On November 20 I saw Saul Williams in concert. He’s an impressive poet and an energetic performer. The only problem is, his work is very political and racially charged, and he was opening for Nine Inch Nails, a band largely followed by white, apolitical gothtards. I saw approximately (no wait, exactly) one black person in the audience.
So, early in the set, Saul was all, "Where my niggas at?!"
And we were all, "…"
Again, he was all, "Where my niggas at?!"
And we were all, "Um, he’s over there. By the fat goth chick. … No, the other fat goth chick. … No, the other fat goth chick."
And he was all, "Wassup, my nigga? How are you enjoying the show so far? Everything to your liking?"
And his nigga was all, "Can’t complain, Saul."
No, but seriously, Saul went through some explanation as to how we were all niggas. (Apparently he’d taken a page from Kenneth "We All Have AIDS" Cole’s playbook.) Once he called us niggas, the crowd was much more comfortable responding vocally to his solicitations.
So he said "Where my niggas at?!" again and finally got a decent response. Was way awkward and turned to being way unifying, at least in the moment.
By the way, the lyric that stuck in my mind most from the set was: "God’s just a baby. And her diaper is wet." Check out the video for that song ("List of Demands") here. And then watch the video for "Black Stacey" on his website. And then buy the album.
PS. Wordemup to his stage posse, which consisted of DJ CX Kidtronik.
Previously: Knocking White Boyz Out
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