By Antero Garcia
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Saul Williams is not simply an MC, or a poet, or a musician.
Williams is a healthy reminder of how words and music can reach
beyond East Coast, West Coast, black or white, and simply define
individuals based on soul.
Supporting the recent release of his album, “Amethyst Rock
Star,” on American Records, Williams played the first of two
shows at the Temple Bar in Santa Monica on Tuesday. Though he is
widely recognized for his film “Slam,” and more
recently for a part in “K-Pax,” Williams proved on
Tuesday that above all, he knows how to keep a crowd
enthralled.
Before Williams began prowling on the stage, the crowd was
already in high spirits as incense clouds filled the posh bar and
occasional laughter cut across the slick brew of live mixed hip hop
and funk. Beanies and dreadlocks filled the venue and anxious
patrons sat on the dance floor awaiting the powerful wave of energy
that Williams would soon splash.
Momentarily after the DJ spun down the final record of his set,
a swanky band of individuals took to the stage, approaching
instruments like weary friends. With piercing black eyes, Williams
hopped onto the stage and quickly began chanting the
evening’s first mystical invocation.
Next, Williams announced the new member of the night’s
band, his young daughter Saturn on violin. Unfazed by the large
audience that she was placed in front of, Saturn played her violin
throughout the majority of the evening, though no one had the heart
to let her know that she wasn’t plugged into an amp.
Besides Saturn and the unavoidable presence of Williams’
voice and intense lyrics, the other four members of the band were a
unique mesh of styles that captivated with its blending sound.
Comprised of a violist, guitarist, keyboard player and drummer, the
beat backing Williams was as intense and in-your-face as the lyrics
of Williams’ crowd-pleasing compositions.
Performing songs mainly from “Amethyst Rock Star,”
the crowd seemed overly familiar with the recently released songs,
often singing along with the complex rhymes that Williams flashed.
Performances such as “Tao of Now” and the foreboding
“Coded Language” were especially wild as the crowd
seemed raucous in its intensity.
Stopping only briefly between his songs, Williams quickly
pitched his latest endeavor to the crowd. Explaining that he had a
lot of spare time lately, Williams displayed a tie-dye t-shirt he
had made and said that his tie-dyed creations with words scrawled
on them were for sale that evening. Tie-dye by a hard rocking poet.
““ who could ask for more?
After a brief interlude, Williams and his band went into a
surprising cover of Radiohead’s melancholy hit
“Lucky.” With guitar solos being played on viola and a
more urban, American vibe imbued into the song, Williams took what
is an immensely popular Brit rock song, and transformed it into his
own statement and expression of feelings.
Another touching song the band performed was during its encore.
Singing an especially enthusiastic crowd-chanting rendition of
“Om Nia Merican,” Williams explained that the song,
which is about people in power, was especially relevant today.
As the band finally relinquished the stage and the uppity
’70s anthems returned, the audience shuffled through the
Temple Bar slowly, exhausted from the intensity of a true
performer.
It’s widely forgotten that RAP stands for “Rhythmic
American Poetry.” Thank God Saul Williams is here to
demonstrate how the style should be performed.