21. Saul Williams (Poet, Musician, Actor) – An Army of Poets/the 10,000 Things

Think Again - a Big Think Podcast

Big Think / Panoply

Arts, Society & Culture

4.6 • 594 Ratings

🗓️ 7 November 2015

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Send in the poets. Send in the seducers. Vulnerable people, not invulnerable drones who can mistake a wedding party for a terrorist cell. When those mistakes are made, that is how ISIS is born. – Saul Williams Saul Williams is a fiercely original, multitalented artist who burst on the scene as an actor and a slam poet in the 1998 film Slam, which won the Grand Jury prize at Sundance, and as a rapper/musician with the 2001 album Amethyst Rock Star, produced by Rick Rubin. He has since released four additional albums, five books of poetry, and starred in the Broadway musical Holler if You Hear Me, based on the life and poetry of rapper Tupac Shakur. His latest book of poetry, U.S.(a.) captures some of his thoughts on this country and this moment in history after four years of living abroad in Paris. This week on Big Think's podcast Think Again, Saul and host Jason Gots respond to three surprise clips from the interview archives and go deep into everything from war to religion to whether Saul's art is "unpackageable". It's one of our most intense and engaging conversations yet. Listen to the end for a special bonus –– "Horn of the Clock Bike", a track from Saul's upcoming 2016 album Martyr Loser King Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Have you ever wondered what a sandwich sounds like?
0:04.3	Not much to it, is there?
0:06.2	Unless, of course, it's a Walker's sandwich.
0:10.9	Mmm, that is good.
0:12.9	Now that's what Asani should sound like.
0:15.8	Go all crisp in with walkers.
0:19.0	Delicious.
0:20.1	Hi there, I'm Jason Gottz, and you're listening to Think Again, a Big Think podcast.
0:25.9	Big Think shares bright ideas from the world's most creative thinkers and doers.
0:29.9	Since 2008, we've shared over 10,000 of them.
0:32.8	For Think Again, our producers unearth rare gems from these interview archives
0:36.9	and surprise me and my guests
0:38.6	with unexpected ideas that spark unscripted conversations.
0:42.8	Today I am very psyched to be joined by poet, musician, and actor, Saul Williams.
0:48.6	Let's just call him artists since he defies neat categorization.
0:52.7	His 1998 film Slam won the grand jury prize at Sundance.
0:57.0	He's recorded five albums and published four books of poetry.
1:01.0	And his newest book of poems, which you may pronounce variably USA or Us, says Saw, as you wish,
1:09.0	captures some of his thoughts on this country and this moment of history
1:13.2	after several years of living abroad. Welcome to the show, Saul. Why thank you? I wanted to ask you,
1:21.6	let's just start with the title of the new book, with us and then the little A in parentheses.
1:27.3	What's that all about?
	...

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