THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Fun Stuff => BAND => Topic started by: KvP on 27 May 2011, 19:47
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Gil Scott-Heron died Friday afternoon in New York. He was 62. The influential poet and musician is often credited with being one of the progenitors of hip-hop, and is best known for the spoken-word piece "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised."
Scott-Heron was born in Chicago in 1949. He spent his early years in Jackson, Tenn., attended high school in The Bronx, and spent time at Pennsylvania's Lincoln University before settling in Manhattan. His recording career began in 1970 with the album Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, which featured the first version of "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised." The track has since been referenced and parodied extensively in pop culture.
Scott-Heron continued to record through the 1970s and early '80s, before taking a lengthy hiatus. He briefly returned to the studio for 1994's Spirits. [...] He has been cited as a key influence by many in the hip-hop community — such as rapper-producer Kanye West, who closed his platinum-selling 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy with a track built around a sample of Scott-Heron's voice. [...] He began performing again after his release in 2007, and in 2010 released a new album, I'm New Here, to widespread critical acclaim.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_VJrFZPTIo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_8nxbeX9kI
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Last year, my friend pen-sketched a picture of Gil Scott-Heron on a piece of cardboard, complete with the "televised" quote. He didn't like it much, so he just gave it to me right there. It went into my guitar case, where it proudly stands face-up to this day. It is my favorite piece of art.
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Even aside from the incredible quality of his own work, it's impossible to say how much of the music I listen to is directly or indirectly influenced by him.
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Noooooooooooooooo =(
Gonna listen to Pieces of a Man in his memory, RIP