Gil Scott-Heron was a pioneering poet and musician. His unique musical fusion of jazz, blues, rap, funk, and soul was captivating and his radical political vision was transformative for a generation of musicians and activists especially in the hip-hop community.
Tragically, Scott-Heron died recently in New York at the age of 62. His political legacy was vast and his connections to social movements deep. He was particularly active in the civil rights struggle and the anti-nuclear movement of the 1970s and 1980s and wrote dozens of socially conscious tracks touching on a wide range of political, social and personal issues. This slide show surveys Scott-Heron’s prolific canon and attempts to highlight some of his lesser-known material.
