Gil Scott-Heron: R.I.P.

courtesy of last.fm

Gil Scott-Heron who was long regarded as the forefather of hip-hop -- a label he resisted -- died earlier this week in New York. He was sixty-two. From The Guardian:

He was known as the Godfather of Rap but disapproved of the title, preferring to describe what he did as "bluesology" – a fusion of poetry, soul, blues and jazz, all shot through with a piercing social conscience and strong political messages, tackling issues such as apartheid and nuclear arms.

"If there was any individual initiative that I was responsible for it might have been that there was music in certain poems of mine, with complete progression and repeating 'hooks', which made them more like songs than just recitations with percussion," Scott-Heron wrote in the introduction to his 1990 Now and Then collection of poems.

Although he's most known for "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," I first heard Gil Scott-Heron's music under dubious circumstances -- I'm ashamed to admit, a morning-zoo type radio show. The song was "Whitey On the Moon," and I thought it was brilliant:

On one of his final performances at Coachella last year, blogger Jay Smooth had this to say, and I think it poignantly sums up Gil Scott-Heron's life and work:

When he finally walked out he did look frail physically. But as soon as he smiled that wry, world-weary smile, and began to talk with us and sing to us, he felt so very present, and vibrant, and alive. It was, and is, hard to imagine he’d ever be gone.