Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Dead Emcee Scrolls: The Lost Teachings of Hip-Hop
    The Dead Emcee Scrolls: The Lost Teachings of Hip-Hop
    The Dead Emcee Scrolls: The Lost Teachings of Hip-Hop
    Ebook198 pages2 hours

    The Dead Emcee Scrolls: The Lost Teachings of Hip-Hop

    By Saul Williams

    4.5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    In the underground labyrinths of New York City's subway system, beneath the third rail of a long forgotten line, Saul Williams discovered scrolls of aged yellowish-brown paper rolled tightly into a can of spray paint. His quest to decipher this mystical ancient text resulted in a primal understanding of the power hip-hop has to teach us about ourselves and the universe around us.

    Now, for the first time, Saul Williams shares with the world the wonder revealed to him by the Dead Emcee Scrolls.

    I have paraded as a poet for years now. In the proc ess of parading I may have actually become one, but that's another story, another book. This book is a book that I have been waiting to finish since 1995. This is the book that finished me. The story I am about to tell may sound fantastic. It may anger some of you who have followed my work. You may feel that you have come to know me over the years, and in some cases you have, but in others...well, this is a confession.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMTV Books
    Release dateFeb 1, 2006
    ISBN9781416523048
    The Dead Emcee Scrolls: The Lost Teachings of Hip-Hop
    Author

    Saul Williams

    Saul Williams is an acclaimed poet, musician, and actor. The film Slam, which he cowrote and starred in, won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival (1998), and the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. He has contributed to The New York Times, voiced Jean-Michel Basquiat in Downtown 81, and cut records with Rick Rubin and Trent Reznor. He has spoken at more than 200 universities where his poetry has been added to the curriculum of dozens of creative writing programs, and has taught poetry/performance workshops around the world. He recently starred in the Broadway musical Holler If Ya Hear Me. His books include S/HE, ,said the shotgun to the head., and The Dead Emcee Scrolls. He lives in New York. Visit his website at SaulWilliams.com.

    Read more from Saul Williams

    Related to The Dead Emcee Scrolls

    Related ebooks

    Poetry For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Five Poems

      Jan 1, 2022

      The painting is of a door, its wood so warpedwith moisture it cannot close. It stays ajar leaving a sliver of light—enough to suggestsomething sweet and almost unreachable behind the door—and you sit in yourroom working on the bills or those comforti

      4 min read

    • Article

      The South Got Something To Say: A Celebration Of Southern Rap (2000-2004)

      Aug 3, 2020

      Our list of the best songs, albums and mixtapes by Southern rappers is a celebration that recenters the South as a creative center of hip-hop and honors the region for all that it has given to us.

      25 min read

    • Article

      What Was It About Animorphs?

      Jan 23, 2019

      What Was It About Animorphs?
      7 min read

    • Article

      Swansongs And Southern Discomfort

      Oct 27, 2022

      THE BORDERLAND BETWEEN popular fiction and literary fiction is now fertile territory. Once upon a time it was easy to tell them apart. Popular and genre fiction were in small format paper-backs, literary fiction larger: now all have been promoted to

      6 min read

    • Article

      Ngā Pukapuka

      Dec 7, 2020

      Ngā Pukapuka
      4 min read

    • Article

      Bookshelf

      Mar 2, 2020

      There are simply some books that you inadvertently read out loud to whoever is closest—cat or human. I found myself having a giant laugh and then being unable to resist sharing long passages of Carla Funk’s memoir. Though I worried that the religious

      5 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Tim Lane

      Dec 8, 2021

      We stopped at the Topaz Internment Camp, where my wife’s family was held during World War II, near the tiny town of Delta, Utah. We found the apocalyptic remnants of one of our country’s great shames. The post A Year in Reading: Tim Lane appeared fi

      7 min read

    • Article

      Best Of The Year That Was

      Dec 23, 2020

      Best Of The Year That Was
      5 min read

    • Article

      Eroded Tropes and Fears and Consequences: The Millions Interviews Alyson Hagy

      Sep 28, 2018

      It’s been 18 years since Alyson Hagy and I both won a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Nested within the list of grantees was a scattering of addresses. I wrote to Alyson. She answered. We’ve seen each other just twice in all these yea

      8 min read

    • Article

      Tangled Up In The Blues

      Dec 14, 2022

      Tangled Up In The Blues
      3 min read

    • Article

      Reader’s Choice

      Jul 13, 2020

      Reader’s Choice
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Gift of Rereading

