i laced my shoes with sorrow and walked a weary road dead end streets don't come undone with double knots wing tipped shoes that walk on air through vacant lots
Saul WilliamsRead
Hip-hop is still cool at a party. But to me, hip-hop has never been strictly a party; it is also there to elevate consciousness.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Hip-hop is more than just entertainment; it serves to raise awareness and provoke thought.
Saul Williams emphasizes that while hip-hop is often associated with lively parties and entertainment, its deeper purpose is to elevate the consciousness of individuals and society as a whole. He suggests that hip-hop transcends mere enjoyment and plays a crucial role in stimulating awareness and encouraging reflection on important societal issues.
Themes
Hip-HopMusicConsciousnessArtElevation
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the power of music to inspire social change, I might use this quote to illustrate how hip-hop can serve a greater purpose than just entertainment.
More from Saul Williams
All quotes →There is no music more powerful than hip-hop. No other music so purely demands an instant affirmative on such a global scale. When the beat drops, people nod their heads, “yes,” in the same way that they would in conversation with a loved one, a parent, professor, or minister.
Saul WilliamsRead
Have you ever lost yourself in a kiss? I mean pure psychedelic inebriation. Not just lustful petting but transcendental metamorphosis when you became aware that the greatness of this being was breathing into you. Licking the sides and corners of your mouth, like sealing a thousand fleshy envelopes filled with the essence of your passionate being and then opened by the same mouth and delivered back to you, over and over again - the first kiss of the rest of your life.
Saul WilliamsRead
We are unraveling our navels so that we may ingest the sun. We are not afraid of the darkness. We trust that the moon shall guide us. We are determining the future at this very moment. We know that the heart is the philosopher's stone. Our music is our alchemy.
Saul WilliamsRead
Why shouldn't rap be esoteric, able to take in current events, history and criticism? I guess it's this old idea of containment - that rappers, because they're black, can't and shouldn't aspire to look outside the ghetto for influence.
Saul WilliamsRead
A lie preserved in stained glass doesn't make it more true.
Saul WilliamsRead
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