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Saul Williams
Saul Williams in Dallas, 2007
Background information
Birth name	Saul Stacey Williams
Born	February 29, 1972 (1972-02-29) (age 37)
Genre(s)	Hip hop, Spoken word, poetry, electronic, Industrial hip hop
Occupation(s)	Poet Writer Singer Musician Actor Voice Actor
Instrument(s)	Vocals
Website	Official Site

Saul Stacey Williams (born February 29, 1972) is an American poet, writer, actor and musician known for his blend of poetry and alternative hip hop and for his leading role in the 1998 independent film Slam.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Career 3 Discography 3.1 Albums/EPs 3.2 Guest and compilation appearances 4 Bibliography 5 Filmography 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Biography

The youngest of three children, Williams was born in Newburgh, New York. After graduating from Morehouse College with a B.A. in philosophy, Williams moved to New York City to earn a Master's Degree at New York University in acting. There, he found himself at the center of the New York cafe poetry scene.

Williams and artist Marcia Jones began their relationship in 1995 as artists on the Brooklyn performance art and spoken word circuit. Their daughter, Saturn, was born in 1996 ^[1]. His collection of poems S/HE is a series of reflections on the demise of the relationship ^[2]. Marcia, a California based illustrator, created the artwork for his 2001 album Amethyst Rock Star. Saturn has recently been performing with her father on his 2008 concert tour ^{[3] [4]}.

On his birthday, February 29th, 2008, Williams married his girlfriend of five years Persia White. Williams met actress Persia White in 2003 when he made a guest appearance on the TV show Girlfriends as a poet named Sivad. White has a daughter named Mecca (1993)^{[5] [6]}.

[edit] Career

By 1995, he had become a talented open mic poet and in 1996 he won the title of Nuyorican Poets Cafe's Grand Slam Champion. The documentary film SlamNation follows Williams and the other members of the 1996 Nuyorican Poets Slam team (Beau Sia, Mums da Schemer and Jessica Care Moore) as they compete in the 1996 National Poetry Slam held in Portland, OR.

The following year, Williams landed the lead role in the 1998 feature film Slam. Williams served as both a writer and actor^[7] on the film, which would win both the Sundance Festival Grand Jury Prize and the Cannes Camera D'Or (Golden Camera)^[8] and serve to introduce Williams to international audiences.

Williams was at this time breaking into music. He had performed with such artists as Nas, The Fugees, Christian Alvarez, Blackalicious, Erykah Badu, KRS-One, Zack De La Rocha, De La Soul, and DJ Krust, as well as legendary poets Allen Ginsberg and Sonia Sanchez. After releasing a string of EPs, in 2001 he released the much-hyped Amethyst Rock Star with producer Rick Rubin and in September 2004 his self-titled album to much acclaim. He played several shows supporting Nine Inch Nails on their European tour in summer 2005, and has also supported The Mars Volta.

Williams was also invited to the Lollapalooza music festival in Summer 2005. The Chicago stage allowed Williams to attract a wider audience. He also appeared on NIN's album Year Zero, and supported the group on their 2006 North American tour. On the tour Williams announced that Trent Reznor would co-produce his next album ^[9] .

This collaboration resulted in 2007's The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!. This album was available only at the website niggytardust.com until a physical CD of the album was issued. The physical release included new tracks and extended album artwork ^[10]. The first 100,000 customers on the website had the option to download a free lower-quality audio version of the album. The other option was for users to pay $5 to support the artist directly and be given the choice of downloading the higher-quality MP3 version or the lossless FLAC version. The material has been produced by Trent Reznor and mixed by Alan Moulder. It was Reznor who said that, after his own recent dealings with record labels, they should release it independently and directly ^[11].

As a writer, Williams has been published in The New York Times, Esquire, Bomb Magazine and African Voices, as well as having released four collections of poetry. As a poet and musician, Williams has toured and lectured across the world, appearing at many universities and colleges. In his interview in the book, Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam, Williams explained why he creates within so many genres, saying:

“

It's not that I balance [those arts] out, all the different arts balance me out. So, that there is a certain type of emotion that is more easily accessible through music than poetry... Some things are meant to be written, some are meant to be sung, some things are meant to be hummed, some things are made to be yelled, and so that's just how life works [12].

