Boots Riley

I just make music based on what I believe.

— Boots Riley

People give out compliments because it's polite.

— Boots Riley

I was actually really good at telemarketing.

— Boots Riley

I'm not trying to make a speech on CD because who wants to buy that?

— Boots Riley

Making movies seemed so impossible as far as getting my ideas funded.

— Boots Riley

The opportunism of electoral politics makes people lie to each other.

— Boots Riley

Death to the pigs is my basic statement.

— Boots Riley

I've always been about, how do I get my ideas out to the most people?

— Boots Riley

'Redistributing the wealth' - that phrase gets used so much that you almost get numb to it.

— Boots Riley

Trying to get somebody to read your script and you're a musician? That's the last person whose script you're gonna read!

— Boots Riley

All of a sudden it became that hip hop didn't used to be about partying; hip hop used to be about putting…

— Boots Riley

Sometimes my influences are really on my sleeve. So I just make sure to wear a lot of sleeves.

— Boots Riley

The ultimate credo of capitalism is to exploit people. It's not like this is just an incidental problem; it's inherent in the…

— Boots Riley

I think there's something your hormones do that makes a chemical change in the way you think.

— Boots Riley

Sometimes it takes time to get into what ideas actually mean to you. Even when you're not writing a song, it's like…

— Boots Riley

I've never really subscribed to the theory that repression breeds rebellion. I don't think that's really true.

— Boots Riley

You can't get much done by yourself. Speaking as someone who made a movie - and it took hundreds of people to…

— Boots Riley

When I was five years old, me and my cousin got into a fistfight because when "That's the Way (I Like It)"…

— Boots Riley

I just look at music as a retreat from organizing. It's like a tug-of-war with me. Music can be effective, but it's…

— Boots Riley

People want things that address their everyday reality, and that goes for stuff that isn't political - with singer-songwriter music, people want…

— Boots Riley

My training was with some old British communists who had organized unions in the '60s and '70s. And their philosophy was, if…

— Boots Riley

I think it's important for us not just to edit the culture that capitalism creates but to create the material basis for…

— Boots Riley

Going to school in San Francisco, you're not going to meet as many people that are making films as you would if…

— Boots Riley

What I'm trying to do is make music that people relate to, that talks about ideas that are personal but also make…

— Boots Riley

What the media is playing is what people want is really a false idea. Capitalism and people who control the market have…

— Boots Riley

“If you press your ear to the turf that is stolen You can hear the sound of limitations exploding Please sir, may…

— Boots Riley

I've been involved in a lot of different kinds of projects. I've been on straight hip hop tours. I've been on underground…

— Boots Riley

When people listen to Jay-Z, they're working all day or trying to work and pay their bills, and what they hear is…

— Boots Riley

The Occupy Wall Street movement, in general, by putting this idea out there that the one percent is leeching off the 99…

— Boots Riley

Becoming a father made me a lot more sentimental than I ever was before. I never cried at movies before I became…

— Boots Riley

There are a lot of leaders that talk about ending things like oppression - whether it's discrimination or getting a job -…

— Boots Riley

I always write knowing that people will hear it, but also hoping they'll see it. So a lot of times I make…

— Boots Riley

The United States is going to keep on with its imperialist ways.

— Boots Riley

I'm not a classically trained composer, and I can't sing very well.

— Boots Riley

I think most people would love for us to be a socialist society.

— Boots Riley

No one has a copyright on working-class struggles.

— Boots Riley

The Coup does not support the American flag.

— Boots Riley

You can't co-opt labor issues if you are in the working class.

— Boots Riley

The tech world is not a new phenomenon; it's a new era.

— Boots Riley

I was an avowed professional revolutionary by the time I was 15.

— Boots Riley