There is no one definitive profession in the diverse career of New York native Saul Williams. While finishing his MFA in Acting at NYU’s Tisch School of Arts, Williams had immersed himself in open-mic poetry, earning a lead role in the 1998 film Slam. Around this time he had also been breaking ground in music. He released his debut album Amethyst Rock Star in 2001, produced by Rick Rubin. Williams has performed in over 30 countries and read in over 300 universities, with invitations that have spanned from the White House, the Sydney Opera House, Lincoln Center, The Louvre, The Getty Center, Queen Elizabeth Hall, to countless villages, townships, community centers, and prisons across the world. In 2014, he was the lead in the broadway musical Holler If Ya Hear Me, inspired by the life and music of Tupac Shakur. Williams has released five studio albums and toured with artists such as Nine Inch Nails and The Mars Volta. His fifth studio album, MartyrLoserKing, due out in 2016, follows a new world tour and to-be announced collaborations with several artists, producers, and writers.