Boots Riley

Riley was born in 1971 into a family of social justice organizers in Chicago. He is the son of Anitra Patterson and Walter Riley, an attorney. His father and maternal grandfather are African-American, while his maternal grandmother was a German Jewish refugee from Königsberg, who fled Europe with her parents as a teenager in 1938. By the time he was six, the family moved to Detroit and then to Oakland. His interest in politics began at a young age, inspiring him to join the International Committee Against Racism at age 14[citation needed] and the radical Progressive Labor Party at age 15.\n', '

In 1991, Riley founded the political hip hop group The Coup with a fellow United Parcel Service worker E-roc. Pam the Funkstress, DJ for the group, joined in 1992.[citation needed] Riley was chief lyric writer and produced the music on the albums. They released a song on a 1991 compilation album…