Riley was born in 1971 into a family of social justice organizers in Chicago. He is the son of Anitra Patterson and Walter Riley, an attorney. His father and maternal grandfather are African-American, while his maternal grandmother was a German Jewish refugee from Königsberg, who fled Europe with her parents as a teenager in 1938. By the time he was six, the family moved to Detroit and then to Oakland. His interest in politics began at a young age, inspiring him to join the International Committee Against Racism at age 14[citation needed] and the radical Progressive Labor Party at age 15.\n', '

In 1991, Riley founded the political hip hop group The Coup with a fellow United Parcel Service worker E-roc. Pam the Funkstress, DJ for the group, joined in 1992.[citation needed] Riley was chief lyric writer and produced the music on the albums. They released a song on a 1991 compilation album called Dope Like a Pound or a Key along with fellow former UPS worker Spice-1 and future Thug Life member Mopreme Shakur, then known as Mocedes. The album was released on Wax That Azz Records, which was owned by Pierre "The Beat Fixer" James, Too Short\'s DJ.[citation needed]\n', '

In 1991, he and other hip hop artists created the Mau Mau Rhythm Collective. They put on "Hip-Hop Edutainment Concerts" which allied with and promoted the campaigns of community-based organizations like Women\'s Economic Agenda Project (WEAP), Copwatch, International Campaign To Free Geronimo Pratt, and the Black Panther Alumni Association.[citation needed] The Mau Mau Rhythm Collective was actively involved in the campaign to stop the FBI\'s "Weed And Seed" program (which was used in the \'60s in conjunction with CoIntelPro) from coming to Oakland. They used the growing popularity of their concerts to bring a large number of youth to take over a closed Oakland city council meeting and hold a public meeting.[citation needed]\n', '

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