I wanted to write a song about sexism, but I didn’t want to do it in a mechanical way and be like, “Don’t be sexist!” because that’s not how I talk in regular life.
BOOTS RILEYIn high school, everybody rapped. You just pounded on the table.
More Boots Riley Quotes
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In high school, everybody rapped. You just pounded on the table.
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I wanted to be part of changing the world. I don’t want to just stand by and watch it be however it is.
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A lot of us don’t get a sense of our personal power. I know the vast difference that one person can make in changing things.
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When my daughter was born, that was the first time I cried from happiness.
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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.
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Sometimes it takes time to get into what ideas actually mean to you. Even when you’re not writing a song, it’s like that.
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I have tried to write songs quickly that get scrapped. I’ve also taken a long time on songs that get scrapped because you can over-think something, and you’ve squeezed the life out of it. As opposed to work of art, it looks like a really great work of craftsmanship.
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I was an avowed professional revolutionary by the time I was 15.
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I thought there were too many songs about people’s personal lives.
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I just make music based on what I believe.
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I am a person who always feels like I am not doing the right thing because there’s always so many things that need to get done.
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What first got me involved in politics was being 14, and a youth organizer comes to my house with a van full of 14 year old girls. “Hey, you want to go to the beach with us? But first we’re going to go support the cannery workers’ strike in Watsonville.”
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I think there’s something your hormones do that makes a chemical change in the way you think.
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Death to the pigs is my basic statement.
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People give out compliments because it’s polite.
BOOTS RILEY