Sorry to Bother You

The Coup

2012

Boots Riley completed the screenplay for the movie “Sorry to Bother You (2018)” six years earlier in 2012 and this album is inspired by the movie, which is about telemarketing. The phrase “sorry to bother you” is a common refrain in telemarketing.

It also serves the purpose of talking about how this album presents certain ideas that are not normally discussed in mainstream culture.

The screenplay is about Cassius “Cash” Green lives in his uncle Sergio’s garage with his girlfriend, Detroit, an artist. Struggling to pay rent, Cash gets a job as a telemarketer for RegalView. Cash has trouble with customers until Langston, an older co-worker, teaches him to use his “white voice” and adopt a blithe, affluent persona on calls, at which Cash excels.