”

Williams is a vocal critic of the Bush administration, the War on Terrorism, and the Iraq War ^[13]; among his more well-known works are the anti-war anthems "Not In My Name" and "Act III Scene 2 (Shakespeare)". In early 2008, a Nike Sparq Training commercial featured Williams' song "List of Demands (Reparations)".

In a November 2008 interview with Wired.com, Williams talked about his forthcoming projects:

“

...but there's one [album] that I'm waist-deep into. I'm aiming to finish it up next month. Trent wants to work on a sequel for Niggy that I think would be cool and I also have an album and new songs demoed at home that I'm ready to go into the studio and lay down.It’s a complete reflection of how I feel in this country; it's a very transformative time [14].

”

In January 2009, Saul released "NGH WHT - The Dead Emcee Scrolls with The Arditti Quartet", a reading of his 2006 poetry book of the same name. This collaboration with Thomas Kessler (who also set ,said the shotgun to the head to music) is released with two payment options: listeners may download Chapters 18-22 of the 27-minute composition for free (in mp3 format), or for the small price of $6, can download the entire 33-chapter composition in lossless aif format, along with the isolated vocal & quartet multitrack stems. The entire paid download totals in size at 563mb ^[15].

He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums/EPs

• Penny For A Thought/Purple Pigeons (2000)
• Amethyst Rock Star (2001)
• Not in My Name (2003)
• Saul Williams (2004)
• The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! (2007)
• NGH WHT - The Dead Emcee Scrolls with The Arditti Quartet (2009)

[edit] Guest and compilation appearances

• "Twice the First Time" on Eargasms - Crucialpoetics Vol. 1 (1997)
• "Elohim (1972)" on Black Whole Styles (1998)
• "Ohm" on Lyricist Lounge, Volume One (1999)
• "Coded Language" on Coded Language by DJ Krust (1999)
• "Release" with Lyrics Born and Zack De La Rocha on Blazing Arrow by Blackalicious (2002)
• "Time (Jungle) (Temple Of Soul Mix)" on Nublu Sessions, mixed by Wax Poetic (2003)
• "Sent from Sandy Shores" (with Sacajawea) on Dreams of Water Themes by Adventure Time (2003)
• "Wake up Show Freestyles" by Sway and King Tech (2004)
• "Three Fingers" on Enter the Chicken by Buckethead & Friends (2005)
• "Sea Lion (Extended)" (with Will Oldham) on "Sea Lion" by Sage Francis (2005)
• "Mr. Nichols" on Sound Mirrors by Coldcut (2006)
• "April Showers, April Tears" on ¿What by Stuart Davis (2006)
• ",said the shotgun to the head" on Thomas Kessler by Thomas Kessler (2006)
• "Survivalism" and "Me, I'm Not" on Year Zero by Nine Inch Nails (2007)
• "Gunshots By Computer" and "Survivalism" on Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D by Nine Inch Nails (2007)
• "Lyrical Gunplay" on Thru by Thavius Beck
• "Dance Of The Dead" on The Unbound Project, Vol. 1 a compilation benefit album for Mumia Abu-Jamal
• "List Of Demands" on Nike Sparq Commercial
• "Black Stacy Remix" ft. Nas

[edit] Bibliography

• The Seventh Octave, 1998, Moore Black Press ISBN 0-9658308-1-0
• She, 1999, MTV/Pocketbooks ISBN 0-671-03977-6
• ,said the shotgun to the head, 2003, MTV/Pocketbooks ISBN 0-7434-7079-6
• The Dead Emcee Scrolls, 2006, MTV/Pocketbooks ISBN 1-4165-1632-8

[edit] Filmography

• Downtown 81 (voice) (1981/2000)
• Underground Voices (1996)
• Slam (1998)
• SlamNation (1998)
• I'll Make Me a World (1999)
• King Of The Korner (2000)
• K-PAX (2001)
• Spongebob Squarepants (2004)
• The N Word (2004)
• Lackawanna Blues (2005)
• New York, I Love You (2009)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Site
• Saul Williams at LyricWiki
• Saul Williams at MySpace
• Saul Williams at Discogs
• Saul Williams at the Internet Movie Database