Saul Williams

Practically the only art Saul Williams hasn’t dabbled in is painting, or maybe pottery. The poet/actor/musician/activist/writer/lecturer conquers everything else. Williams rose out of New York’s spoken-word scene in the mid-’90s, then co-wrote and starred in Slam, the 1998 film that won Cannes’ Caméra d’Or and Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize. Then came music, which found Williams performing with the likes of Nas, The Fugees, and Zack De La Rocha. Williams’ buddy Trent Reznor co-produced 2007’s The Inevitable Rise And Liberation Of Niggy Tardust!, and it sounds like it, but Williams opts for a wider and warmer array of sounds and beats on his latest, 2011’s Volcanic Sunlight. Produced by Renaud Letang (Feist, Manu Chao, Jane Birkin), the album features a guest spot from cybernetic chanteuse Janelle Monáe (“Dance”), and the tribalistic TV On The Radio-sound-alike “Explain My Heart” as its first single.

Updated 02/08/2012