Vol 12 / Trk 08 / List of Demands (Reparations) / Saul Williams

mewithoutYou is a tough act to follow. I’m g0ing to veer here a bit, away from the dramatic swings in dynamics and toward a more straight forward rock song.

When I read T. Woodford’s declaration of Aaron Weiss as a poet I immediately thought of my favorite rock poet—Saul Williams.

Saul is vicious. And smart. And vicious. William’s music hits hard, sometimes musically, always lyrically. His 2007 record The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! completely floored me when I first heard it. At first because of it’s genius re-imagining of my all-time favorite record and then because of William’s deft hand at revealing subtle truths about race and wealth.

William’s is very active politically—an outspoken member of Occupy Musicians and a war protestor. Which made his decision to license this song for a Nike ad campaign quite controversial. I’ve decided to suspend my judgement—because it was that Nike commercial that first turned me on to Williams, and because List of Demands quite simply kicks my ass in.

b.klops

Filed under: Mixtape, NEIMT, Vol 12, Saul Williams