August 03, 2008

The Grandfather Of Rap


Gil Scott-Heron. A 59 year old who is mostly known as a spoken-word performer amongst being a poet, author and musician. He was born in Chicago but lived mostly in the Bronx, while in University he wrote a novel called The Vulture; this was published in 1970.

Scott-Heron is best known for his track - "The Revolution will not be televised"

(This video is the promotional video for one of his recent books: "Now and Then: The Poems of Gil Scott-Heron".)


He also started recording in the studio in 1970 with his first LP being "Small Talk at 125th and Lenox"; the predominant feature of the album were Gil's lyrics, with tracks such as "The Subject was Faggots" and "Whitey on the Moon" being an outlet for his own views on American superficiality, homosexuality and mass consumerism. He was one of the few Black Americans who - just after Martin Luther King Jnr's assassination - spoke out this loudly and aggressively about these issues and is still remembered for it today.

From 1970 till 2007 he has been releasing and re-releasing music, through all different record labels; but with the one purpose of him spreading his gospel. His book "The Vulture" was made into a 4 and a half minute song on his debut LP:

The Vulture

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