Gil Scott-Heron helped lay the groundwork for rap by fusing minimalistic percussion, political expression and spoken-word poetry. On May 27th in New York City at the age of 62, he died shortly after returning from a European trip. His influence on rap was such that he sometimes was referred to as the Godfather of Rap, a title he rejected. Nevertheless, his influence on generations of rappers has been demonstrated through sampling of his recordings by artists, including Kanye West, who closes out the last track of his latest album with a long excerpt of Scott-Heron’s “Who Will Survive in America.”
Gil Scott-Heron recorded the song that would make him famous, The Revolution will not be Televised for the 1970s album “125th and Lenox.”