Slam. 1998.

Slam was a kick in the teeth before the Millenium came and went. Saul Williams is the relentless enigmatic lead Ray Joshua first spotted slinging weed in an illuminati pyramid vest. Directed by Marc Levin the film is closer in aesthetic feel to The Harder They Come 1973 or Rockers 1978 than it is to 8 Mile or Training Day. In other words it's going down and dirty into the.life of a criminal poet philosopher without sugar on top. Ray. 

He doesn't let on what he's listening to or reading. He does pay close attention though when he catches a prisoner rapping and bashing his metal table to some gangster Islam flow. Or he smirks.when a prisoner.drops some crude rhyme about guns and pussy in front of a woman. Ray has a dangerous talent when it comes to words. One scene has an all black prison yard full of convicts about to fight or get down. Ray is caught in the middle and his vulnerability becomes apparent. Before he unleashes a rhyme bomb into the face of his potential attackers. They treat him with a reverence that you usually save for geniuses or crazies on the subway.  It works! And he gets away unscathed. This is when he meets Lauren Bell played by Sonja Sohn. She persuades Ray to attend her creative writing class. And he regards her like a rare jungle orchid growing.in this D.C. hothouse. Needless to say he turns up for her class. She reveals it's her last visit to the prison and the men look forlorn and moody. Ray gets out soon after on bail, and they lose his shirt at check out time. 

They throw him an old grey t-shirt and he is released out into the world. He visits his best friends place and finds out he survived a shot to the head. He is left completely blind though and wants revenge. Ray becomes the peacemaker and pleads for a laying down of arms. Eventually they do as he says. Ray hits the streets and visits Lauren's house. She is having a gathering that turns onto a poetry slam. Ray gets involved and does a poem about time folding back on itself. Like some ghetto Einstein he turns time into waves and surfs on the breaking energy. Its hard to tell if its jive. His words though have a propulsion that defy critical bitching. You are disarmed to listen.

Ray ends up having sex with Lauren and they shop for books the following day. She buys a picture of the Brooke's slave ship that becomes.a centre piece when they have an argument. It turns out that Lauren was a drug addict and a hooker and she blames Ray for being a slave trader of the soul. A drug dealer. As he screams at her that hes just surviving the streets. Seeing her life as privileged. It's a classic mistake. As.he doesn't know anything about her.

She waves the picture of the slave ship at him like a flag. 

Ray is often seen walking through traffic like some voodoo priest illuminating the dark streets. He seems in a trance. This is philosophy where failure is death. Poetry, where you light up the void or die unknown. 

Ray is offered a chance to snitch for s lighter sentence. He declines.

He then visits a poetry slam where Lauren is performing. He goes on at the end.and slays it. Freestyling word jazz over the diners and the schmoozers and the applause and the disdain. He wants the Universe. He wants love. He wants gangsters guns to melt like ice creams and run down drains. He wants brains on fire to navigate by. He wants to land. He is exhausted Peter Panning the night sky. He wants an airstrip of Buddhas enlightened minds. Glass from sand. Water over dirty streets. Empty hands. Peace to heal the sick. Memories reset. A mopped up mess.