Saul Williams--Poet As the Public Intellectual"A poet is a human being. Each human being must live within his time, with and for his people, and within the boundaries of his country."
--Langston Hughes
I start this blog by introducing an artist that is of ancient timeless stock. Many labels could be placed on this guy-Buddha/poet/seer/Sufi/actor/mystic/performer/healer/water bearer, and now, public intellectual. I could go on and on and gush about a fellow artist whose freedom of expression, I believe, is unparalleled in this day and age, but whose work could be seen as a clarion call heralding the swing of the pendulum into a new Renaissance.
In the past, on the cusp of depressions, artistic movements like the Black Arts Movement (BARTS) and the Harlem Renaissance giving way to the Black Power Movement and the Civil Rights Movement. What you had was a group of marginalized people being effected by the different social, economic, and political issues which culminated in waves of unbridled expressions of art. Other movements such as the Peace Movement, Women's Lib, or LGBT Rights have had similar links to artistic voices that gave creative visions to a better, more inclusive, civil, productive, free world.
This is a clip from the movie Slam. Slam tells the story of Ray Joshua, an original, gifted young MC trapped in a war-zone housing project known as Dodge City. Unable to find a job, Ray copes with the despair and poverty of his neighborhood by using his wits and verbal talent.
"Sha-Clack-Clack" by Saul Williams
I was introduced to Saul's poetry/songs by an associate who didn't understand his powerful messages full of hip hop, history, myth, androgyny, politcal/social savvy, and science. As I recalled what was said was, "What the hell is he talking about?! Every time I hear Saul I'm like 'please stop.' " But I wanted Saul to keep on speaking his poetic alchemy because finally someone who could connect the dots and be the poem and tap into his own darkness without being manipulated and shaped by the music industry and institutions whose intentions when it comes to "black" artist and their content has been less than savory.
What I also love about Saul is that he is one of the first hip hop artist to embrace the feminine aspect of spirituality and to reclaim eastern philosophies and ancient healing practices. He is a true hip hopper in the sense that he provides various avenues for listeners to find their own path to transcendence. He is always growing and questioning and creating outside of the box
Saul latest work can be called nothing but a tour de force. An amalgam of hip hop, poetry and industrial break beats (Thanks to the genius of Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nail fame). A venture more into the world of actual songs, rather than poems over beat, Saul crafted a concept album that puts to shame any of rapper on Billboards top charts. But this won't stop Saul's album from getting to the masses because this dude released the album free online or for a very low price, maybe $10, I believe. In a world where many artist dream of the top of the charts and the Grammy, Saul is saying through he brave marketing and distribution that the its not about the money or the recognition or the fame (although I'm sure he has all three and appreciates the love of his work) but ultimately the message and the mission and the art.
Here's a video for a song called "Convict Colony" from his latest album The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust
Just from his work you can tell that the man doesn't like to be put into boxes or given labels, but I believe Saul stands as an excellent example of a performing artist who could be given the term public intellectual because his written and performance work extends beyond the mere commercial aspects of the industry. He creates these collages of poetic inspirations and in doing touches on taboo subjects such as religion, gender and sexuality, race and colonialism/imperialism in an effort to create dialogue geared towards how we as people can make ourselves, our societies, our planet, and our collective vibrations into space.
And what else would you expect from a New York bred Hip Hop child of a teacher and a minister, educated in acting and philosophy and winner of various poetry slams. He is sort of like a present day oracle who mixes the scared with the profane, the street with the academic, that leaves you with vivid images of the possibilities of what could be. But instead of this public intellectual being restricted to the oft talked of religious intellectual he spreads his wings to be inclusive of the All. This approach is indeed wholly American in that we sow seeds of cooperation--culturally, economically, spiritually, politically--in an effort to uplift humanity.
"Anytime poetry becomes popular, it resonates as it does because we’re on the cusp of a movement. You wouldn’t have had the civil rights movement if it weren’t for the Harlem Renaissance. You wouldn’t have the hippie love movement of the 60s if it weren’t for the Beat poets that called it into existence. You wouldn’t have had the Black Power movement if it weren’t for the Black Arts movement which preceded it. Any time there is a new, greater sense of clarity or freedom, independence, expression, it’s seems like the first to aim to grasp it are the poets. And once they are able to, their struggle is simply to articulate it. And once their capable of that, then the people are able to articulate it and thus embody it."
Saul Williams
Saul Williams
