Latest / Mic Drop Comedy / Boots Riley on Art_ Activism_ and _I Love Boosters_ _ The Daily Show

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Boots Riley on Art_ Activism_ and _I Love Boosters_ _ The Daily Show · Mic Drop Comedy

• 0:00
  Speaker 2: This is a movie. Oh, yeah, yeah. This is a movie.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: This movie has everything. I enjoyed this movie so much.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: There's so much I want to talk about. I don't
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: want to spoil anything, because there's a lot of surprises
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: in this movie. But for people who haven't seen this,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: what is I Love Boosters?
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Boosters are folks that shoplift and sell at a discount price.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: So it's something that, as a broke rapper for many decades,
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: I've definitely had to have around me in order to
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: stay fly, because staying fly is part of the job requirement. Yeah.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: And so I wanted to write about stuff from the
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: perspective of these folks that kind of hold the community together, right?
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: We have, you know, fashion... is is the the big
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: fashion houses are inspired by stuff from the street by
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: uh black communities by people of color things like that
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: but uh those communities can't afford it right so this
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: is this was a way to talk about fashion that
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: i hadn't seen i mean talked about before.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: It talks about fashion i mean this movie talks about
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: fashion talks about capitalism it's super funny this feels like
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: sort of a Pee-wee's Big Adventure, if it were directed
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: by Karl Marx, with a bunch of Molly in the background.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: With Looney Tunes.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: With some Looney Tunes energy. Honestly, the playfulness and the
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: sketch element of this, I thought was so refreshing and vivid.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: I'm curious, also knowing that I Love Boosters was a
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: song 20 years ago that you wrote, and now it
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: is a movie.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: I'm wondering.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: In taking so many genres, so many ideas, like sort
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: of what is an order of operations for how Boots
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Riley gets to a film?
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: I love boosters. I'm thinking about feelings. You know, I
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: want to make a visceral impact. I want and I
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: want that to lead to to action afterward. Right. Like
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: I don't the movie isn't over when the movie's over.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: The movie, to me, lives on with what it makes
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: you want to do in your life, right? So I'm
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: thinking about stuff from the personal level, what's around my
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: character's world, and how that is connected to the larger world.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: And to me, a lot of my stuff is personal.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: comedy and also absurdist, and all of that is about contradictions.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: And that's what we're living with. And tragedy and comedy,
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: they both have irony. and those contradictions, pointing those out.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: That's basically what we do when we're talking about politics.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: You know, I'm telling you, I mean, that's what y'all
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: do here, right? Yeah. So.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: Although I find it so fascinating here. Like, you talk about,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: you start with trying to figure out what you want
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: the audience to do. And is that beyond just, like,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: the emotion that you want them to feel?
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Well, the emotion is the way in. From, um.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: Doing music for so many years, and I got known
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: as a lyricist, you could know, like, you could have
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: just the rawest lyrics ever, and besides, like, the lyric nerds,
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: most people are gonna be like, yeah, but what does
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: the beat sound like?
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: What does the beat... Can I dance to this? Am
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: I nodding my head? What's going on? And it's that
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: visceral feeling, and to me, It's all... I mean, that's
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: what art is connected to, being in the moment. But
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: what is the moment and what are we hiding right here, right? So,
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: all the art that I've ever made is about trying
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: to help people find the tools to change the world
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: around them. And right now, what we need to change
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: the world around us is a mass, militant, radical labor movement. One... One...
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: One that uses the withholding of labor as a tactic
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: and strategy to be able to have policy change. We
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: have a world in which you have the U.S. and
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: Israel saying, how dare you say that we're committing genocide?
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: And they are. While then the next day saying, f
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  Speaker 2: * * k that. We're about to commit genocide on
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: some other f * * kers tomorrow. Right? And they
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: can do that and just play in our face because
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: they know we feel powerless. And that feeling of powerlessness...
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  Speaker 2: is a material one, it's real. Until we have that
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  Speaker 2: kind of movement where we can shut down profit, where
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: we can do the things that we, that affect power,
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  Speaker 2: then we're gonna be powerless. And so I'm, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I just write with my opinions in there. But my
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: opinions are also funny, right? Because it has to do
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: with these things. And what I'm thinking is not very
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: far off from what most people think in the world.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: It's just sometimes... Struggle, class struggle is edited out of film.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: I feel it is amazing watching you make this film
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  Speaker 1: and the skills you have to get messages like that
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  Speaker 1: across in such digestible, interesting and also complex way is remarkable.
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  Speaker 1: But how do you have a film that critiques the
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: capitalistic system? but also has to exist within the capitalistic system.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: Making a big movie that you want to be seen
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: by a lot of people, that is taking aim at capitalism,
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  Speaker 1: how do you balance working within that to critique it?
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  Speaker 2: There's no such thing as outside of capitalism. If I'm
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: going to work, I'm working inside of capitalism. Every thing, every,
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  Speaker 2: you know, some small independent company, some big company, they're
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: all part of capitalism. And my goal is not just
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: to get myself outside of capitalism, it's to have the
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: working class overthrow the ruling class, right? And get to
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: a system in which the people democratically control the wealth
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  Speaker 2: that we create with our labor. So... So if we
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  Speaker 2: don't have that, I'm not like, oh, okay, let me
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  Speaker 2: work with the nicer capitalist, the guy with the friendlier smile.
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  Speaker 2: You know, it's about making, helping to make that movement
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  Speaker 2: happen because we can't, you know, do anything unless we
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: have that as a backup.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Now, you've taken this film out to colleges in the
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: last couple weeks, right? I assume part of that is
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: to have a conversation with younger people thoughtful, energetic people.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: I'm curious if that was the intent and also what
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: some of the responses you've gotten in trying to start
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: this conversation.
