Listening Post Sets Sites on Saul Williams/Nike “Collaboration”

Scott Thill calls it collaboration; I call it making a living. But, either way you look at it Saul Williams’ List of Demands (Reparations) is featured in a Nike commercial as I’ve mentioned before. Thill goes on to ponder whether the “collaboration” between the corporate giant known to use child labor and the American slam poet who questions ideas of equality and race makes any sense.

But it is nevertheless weird to watch the Nike video below, which is set to Williams’ poverty anthem “List of Demands” from his self-titled 2004 effort. After all, its title derives from trade union legalese and its oft-repeated chorus is “We’re living hand to mouth.” Even for the art-commerce merge, that skews strange as a licensing choice for a multinational corporation sometimes known for its exorbitant product pricing, troubled labor history and environmental offenses.

On both ends the licensing makes perfect sense. Nike gains the ability to use a perfectly suited - rhythm, beat, and energy wise - song to launch their new Sparq line while Saul makes some money. Given the fact The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust sold incredibly poorly (33,897 copies at $5 a pop) I would expect Saul jump at any legal opportunity to recuperate any losses accrued while creating the album.

That being said, it’s not like the guy is starving to death either…

…I guess I view the ad as more subversive than anything. For example, upon seeing/hearing the Sparq ad my roommate immediately went on itunes (gag - ed) and purchased List of Demands (Reparations). Then he went further and picked up Saul’s S/T which is filled with his blunt and effective rap style with lyrics such as:

Now, I apologize for bottling up
all the little things you said that warped my head and my gut.
Even though I always told you not to
brag about the fact that your great grand
mother was raped by her slave master. Yeah, I became
militant too.

Lyrics like that stay with you longer than a pair of shoes. As for my roommate, he has yet to purchase anything from Nike’s Sparq brand.

Original editorial via Listening Post.

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