I first met Saul Williams back in 1999, at the very start of my journey as a musician. In one of our earliest correspondences I remember he told me “now, take it to the next level” and taking it to the next level is something Saul has always done. He has been a consistent model of what it looks like to not get stuck by your past work or what people expect of you, always evolving, from actor to poet to musician to producer to filmmaker, and beyond. Saul’s work feels particularly relevant on multiple levels in this moment in human history, as his poem from 20 years ago “The Pledge of Resistance (Not In Our Name)“ is making the rounds on social media once again and feeling as timely as it ever has, and as more and more people are making connections between genocides in the Congo, Sudan and Palestine, Saul’s work with the MartyrLoserKing project and Neptune Frost all feels extremely relevant. We talk about all this, as well as reflecting on the film SLAM and it’s 25th anniversary, on today’s episode of Worldwide Underground.
The podcast is available here and wherever you listen to podcasts, and this episode is the first one with video on Spotify and YouTube!
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Taking it to the next level with Saul Williams