The term Renaissance Man should not be thrown around lightly. There are so many people who are “multi-taskers,” but not even one of their tasks can make a visual impact on the world. That’s not true with Saul Williams. The actor, poet, writer, and musician has made a decades long career speaking out about racial identity and social justice among other things.

You might remember Saul from his powerful songs (think “List of Demands”) or his then groundbreaking release of the album The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust with Nine Inch Nail’s frontman Trent Reznor.

Since then, he’s been on a bit of a hiatus. However, this year Saul returns to the limelight with his follow up album Volcanic Sunlight. Released in France initially, the album finds Saul changing his sound slightly but maintaining his political bite.

I recently caught up with Saul via phone from his home in Paris. We talked about the making of Volcanic Sunlight, why he went with a traditional album release, the changing music climate and his thoughts on the Occupy Wall Street movement.

The last time I spoke with you, you were in Brooklyn. Now you’re in Paris. What was the motivation for the move?

I moved to Paris to record Volcanic Sunlight. I recorded the demos before I moved over here and there was a producer over here named Renaud Létang that I loved, and I wanted to work with him on this album, and at the same time I had a friend from New York living over here, and he showed me his place and told me what it cost and I was like “Oh I can do that.”

So after I figured out that it was practical for me to move here.

I remember you telling me  how well received you were out there opening for Nine Inch Nails on their European tour. Do you feel like there is more freedom for you to do what you do in Europe? Do you feel like you have more artistic freedom to do what you do?

Not necessarily, no. Artistic freedom is something that lives inside of me. I look for it wherever I am. I feel like I need to express myself wherever the city may be in New York or over here in France.

It may be true that artists in a socialist structure are helped and aided by the government, but I’m not a citizen of France so I don’t get to experience that, and I don’t really necessarily feel any better received here than I was in The States at all. It was just a matter of my personal tastes, of wanting to stretch my horizons a bit, and learn the language.

I also have a daughter living here with me. She’s going to be thirteen and it’s just cool to give her that experience.

So getting back to the album, Volcanic Sunlight. I see a lot of growth from your last projects. What was the recording process with this album and did you feel like you have to do anything different from your last album?

Well, the process was quite different from how I’ve had to work with the last albums. Basically, I just stayed in the studio here. I played the demos to Renaud and he loved them. We wanted to keep the vibe and the spirit of the demos alive but take it up to another level of quality.

I stayed in the studio for a year recording Volcanic Sunlight. And that is a gift that I don’t think many modern day artists get to have. I played all of the instruments myself, I used real percussions and horns. Being in the studio for that amount of time and working with real musicians made me feel really lucky and it was just a really positive experience for myself.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I remember when NiggyTardust dropped in 2007, and you guys did a really interesting release for it where it was distributed free or for a donation, and I see that this is more of a traditional release through a major label (Sony Music). What was the decision for the change? Were you satisfied with the way you released NiggyTardust?

When NiggyTardust dropped, what we did was original and unique, and if I did the same thing now—after one thousand and one artists have done the same thing—it would no longer have that originality.

Secondly, NiggyTardust is mainly electronic. That means that Trent, Atticus [Ross] and I all worked on our computers separately. The album was recorded electronically, even the vocals were recorded right into my computer. So with it being an electronic album, we felt that it was perfect for it to go straight from that format into a virtual medium.

Volcanic Sunlight on the other hand is the amalgam of electronic and non-electronic instruments. In order for me to fund the process, I had to think about it like a movie. I had to think of how I could find the funding to get real horn players for instance. I needed access to real musicians and I needed a way to pay them.

So I needed the money upfront. I needed a recording budget. So I worked like a director would in finding a production company, and that pretty much solidified the fact that it would come out in a more traditional format.

I feel you.

But NiggyTardust was one of a kind. We put that album out 10 days after we decided that we wanted to put it out.  It was that immediate, and it was a full test of what was available to us. That’s where we are right now in terms of technology and that was exciting.

What was also exciting is that I could sidestep the record executives who were nervous. They didn’t know if it was rock, hip-hop, industrial or what. They didn’t know what box it belonged to and how to fill it.

