For centuries the ancient world passed down legends, ideals, and the glory of heroes not on paper or screens, but through words that were spoken, sung, chanted in rhythm and often accompanied by strings or drums that brought fables to life.
Stories like The Iliad thrived in this form, existing as half-poem and half-incantation.
Though writing eventually replaced oral traditions, the power of the spoken word never truly faded.
Enter Saxon: poet, wordsmith and “dissident rapper”.
You may already have an opinion about that last label, and perhaps his music isn’t for you.
But for those who feel today’s youth are drowning in a sea of formulaic hiphop and electronic beats, Saxon offers something different. He speaks their language from a different perspective, without wagging a finger or demanding they trade their playlists for Mozart. Instead, he meets them where they are at.
Saxon got his start a few years ago when a co-artist of dissident lifestyle brand Will2Rise was just paving the way for nationalist rap. Hailing from New Zealand, Saxon threw his cards in with the W2R team and signed on.
Shortly afterwards he was featured on tracks with No Face Nate and began making his name in the scene; so much so that the ADL took notice and Antifa released his doxx.
But like in boxing, it’s not about how hard you get hit – it’s about getting back up to face it, and that’s exactly what Saxon has done by dropping this long-anticipated album.
The title Thug Britannica evokes a staunch yet cultured vibe, which is fitting for this collection of tracks. Saxon has a vast vocabulary that could be considered a little too flowery for rap music, but he balances it out with confident delivery over heavy drums and rich, orchestral sound-beds.
His subject matter ranges from nautical themes of struggle and conquest, to wrestling with personal demons and reconciling the dark with the light; all with high energy, passion and humour.
Setting himself apart from past dissident parody-rappers, Saxon builds his lyrics from the ground up. Even if this isn’t your preferred genre, his sheer craftsmanship commands respect, with densely packed multi-syllable rhymes that leave no room for words that don’t serve his scheme.
His writing must take a lot of effort to bring everything together, and it pays off for the listener who gets to unpack the nuggets and gems layered within his songs.
Take these lines from his magnum opus South Pacific – a seven minute extravaganza about his home country – for example:
“Just a couple thousand buggers with busted guts
Tucked their cuffs and cut the roughage to tussock tufts
Rustling up a country from nothing but sticks of kindling
In a fresh start from the blackening bricks of England
The old west of the South Seas
Where there are deer bleeding out from the boughs of our stout trees
Land of the long weed-cloud, and cow’s cheese
Where mealy-mouthed politicians should be powerless to crowd please”
Saxon’s lyrics don’t just rhyme, they pierce. He gives voice to our modern struggles through analogies and metaphors sharp enough to cut and clever enough to linger in your mind.
There’s no posturing about gold chains or 40s; this is warrior poetry and a soundtrack for the right that captures the zeitgeist of our times; as illustrated in another standout track, Sword and Cape Shit:
“Emasculated males are smashing their latex women
Plastic masturbators and cats are replacing children
Propaganda aimed at tragically paid minions
Slashing their genitalia with backing from state millions”
This track unfolds like a journey moving through grim reality, surreal satire, and finally toward the symbolic rise of the Black Sun.
If you don’t like rap music because of what you’re accustomed to, then you may want to think again and check this album out, as Saxon elevates the genre to another level and arguably claims it as something worthy of higher culture.
More than just creating content, Saxon and the Will2Rise team are building a street-level nationalist culture one verse at a time.
Thug Britannica is available here:
Header image: Saxon performing live (supplied).
