Boots Riley is a film director, producer, screenwriter, rapper, and communist activist. He is known as the lead vocalist, chief lyric writer and music producer in his political rap group The Coup with E-roc and vocalist /emcee of the Street Sweeper Social Club. He made his feature-film directorial debut with Sorry to Bother You (released July 2018), which he also wrote. He and other activists and hip-hop artists created the Mau Mau Rhythm Collective. The Collective put on “Hip-Hop Edutainment Concerts”, which allied with and promoted the campaigns of community-based organizations like Women’s Economic Agenda Project (WEAP), Copwatch, International Campaign To Free Geronimo Pratt, the Black Panther Alumni Association, and various anti-police brutality projects.
