GODFATHER OF RAP GIL SCOTT HERON DEAD AT 62 (2160 hits)
CHICAGO--GIL Scott-Heron, a poet and songwriter dubbed the Godfather of Rap, has died aged 62.
Scott-Heron, whose ground-breaking spoken-word performances set to music included The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, passed away at a New York hospital.
He fell ill after returning from a trip to Europe, according to US news reports.
The Chicago-born artist made his name in the early 1970s.
He recorded more than a dozen albums and was hailed as an important influence by hip-hop performers such as Kanye West.
Considered a voice of African-American activism, Scott-Heron was also a musical critic of apartheid and nuclear power.
After serving a prison sentence for drug possession, Scott-Heron released an acclaimed album last year I'm New Here.
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised was a blast at consumer culture and its ability to lead social change.
Its lyrics include the line: "The revolution will not make you look five pounds thinner, because the revolution will not be televised, brother."
In the song, Scott-Heron warns listeners that "the revolution" won't be found in the pop culture all around them.
"The first change that takes place is in your mind," Scott-Heron once said, explaining his words.
Today, stars have taken to Twitter to pay tribute to the artist.
Rapper Eminem tweeted: "RIP Gil Scott-Heron, he influenced all of hip-hop."
Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe added: "Can't find the right words to properly honour the late great Gil Scott-Heron so i'll just say thank you. GSH RIP."
Chuck D, of American hip-hop group Public Enemy, tweeted: "RIP GSH, and we do what we do and who we do because of you and to those that don't know, tip your hat with a hand over your heart & recognize."
The son of a Jamaican professional soccer player and a college-educated mother who worked as a librarian, Scott-Heron was born in Chicago in 1949, raised in Jackson, Tennessee, and later moved to the Bronx.
His songs, which occupied a space between jazz, spoken word and R&B, helped supply some of the musical and philosophical underpinnings of the Black Power movement of the 1970s and the hip-hop culture that would follow.
Friend Doris Nolan said: "We're all sort of shattered."
Scott-Heron struggled publicly with drug addiction in the 2000s, and in 2001 was sentenced to jail for cocaine possession.
He was in and out of prison throughout most of the decade and began performing again after his release in 2007.
Scott-Heron remained active in the music industry until his death, performing regularly around the world, including playing to a sold-out crowd at the Festival Hall in London in April last year.
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised You will not be able to stay home, brother. You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out. You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip, Skip out for beer during commercials, Because the revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be televised. The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox In 4 parts without commercial interruptions. The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary. The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by the Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia. The revolution will not give your mouth s*x appeal. The revolution will not get rid of the nubs. The revolution will not make you look five pounds thinner, because the revolution will not be televised, Brother.
There will be no pictures of you and Willie May pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run, or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance. NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32 or report from 29 districts. The revolution will not be televised.
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down brothers in the instant replay. There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down brothers in the instant replay. There will be no pictures of Whitney Young being run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process. There will be no slow motion or still life of Roy Wilkens strolling through Watts in a Red, Black and Green liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving For just the proper occasion.
Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville Junction will no longer be so damned relevant, and women will not care if **** finally gets down with Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people will be in the street looking for a brighter day. The revolution will not be televised.
There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock news and no pictures of hairy armed women liberationists and Jackie Onassis blowing her nose. The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb, Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom Jones, Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdink, or the Rare Earth. The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be right back after a message bbout a white tornado, white lightning, or white people. You will not have to worry about a dove in your bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl. The revolution will not go better with Coke. The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath. The revolution will put you in the driver's seat.
The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised, will not be televised, will not be televised. The revolution will be no re-run brothers; The revolution will be live.
~Gil Scott Heron, 1974~
Saturday, May 28th 2011 at 4:22PM
Siebra Muhammad
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