Riley Freeman appears in the Cartoon Network Adult Swim animated television series The Boondocks, based on the comic strip of the same name. An eight-year-old African-American boy who aspires to live the violent life of street rappers and gangsters, he lives together with his older brother Huey and their granddad Robert. Riley’s self-declared ambition to be as “gangsta” as he can be clashes wildly with his brother’s genius acumen, and it often leads Riley into a number of troubles and scrapes with the law. As he grew up heavily influenced by rap music and television, he idolizes figures such as Robert Kelly, defending the rapper even when shown strong evidence of guilt.
Riley is also no stranger to crime, helping plan a kidnapping of Oprah and berating both Gin Rummy and Ed Wuncler III for their incompetence in actually trying to break the law. However, he’s also no match for his brother Huey’s skill with martial arts, often losing to Huey in duels due to his crude and simplistic fighting style. Riley is also known to incessantly bother and make fun of others, prompting either Granddad or Huey to make him stop with a whack to the head. Yet despite his obsession with the thug lifestyle and being “gangsta,” he has also shown promise artistically, as shown in his spray-painting sprees.
(Photo courtesy of Cartoon Network)