A Poet’s Attempt to Raise His Voice

Poet Saul Williams wants us to read it this way: Humans are equations--beings to be worked through step by step on life’s page.

Since his 1998 cinematic coup, “Slam,” Williams has been lauded as one of the most “powerful voices of the hip-hop generation,” a label he finds not necessarily negative but “limiting.” His latest project will broaden that perception. “She” (MTV / Pocket Books) is Williams’ hard look at his “feminine side”--a world apart from the extroverted sinew of “Slam.”

“All of the entries in my journal at the time were ‘She did this,’ ‘She did that,’ ” Williams explains. “Later I realized that in a relationship, I was choosing to play the role of a victim. I was the root of the problem.”

Shifting out of MC boast mode, the Brooklyn-born and now L.A.-based actor is turning his sights to more complex interiors.

“Part of my problem with hip-hop is that it doesn’t transcend,” he says. “So many MCs hide behind their baggies, not wanting to show vulnerability. It kills the legitimacy. You have to move beyond shallow artistry to your higher self.”

In the post-poetry-slam era, what’s the future of the performance and lyric line?

“I don’t know. I’m not a loyalist to any particular form,” Williams says. “I’m more concerned about just getting information out there.”