Hip Hop Artist, Activist Boots Riley to Perform
On Nov. 16 the city of Syracuse got an highly unusual taste of aristocracy when His Royal Highness Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud visited the Salt City to receive Syracuse University’s Chancellor’s Medal for Outstanding Achievement. Prince Sultan is the second son of Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, head of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defense and next in line to the throne.
It took a little more than two years for Syracuse to get a blue blood sighting. The previous one was on Nov. 8, 2010, when His Royal Highness Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, who served for 25 years as chief of Saudia Arabia’s notorious spook outfit Al Mukhabarat Al A’amah, or General Intelligence Directorate, came to SU to give a lecture on the history of this Arab kingdom.
Fortunately, now Syracusans won’t have to wait much longer to get their next fill of a royal appearance.
It has been announced in the local press that this December Boots Riley, an African-American musician who is front man of the Coup, will be stopping in Syracuse.
According to an article in The New York Times Magazine, “Riley is radical royalty, which in hard-left circles helps offset the somewhat credibility-undermining fact that he’s also a legitimate hip-hop star, albeit one with a mostly cult following.” The article adds that “Riley is a rapper and activist who doesn’t want to see capitalism reformed, he wants to see it toppled.” It quotes Riley as saying that his “lyrics are talking about the people being able to express their power and control their environment.”
It appears that, if in fact Riley maintains his perch among the royal elite, he stands, in stark contrast, at the other end of the political spectrum when compared to the prestigious royals associated with the Saudi feudal monarchy, who honored Syracuse with their presence in the past two years.
The Coup hails from Oakland, California. The United States Census estimated that Oakland had a
It took a little more than two years for Syracuse to get a blue blood sighting. The previous one was on Nov. 8, 2010, when His Royal Highness Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, who served for 25 years as chief of Saudia Arabia’s notorious spook outfit Al Mukhabarat Al A’amah, or General Intelligence Directorate, came to SU to give a lecture on the history of this Arab kingdom.
Fortunately, now Syracusans won’t have to wait much longer to get their next fill of a royal appearance.
It has been announced in the local press that this December Boots Riley, an African-American musician who is front man of the Coup, will be stopping in Syracuse.
According to an article in The New York Times Magazine, “Riley is radical royalty, which in hard-left circles helps offset the somewhat credibility-undermining fact that he’s also a legitimate hip-hop star, albeit one with a mostly cult following.” The article adds that “Riley is a rapper and activist who doesn’t want to see capitalism reformed, he wants to see it toppled.” It quotes Riley as saying that his “lyrics are talking about the people being able to express their power and control their environment.”
It appears that, if in fact Riley maintains his perch among the royal elite, he stands, in stark contrast, at the other end of the political spectrum when compared to the prestigious royals associated with the Saudi feudal monarchy, who honored Syracuse with their presence in the past two years.
The Coup hails from Oakland, California. The United States Census estimated that Oakland had a