*exhales.... * Hmm where do i start? May 27th marks another great loss for our artistic community.
First, if you don't know who Gil Scott Heron is please shoot yourself now! Next, if you survive you may join the rest of us and continue reading on. Some call this renaissance man the Godfather of hiphop ( he once claimed he's not sure if he can take the BLAME for rap ), others just call him a brilliant writer and orator. Me personally, i would call him BOTH. along with The Last Poets of course. With a career that begin in 1970 and spanned decades up until his untimely death, it was obvious the revolution need not be televised, as he was determined to be the voice of that change up until the very end. There was no hopes for retirement, at least not a permanent one.
2010 alone saw a resurgence of his passion, wit, angst and overall love as he returned with the album "I'm new here" . The afore-mentioned "Godfather of rap" moniker would be even harder to dispute as he was not only sampled on consecutive projects by the likes of Talib Kweli, Common and Kanye West recently , he even sampled Kanye's "Flashing Lights" on the album. That same album also features HipHop icon Nas.
Just as plagued as any of us, what made Gil so polarizing was his strength to face those demons on the world's stage while many if not most of us refuse to confront ours even in solitairy. Ask rapper AZ about his album "Pieces Of a Man" and see if Mr. Heron's name doesn't fly out his mouth. I imagine both Gil and recently deceased pioneer "Guru" from Gangstarr in the studio right now. Michael Jackson's doing the choreography while Isaac Hayes produces the music!
( one can only dream )...I don't want to focus on the fact that he's gone, i'd rather reflect on the work he did when he was here. If u can hear me or read this Brother Gil, wether you accept credit/blame or not, your views,will and unwaveringly commitment to telling the truth through your artistry definitely help created me!.. i will Leave with a quote from the good brother on today's rap community and what he feels will keep us creating,inspiring and enpowering for generations to come. Peace to the GOD! Travel in light!
"HipHop artists need to be more articulate and artistic. They need to study music. I played in several bands before i began my career as a poet. There's a big difference between putting words over some music, and blending those same words into music. There's not alot of humor. They use alot of slang and colloquialisms, and you dont't really see inside the person. instead you just get alot of posturing. - Gil scott heron
Thank You for posting this...It's beautiful!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part is the dream of Him, Guru, Mike and Isaac making tracks together. Shit, heaven for me would be to sit in the sound room and learn from all these masters and playing any instrument they wanted on the track. Well done....
Damali