      Mar 17, 2023

      The Gift of Rereading
      3 min read

    • Article

      Shelf Life

      Nov 2, 2023

      I’m not sure if I can truly pinpoint the moment my new novel Once A Monster was born – but I can trace the history of some of its most important ingredients. As a boy, looking through an old illustrated book of Greek myths, and being at once captiva

      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Dead Emcee Scrolls

    4.5/5

    6 ratings3 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      I had trouble connecting with this work until I stopped trying to make sense of the words on the page and, instead, started hearing Saul's voice delivering this message in my mind, with his distinct rhythm and inflection and flow. Then it became magic.
    • 4/5
      Absolutely worthwhile. The language-play here is touching and memorable, with ideas/poems worth considering and rereading all over the place.
    • 4/5
      Never has hip-hop seemed so mystical.

    Book preview

    The Dead Emcee Scrolls - Saul Williams

    Saul is every kind of great artist combined into one.

    —Nas

    In the underground labyrinths of New York City’s subway system, beneath the third rail of a long forgotten line, Saul Williams discovered scrolls of aged yellowish-brown paper rolled tightly into a can of spray paint. His quest to decipher this mystical ancient text resulted in a primal understanding of the power hip-hop has to teach us about ourselves and the universe around us.

    Now, for the first time, Saul Williams shares with the world the wonder revealed to him by the Dead Emcee Scrolls.

    I have paraded as a poet for years now. In the process of parading I may have actually become one, but that’s another story, another book. This book is a book that I have been waiting to finish since 1995. This is the book that finished me. The story I am about to tell may sound fantastic. It may anger some of you who have followed my work. You may feel that you have come to know me over the years, and in some cases you have, but in others … well, this is a confession.

    A profound poet who inspires us. He challenges us to be individuals.

    —Russell Simmons

    Cover design by John Vairo Jr.

    Author photo by: katina parker

    Register online at www.simonandschuster.com for more information on this and other great books.

    Published by Pocket Books

    PRAISE FOR SAUL WILLIAMS AND THE DEAD EMCEE SCROLLS

    "Saul Williams is the prototype synthesis between poetry and hip-hop, stage and page, rap and prose, funk and mythology, slam and verse … he avoids classifications, and empowers the human voice. All of this is represented in Williams’s newest book, The Dead Emcee Scrolls." —Mark Eleveld, author of The Spoken Word Revolution: Slam, Hip-Hop and the Poetry of the Next Generation

    Once again one of the finest minds in the country has put pen to paper, voice to verse, and dug into the deep, rich planet better known as the souls of black folks. —Nelson George, author of Hip-Hop America

    One of the most inspiring voices in American hip-hop. —Trent Reznor, Nine Inch Nails

    An astonishing … poet. The internal rhyme, metrics, and imagery are so fleet … that they’re humbling. —The Washington Post

    Hip-hop’s poet laureate … Saul Williams isn’t out to save hip-hop, but he is out to elevate the art form [and] is effectively breaking boundaries while blurring the line between poetry and rap. —CNN

    [Saul Williams] is a mighty talent. He takes readers on epic voyages into frontiers that offer a refreshing awakening of the mind and a roller coaster ride into an abyss of demons, deities, occult symbols, and more. —Amsterdam News

    SAUL WILLIAMS, one of America’s bestselling poets, is the author of three previous books of poetry: , said the shotgun to the head and S/he (both from MTV/Pocket Books) and The Seventh Octave (Moore Black Press). His music albums, Amethyst Rock Star and Saul Williams, earned him great critical acclaim, as did his starring role in Slam. Williams also cowrote that film, which garnered the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the Camera D’or at the Cannes Film Festival.

    THE DEAD EMCEE SCROLLS

    ALSO BY SAUL WILLIAMS

    , said the shotgun to the head.

    The Seventh Octave

    POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

    1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

    www.SimonandSchuster.com

    Copyright © 2006 by Saul Williams

    MTV Music Television and all related titles, logos, and characters are trademarks of MTV Networks, a division of Viacom International Inc.

    All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

    ISBN: 1-4165-2304-9

    POCKET and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

    Excerpt from Wattstax courtesy of Columbia Pictures.

