Saul Williams - "Saul Williams" (Red Ink, 2004)

Saul Williams is perhaps best-known for his debut with KRS-One as one of the performers in the film "Slam." But his blend of beat-hop poetry continues to impress on his second solo album on the Red Ink label. This isn't your everyday hip hop experience. Williams is an angry voice in a ghetto-saturated rap wasteland, and he's wanting to take his genre back for the street poets who invented it. "I've got a list of demands written on the palm of my hand," he yells. "I ball my fist so you will know where I stand ... we're living hand to mouth!" The music inventively blends traditional rap beats with live punk rock instrumentation, Williams' attempt to inject his music with raw power. Some of the more notable tracks, however, are the most sparse. "Black Student Movement" features a raw percussive backdrop as Williams speaks on the state of race relations today, particularly regarding the war on Iraq: "Uncle Sam signs you up. Benefits ... and a gun. Now tell me where my niggas at?" The album is a stunningly solid change of pace from the gang warfare norm. Too bad no one's heard it.

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