One of my main concerns is that why should the industry constantly underestimate the intelligence of the audience? I think that is more so an American trait than a global one. [Releasing the album online] was my way of overcoming that obstacle. By making it free and giving it away we proved that we didn’t need them in order to do [put the album out].

But in terms of Volcanic Sunlight, I didn’t want to fight the same fight twice.

Going back to that statement about the record labels and your difficulties in the past. Do you think the culture has caught up, especially in The States? When you started your thing, a lot of people didn’t know what to make of you. But now it seems acceptable and even encouraged for people of color to be in their own lane. Are you seeing that freedom, or are you still getting resistance?

I definitely see that, and I don’t think it’s about people being given more freedom, I think that people themselves are taking more freedom.

On one hand I think it has a lot to do with identity issues. So much revolves around the idea of race, and color, and gender. A lot of times people in the past have been expected to live up to other people’s ideas of what category they are boxed into. So me as a young Black kid from New York in the 80s, I’m supposed to be a rapper.

But I didn’t want to rap.

So I hit my head against a lot of ceilings and floors when I was meeting with record executives who wanted me to confine my music to the infrastructure of hip-hop. But I was telling them that that structure is not yet defined. And they told me that people didn’t want that.

But when I would go back home to Brooklyn I would see that people did want that. You just had to give it to them.

Now I think that people are naturally a bit more open. That’s why the full title of NiggyTardust is The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust because you can’t stop the fact that we are rising and evolving as a species of humanity. We will not always look at ourselves as Black, or White. We can oppose the obstaices of self-definition that are imposed on us by society at large and simply be ourselves.

It’s awesome now that artists are finding it within themselves to explore, whether it’s young urban kids trying to re-imagine their connection to punk rock, or suburban kids re-imagining their connection to hip-hop. It’s all cross-pollinating now.

Exactly. Moving on I’m curious of your opinion on what seems to be a year of social revolt. From the Arab Spring, to Occupy Wall Street, to the riots in London. As someone who has always spoke up against injustice, how do you feel seeing this?

This is the thing that we [artists and poets] have been looking to inspire in the hearts and minds of the people since…forever. From what I can remember, every poetry reading I ever attended in the 90s…this is what we were trying to inspire people to do. To speak up. To use their voice. To inspire youth to take to the streets and scream “THIS IS ENOUGH!”

The fact that it’s finally happening is amazing. All of that started in the Middle East and in Northern Africa at the top of this year. I see this as a direct relation to the Arab Spring. It’s more than just bailouts to the bankers. I think it’s all of these injustices that are happening globally. I think people are stepping up and realizing that if we do not take the power from the people who define what “power” is supposed to be about, then we will continue to be victims.

We have to take advantage of our times, and in order to do that we have to overthrow some of the cowards in control. So seeing young people stand up, whether its in Oakland, or in New York or Nashville is truly inspiring. And for me, it’s surreal, because this is exactly what we have been writing about and trying to do with our work.

It’s an interesting time. A powerful time.

Volcanic Sunlight is in stores now. Buy from iTunes.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Beautiful Photos by Philippe N, aka Star P. Please support.

The very first Afropunk tour hit Toronto last Friday with a lineup of impressive performances from the likes of Saidah Baba Talibah, American Fangs and the legendary poet and rebel, headliner Saul Williams.

Matthew Morgan, Resident Producer of the Afropunk 2009 tour, Producer of Afropunk the documentary, and co-spearhead of the whole Afropunk movement along with James Spooner was in attendance as well. “If I could meet one or two kids that didn’t know we existed,” said Morgan on the goal of the tour, “that either went on to create a profile or just find a band that they like on Afropunk and become a part of the community then I’ll be happy.”

Saul Williams said it himself in an interview with The Couch Sessions a while back, performance is his forte, and he couldn’t be more right. For a man whose music is not readily digestible for most of mainstream culture, his performance skills meld his profound and harshly beautiful lyrics, with the catchy, synthesized and guitar heavy music they are set to, creating a show that nobody, fan or not, could stand still through. Together on stage William’s band looked like the most random assortment of characters, the guitarist dressed in a classic 70’s prom suit, Keyboardist dressed as Dracula, the DJ channeling Afrika Bambaataa, and finally Williams with feathers in his hair and elaborate purple sparkling face paint.

