R.I.P. Gil Scott-Heron

Sandra Rose May 28, 2011

Poet and spoken word pioneer Gil Scott-Heron has died at age 62. Scott-Heron passed away Friday (May 27) upon returning home from a trip to Europe. His exact cause of death is unknown at this time.

Edited: According to People online, Scott-Heron was known to be HIV positive and had struggled with drug addiction throughout a large part of his life.

In the 1970s, Gil Scott-Heron’s smooth rebellious storytelling set to simple bass notes and jazz synthesizers became the precursor for today’s rap/Hip Hop music and spoken word genres. His album, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, was heavily sampled by today’s rap artists such as Kanye West and Common.

Kanye featured prose from Scott-Heron’s “Comment #1” for the spoken word ending of his track “Lost In The World” (“Who Will Survive in America”) off his My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy album.

Click the link below to hear Kanye’s track featuring Gil Scott-Heron.

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http://twitter.com/#!/Birdshu Bird

I’m ashamed that I have never heard of him until today.

R.I.P. bruh.
http://twitter.com/k_cicero Kezi

I’ve heard of his name but never knew his importance or what he meant for music/spoken word/hip hop until now. May he R.I.P out of all the things I’ve heard from him my favorite piece has to be Whitey On The Moon so far. Still so relevant today just replace the Moon with War and On with in.
jazi65

Another beautiful soul has gone home…RIP
Dawn Sheen

Seeing as how I was born in the 80 I am very familiar wih the works of Mr. Scott-Heron. I bought Kanye’s album for the “Lost In The World” (“Who Will Survive in America”) song… I wish there were more conscious artist but until we require more, we will be stuck with the kool-aid.

R.I.P.
Peachpussycat

**Wonders why you didn’t say “Wrap it up kids” on this post since, according to People, he was HIV positive**
Feline Feminine

R.I.P

I was familiar with his work because my father listened to him…’Lost in the World’ is one of my favorite songs on Kanye’s album…
http://www.howtobearealblackman.com Se7en Star

One of the greatest and most influential poets of all-time! R.I.P Great Ancestor!
KrayZKat

RIP to one of my favorite, socially conscious brothers. His music, along with the Last Poets, was played around my house on the regular while growing up and even now. He’s a legend in his own right.
https://sandrarose.com Sandra Rose

Peachpussycat says:

*Wonders why you didn’t say “Wrap it up kids” on this post since, according to People, he was HIV positive**
________________

I didn’t know that. Thanks for the info. I just updated my post to reflect the fact that Mr. Scott-Heron’s HIV status was related to a history of drug abuse, not promiscuous, unprotected sex.
pointhimout

that was a sexy as man back in his day. i had even seen some pics of a more mature man and he was still sexy as hell. I can’t really say demons, but drugs and dealing with being “blacklisted” had to take a toll on him throughout his life.

I just hate that in society we come to know about people after they’re gone. I didn’t know who he was, but I mentioned his name to my brother and he went on and on about this guy. Am I that out of touch?

R.I.P. Gil Scott-Heron

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