THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED: RAP/HIP HOP PIONEER Gil Scott Heron is Here!!!
Growing up in an Afrocentric household meant that I had to listen to O.G rappers like Gil Scott Heron and The Last Poets preach the “ites, gold and green” blackheart (womb)man message. Of course, I was upset because I thought it was boring and because I couldnt understand why they thought it was important to teach a gyal pickney in the 90′s about ‘revolution’ and the ills of the ‘tell-lie-vision‘.
As I got older and saw the place of Black Folk in this life, I started to draw for the Heron c.doff of my own will. Lyrics like:
“you will not be able to stay home, brother/you will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out….”
“women will not care if Dick finally got 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 newsand no pictures of hairy armed women liberationalist….”
would open my eyes to the fact that even though a lot of conditions would get better, I couldn’t “plug in, turn on and cop out” and pretend like shit wasnt STILL poppin’ off everyday.
Many, many years later I moved to America and struggled with that “inferiority complex and double consciousness” we never seem to forget as Black people. (click here for “what is double consciousness“)
Heron is one of the big homies that’s been trying to help with this for yeaaarrrrs through word+sound=power
Now Heron is back on the scene and promises a new album….. IM THERE!!!!!
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! Nooooo it’s the Heron! Gil Scott-Heron that is! The man that had been long thought dead has arisen and is back with a new album that has only been whispered about as legend in smoky after hour joints for years. He’s come out of the shadows to grace the stage and preach once again.
Gil Scott-Heron, in case you’re not familiar as you should be, set the stage for hip-hop. The poetry and verse that he’s given us, like “The Revolution Won’t Be Televized”, gave Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five their Message. Heron was one of the first to lay the truth on track and pave the way for the beginning of the rap game.
If you’re a true fan, you’ll be delighted to see this recent video of him. At 60, it appears he’s doing better than ever. Check him out here.
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