Despite the complete lack of visual cohesiveness, the music was hypnotic as they played many of the tracks from Williams’s 2007 album The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! The Hit track List of Demands (Reparations) (remember the Nike commercial?) was recognized by the crowd, and everyone pumped their fists in unison to NiggyTardust. A highlight was a dope and twisted cover of Bjork’s Declare Independence that eventually progressed into a slowed down, bass bumping outro. One of Toronto’s best known MC’s K-os also made an appearance, jumping on stage and freestyling for a minute over the band.

Chillin’ backstage afterwards in silence on a couch, Williams seemed like the complete opposite persona of the man who had been climbing above the crowd on huge speakers only seconds before. Both introverted thinker and enigmatic performer, each side of Williams is equally impressive. Make sure you check out the tour when it comes to a city near you, your chance to see a living legend and some totally impressive Afropunk.

The tour starts tonight at the Blender Theatre for CMJ, and continues across the country with Saul Williams and special guest Living Colour! Also joining on the tour are Amp Fiddler, Hollywood Holt, CX KiDTRONiK & Tchaka Diallo, Activator, Rough Francis, Saidah Baba Talibah, The oOohh Baby on selected dates.

Click on Venue Names for Ticket Information. Also, check our interview with Saul Williams from 2006!

October 21: New York: show moved to Blender Theater (CMJ Festival)
featuring CX KiDTRONiK & Tchaka Diallo, Activator & Rough Francis!

October 22: Cleveland, OH @ Cambridge Room at The House of Blues
featuring CX KiDTRONiK & Tchaka Diallo, American Fangs!

October 23: Toronto, ON @ The Opera House
featuring CX KiDTRONiK & Tchaka Diallo, American Fangs, Saidah Baba Talibah, The oOohh Baby Gimme Mores!

October 25: Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theater featuring CX KiDTRONiK & Tchaka Diallo, American Fangs, No Bird Sing!

October 26: Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick featuring Amp Fiddler, CX KiDTRONiK & Tchaka Diallo, American Fangs!

October 27: Chicago, IL @ Double Door featuring CX KiDTRONiK & Tchaka Diallo, American Fangs, Hollywood Holt!

October 30: Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of the Living Arts
featuring CX KiDTRONiK & Tchaka Diallo, American Fangs, Black Landlord, West Vienna!

October 31: Northampton, MA @ Pearl Street featuring CX KiDTRONiK & Tchaka Diallo, Living Colour & The Smyrk!

November 1: Washington, DC @ Black Cat featuring CX KiDTRONiK & Tchaka Diallo, Living Colour & The Smyrk!

November 4: Atlanta, GA @ The Loft featuring CX KiDTRONiK & Tchaka Diallo, Earl Greyhound!

November 5: Orlando, FL @ The Social featuring CX KiDTRONiK & Tchaka Diallo, Earl Greyhound!

November 6: New Orleans @ House of Blues featuring CX KiDTRONiK & Tchaka Diallo, Earl Greyhound!

November 8: Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre featuring CX KiDTRONiK & Tchaka Diallo, Earl Greyhound, American Fangs!

November 10: San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
featuring CX KiDTRONiK & Tchaka Diallo, Earl Greyhound, American Fangs!

November 11: Santa Barbara, CA @ Velvet Jones featuring CX KiDTRONiK & Tchaka Diallo, American Fangs!

November 12: San Diego, CA @ Delta Room/House of Blues
featuring CX KiDTRONiK & Tchaka Diallo, Earl Greyhound, American Fangs, IrRAdio!

November 13: Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy featuring CX KiDTRONiK & Tchaka Diallo, American Fangs, Kimya Dawson!

November 15: Portland, OR @ The Aladdin Theater
featuring CX KiDTRONiK & Tchaka Diallo, Earl Greyhound, American Fangs!

November 16: Seattle, WA @ Neumos
featuring CX KiDTRONiK & Tchaka Diallo, Earl Greyhound, American Fangs, Kimya Dawson!

November 17: Vancouver, BC (details coming soon)
featuring CX KiDTRONiK & Tchaka Diallo, Earl Greyhound, American Fangs!

Saul Williams – The Government

On the morning of last week’s historic Inauguration, Saul Williams dropped a track into the Internet with his thoughts of the moment:

We have overcome.

