The Spanish production collective Cookin’ Soul have just released an EPK for their upcoming tribute mixtape in honor of Gil Scott-Heron who passed away on May 27th. His passing has sparked an immediate outpouring of love and respect for the poems and music of Gil Scott-Heron who influenced an entire genres of music in hip hop and soul and enlightened a generation, many of whom were not even born when Scott-Heron released much of work in the 70′s. The mixtape will be available soon for free download. Of course Creative Beach will have it for you all.
What’s going on, good people? I’d like to first take this time to pay full respects by saying rest in peace to the great, Gil Scott-Heron. My name is J.Nolan, for those that are not familiar with who I am just yet. I happen to be an upcoming Hip-Hop artist and I must say that I likely would not be where I am today without the indirect influence of his music, spoken word, and general impact on the African American culture as a whole. I say indirect because I didn’t necessarily grow up hearing his records in my household, but I was introduced to his legacy through fellow artists. It’s widely known that his work serves as one of the major influences in creating what would eventually be known to the world as Hip-Hop.
My introduction to Gil Scott-Heron as I know it, was in 2005 when I heard KanYe West’s ‘Late Registration’ album. The song “My Way Home” featuring Common was one of my favorites on the CD and although Common is a great inspiration to me in his own right, I had a certain connection to the vocal sample that played throughout the track. That sample happened to be “Home Is Where The Hatred Is,” as I later found out. I didn’t really dig deep into samples at that point in my life, so when Common’s “The People” came out in 2007, I was still lost in the sauce. It wasn’t until my cousin/producer/partner-in-rhyme, Yung B Da Producer, brought it to my attention that these songs were Gil Scott-Heron samples and that he had already began sampling his music in some of the beats he was making at the time. So from then on, I knew that was a name I had to respect.
Around that same time in the summer of ’07, a small group of us were rolling through downtown Atlanta and it just so happened that the mixed CD we were listening to in the car had a couple of tracks from Reflection Eternal’s ‘Train of Thought’ album. They brought it to my slow attention that the man speaking at the end of “The Blast” was none other then Mr. Gil Scott-Heron.
All of that leads up to today. Since those moments, I’ve taken time to do my research on his music and poetry, which I enjoy. I came to find out that he had been sampled many times and long before my introduction to his work. Consequently, I’ve inherently taken a bit of his revolutionary approach to giving social commentary by speaking out against economic inequality, displeasure with the government, and various other views regarding the social spectrum in America with my own music. I think I speak for everyone that’s enjoyed his art over the years that he will be greatly missed and through our continued support, Gil Scott-Heron will indeed live on for generations to come. Perhaps there will come a day when the Revolution is finally televised.
NPR reports that acclaimed poet and musician Gil Scott Heron died at the age of 62. This is indeed a tremendous loss for the hip hop, spoken word and music communities that almost as a mantra can recite the phrase “The revolution will not be televised” young and old have embraced the many poems and musical compositions of Gil Scott Heron’s storied career.
