Saul Williams’s new album:

I’ve been an admirer of poet, musician and actor Saul Williams since I saw him in the movie Slam nearly ten years ago. So I was totally geeked when I got his newsletter telling me he’s got a new album out, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! In this interview, Williams discussed the influences and purpose behind the project.

On the one hand I was inspired by Bowie and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy
Stardust, by title and by concept. I also believe that Electric
Ladyland was a concept album too, and Niggy Tardust is musically far
more related to Electric Ladyland meets Afrika Bambaataa than it is to
Ziggy Stardust. Where as Starchild and George Clinton, there’s a huge
connection to that because that’s what I was listening to while I was
recording, was a lot of Funkadelic. I think that music is extremely
important when you think of the role that James Brown, Bootsy Collins,
and George Clinton have played in contemporary music, there’s nothing
like that today. It’s what transformed the bass and the sound of the
bass into what it is now in contemporary music. There’s nothing in our
generation that rivals that.

This is Williams’s third album and, at producer Trent Reznor’s encouragement and of his own accord. He’s going Radiohead. In ordering, you can either pay $5 or nothing. Your choice.

As a loyal fan of both hip-hop culture and technological innovation, seeing the two coming together is like a chocolate and peanut butter injection. I’m giving the man 5$. And a ton of praise for running towards the future.

• Category: heroes