Except those of us now in Gaza. Except those of us whom police kill. Except those of us who are suspects. Except those of us whom the church hate. Except those of us damned to taste good. Except those of us held by fate. We are meeting in the capitol. Word is, freedom will not wait.

All that once was never shall be.
All they could do won’t be done.
All we sang of is now happening.

[note to self:]
Must write
new songs
to become…

…And so it was. Through the collective imagination of the people, the force of will and human potential, and an unflinching ability to hold himself to task, Niggy Tardust was liberated. His ability to see beyond the boundaries and obstacles of ‘genre’, ‘race’, and suppression, allowed him to encompass a grace and sound that embodied the all. All that had stood against him, now stood with him. All that had claimed a lesser harmony, now craved voice and resonance. He stood with poets, painters, dancers, students, children of the night who had transformed themselves into a million bright ambassadors of morning, and proclaimed,

“We declare declaratives and deny the official. Based in the landmark of the G-spot, we have overtaken ourselves and overthrown our forefathers. Let there be light within the light and let it answer to the name of Darkness. We are forever risen from the deadly: the anti-virus and the All Stars. Granted power by forces unbeknownst to us. Made in the likeness of kindness. We offer anger to the angry and fear to the fearful. We dance at our own funerals to forsake the mourners…

…This is no time to cry! This is no time at all! Here is the moment of the overlooked and the unforeseeable. We are the elected officials of the people: poets and artists. We are the declarative statement of the inarticulate, the irreparably damaged goods of the bad meaning good. We are the government! We are the government! We are the government!”

The attached song proves that the dude is STILL fire. O”The Government,” built off of a funky horn and drum section is a bit more accessible than anything on his Trent Reznor produced last album, which after his Nike commercial, should bring more fans into his revolutionary fold. Also, let’s be honest, “The Government,” is the song that Mos Def wishes he could make.

We’re ringing in 2009 with our reader Best of 2008 lists. I reached out to several of our readers to give their Top 5 of the best releases of the year. I’ll be profiling a new reader each day over the next several weeks. Today’s Reader is Rob Fields of Bold As Love.

Name: Rob Fields
Location: Brooklyn
Website: http://www.boldaslove.us

TV On The Radio–”Dear Science”.  See DLZ and Love Dog
Passing Strange original cast recording.  A great show full of music that shines light on our humanity.
Gnarls Barkley–”The Odd Couple”.  I can’t think of a more introspective, and in some ways, existential album put out by a Black artist
Saul Williams–”The Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust”. Hard-hitting and truth-telling.
BLK JKS–”Mystery” (EP)

Honorable mentions
Chewing Pics–”Tarantula” (EP)
The Knux–”Remind Me in 3 Days…” Just a lot of fun

Saul Williams kills it again with his latest video from last year’s incredible The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!, which was re-released in Vinyl and CD format earlier this month with 5 new bonus songs. Check out our interview with Saul and my review of his 9:30 club show.

You may hate on Saul Williams for licensing his song to Nike for their latest ad campaign. Call him a sellout, but the dude is selling out all the way to the bank.

Indeed, the original video for “List of Demands” has become a posthumous hit; it has racked up more than 400,000 views on youtube.com, 40 times more than the ad itself. The digital single of the song has been selling 10,000 copies a week since the ad first aired.

Williams gave fans the option of downloading the album for free or paying $5 for it, not unlike Radiohead’s “It’s up to you” pricing strategy for its self-released digital version of “In Rainbows” the same month.

After two months, 154,449 fans had downloaded Williams’ album, though less than 19 percent paid for it.

Yet two months later [after the Nike commercial] the number of downloads had increased to 225,000 with 60,000 paid, twice the number who bought the rapper’s previous album.

