The news of Scott-Heron's death will sadden a wide swath of society because his reach as an artist was simply tremendous. You can walk into any record store, and in most sections you can either find a Scott-Heron recording or a work that was directly influenced by him. Hip-hop especially owes much to his spoken word innovations, but soul, R&B, rock, and jazz can also claim him as one of their own. Kanye West notably featured a sample of his work on West's latest album, and Scott-Heron released a solo effort last year, entitled I'm New Here.
Gil Scott-Heron had public struggles with drugs over the past decade, and he claimed he violated his parole by running away from a treatment clinic because the employees refused to provide him with HIV medication. We'll wait until the official cause of Scott-Heron's death is released to tell you if any of the above are related. For now, we simply mourn the death of one of the most influential artists of the past half-century.
Scott-Heron's most famous piece, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," is required listening:
No comments:
Post a Comment