Gil Scott-Heron, often called the godfather of hip hop, is most known for songs like “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” “The Bottle” and “Johannesburg.” In this excerpt from the book “Gil ...

Nobody could tell singer-songwriter Gil Scott-Heron that idealism had become outdated when he was a musical guest on “Saturday Night Live” in 1975. He performed “Johannesburg,” a funk tune with a ...

My beloved hiphop generation came of age at that meta-moment in history when it seemed that the artists among us could only aspire to remixing what came before. Writers wanted to become the James ...

Gil Scott Heron (1949-2011) was more than a legendary entertainer. He was a social and political visionary that helped to inspire generations of young gifted and talent poets, spoken word artists, ...

Since the death of spoken word musician Gil Scott-Heron on Friday, more than one post-Boomer – Scott-Heron was 62 – confessed online that the so-called “godfather of rap” was unknown to them.

Gil Scott-Heron‘s daughter proclaimed the revolution will be televised during a moving memorial service Thursday for her musical father that included a surprise performance by rapper Kanye West. Scott ...

The New York Knicks are, without question, one of the worst basketball teams in the NBA right now, and they’ve been that way for a while. Barring some sort of savior from Akron, Ohio, it seems as ...

Gil Scott-Heron would have been 68 years old on April 1st. I can still remember Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael) coming up behind Scott-Heron and blindfolding him. Scott-Heron never flinched, even when ...

Not long after the July 20, 1969, Moon landing, Gil Scott-Heron – a poet hailed as the “Godfather of Rap” – released a scathingly critical song called “Whitey on the Moon.” While others lauded the ...

While he was known as “Pops” to Rumal Rackley, Gil Scott-Heron was a cultural and musical icon, known for his eloquent lyrics and spoken words that inspired generations of artists, including Chuck D, ...

How this ancient instrument played its way into popular American Music. By John White, Lynn Levy, Diane Wong and Giovanni Russonello The flute is one of the more overlooked instruments in jazz, but it ...