A Personal Idol: Saul Williams

I’ve never been the type of person to endorse another individual’s intellectual work as much as I am proud to share with all of you, Saul Williams. We all have inspirations, aspirations and role models in this world and Saul Williams is mine. I am so in love with Saul’s work, it’s not even funny. I envy the way he writes and the way he thinks. I envy his cleverness and his influence. I envy his poetic talents and his unbelievable way with words. I love his message, although I am not religious like Williams, I just might become through his work.

the greatest americans have not yet been born,
they are patiently waiting for the past to die.

American Recordings boasts, “Never before has the power of word and our ability to dictate our reality been expressed so clearly and creatively, at once. Saul’s poetry represents an evolution of thought, artistry and spiritual consciousness delivered with the lyrical fervor of hip hop and the grace and linguistic mastery of Shakespeare. Saul channels the voice of the New Age, yet, allows a wide ranging stream of consciousness to distort the melody like some sort of lyrical Hendrix. Saul’s love of language which is rooted in his love of hip hop has come full circle as he now takes his lyricism back to it’s musical roots. Songwriting has become Saul’s latest endeavor. He envisions a hip hop that is as musically evolved as his lyricism.”

I feel as though I identify with Saul Williams a lot more than I could ever articulate here. And though I admire his work passionately, I secretly romanticize the notion that I too one day will be remotely close to his divine level… at least in writing ability.

We are all here for a reason on a particular path
You don’t need a curriculum to know that you are part of the math
Cats think I’m delirious, but I’m so damn serious
That’s why I expose my soul to the globe, the world
I’m trying to make it better for these little boys and girls
I’m not just another individual, my spirit is a part of this
That’s why I get spiritual, but I get my hymns from Him
So it’s not me, it’s He that’s lyrical
I’m not a miracle, I’m a heaven-sent instrument
My rhythmatic regimen navigates melodic notes for your soul and your mental
That’s why I’m instrumental
Vibrations is what I’m into
Yeah, I need my loot by rent day
But that is not what gives me the heart of Kunte Kinte
I’m tryina give us “us free” like Cinque
I can’t stop, that’s why I’m hot
Determination, dedication, motivation
I’m talking to you, my many inspirations
When I say I can’t, let you or self down
If I were of the highest cliff, on the highest riff
And you slipped down the side and clinched on to your life in my grip
I would never, ever let you down
And when these words are found
Let it been known that God’s penmanship has been signed with a language called love
That’s why my breath is felt by the deaf
And why my words are heard and confined to the ears of the blind
I, too, dream in color and in rhyme
So I guess I’m one of a kind in a full house
Cause whenever I open my heart, my soul, or my mouth
A touch of God reigns out

Adieu. Navid.