I don't need to be validated by academia, because that presupposes that academia is a pure endeavor and not guided by market forces, which is not the case.
If you tell a story that's only allegory, then it doesn't help you at all. If it doesn't bring some emotional charge, then it's just talking about something.
The Coup does not support the American flag.
The Obama campaign decimated the newly regenerated anti-war movement in 2008. And he definitely isn't anti-war.
The point is, is that when you elect a politician, it has nothing to do with their personality. Politicians perform a function, a role in government. And the role of city government is not one that serves the people, unless the people make them do what the people want.
No one has a copyright on working-class struggles.
I try to find creative ways to put ideas out to make the ground fertile for organizers.
The crux of our power isn't only in our voice. It is in our economic function in society.
I always have thought that part of being involved with life is the same thing as just wanting to kick it with your friends, and being involved with life on a deeper level is wanting to change the situation that you're in.
Until we can democratically control the wealth that is created from our labor, there isn't real democracy.
This idea of 'cool capitalism' is still capitalism. It doesn't matter if Elon Musk quotes Nas.
You can't get much done by yourself. Speaking as someone who made a movie - and it took hundreds of people to make it happen - I can say that.
I used to be mad, at first, that I couldn't sound like Ice Cube. And I think that was probably one of the best things for me.
The ultimate credo of capitalism is to exploit people. It's not like this is just an incidental problem; it's inherent in the system.
When we were doing shows in the mid-'90s, the audiences were 95% black. What's happened now is the gentrification of hip-hop. A lot of cities passed ordinances that made it hard for black audiences to gather in large groups. Clubs are more open to hip-hop now 'cause it's the same crowd that goes to rock shows.
A lot of libertarians and ultra-capitalists like to put out this idea that competition makes for better creativity. But it's just because we don't see all the creativity that's been crushed.
I think voting is the lowest form of political action that you can do. A lot of times, it keeps people from doing stronger things.
The Box would not play 'Takin' These' because we had a scene where we were taking furniture out of Rockefeller's mansion and giving the stuff out on the street for free.
Because of my politics, I don't necessarily think that the independent capitalist is that much better than the multinational capitalist; it's just that the independent capitalist hasn't grown as big yet.
My father joined the NAACP when he was 12, in the '50s. He was part of the organizing efforts that led to some of the first sit-ins in North Carolina.
