why should everyone get the same? we are not all the same, and neither are the jobs we get payed for doing. a gas station clerk should not make the same wage as a doctor.. no matter what u call equality

  • @SIGsogger and why not? both jobs are. Your logic is flawed. If we all become doctors, who would attend teh gas station? Clean the bathrooms?

    And since when did it matter if a country is rich or not? Money is not real, but your life is.

  • @UnknownRex the point is, not all jobs are the same. some people work harder than others, and shouldnt get the same wages (aka lifestyle) as people who work less hard. It would be great if everyone worked just as hard and society would truly benefit, but in practise humans will take advantage of the 'easy way out' its just plain fact. look into history, some say it will show u the future.

  • @SIGsogger that is wrong, and it is a viewpoint that just perpetuates the current system. And what exactly defines a hard worker? I would say in many cases a guy working on cleaning bathroom works a hell of a lot harder then a doctor in a comfy office.

    The best route to the future is to abolish all forms of monetary economy, and provide the basics for all humans, based on available resources.

  • @SIGsogger and how do you measure this? And why should it matter at all? We are not machines. Perhaps someone works less "hard" but offer more in terms of art, or other social skills?

    Wages, in its entirety, should be abolished. It is a form of slavery.

    If you cannot embrace humanity as a whole and work towards the betterment of life for all, you will just keep perpetuating a flawed system that creates misery.

  • @maderuh WORD. exactly what i just said without seeing this comment hahaha

  • @MastaSplintah - what if carl was smart. but his ideas only create poverty, murder by the millions, and sh*t holes that people have to escape from? cuba, china, russia, etc. i can't think of one successful country. sorry bro, i just don't see it.

  • @MastaSplintah oh hell nah 187 on a karl marxist

  • it did

  • The Best!

  • "Ain't no hustler could do a whole community"

  • THE BEST IN HIP HOP!!! And from my hometown. OAKLAND REPPIN! Pan The Funktresss ROCKS!!!

  • best shit ever

  • hey howsithanginguy !?

  • Can someone please connect him to me? damn! I saw him on his birthday and I own a mag...I would love to interview him

  • last verse is one of my favorite of all time.

    awesome.

  • The album cover at 0:02.....

    whats the name?

  • Boots, E-Rock and Pam The Funkstress

  • Comment removed

  • When the old white dude starting flowing I was no more good. His lip synch was on point.

  • this tracks takes me back to bombin busses with my sony walkman that had duct tape on it to keep the lid closed.

    bay area shit right here.

  • what the sample?????

  • hip hop!

  • let me state I'm a hustla 'for real'

    so you know i got the stolen bus pass !!

  • was make em in the day...

  • Dope fro!!!

  • dope, i wanna hear the full version now

  • what's this "were" in your description of the coup? they're still going strong and have released a couple great albums in recent years.

  • Agreed, please revise that shit. These guys are dope.

  • "step to burger king to attack it like a Shaolin"

  • Boots!!! Portland Oregon Loves you. Play here again soon!!!

    -chef

  • What happened to the underground parking lot.

  • yeah they cut a lot of my favorite parts

  • ●/ You say Soulja Boy, I say KRS1 IS A FREEMASON

    /▌ You say Rick Ross , I say Biggie IS REAL

    / \ You say Lil Wayne, I say Nas IS THE TRUTH

    ●/ You say Plies, I say Rakim THE ORIGINAL

    /▌ You say UNK, I say NWA IS THE STREET

    / \ You say DJ Khaled,I say DJ Premier PLAYS KHALED

    Copy/Paste if you still listen to real hip hop!!!...........AND KNOW THE TRUTH

  • Each verse gets sicker and sicker, untill the last verse just is mindblowing.

  • These tracks that tell a story are so fuckin ill. Immortal Technique does an amazing job at this as well. Does anybody know of similar artists out there?

  • gangstarr do it quite a bit, sick as well. check out tracks 'just to get a rep' , 'moment of truth'.

  • Insight, his album "Blast Radius" is full of ceoncept tracks of stories. though im not sure if you'll like him, alot of people tell me hes boring, but i can look past his delivery

  • Check out Aceyalone - "All Balls Dont Bounce"  (also from CA.)

  • Ya. Slug and Atmosphere are good story tellers. Also when Slug teams up with Murs from Living Legends as Felt. Good hip hop shit.

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  • WTF - they skipped the last 1/3 of the first AND second verse - both of which are kind of important to his description of himself.

