has anybody ever heard of him???here is a poem by him that i find interesting.

I was wondering about our yesterday's and digging through the rubble.
And 2 say the least somebody went through a hell of alot of trouble.
2 make sure that when we looked things up we didn't fare 2 well.
And that we would come up with totally unreliable pictures of ourselves.
But i compliled a few facts..... such as they are.
2 c if we could find out a little bit of something.
And this is what i got so far.
First white folks discovered africa.They claimed it fair and square.
Cecil Rhodes couldn't have been robbing anybody cause..hell there wasn't nobody there.
The white folks brought all the civilization..cause there wasn't none around.
How could the folks b civilized when nobody was writing nothing down?
And just 2 prove their suspitions well..it didn't take 2 long.
They found out there were whole tribes of people in plain sight,
Running around with no clothes on..that's right.
The men the women the young and the old rightous folks covered their eyes.
And no time was spent considering the environment..hell no this just wasn't civilized.
And another piece of infomation they had or at least this is what we were taught.
Is that unlike the civilized people of europe..these tribal units actually fought.
And yes there was some crude impliments and yes there was primitive art.
And yes they were masters of hunting and fishing and courtesy came from the heart.
And yes there was love and medicine intertribal communication by drum.
But no paper no pencils or other utencils and hell these folks never even heard of a gun.
And this is y the colonies came 2 stabilize the land.
Cause the dark continent had copper and gold and the discoverers had themselves a plan.
They would discover all the places of promise u didn't need no titles or deeds.
And then they would appoint people 2 make everything legal 2 santion the trickery and greed.
And back in the jungle when the natives got restless they would call it gorilla attack.
And they would never descibed that the folks got wise and decided that they would fight back.
And still we r victims of word games symantics is always a bitch.
Places once referred 2 as underdeveloped r now called mineral rich.
And the game goes on eternally unity just beyond reach.
Egypt and Libya used 2 b in Africa..they've now been moved 2 the Middle East.
There r examples galore i assure u..but if interpeting were left up 2 me.
I'd b sure everytime folks knew this version wasn't mine which is y it is called
HIStory.
GIL SCOTT HERON.
[This message was edited Mon Jun 24 21:59:01 PDT 2002 by theC]

theC said:

You kidding? Of course. But you have to understand; a lot of the Org isn't ready for Gil. Probably never will be.

Supernova said:

theC
yeah it's sad(i don't think that many in here have heard of him).he came off very edgy at first but he always made people think.he's a drug addict now...but back in the day the man was so sharp.i should have known u were hip Supernova.i think u grew up in my era(the last era of true musical expression?).

theC said:

I know. It's truly sad, he once sang about the evils of drugs then wound up succumbing to them. Gil was (and hopefully he can still be in the future) too deep and on point to ignore. One of the best manifestations of his influence is Meshell Ndegéocello's work. She's got some Curtis Mayfield in her themes too. Griots, griots for sure.



No doubt. The days when you had to prove your mettle in a live setting, as opposed to getting over and taking shortcuts in the studio to cover up deficiencies.

Supernova u r right about me'shell(i love her 2)
but i also found him kind of the founding father of rap,
especially public enemy.the only true difference was that
he could sing as well and had a kickass band.

theC said:

He's definitely one of them. The Last Poets too and James Brown too. It goes back further than them though, but they are some of the most obvious flashpoints of hip hop.

as far as the last poets.i'm still kinda new 2 them.
i have heard some of their work though and was impressed(though their sound was a little raw).did gil scott ever work with them?after u said it..the last poets r actually probably the forefathers of rap.

theC said:

Listen to "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised." P. uses it in The War.

2the9s said:

thec
that is gil scott purple rain.it's the song that avybody who knows gil should know,that and angel dust.check out "we almost lost detroit and winter in america and of course the famous b-movie.

theC said:

Actually I'm new to their work too. As far as Gil working with them, if he did I'm not aware of it.

Great Topic,

I love Gil-Scott, I have all of his recordings, He has enlightened the College Kids of a lot of things, He provokes your mind and leaves no stones unturned. He always had a battle with Drugs, and always seems to rise to the top, He has a beautiful mind, He had a band called the Midnight Band, he also song with Bryan Jackson, If you get a chance to get your hands on his music it will be very thought provoking, I have been through 3 phases of music in my life. First was Parliament/Funkadelic (George Clinton, Bootsy Collins,) Gil-Scott Heron and Prince, When PFUNK was silenced, (idle) I found Gil, then when Gil was Idle, I found Prince, and it has been a great ride of 22 years and still going.(Thanks Prince for keeping the Music coming)

Peace and keep Gil up in Prayer.

last i heard he was in jail.

prettymansson said:

theC
when did u hear this and 4 what???

