Gil Scott Heron was there first. A poet, novelist and songwriter known for mining Marshall McLuhan's media-centric philosophy and applying it to 1970s radicalism in "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," Heron was equal parts social commentator, freedom fighter and pop star. Known as the Godfather of Rap, a title he vehemently denied in an interview I had with him in 1994, he none-the-less influenced generations of rappers and was sampled dozens of times. Most rappers ignored his plea to "not lean so heavily on rhyme and concentrate on the message" (and he meant the socio-political message). None of that mattered to those of us who were his fans. His message, born in the social upheaval of the 1960s, came through loud and clear.
Born in Chicago, raised in Tennessee and schooled in the Bronx, Scott-Heron spoke to all of us from his uniquely black experience. He was both literate and musical, collecting his first volume of poetry at 13 and wrote an underground novel, The Vulture, after dropping out from college. In the early, '70s, his association with the great jazz producer Bob Thiele brought his poetry to the turntable, aided by such top-shelf musicians as flutist Hubert Laws and bassist Ron Carter. Along with "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," Johannesburg" ("we all need to be strugglin'/if we're going to be free...."), "Whitey On the Moon" ("I can't pay my doctor bills, but whitey's on the moon...")and other, often angry political tracts, Scott-Heron was capable of sweet melodies and affection. His "Save the Children" was one of the era's most melodic pleas for care and education, and "Lady Day and John Coltrane"was a soulful witness to the power of music and musicians in our lives. His singing voice -- a honey-toned tenor -- was as captivating as his spoken voice.
When I talked to Scott-Heron that first time, he had just ended 12 years of recording silence with Spirits. The opening track, "Message To the Messengers" ("if you gonna be teachin' folks, you gotta know what you're sayin'...") is a message of peace and realism ("they're glad we're out there killin' each other...") as well as respect and generational brotherhood. It's also a call to action : "what we did was to tell our generation to get busy/because it wasn't going to be televised." Knowing that the revolution has not and will not be televised is as appropriate today as it was 15-plus years ago and in 1972: the media is not our message but theirs, we are in this together but not everyone is together with us. "[Rappers] have to know they're not going through anything new" he told me, "it's the same stuff I went through back then. They've got to remember it's not about them. It's about community and the people."
Cabbage Rabbit Review of Books and Music