Although Saul’s move sparked some major discussions in the blog community, the uproar that his Nike decision caused is now rendered moot. The handful of fans who backlashed against his decision were replaced by more than 60,000 paying fans who would. Saul’s newfound popularity is generating consumer interest all across the board, and he was able to double his album sales overnight. These sales will surely extend to his previous albums as well as his books of poetry. Of course it doesn’t make Saul’s decision to go with Nike any less cringe worthy (we all know that Nike has had a history of running sweatshops and List of Demands is about reparations), but like I said before, this move was for the greater good and it finally seems that everybody is happy. (via Ad Age)

For some reason, DC crowds always surprise me. I honestly wasn’t expecting anyone to be at the 9:30 club based on this city’s so-so track record with live music, and of course again, I was proven wrong last night. Everybody and their mama was out last night: from afropunks, blipsters, hip-hop heads, rednecks, fratboy douchebags, nubile high school girls, hipsters, gentrifyers to non-dancing Jewish chicks. Damn, Saul Williams is a uniter. Maybe he should run for president?

Funny thing is, the people you would least expect (the douchebag frat boys) knew every single word to all of his songs.

New York band Dragons of Zynth (flanked by two of Shepard Fairey’ Obama posters) opened up for Saul, and although they were a worthy opener, I almost felt like I had to be high to get into them. They’re songs were disjointed as hell and no sober person in the audience could understand them.

Saul, however, was off the chain. I know that this dude isn’t most of you guys’ cup of tea, but seriously, this dude is one of the best performers I’ve seen on stage in a long time. I didn’t know what to expect, but I had a feeling that it would be a super energetic show. During the hour and a half set, Saul and his three piece band ran through almost all of his hits from his self title album and his newest Trent Reznor produced The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! Of course, “List of Demands,” (Nike ftw?) and “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” got the biggest responses. And yeah, Saul brought out his daughter for some songs, giving new meaning to “Stuntin’ Like My Daddy.”

Video after the jump. Check the whole gallery at Flickr.

No doubt most of you have seen this new Nike commercial featuring Saul Williams. It’s been plastered across ESPN, and the NCAA March Madness tournament for the past couple weeks.Most people were a little concerned that Saul would let a song about reparations be used by a corporate giant like Nike, who still uses sweat shop labor in Asia. Saul went at the haters on his message board:

I have never seen a Nike ad and thought “I gotta get those shoes”, but I have thought, “who sings that? I gotta get that album”. which is to say, am I selling Nikes or is Nike selling Saul Williams albums?

I made $0 from the sales of that album….so far.

I might consider myself a sellout if I wrote a song FOR a corporation, but an ad exec asking me to use my song in their commercial, strikes me as not much different as a student asking to use my song in their film. Granted I can think of plenty of corporations that I would say no to and a couple of years ago I probably would have said no to Nike, just as I did to Mercedes (but they actually wanted me to write a poem about a car! A poem!). But, yes, I knew that Nike had made certain steps in addressing issues, which I had to research years ago as my neice, who is a formidable athlete, and daughter have both begged me for Nikes. Although I do not personally own a pair, I remember what it was like to be in junior high school. They’re both really excited about the commercial.

The commercial is damn cool, and I see this as a sacrifice for the greater good. If only a fraction of the millions of people who saw this ad would go and research the artist and maybe even go to his shows, then everybody wins. Saul gets more fans (and more money), and Nike gets to further cement its status as being a trend setter in the marketplace.

Hopefully, the dude got more from NIKE than the paltry $80,000 that Feist and Yael Naim got from Apple for their commercial endorsement.

Saul is playing the 9:30 Club on Monday, and it’s not sold out. Check out our interview with Saul Williams from 2006.

Update: I'm gettin' mad Google hits for this right now, so I decided to bump this post up.

Real Niggery, Vol 1 (also known as Poetry Funds Terrorism) is a mixtape/remix project from the definitive poet Saul Williams. Saul (and Catchdubs) is offering this mixtape for a LIMITED time only!

• Saul Williams – Real Niggery, Vol 1 Mixtape (Zip File)

I'm offering this through the Couch Sessions for a limited time out of the goodness of my heart.

If you haven't copped Saul's self titled album, then you are truly missing out. Like I said before, Saul makes “angry rock music that makes you want to start a riot on your way to work.” The dude is taking black music to the next level. Prince C from American Black calls Saul Williams, “the album for the new Black intelligentsia…just buy it.

Also, check out my earlier post on Saul, and his new video for Black Stacey. Saul will also be playing at the Siren Fest at Coney Island.

Note: I'm offering this up as a Zip file for all of us Windows users. If you need the file in a Mac format, then go to Catchdubs.