2the9s said:

theC
oh yeah he also played with a quote from gil in sign o the times...they were sending people 2 the moon.

theC said:

It was a year or two for being found in a crack house. He couldn't shake off the drugs.

He has quite a legacy for those who are hip though. Shame.

Gil Scott Heron is considered the 'father of rap'. A lot of the old school rappers such as Public Enemy, BDP(Boogie Down Productions/KRS-One), and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five(as well as plenty of others), have been heavily influenced by him. You'll find lots of stuff on him on the'net.

4 THOSE THAT WANT MORE INFO
http://www.gilscottheron....LINTRO.htm

What's the name of that guy who ran the We R The World thing?

4 some reason that guy came 2 mind when I saw the name Gil Scott Heron but now I c that is definitely not him!

Nep2nes said:

theC
yr thinking about the artist against south africa.I AIN'T GONNA PLAY SUN CITY.

Gil is not doing too good these days. the heroine got to him. see gil is way too intelligent for america. he was even a university professor. he has figured the place out and he spoke out. but nobody listened. that fucked him up. most of the things he said still count today. I like his albums of the mid 70s, but I REALLY dig his first record "Small talk on 125th and lenox". he was barely 21 but way ahead of his time. 3 years ago I wanted to promote a show with him in LA. everything was set. we called him a day before the gig to ask if everything was fine. we have send him the money for the ticket and an advance, he said all was cool and on.
he never showed up to the gig. and he never answered his phone either

Nep2nes said:

I'm pretty sure you are thinking of Quincy Jones.

Also Prince fans know a little of his work being as Prince bastardized his classic "The Revolution will not be televised" into "The evolution will be colorized" for "The War".

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised



You will not be able to stay home, brother.

You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.

You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip,

Skip out for beer during commercials,

Because the revolution will not be televised.



The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox

In 4 parts without commercial interruptions.

The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon

blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John

Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat

hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary.

The revolution will not be televised.



The revolution will not be brought to you by the

Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie

Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia.

The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal.

The revolution will not get rid of the nubs.

The revolution will not make you look five pounds

thinner, because the revolution will not be televised, Brother.



There will be no pictures of you and Willie May

pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run,

or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance.

NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32

or report from 29 districts.

The revolution will not be televised.



There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down

brothers in the instant replay.

There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down

brothers in the instant replay.

There will be no pictures of Whitney Young being

run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process.

There will be no slow motion or still life of Roy

Wilkens strolling through Watts in a Red, Black and

Green liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving

For just the proper occasion.



Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville

Junction will no longer be so damned relevant, and

women will not care if Dick finally gets down with

Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people

will be in the street looking for a brighter day.

The revolution will not be televised.



There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock

news and no pictures of hairy armed women

liberationists and Jackie Onassis blowing her nose.

The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb,

Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom

Jones, Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdink, or the Rare Earth.

The revolution will not be televised.



The revolution will not be right back after a message

bbout a white tornado, white lightning, or white people.

You will not have to worry about a dove in your

bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl.

The revolution will not go better with Coke.

The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath.

The revolution will put you in the driver's seat.



The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised,

will not be televised, will not be televised.

The revolution will be no re-run brothers;

The revolution will be live.

i think some peeps need 2 read this again.

Have His Records&Various Interviews&dig where He is coming from.I Hope all works out for Him.Got His stuff with Brian Jackson.Too Rap Music what Bob Dylan is to Folk IMHO.

A couple of my good friends turned me on to gil only about 6 months ago...they played me 2 of his albums...blew me away...been meaning to get some for myself, havn't yet

feltbluish said:

theC
get the best of..u get a sampler of everything(the man was deep and way b4 his time).

lovemachine said:

Actually it's Bob Geldof (I only JUST remembered..lol.)

Nep2nes said:

Bob Geldof and Gil Scott-Heron sound similar yeah.

Bob was the voice of UK's answer to "USA For Africa" Live Aid.

oh Gil Scott Heron is the Shit.

I have video performance of him on the SNL with Richard Pryor.

Nice grooves. Now he is pure Neo Classic Soul.

peace

Essence said:

opps I meant to send that as an add to the thread.
not a reply.


oh Gil Scott Heron is the Shit.

I have video performance of him on the SNL with Richard Pryor.

Nice grooves. Now he is pure Neo Classic Soul.

peace
[This message was edited Thu Aug 1 8:12:02 PDT 2002 by COCOMF]