“Okay, I’m praying to a god I ain’t never believed in
Guess that where your heart go when your hope get extinguished
Everybody a believer when they living in anguish
Wonder where your heart go when you’re rich and you’re thankless“— Casey Cope on “Lauds”
Life’s Never That Bad, says Casey Cope on his first album in five years, laying down funky rhythms and swift, twisting verses about the up-and-down realities of life. Album highlight is “Hoes Lovers Friends,” a track dissecting relationship status with bold bars delivered over soft and sweet time-warped jazz guitar.
Hailing from San Leandro, the rapper-producer-engineer can do it all, and he wants you to know it. Seeing him open up shows for Family Not a Group (as he recently did at the Independent and Great American Music Hall) is an experience in contrasts: Where the headliner comes out partying 17-people-strong, Casey Cope commands the stage solo with a microphone, backing track, and all-eyes-on-me attitude. He’s also a brilliant collaborator, as evidenced by his work with Qamp, where he and Marquito assemble a couple dozen Bay Area creatives to make an album in three days.
You will lose loved ones, you will lose jobs, you will lose catalytic converter after catalytic converter, and, eventually, you even have to say goodbye to life. Still: Maybe life’s never that bad.
