The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!

The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!
Studio album by Saul Williams
Released	November 1, 2007 (2007-11-01)
Genre	Industrial hip hop, industrial rock
Length	60:44
Label	Fader Label
Producer	Trent Reznor
Saul Williams chronology
Saul Williams (2004) The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! (2007) Volcanic Sunlight (2011)

The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! is the third solo studio album by Saul Williams. It was released in 2007.^[1] It peaked at number 41 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart,^[2] as well as number 89 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.^[3] The album is entirely produced by Trent Reznor.^[4] The title of the album is a reference to David Bowie's 1972 album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.^[5]

Release

The album was available for purchase or free download at NiggyTardust.com. The website allowed users to pay $5 to support the artist and be given the choice of downloading a 192 kbit/s MP3 version, 320 kbit/s MP3 version or lossless FLAC version.^[6] Digital distribution of the album is provided by Musicane. Reznor publicised the album on the Nine Inch Nails website and mailing list, saying that "Saul's not the household name that Radiohead is" and urging fans to support him.^[7] This was a reference to Radiohead's In Rainbows, which was released in October on the band's own website with customers choosing how much they want to pay for the album. The free option has since been removed, with a message on the website claiming their intention had always been to remove it after 100,000 free downloads of the album.^[8]

It was announced at nin.com that, as of January 2, 2008, two months since its release, 154,449 people had downloaded NiggyTardust. Of that number, 28,322 people chose to pay the asked price of US$5 (US$141,610 Total). In comparison, Saul's self-titled album has sold 30,000 copies since its release in 2004.^[9]

A physical release of the album was released on July 8, 2008. It contained five bonus tracks.^[10]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[11]
The A.V. Club	B+[12]
Robert Christgau	[13]
Pitchfork	7.3/10[14]
RapReviews.com	4.5/10[15]
Rolling Stone	[16]

Thom Jurek of AllMusic gave the album 4.5 stars out of 5, saying: "This is Williams' finest moment, and interestingly, one of Reznor's, too."^[11]

Quentin B. Huff of PopMatters placed it at number 12 on the "101 Hip-Hop Albums of 2007" list.^[17]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Saul Williams and Trent Reznor, except where noted

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Black History Month"	Williams, Reznor, Thavius Beck	3:15
2.	"Convict Colony"	Williams, Reznor, CX KiDTRONiK	3:24
3.	"Tr(n)igger"		3:54
4.	"Sunday Bloody Sunday"	Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jr.	4:05
5.	"Break"		3:18
6.	"NiggyTardust"	Williams, Reznor, CX KiDTRONiK	3:40
7.	"DNA"	Williams, Reznor, Beck, Isaiah "Ikey" Owens	4:02
8.	"WTF!"	Williams, Reznor, CX KiDTRONiK	5:29
9.	"Scared Money"		3:48
10.	"Raw"		2:50
11.	"Skin of a Drum"		3:55
12.	"No One Ever Does"		3:14
13.	"Banged and Blown Through"		3:43
14.	"Raised to be Lowered"	Williams, Reznor, CX KiDTRONiK	5:22
15.	"The Ritual"		5:20
Total length:			60:44

Deluxe CD edition bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
16.	"Pedagogue of Young Gods"		3:18
17.	"World on Wheels"		1:27
18.	"Can't Hide Love"	Skip Scarborough	2:27
19.	"Gunshots by Computer"	Reznor	1:44
20.	"List of Demands (Reparations)"	Williams	3:18
Total length:			71:46

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes.

Musicians

• Saul Williams – vocals, programming
• Trent Reznor – production, programming, backing vocals (5, 8)
• Atticus Ross – additional programming
• Thavius Beck – production (1, 7), programming (1, 7)
• CX KiDTRONiK – production, programming, backing vocals (1, 6)
• Isaiah "Ikey" Owens – keyboards (7)
• Xuly Azaro – backing vocals (9)
• Maryam Nalo Blacksher – viola (13)
• Gingger Shankar – double violin (13)
• Persia White – backing vocals (11)
• Alan Moulder – mixing
• Brian Gardner – mastering

Technical personnel

• Angelbert Metoyer – artwork
• Melody Ehsani – cover art, jewelry design
• Rob Sheridan – graphic design, layout

Charts

Chart	Peak position
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[2]	41
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[3]	89

References

1. Saul Williams: NiggyTardust.com website. Retrieved on January 26, 2008. Archived October 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
2. "Saul Williams: Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
3. "Saul Williams: Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
4. "Saul Williams and Trent Reznor Offer New Album As Free Download". The Fader. October 25, 2007. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
5. Harding, Cortney (November 7, 2007). "The Billboard Q&A: Trent Reznor And Saul Williams". Billboard. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
6. Download info: NiggyTardust.com website. Retrieved on January 26, 2008. Archived October 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
7. Reznor, Trent (2007-10-25). "NiggyTardust!". The official Nine Inch Nails website. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
8. Download info: NiggyTardust.com website Archived January 11, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
9. Download info Archived January 7, 2008, at the Wayback Machine: Digg.com website. Retrieved on January 26, 2008.
10. MVRemix, [1], MVRemix Urban, May 23, 2008, Retrieved May 28, 2008.
11. Jurek, Thom. "The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust - Saul Williams". AllMusic. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
12. Koski, Genevieve (November 27, 2007). "Saul Williams: The Inevitable Rise And Liberation Of Niggy Tardust". The A.V. Club. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
13. Christgau, Robert. "Robert Christgau: Saul Williams: The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
14. Patrin, Nate (November 9, 2007). "Saul Williams: The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
15. Sirota, Eric (March 23, 2010). "Saul Williams :: The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust :: Fader". RapReviews.com. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
16. Christgau, Robert (November 29, 2007). "Saul Williams: The Inevitable Rise And Liberation Of Niggy Tardust". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on December 23, 2007. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
17. Huff, Quentin B. (January 15, 2008). "101 Hip-Hop Albums of 2007". PopMatters. Retrieved October 3, 2018.

External links

• The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! at Discogs (list of releases)
• The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! at MusicBrainz (list of releases)
• Reelblack TV interview on YouTube