Saul Williams Stays on Message During Supercharged Set

"We on stage know that race is a social construct and we can go beyond it. So you can you!" No, those words didn't come from the mouth of Barack Obama but of Saul Williams, whose side stage performance attracted a path-blocking throng of onlookers. And Williams thrilled with a mix of industrial gristle, glam-rock theatrics, bristling hip-hop and poetic free-styling that was as hybrid-fused as his philosophies. Here was revolutionary music absent nostalgic shackles. Genre-bending songs such as "Niggy Tardust," "WTF!" and "Black Stacey" were simultaneously angry and provocative, while Williams and his mates' homemade costumes ensured that humor played just as much of a part in the festivities as fury.

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Song Stories

“Youth Knows No Pain”

Lykke Li | 2011

“Like on 'Youth Knows No Pain' — we are the ones that should demonstrate, because we can take it,” Likke Li said. “We can pierce ourselves, take Ecstasy, dance all night and still go to work at our McDonald's jobs.” Despite the hedonistic sentiment in the song, the Swedish singer also admitted in hindsight her youth had repercussions. “I remember when I was 18-19 and feeling that I know it all,” Li said. “I always feel that I know it all. But that song is about realizing you don’t, and reflecting, ‘Boy, if I only knew what would follow.’”

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