    Funky Drummer words and music by James Brown. © 1970 (Renewed) Golo Publishing Co. All rights administered by Unichappell Music Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

    Visit us on the World Wide Web: http://www.SimonandSchuster.com

    ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-2304-8 (eBook)

    PUBLISHER'S NOTE

    This eBook is best viewed at smaller font settings on your device.

    This book is dedicated

    to the dedicated:

    Afronauts of over-

    crammed space, those of

    sewed-in creases and

    ironed shoelaces, Gazelle

    framed screw-faces.

    Way before court cases

    were platinum sales,

    quest for mix-tapes like

    the Holy Grail. Retro

    earthquake fitting.

    Metro landmark bidding.

    NGHs was wiggin out!

    Newburgh know what

    I’m talking bout. B-

    boys! B-girls!

    Caesars and Jheri curls.

    This book is dedicated

    to the under-rated

    hustler, high school

    dropouts, school dance

    shoot-outs, NGHs with

    Uzis! Bitches and

    floozies!

    This book is dedicated to

    y’all too! Pull your

    panties up and feel me!

    Help me, lord. Heal me.

    This book is dedicated to

    the Sunday preacher:

    the original pimped out,

    laid back hustler, with

    God on his side and

    Italian leather in his ride.

    Toot your horn

    and feel me.

    This book is dedicated to

    the sho nuff sho nuff.

    The nappy dugout:

    corn-rowed, twisted and

    braided and the NGH

    who parlayed it into cold

    cash. NGH, you crazy!

    I’m ’a sick my dogs on

    you.

    This book is dedicated to

    those who prayed for it,

    who saw it before it was

    here, who sensed it from

    the beginning.

    This book is dedicated to

    the beginning. Before

    before and right now.

    This book is dedicated to

    the lunch table. The

    boom bap. I still got my

    12 inch of Spoonin Rap!

    To all the original

    blueprints. I know ya

    heard of that!

    This book is dedicated

    to yellow caps in

    Lemon Heads boxes

    (Krak Attack!), three

    quarter bombers, and

    Africans selling time

    machines in Times

    Square by moonlight

    (clear nail polish on fake

    gold will make it last

    longer. Ain’t nobody

    talkin bout diamonds.

    Not yet.

    But this book is dedicated

    to that too!). Name belts,

    name rings, name-plates,

    gold ropes, door knocker

    earrings, and gold fronts.

    This book is dedicated to

    that more than once.

    This book is dedicated to

    Phillie blunts, Oakland

    Raider jackets, X caps,

    Spike’s Joint, and a

    bunch of shit that

    became corny overnight.

    This book is dedicated to

    those that write! Fab 5,

    Futura, Doze, shake your

    cans and feel me!

    This book is dedicated to

    floor wizards spinning on

    backs, head, and hands,

    and cute girls that ain’t

    afraid to dance.

    But, nah, it ain’t only

    about the old school.

    This book is dedicated to

    platinum grills and apple

    bottoms. Backpackers in

    Benzes with white Jesus

    medallions and his crown

    of diamond thorns

    hanging from their

    necks. Hardy har har,

    NGHs. Change clothes

    and feel me.

    This book is dedicated to

    moguls, def to death.

    Please don’t take a shit

    on the chest of our

    generation (Vicelord,

    your majesty). Ugly

    NGHs with money to

    burn. The ass thou

    pimpest shall be thine

    own. Funk God I know

    you feel me. Now let me

    hold a li’l something so I

    can get the IRS off my

    back (I can’t always bring

    myself to pay taxes to a

    government that uses our

    money to steal more land

    and ignore the ongoing

    plight of the poor in our

    names! What’s realer

    than that?). All this

    money is dirty. You can’t

    buy freedom, but let’s

    buy some airtime and

    shelf-space and elevate

    this freedom of speech.

    Free your mind,

    brother. Peaceful Pimpin’

    since ’72. Ask my baby

    mamas, they’ll tell ya.

    What? You never heard

    of that?

    This book is dedicated to

    Crunchy Black,

    Willie D, Face, Kane,

    and all you dark-skinned

    cats that had to smile to

    be seen.

    This book is dedicated to

    freedom, although it

    comes at a cost.

    Don’t steal it, y’all

    (steal should read

    find if the subject is

    white, in which case

    the subject is free

    to help himself).

    This book is dedicated to

    white people, ’cause y’all

    feel it too. All these

    so-called races. What we

    runnin’ for? Don’t believe

    the hype! We are one.

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1