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  Speaker 2: Some of that is the intent, but also colleges have
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: budgets to bring the film out there, so it's extra promotion.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: Because we also invited whoever else was around in the community,
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: and we used that as the jump-off point. But it's been... Also,
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: we did community screenings as well that were outside of
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: the colleges, but It's been raucous. It's been like people
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: are laughing through the whole thing and like sometimes laughing
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: over certain lines. And that's good because they got to
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: come back and see it again. But yeah, it's been,
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: I've watched it 35 times since we premiered it at
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: South By. I've watched it with the crowd 35 times
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: since then. And it hasn't got old to me yet,
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: mainly because of the audience.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: What have you been surprised by? That wasn't necessarily your
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: initial intent, but now you're seeing... in front of an
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: audience and now they're responding. Is there anything that caught
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: your eye?
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: I mean, you know, a lot of stuff I'm like
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: patting myself on the back like, yeah, I knew that.
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: But there's a lot of little things like there's a
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: part where Lakeith Stanfield's character pops up on a phone
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: and it's just a little thing. And, you know, I
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: thought it would cause a smile, but it causes people
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: to break out laughing. You know, things like that that
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: you find. But I don't really have anything that... without
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: seeing it, you'd understand what that was.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: The collaboration, the music in it is great.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And as a musician, you work.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: With tune yards.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: What is that process like overseeing? You work with tune
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: yards in your other.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: So I've worked with tune yards for the score on
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: Sorry to Bother You, and for the score on I'm
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: a Virgo. And it's, you know, I start sending them
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: pages when I'm 20 pages in. Yeah. And start talking
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: about this. And for this one, I was originally very
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: inspired by... deep cut, Amir Costa Rica's Black Cat, White Cat,
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: and the score to that. And so we were talking
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: about that, but as I'm writing, they're making score pieces.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: A lot of the score are demos that they made
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: while I was writing the script. So it's really good
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: because then we'll use those pieces while we're shooting, all
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: that sort of stuff. Separately, there is, so that's the score,
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: but there's a soundtrack that Kiki Palmer has out on it.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: And it's a song, it's a bunch of songs that
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: my daughter wrote with her. Is that right? Yeah. And
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: so there's a five-song EP soundtrack that's out for that now.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: And the Tune Yard score comes out on the same
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: day as the release of the movie.
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  Speaker 1: I'm curious, as somebody who has found a way into
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  Speaker 1: the system to articulate true political beliefs that you have,
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  Speaker 1: I talk to a lot of young people who want
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: to get to a place like that and don't necessarily
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: see a path for that. Like, do you have advice
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  Speaker 1: for people who who hear stories like yours, somebody who
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: is so attached to a movement and being able to articulate.
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  Speaker 2: Well, one, I came out of a disciplined party. I
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: was in a disciplined organization, and I came into doing
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  Speaker 2: art because I have this passion. So one thing I'd
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: say for any artist is to have something you're more
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: passionate about than the art itself. Because, you know, if
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: the main thing you're passionate about is making art, then
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: that's going to be like talking to someone who's passionate
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  Speaker 2: about talking. You want to get out of that convo
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: real quick. Um... And so with that, that's guided me.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: But it has also, you know, it has not been working.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: There were a lot of times when it has not
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: been working. But I'm staying in it to do it
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: because I was seeing slight payoffs that weren't in money
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: or weren't in things that were easily able to be registered.
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: but people talking about how the music affected them. And
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: then with Sorry to Bother You, people messaging me, saying
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: how it made them get involved with things and how
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: it made them get involved with unions and strikes and
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: things like that. And it should be said, from 2020
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: to 2024, we had the largest strike wave that there
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: had been in the United States since the 70s, thousands
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: of strikes all over the place. And it was largely underreported.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: And during that time, that's when I got messages from
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: people being like, oh, we didn't think our workplace was
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: going to go on strike. We didn't think, you know,
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: or form a union, but we played sorry to bother
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: you and everybody voted for it, right? So... The advice
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: is have something you're more passionate about than making your art,
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  Speaker 2: as a reason to make your art. Secondly, realize nobody
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: knows what the they're doing. We're all trying to figure
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: it out. The answer to most of your questions to
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: me is really I don't know, right? Oh, Jesus, why
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: didn't you just say that, Boots?
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: It'd be so much easier for the editors.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: To put together, you know? And we're all here trying
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: to make it, and especially in your art practice. You
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: got to figure that out. And for me, I've had
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: a lot of iterations of figuring out things. A lot
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: of what I'm doing here on this movie is, I think,
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: pushing cinema in a certain way, because it's not... in
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: order to make you even care about it, I realize
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  Speaker 2: I have to be an artist. It took me a
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: while to admit that I was an artist. And for me,
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: I want to see something new. I want to see
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: it do something new. And there's so many moments in
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: here where I and the audience is like, I've never
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: seen anything like that before. So for me, I have
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: to keep being inventive to be you know, because I
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: want to be in the moment, talk about the contradictions
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: that exist right now, and talk about what we can
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: do about it.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: Well, it is a remarkable film. I truly have never
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: seen anything like it before.
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much. I love boosters. And I want
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: to say, look, May 22nd, we're going to be in 2,500
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: screens across the U.S. That means it's a make it
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: or break it. If you see the trailer and decide
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: you want to see it, I need you to go
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: there May 22nd. If you see the movie and like it,
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: I need you to tell people about it because we need...
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: movies like this to get out there. I love it.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: May 22nd.
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: I love those things. Boots Riley.