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Poet, recording artist and music pioneer Gil Scott-Heron died on Friday at the age of 62. His spoken word, oft accompanied by sparse rhythmic instrumentation, voiced the disillusionment of the post civil-rights era. His sharp, cool political commentary would heavily influence artists like Public Enemy, Mos Def, Tupac, and Common. While many consider Scott-Heron to be the godfather of hip-hop and rap he often denied the credit. Scott-Heron called himself a "bluesologist" drawing on the long tradition of black music and poetry in America, which included jazz, blues and poets of the Harlem Renaissance like Langston Hughes and others.
Gil Scott-Heron- The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
