Science-Fiction performance-poetry, anyone? But, of course it exists -
and no better example than this from Saul Williams:
Lyrics:
...Through meditation I program
my heart
to beat breakbeats and hum basslines on
exhalation
*Saul beatboxes* "ohm"
I burn seven day candles that melt
into twelve inch circles on my mantle
and spin funk like myrrh
*Saul beatboxes* "ohm"
and I can fade worlds in and out with my
mixing patterns
letting the Earth spin as I blend in Saturn
niggaz be like spinning windmills, braiding
hair
locking, popping, as the sonic force
of the soul keeps the planets rocking
the beat don't stop when, soulless matter
blows
into the cosmos, trying to be stars
the beat don't stop when, Earth sends out
satellites
to spy on Saturnites and control Mars
cause niggaz got a peace treaty with Martians
and we be keepin em up to date with sacred
gibberish
like "sho' nuff" and "it's
on"
the beat goes on, the beat goes on, the beat
goes "ohm"
And I roam through the streets of downtown
Venus
trying to auction off monuments of Osiris'
severed penis
but they don't want no penis in Venus
for androgynous cosmology sets their spirits
free
and they neither men nor women be
but they be down with a billion niggaz who
have yet to see
that interplanetary truth is androgynous
and they be sending us shoutouts through
shooting stars
and niggaz be like, "Whattup?" and
talking Mars
cause we are so-lar and regardless of how far
we roam from home
the universe remains our center, like
"ohm"
I am no Earthling, I drink moonshine on Mars
and mistake meteors for stars cause I can't
hold my liquor
but I can hold my breath and ascend like wind
to the black hole
and play galaxaphones on the fire escapes of
your soul
blowing tunes through lunar wombs,
impregnating stars
giving birth to suns, that darken the skins
that skin our drums
and we be beating infinity over sacred hums
spinning funk like myrrh until Jesus comes
and Jesus comes everytime we drum
and the moon drips blood and eclipses the sun
and out of darkness comes a *Saul beatboxes*
and out of darkness comes a *Saul beatboxes*
and out of darkness comes the...
A great introduction, too, into the Science-Fiction sub-culture of
Afrofuturism. You may never have heard of this, but it's all around us: Sly and
the Family Stone were musical Afrofuturists; hell, 'The Matrix' series was pure
Afro-Liberation Theology: what bit of 'Zion' didn't you get!?
We all have a dream, my brothers and sisters; mine is that
Science-Fiction will set us all free one day - and it won't just be Whitey on
the Moon...
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