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Photo by Frazer Harrison
After 26 years, Norfolk’s anti-obscenity law has finally claimed a victim of note. Last week, Raymond "Boots" Riley, he of Oakland rap group The Coup, was charged with using a profanity in public after he let loose with some blue language during his performance at Bayou Boogaloo and Cajun Fest in Nofolk’s Town Point Park.
According to at least one media outlet that covered the story, Riley was pulled off stage by police. Not so, says the rapper, "I was actually off stage when the police approached me."
According to Riley, Norfolk police approached him only at the insistence of FestEvents head, Karen Scherberger, a fact she confirmed in an interview with the Virginian-Pilot last week.
"What’s interesting is that they mistook another performer, Trombone Shorty, a black man who looks nothing like me," says Riley.
That, says Riley, is just one detail missed in last week’s coverage of the incident.
Port Folio Weekly caught up with Riley for a phone interview last week to discuss some of the others.
So how did you enjoy the hospitality of the great state of Virginia?
Man…[laughs]...It’s a strange situation for me to have stepped into. The bottom line is they [FestEvents] are the ones that booked a group that is known for using profanity. And since they booked me, they are responsible for bringing me into this situation. They booked a rapper who cusses, and despite that they did not at all ask me to tone it down, which I would have done. I’ve been invited to perform at schools, in front of large groups of schoolchildren. I’ll edit myself. I’ve done it before. The truth is that this was not a family atmosphere. It was nine o’clock at night. People had been drinking from a bar that FestEvents had set up called the Missing Kidney. There were people smoking weed. Were there little kids there somewhere? Probably. But the way it has been reported it’s as if it was family barbeque day. Nine o’clock is adult time. Even so, no one asked me to tone down the profanity, and so because of the situation that occurred a few weeks ago at Afr’Am Fest, I’m being scapegoated.
So you’re saying that beyond whether or not the law is just peculiar or even constitutional, you feel like you were victimized?
Definitely. The problem is you can’t just manipulate me and put me in that kind of situation. And I know that what they’ve said is that they were just getting Galactic, but some of their [FestEvents] own publicity material advertised that the show was with Galactic featuring Boots Riley of the Coup. The Coup has five albums out. One of our most popular songs is called "5 Million Ways to Kill a CEO." Just from that title alone that might make you think that you’ve got to check out what we’re talking about beforehand. And you have to at least give a blanket warning for us not to use any profanity. They didn’t do that
If someone had done some research on the Coup, do you think they would have booked you at all?
Either way they’re at fault. Either they did the research and didn’t care, or they just didn’t do the research. The way they’re going about they’re business, they could have booked Too Live Crew or Too Short, and I don’t see either of them editing themselves without being told that they had to do so. People have to know what they’re getting. Anyway, the profanity is a red herring.
What do you mean?
In my mind, they saw me, saw a black rapper and stopped hearing what I had to say. From what I’ve read about the controversey over Afr’Am Fest, it sounds to me that this is a woman [Scherberger] who wants to make some sort of statement that she or the organization is not going to tolerate profanity. The truth is that this is the first time this law has been enforced against a performer. So, the statement isn’t that they won’t tolerate profanity; the statement is that they don’t want what I represent.
And what in your estimation do they think you represent?
Well, I’m a rapper. And I’m saying things that are politically radical in nature on the stage, and I think they were offended by the message more than anything. I talk about people taking control of their lives. Actually, we [The Coup] have a lot of songs with no cussing at all. Still, it’s not like I’m just comin’ up there and saying "Mother[expletive omitted], mother[expletive omitted], mother[expletive omitted]." What it sounds like is that there’s just a few people who are prudish there who hold a lot of power, a few people who act like they hold the moral high ground. If she [Scherberger] had the high ground, she wouldn’t have had people drinking out there. But her main concern was to say to the people in that developing area…that they won’t have what they see as black music there.
But regardless of what people’s perceptions of "black music" are, should you or any other performers be able to come to what is a public space and say whatever you want?
Put it like this, I think this is going to come back to bite them. We’re going to fight this. There are a lot of lawyers who want to represent me. And I’m gonna take them up on it. Maybe through this we’ll talk about what the real issue is because like you said, underlying this whole thing is the idea here of who owns public space.
So, say this issue still isn’t resolved by this time next year, who should they get to perform at Boogaloo Fest?
Maybe somebody like Jimmy Buffett. | 
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