Saul Williams

Saul Stacey Williams (born February 29, 1972) is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, musician, slam poet, writer, and actor. He is known for his blend of poetry and alternative hip hop and for his lead roles in the 1998 independent film Slam and the 2013 jukebox musical, Holler If Ya Hear Me, featuring Tupac Shakur's music. 2Early lifeEdit Williams was born in Newburgh, New York, and is the youngest of three children in his family. He attended Newburgh Free Academy, where he wrote his song "Black Stacey". He graduated from Morehouse College with a BA in acting and philosophy, then moved to New York City where he earned an MFA in acting from New York University's Graduate Acting Program at the Tisch School of the Arts. While at New York University he became part of the New York café poetry scene. Williams has also lived in Brazil as an exchange student from 1988 to 1989. 2CareerEdit 3PoetryEdit By 1995, Williams had become an open mic poet. In 1996, he won the title of Nuyorican Poets Cafe's Grand Slam Champion. The documentary film SlamNation follows Williams and the other members of the 1996 Nuyorican Poets Slam team (Beau Sia, muMs da Schemer, and Jessica Care Moore) as they compete in the 1996 National Poetry Slam held in Portland, Orego