Saul Williams: Amethyst Rock Star : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Hip-hop poet Saul Williams brims with raw word power on his debut full-length album; he's armed with an old-soul fierceness and enough conviction to leave posturing rappers quaking in their half-laced Timberlands. Amethyst Rock Star is more of an event than an LP, an electrified head rush of street prophecy, dense wordplay and urgent truth-speaking. The diverse, Rick Rubin-helmed background sonics play second fiddle to Williams' thunderous verses, but that doesn't stop the groaning funk-metal guitars, spare rhythms and the digital menace of DJ Krust's drum-and-bass beats from magnifying the experience. This is an album of all substance and no singles; Williams' thickets of metaphors may cause more head throbs than head nods among casual listeners. But those who put time into Rock Star will reap the rewards. When Williams is in the zone, he spits enough fire to wreck a thousand open-mike nights.

KATHRYN MCGUIRE
(RS 871 - June 21, 2001)