I heard about the death of Gil Scott-Heron and I have to admit I didn't really know who he was. The phrase, 'Godfather of Rap' meant fairly little to me. So my first introduction was this video.
It was a good introduction to understand where he was coming from, recollecting memories, in this understated way ---'mistreated to the maximum' --- referring to death of some of the Civil Rights leaders...
Sorry for pulling quotes but he's just so brilliant -- 'Even if you ain't got no job there's some shit you could be doing...the last thing that's available to you is your right to complain.'
(I should read this phrase everyday) He talks about helping people and how it helps your soul and therefore the energy you radiate to others...
'People who spend a lot of time looking in the mirror, they know what they look like, sort of...The way that you know how you look really is the expression on other people's faces...'
He is most known for , 'The Revolution will not be Televised.' It's an amazing rap about commercialism and marketing of events. Jeremy Clarkson wrote a piece about video and catastrophic events -- saying basically, if there is no video of it doesn't make an impact (ie, the Rwandan massacre) and conversely that the Japanese Tsunami/meltdown wouldn't have been front page news (back in the day)...
