Saul Williams - Saul Williams
(Click here)
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Music CD Cover
Artist: Saul WilliamsEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2004-09-21
Music Label: Fader Label
Soundtracks:
- Talk To Strangers
- Grippo
- Telegram
- Act III Scene 2 (Shakespeare)
- List Of Demands (Reparations)
- African Student Movement
- Black Stacey
- PG
- Surrender ( A Second To Think)
- Control Freak
- Seaweed
- Notice Of Eviction
Free Music Notes for Saul Williams
Free Music Review: "Load their guns with songs they haven't sung"
Hit: 5 Stars
Saul Williams offers listeners a socially-conscious, honest, musically mature and lyrically transcendent collection of songs. Though the album is primarily defined as hip-hip, and to be sure there are some great hip-hop tracks, what is also found here can more accurately be defined as "a master of spoken-word poetry accompanied by music." Fans of his style and performance will not be disappointed. Furthermore, varying musical influences lift this album above the confines of a strictly hip-hop recording, such as the industrial beats of "List of Demands (Reparations)" or the muted rock performance of "Telegram." It is this pushing of boundaries that makes it readily accessible to listeners whose main musical interest lies outside of hip-hop (myself included) while still carrying the standard of the best of what hip-hop has to offer, and unfortunately has yet to fully embrace.
Williams is poignant in his observations, poetic in his presentation, and optimistic in his outlook. He sees the world through eyes that recognize not only the symptoms but also the afflictions, and a mind that is mature and forward-looking enough to see the solutions and the possibility of something better. He refuses the notion that accepting the current sad state of affairs is "keeping it real," but rather views living up to true human potential as the only "real" worth keeping.
While all the tracks have something valuable to offer, either musically or lyrically, a few standout examples are worth noting here. "List of Demands (Reparations)" is a great explosion of creative energy, and many listeners will certainly want to pound their fist in the air to this one. Perhaps the most moving and memorable piece is the auto-biographical "Black Stacy," which is a personal confession of the insecurities felt due to skin color and the process of finally coming to terms with one's appearance and self-responsibilities. The lyrics are powerful and should be heard by every hip-hop fan, young and old, but especially those impressionable youths who look to materialistic moguls or defeatist gangsters as surrogate role-models. Finally, in Saul Williams, they have an artist worth looking up to.
Saul Williams Poster
Arriving six years after he made a splash with the film Slam and three years after his debut disc Amethyst Rock Star, the second album from spoken-word standout Saul Williams is a knot of contradictions. It challenges hip-hop orthodoxy through the liberal use of heavy rock samples and beats (see especially "Grippo")--not to mention incendiary cameos from rockers Serj Tankian (System of a Down) and Zack De La Rocha (Rage Against the Machine)--but it also gets bogged down at times by repetitive riffs ("List of Demands"). At his best, as on the opener "Talk to Strangers," Williams's measured delivery packs an entrancing power. Elsewhere, however, he sounds like he's just reading, not flowing, and his words fall flat. It doesn't help that Williams occasionally lapses into lecture mode, broadly dissing commercial hip-hop in the spoken-word piece "Telegram." He fares far better when he turns his lyrical lasers on legitimate foes, like the oil-thirsty warmongers in "Act III Scene 2." --Anders Smith LindallMiscellaneous Music CDs
Music Genres
Top music charts in Progressive Georgia
Progressive Nation: A Travel Guide with 400+ Left Turns and Inspiring Landmarksby Jerome Pohlen
Chicago Review Press; Published: 2008-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.63
Price in other shops:
Stitching a Revolution: The Making of an Activistby Cleve Jones, Jeff Dawson
HarperOne; Published: 2001-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $27.52
An Education in Georgia: Charlayne Hunter, Hamilton Holmes, and the Integration of the University of Georgiaby Calvin Trillin
University of Georgia Press; Published: 1992-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $20.65
Price in other shops:
New News Out of Africa: Uncovering Africa's Renaissanceby Charlayne Hunter-Gault
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2007-12-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.88
Price in other shops:
Barrio CubaLaguna; Release date: 2008-01-15; DVD
Best price: $4.98
Price in other shops:
The Souls of Black Folkby W.E.B. DuBois
Cosimo Classics; Published: 2007-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.87
Price in other shops:
Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movementby John Lewis, Michael D'Orso
Harvest Books; Published: 1999-10-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.57
Price in other shops:
Partners to History: Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph David Abernathy, and the Civil Rights Movementby Donzaleigh Abernathy
Crown; Published: 2003-10-14; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.47
Price in other shops:
Living Inside Our Hope: A Steadfast Radical's Thoughts on Rebuilding the Movement (ILR Press books)by Staughton Lynd
Cornell University Press; Published: 1997-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.66
Price in other shops:
Wobblies and Zapatistas: Conversations on Anarchism, Marxism and Radical History (PM Press)by Staughton Lynd, Andrej Grubacic
PM Press; Published: 2008-09-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.61
Price in other shops:
Top Rated Albums
The Seventh Octave - The Early Writings of Saul Stacy Williamsby Saul Stacey Williams, Jessica Caremoore
Moore Black Press; Published: 1998-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.00
Gnarls Barkley - The Odd CoupleRelease date: 2008-03-21; Music CD
Best price: $6.64
Price in other shops:
Saul Williams - Not in My NameRelease date: 2003-06-17; Music CD
Best price: $39.94
Nine Inch Nails - The SlipRelease date: 2008-07-22; Music CD
Best price: $18.06
Price in other shops:
Said the Shotgun to the Headby Saul Williams
MTV; Published: 2003-09-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.34
Price in other shops:
Saul Williams - Amethyst Rock StarRelease date: 2001-10-23; Music CD
Best price: $100.36
Sheby Saul Williams
MTV; Published: 1999-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.23
Price in other shops:
SlamSLAM (DVD MOVIE); Release date: 1999-03-09; DVD
Best price: $4.26
Price in other shops:
The Dead Emcee Scrolls: The Lost Teachings of Hip-Hopby Saul Williams
MTV; Published: 2006-01-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.38
Price in other shops:
Saul Williams - The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy TardustRelease date: 2008-07-08; Music CD
Best price: $8.98
Price in other shops: