“What the media is playing is what people want is really a false idea. Capitalism and people who control the market have a large hand in everything. It doesn't have anything to do with figuring out what the crowd wants to hear. It has to do with the media deciding what they think people want to hear.” PeopleThinkingWantIdeasHandsMediaCapitalismCrowds Author:Boots Riley
“I had no idea how much the stuff I was doing was affecting people outside Oakland. At the time, also, hip hop wasn't able to tour because all these clubs that let hip hop come in now, they would never have let hip hop come in.” PeopleIdeasAbleStuffHip HopClubsHipsNo IdeaHopsOakland Author:Boots Riley
“In reality, I know I'm not hurt directly by sexism; however, my life is made less because of it, so I started thinking about the fallout from relationships in which people feed off each other.” PeopleThinkingKnowsMadeRealityLife IsHurtSexismFallouts Author:Boots Riley
“I thought there were too many songs about people's personal lives.” PeopleSongPersonal Life Author: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 rock tours. I've been on multimillion selling rock shows. I've been in the jam band thing, and both commercial and underground hip hop. Very few people listen to one kind of music.” PeopleKindDifferentShowsRocksInvolvedBandProjectsHip HopSellingHipsHopsDifferent KindsJam Author: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 that connection to trying to make revolutionary change, and I don't need to change my music to get to a certain audience.” PeopleNeedsTryingIdeasCertainAudienceConnectionsRelateRevolutionaryNeed A ChangeRevolutionary Change Author:Boots Riley
“A lot of people heard about gin and juice for the first time from Snoop Dogg, but it was nothing new in rap music, and it was nothing new in the black community.” PeopleFirstsBlackCommunityHeardFirst TimeRapJuiceNothing NewGinRap MusicBlack Community Author:Boots Riley
“Rappers are usually rapping about knowledge they think people need to get by in the world. If there's no movement that gives the idea that the knowledge people need is how to take over the system, what they see is that people need to know how to hustle; people need to know how to survive.” PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsWorldNeedsGivingIdeasKnow HowMovementRapRapperHustle Author: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 lyrical decisions based on what looks better. Also I write based on what I saw for a video. I obsess over lyrics in the hopes that they'll endure in different ways. I'm very precious about it.” PeopleWritingDifferentDecisionEndureLyrical Author:Boots Riley
