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SOURCE: http://www.channel4.com/news/gil-scott-heron-dies-aged-62
Gil Scott-Heron dies aged 62
Saturday 28 May 2011
Gil Scott-Heron, dubbed the "Godfather of Rap", has died aged 62 in New York. Artists from Snoop Dogg to Public Enemy's Chuck D paid tribute to the US poet and songwriter on Twitter.
Gil Scott-Heron dies aged 62 (Getty)
The influential artist died on Friday at a New York hospital, reports suggested.
The Chicago-born performer was known as the "Godfather of Rap" - a term he disliked - for his groundbreaking spoken word performances set to music. Others also referred to him as the "black Bob Dylan", but he preferred to call himself a bluesologist.
Gil Scott-Heron's most famous songs include The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, a fierce protest poem he set to music in 1970. His work was often, but not always, powerfully political, standing up as the voice of black America and addressing issues like racism, poverty, and social injustice. He was one of the first artists to address apartheid in his music.
He recorded more than a dozen albums and his work was coloured by his own experiences of family breakdown, alcoholism, and heroin addiction. He spent time in jail for drug possession and was HIV positive, and confronted his problems frankly in some of his songs.
But he kept working, releasing a re-mixed version of his 2010 album - renamed We're New Here - with Jamie Smith of The xx earlier this year.
US rappers Snoop Dogg and Public Enemy's Chuck D both tweeted their sadness at Scott-Heron's death.
"RIP to one of tha greats, Gil Scott-Heron."
Rapper Snoop Dogg