Songs My Mother Taught Me: Why the Artist Must Take Sides
Haymarket Books, September 2026, 204 pages — Vanguard Series
Williams answers the question “what radicalized you?” — tracing a line from Amiri Baraka to Brazilian bar musicians to Palestinian hip-hop, and building a case, after Paul Robeson, for why today’s artists cannot remain neutral in the face of injustice. “We need songs that crumble empires.”
Saul represents, for so many of us, the boundless potential of a radical imagination unencumbered by the confines of the medium.
Exquisite and essential reading for the revolution from one of our greatest minds.
When Saul Williams articulates the bedrock belief that 'a deep-seated love of humanity lies in the heart of every revolutionary,' you know you can believe him.
Songs My Mother Taught Me recharges your political battery! This book is for anyone in search of a new now, anyone who knows art is a form of weaponry, anyone looking to sharpen their practice into a tool that sculpts new worlds.
Who must we be in a world premised on individualism and evisceration? In Songs My Mother Taught Me, griot Saul Williams reminds us that rebellion is a choice within reach. Beyond announcing who Saul is, this book asks who the fuck you are.