Trent Reznor produced this genre-busting album, which was released online for free - or for $5. This physical release has several bonus tracks not included in the download

Track Listing

1. Black History Month
2. Convict Colony
3. Tr(n)igger
4. Sunday Bloody Sunday
5. Break
6. Niggy Tardust
7. DNA
8. WTF!
9. Scared Monkey
10. Raw
11. Skin of a Drum
12. No One Ever Does
13. Banged and Blown Through
14. Raised to be Lowered
15. The RitualBonus Tracks:
16. Pedagogue of Young Gods
17. Can't Hide Love (Earth Wind and Fire cover)
18. Gunshots by Computer
19. Survivalism (Open Heart Clinic Remix)
20. List of Demands

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Product Details

• Released on: 2008-07-08
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics
• Dimensions: .15 pounds

Album Description
Saul Williams with his album, Inevitable Rise & Liberation of Niggy Tardust! The CD contains five exclusive bonus tracks including 'List Of Demands', featured in the massive Nike 'My Better' TV campaign. Also features a cover of U2's 'Sunday Bloody Sunday.' Album produced by Trent Reznor/NIN. First establishing himself as an influential poet, and then as an award-winning screenwriter/actor, Saul Williams then went on to establish himself as an MC. His approach to MCing, though, wasn't exactly in line with the traditional school of Hip-Hop. His rhymes weren't really rhymes but rather his poetry delivered in a frenzied spoken word manner that was more rhythmic than alliterate.

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Customer Reviews

The Return of the Grippo King
With the invention of the Niggy Tardust persona Saul Williams has escalated his performance far beyond the traditional role of the MC. He's birthed Niggy as some kind of spectral shaman over a ritual of reflection on the past, present, and future of Hip-Hop, but more than that, he makes the ritual fun. Saul's overwhelming live charisma transfers over to disc with little impact lost.

This collaboration with Trent Reznor and CX KiDTRONiK among others pushes genre boundaries while hearkening back to the Bomb Squad production of early Public Enemy proving that, in the right hands, Hip-Hop can still be a tool of liberation.

Saul Williams for Vice President
Saul Williams is making a righteous statement with this album, and it seems that many people have missed the point. The rap industry has dumbed down its most prominent figures into n-words, the very thing many of its artists have been fighting against in their poetry. Subtly stated in the chorus of the satirical opening track, "The banana peels are carefully placed", Saul is pointing out that the state of mainstream rap is just waiting for the artist to slip and fall back into the unevolved, simian craving for "money cash hoes". I have always believed there is a difference between rap and hip-hop. Hip-hop to me has a more positive connotation, with progressive lyricists such as Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and Common cutting paths underground to shed a positive, open-minded message. Saul is among these leaders in the hip-hop genre.

Let's not forget that Saul was the first semi-well known artist to release his album online exclusively. Yes, months before radiohead, and about a year before his co-conspirator Trent Reznor, this was the initial slap in the face to the music industry.

The dark pulse of Trent Reznor driven beats is the perfect backdrop for the dark message Saul is trying to convey. Unless he completely sells out, he will never "team with a big name producer"; he represents the anti-mainstream. Key tracks such as "Black History Month", "Tr(n)igger", "Niggy Tardust", "Raised to Be Lowered", and "The Ritual" demonstrate the theme of his concept album perfectly. Quoted from the song "Niggy Tardust" - "When I say Niggy, you say nothing. Niggy - NOTHING! Shut up." There's another person who missed the point.

As a twenty-something white male, I feel that Saul's political poetry stands alongside Barack Obama in pushing racism back into the 20th century. Ignore the naysayers, and do not ignore this album.

Pure poetry
This is a superb album. If all hip hop was this good....
"Niggy Tardust" is not just hip hop but also combines elements of industrial rock and other genres in a very artistically pleasing way. Both the sound and the lyrics are inspiring. The subject matter may not be comfortable for some but we need to listen anyway. Saul Williams is political and that's the way he should be.