In May, we lost a musical and cultural luminary. Greg Tate already
eulogized Gil Scott-Heron publicly better than anyone, or at least I, could. It suffices to say that Gil Scott gave us himself in his entirety -- gifts, flaws and all.
Though he was vocal in his contempt for the term "Godfather of Rap," he nevertheless influenced aspects of the genre permanently. He has been source material for some classic pieces of music in the past 20 years.
In this playlist, I've collected a few tracks that, in different forms, carry on his sound and lineage. I've skipped over the more recent, obvious songs (like Common's "The People" and Kanye West's "Lost In The World/Who Will Survive In America,") because well, you probably know those... and you probably don't know some of these. Enjoy.
