A collective endeavour between erstwhile Los Angeles MCs Aceyalone and Mikah 9 (of the Freestyle Fellowship) and Abstract Rude (of Abstract Tribe Unique), Haiku D’Etat are together again for ‘Coup De Theatre’, released on the 16th October on the New York City Decon label.
With guest slots from Blackalicious, Lyrics Born, Lateef, and Bus Driver and production from Fat Jack, Chief XL, Spacek, Kenny Segal, PMG, and DJ Drez ‘Coup De Theatre’ provides a cool, loungey and improvisational theatre of adult and seriously sexy hip-hop, taking shots at everything from mainstream raps’ inability to grow on ‘West Side Slip and Side’ on the one hand and the ironies of consumer culture on ‘Wants vs. Needs’ on the other. Takes a little time to take you over, and the change of pace is a little surprising but it’s definitely worth the perseverance.
The comercial release of the album comes packaged with a DVD, which features videos for Aceyalone’s ‘Moonlit Skies’ and Haiku’s ‘Long To Fix’, as well as studio footage, freestyles, interviews, and live performances, including an almost an hour of footage.