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
What's wrong with hip-hop is the system that controls the definition of it. There needs to be more balance on the airwaves.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the issues within the hip-hop industry regarding control and representation.
Saul Williams emphasizes that the true essence of hip-hop is often overshadowed by the prevailing systems that dictate its narrative and accessibility. He calls for a more equitable representation in the media, suggesting that a diverse range of voices and styles should be allowed to flourish in hip-hop culture, thereby enriching the genre as a whole.
Themes
Hip-HopBalanceRepresentationMediaCulture
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about music's impact, one could include this quote to point out the need for diverse voices in hip-hop.
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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