Boots Riley Quotes

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.

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.

A lot of what we say and do are regurgitated things that have to do with what we think we're supposed to be saying and doing.

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.

Death to the pigs is my basic statement.

I wanted to be part of changing the world. I don't want to just stand by and watch it be however it is.

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

I lived in Detroit until I was six. My older sister was living with us, and she listened to the Ohio Players and Stevie Wonder, so I grew up listening to stuff like that.

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

I thought there were too many songs about people's personal lives.

It's usually important to me to get my idea out first because a lot of times my ideas will seem weird to musicians.

When my daughter was born, that was the first time I cried from happiness.

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

I just make music based on what I believe.

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.

People give out compliments because it's polite.

In high school, everybody rapped. You just pounded on the table.

When I was five years old, me and my cousin got into a fistfight because when "That's the Way (I Like It)" came on the radio, he said, "That's my song," and I said, "No, that's my song."

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.

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.