Kimberly:
In college I took this course called “The Media and Popular Culture,” as an elective. I dismissed it as an easy A and one that I needed merely for the credits. It was either that or “Film 101,” where it was rumored that the professor would just play clips from “Citizen Kane” – arguably the best and worst movie ever. I opted for “The Media and Popular Culture.” I know this is where I’m supposed to tell you that it changed my whole perspective on the media and became a believer that the 24-hour news cycle is a good thing. After all, I did go to college in Atlanta, home of Ted Turner and CNN. It didn’t…I still hate the 24-hour news cycle, and the various “news” stories on silly YouTube videos of cats doing something “cute” and “funny” still annoy me.
However, I did remember one week when we discussed Gil Scott-Heron, a poet, musician, rapper, author, revolutionizer, inventor – the list goes on and on. Originally from Chicago, IL, he later moved to Jackson, TN, at a time when the South was identified by racism. At the age of 13 he moved to the Bronx in New York City, which is also where he passed away on Friday night, May 27, 2011.
In class, we listened to Scott-Heron’s most popular song, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” The song is a spoken word poem to bongo drums and other percussion accompaniment that forces the listener to hear what was not desired in the mid 1970′s about race, disparities, and America. The track has a steady beat that holds throughout, allowing the listener to cling to his every word.
Scott-Heron’s songs have fingerprints all over what we hear and see in modern-day rap songs. I wonder how the media would have spun it, had the First Lady invited Scott-Heron for a poetry reading over Common. Scott-Heron was a revolutionizer in his own right, rapping and writing about what he saw around him – violence, drugs, poverty – all things that we know and hear about but don’t necessarily see on a daily basis.
I’d be lying if I said that I kept up with his music career after my class. He did, however, release an album in 2010, ”I’m New Here”. While it departs from his 1970′s jazz and funk style, he does incorporate it some on the album. But it was 2010, and he was “new here.” Here comes with gadgets, technology and synthesizers. Here also comes with sick remixes, such as the Hoodie Allen remix of his 2010 single “NY Is Killing Me.” Check out the original too; it’s just as good.
We definitely have Scott-Heron to thank for all that is good and interesting in hip-hop and rap today and may he rest in peace.
Jess
It can’t be denied that Gil Scott-Heron had a hand in our modern take of hip-hop and rap; in fact, while he never wanted to be blamed for it, artists such as Public Enemy, Kanye West and as well as an onslaught of contemporary messengers saw him as the pinncle of verbal eloquence.
Whether he’d be speaking from oppression (“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”) or from happiness (“Lady Day & John Coltrane”) or from sadnened admiration (“Pieces Of A Man”), his words never failed to put his point across while leaving those listening in a reverberated state– as if he had struck a deep chord. His audience further expanded with his first release in 16 years, “I’m New Here”, a fitting title for a stranger in a changed landscape that he had helped created, unwittingly or not.
Rarely is there a narrative voice so powerful that its influence is witnessed in generations of musicians, poets and writers– I feel fortunate to have witnessed it in my lifetime; his absence will be felt and he will be sorely missed.
