Oh my gosh, you guys — Saul Williams is back with a completely stacked new album called Leap Year (dropping March 10th on the brilliant Anti-) and I cannot stop reading about how incredible this project is! Robert Del Naja from Massive Attack has taken production duties for the whole thing, which is already making me excited because that man knows how to build soundscapes, but Kamasi Washington actually came onboard as a collaborator too — playing saxophone on at least three tracks including one called "The End" and another titled after Maya Angelou. What's wild is that Leap Year marks Williams' eighth studio album overall (he started dropping records way back in 1998), plus he just released an EP of new material last fall alongside a full documentary film, so clearly this guy isn't even resting for one second.
Now here's where things get even better — the whole record came together while Williams was on tour with Massive Attack during early summer, and they basically turned his touring trailer into a makeshift studio which just screams creative chaos (the good kind) to me personally! Del Naja actually co-wrote three of these tracks alongside Saul, who also brings in guest features from Meshell Ndjegeocci on "The End" herself as well as poet Yung Blues. I've been following Williams forever since that first record back in '98 and watching him constantly evolve — he's someone who keeps pushing boundaries while staying deeply connected to both poetry and hip-hop at the same time, so of course this collaboration between his world and Massive Attack is genuinely one of my favorite announcements from this month.
The album also features production work by a few other collaborators on top of Del Naja, but I haven't seen everyone's contribution fully broken down yet — if anyone digs into the credits more deeply let me know! Also see: https://pitchfork.com/news/saul-williams-new-album-leap-year/
Source: https://pitchfork.com/news/saul-williams-new-album-leap-year/
Now here's where things get even better — the whole record came together while Williams was on tour with Massive Attack during early summer, and they basically turned his touring trailer into a makeshift studio which just screams creative chaos (the good kind) to me personally! Del Naja actually co-wrote three of these tracks alongside Saul, who also brings in guest features from Meshell Ndjegeocci on "The End" herself as well as poet Yung Blues. I've been following Williams forever since that first record back in '98 and watching him constantly evolve — he's someone who keeps pushing boundaries while staying deeply connected to both poetry and hip-hop at the same time, so of course this collaboration between his world and Massive Attack is genuinely one of my favorite announcements from this month.
The album also features production work by a few other collaborators on top of Del Naja, but I haven't seen everyone's contribution fully broken down yet — if anyone digs into the credits more deeply let me know! Also see: https://pitchfork.com/news/saul-williams-new-album-leap-year/
Source: https://pitchfork.com/news/saul-williams-new-album-leap-year/