Interview with Boots Riley of The Coup
The stores make money off of very low wages
The next time you see two women running out the Gap
With arms full of clothes still strapped to the rack
Once they jump in the car, hit the gas and scat
If you have to say something, just stand and clap …
This goes to all them hard-working women
Who risk jail-time just to make them a living
We know there’d probably be no one in prison
If rights to food, clothes and shelter were given.
These lyrics are from the song ‘I Love Boosters’ on the rap group The CoupÍs latest release, ‘Pick a Bigger Weapon.’ Boosters are those who make a living by liberating clothes and other items and selling them at discounted prices, instead of at the hugely inflated prices charged by retail stores. The song is homage to people who live a tenuous life and their part in poor and oppressed communities.
The song and the entire full-length release by the rap group are in a line of radical/revolutionary music that The Coup has continued to release since 1993. That year they released their first CD: ‘Kill My Landlord.’
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