  • Every verse of this song is important, but I'm sure the label wanted them to edit the track in order to make the video shorter. I remember when this song came out it actually made BET Rap City's top 10 countdown for several weeks. This song wouldn't get aired on today's BET. So sad

  • I wonder why they skipped the last 1/3 of the first verse

  • nice, "I'm getting hustled only knowing half the game" that's the truth, fuck.

  • but i thought he had game like he read the directions????? what happened?

  • Lol, you make a very good point, :) but I think that is what he is getting at, with the transition from your quote to mine, that you are never truly in control when you think you're the mack and a player ruling your little* set but in truth are just playing yourself, when your caught in a circular maze with the real rich making the descision's you never see.

    Sadly.

  • Yeah, couldn't of put it any better than that. It's basically about how there are much bigger RICHER criminals than the poor street thieve that you might be.

  • intense that guy is givin'er on 1 turn table.

  • that's a woman. Pam the Funkstress.

  • "Aint no one player that could beat this lunancy

    Aint no hustler on the street could do a whole community

    This is how deep shit can get

    It reads macaroni on my birth certificate

    Poontang is my middle name but I cant hang

    Im getting hustled

    Only knowing half the game"

    One of the most genius stanzas in rap.

  • absolutely, when i heard this first time...the lyricism blew my mind

  • i'll be the ONLY muthafugga in a afro and a tux!

    ha haa ha!

    boots my boy!!

  • one of my top 10 and i am terrible at narrowing that down.

    this is the most underrated song in hiphop. from the forty of fear, to the which reflects off the chrome of the bmw which reflects off the fact that i'm broke, to i got game like i read the directions, to gettin hustled only knowin half the game. gives me chills. it's still the most relevant dialogue ever, and i hope it's not still this relevant if i ever have kids. the world has changed but these points are still on point.

  • hell yeah, well said

  • Most underrated indeed. Hank Shocklee said that hip hop used to challenge you. You had to sit back and think about what was being said and you appreciated the artist when they challenged you. Boots took an idea and turned it into a story with rhyme and added dialogue and articualted everything so well over a dope beat. It took me several times to really absorb everything he was saying in this song when I first heard it. Simply Dope!!!

  • hell yeah on this one....real shit and fun ;love itttttt

  • man. can't believe the coup isn't any bigger. lyrics are genius as the beat is also. earlier i listened to only punk & rock but the coup changed my attitude!

  • ahaha haven't heard this track for yonks.

    Awesome.

    Such an underrated group

  • this song is illllllll. thats hip hop. greetings from Türkiye

  • This is really the most underrated MC in the game.

  • "I'm getting hustled only knowing half the game." The story of most inner city males stuck in a Matrix. Boots told the truth on this one.

  • i be the flyest mutha fuka in an afro n ah tux

  • intellectual hip hop

  • Hooo! Bootsy!

  • haha urine

  • i love this old coup shit, i been bangin this shit since high school, and another important book to add to the bibliography, if you haven't read it yet, educate yourself! Capitalism and Slavery by Dr. Eric Williams Wisdom is our birthright

  • Good Old classic HipHop is still the best!

  • the streetlight reflects off the piss on the ground/which reflects off the hamburger sign as it turns 'round/which reflects of the chrome of the bmw/which reflects off the fact that i am broke/now what the fuck is new?

    sick lyrics. personally i think the video is great.

  • Boots had the Old White dude spittin that shit. lmao

  • man they missed out a verse but still good effort...i have been listening to this song for years and first time i ve seen the video...i had always imagined doing a video to this song and no disrespect but i think i could put together something better...it did nt do the song justice at all...i liked the coke bottler rap and the burger chick but it could have been smoother and in story mode from the start ie 'slid my beanie on sloppily'.

  • there should be 14 million views!!!!!!

  • I agree with atleast 14 million views this is pure gold for hip hop but the truth is the peeps from the 70s up to 84 we grew up in the golden era of rap hip hop , the 90s was the shit for our music early 90s with the exeption of 2001 and a few others

  • agreed!

  • I agree that the 90's weren't great, but you're leaving out A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Arrested Development and others. While many got their start in the 80's, they made some damn good music in the early 90's. Too bad one has to hunt for it to find it because it's overshadowed by commercial bullshit.

  • no I meant the 90s were the shit as in good music unlike the 2ks

  • I see where you're coming from. I kind of disagree though, because the late 90's saw a real decline in overall quality, yet great gains in production. I just long for the old-school late 80's / early 90's hip-hop, when it was okay to have a good time and not have to be a hard-ass.