Saul Williams
The Dead Emcee Scrolls: The Lost Teachings of Hip Hop
Style Analysis by Sima Greenfield

A Confession is the introduction to Dead Emcee Scrolls where he explains his descent into the world of poetry and then the momentous discovery of The Dead Emcee Scrolls on a New York City subway. Saul Williams translate the words of emcee legends such as: Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur. The style is informal and told as an autobiography. Often he uses long complex sentences that are periodic and declarative: “I always sensed the power of the music, even though I remember the few hip-hop songs that brought tears to my eyes because they went beyond the power of our generation, nothing, absolutely nothing could have prepared me for the story that I am about to share.” Most of the words are polysyllabic and repetition often occurs in his writing. His words are sophisticated and precise sounds blend to rhythmic sound. Many -, () and rhetorical questions dot The Confession. “Instantaneously, the same mechanical gesture that occurs in moments of dialogue as a sign of agreement which subsequently, releases increased oxygen to the brain, and thus, broaden one’s ability to understand becomes the symbolic and actual gesture that connects you to the beat.”

Amethyst Rocks: Chapter One is a poem that in The Confession was the first poem he actually slammed that jump-started his poet career. It is very surreal in its imagery using such phrases as: “watermelon wings”, “snorting yams” and “wind blows my tune”. His sentences become short and simple. He often rhymes his abstract ideas using colloquial. He uses a lot of figurative language, “I stand on the block slinging amethyst rocks” this is an example of connotation used in his literature since we do not know if this is a metaphor or slang for methamphetamines. “‘Cause the Five-O to be the 666,” is a connotation of the police becoming the devil, using metonymy. Many motifs are African American culture such as the references to: Five-O (slang for police), yams (soul food), Shazaam (Shaq played a genie named Shazaam in the movie Shazaam), and watermelon (soul food). Music is also a heavy motif reflected in his writing and life in this poem he references a Snoop Dogg song in the phrase “membranes insane” and references the Prince song Purple Rain. Nature takes a strong hold in his poems saying, “I be one with rain and stars and thing with dancing feet and watermelon wings” and “I bring the sunshine and the moon. And the wind blows my tune.” He takes poetic justice in the phrase, “’Cause the Five-O be the 666,” to convey that the police are the devil. The first stanza uses urban slang and references city ghetto life then the second stanza moves to inspiration of God and natures wonders.

Untimely Meditation: Chapter 4:

Nature is referenced in phrases: blood of earth, kill fish, fallen trees and oil slicks. Music is referenced in I play scales, BA BOOM BOOM OM, Jimi’s guitar strings, purple haze (Jimi Hendrix song) Egypt is also referenced in pyramid and form of light bulbs. Fried chicken, cornmeal, sour cream, collard all reference African American food. Surrealism is shown in the phrases, “ eyes are the window of the soul is fried chicken,” and beats would echo off the stone and solidify in to the form light bulbs.”

Penny For a Thought is a poem in Dead Emcee Scrolls and the lyrics to a song on his album, “ Amethyst Rockstar.” This imagery is again very surreal, “Cartons of the Milky Way with pictures of a missing planet last seen in pursuit of an American dream.” “Your belief system ain’t louder than my car system,” is an example of juxtaposition. “My people, let Pharaoh go!” is irony because it inverts the phrase, “haraoh let my people go.” Rhetorical question frequently come up such as, “How much will it cost to buy you out of the mentality that originally bought you, a dime a dozen?” “ How can pay you in prayers” In this piece there is a anti thesis where he compares armed bank robbers asking for everyone to put their hands in the air, a minister asking the congregation to put their hands in the air and the image of Buddha with his hands in the air.

Motifs: Nature, ghetto life, food and music

Style: colloquial, surreal, abstract, repetition rhetorical questions
Figuartive Language: Anti-thesis, paradox irony, metaphors, metonymy, conceit,
Atmosphere: occasion: political, stream of consciousness, abstract language, connotation, dialect epithect, ambiguity, poetic justice: virtue rewarded or vice punished, theme: politics. Authorial: angry. Archetypes: god, Epiphany, emphasis: political justice, aactive voice

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Yet each man kills the thing he loves,
By each let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!- oscar wilde