The Coup's Boots Riley Withdraws Plans for Keynote Speech at UC Berkeley

Political rapper Boots Riley of The Coup announced today that he is withdrawing his plans to deliver the keynote speech at UC Berkeley's Black Graduation this Saturday, in order to show support for the University of California Custodians Union’s longrunning fight for higher wages.

“Many ideas were talked about regarding how to show solidarity with and not get in the way of this fight. Some said that I should use the opportunity to speak to the audience about the union’s demands. However, being that the speaking theme I was given was ‘Revolution: Command Change,’ I feel the best way to embody this theme is not to give lip service to it, but to show that we must be involved in the struggles that are happening around us every day.”

Riley says that if the university and the union can agree on a contractbefore Saturday, he will be happy to deliver his speech as planned.

The Coup offers four tracks from its latest album (Pick a Bigger Weapon, available on Epitaph) for free download on its MySpace page.