Saul Willams

Amethyst Rock Star

Universal

Poetry and spoken word slams are the new hot shit in the urban set these days, and the Michael Jordan of the art form has finally dropped a full-length album to whet the appetites of the new-age beatnik followers fiending for a major release.

Amethyst Rock Star is the debut release of New York poet laureate Saul Williams, whose extraordinary talent led to a starring role in 1998's definitive street-poetry flick "Slam," which in turn gave him even more prominence. He and the movie have singlehandedly inspired a number of modern-day Ginsburgs to try their hand at the art.

Williams' spoken word manifests a number of human emotions: Anger, hatred, love, motivation, etc. and manages to roll them all up in 11 powerful tracks. "Penny for a Thought" is an amusing poem in which Williams challenges the masses to understand the absurdity of its wasteful ways. "Om Nia Merican" is a blazing piece that appears to be almost mocking the clich