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Hip-hop pioneer Gil Scott-Heron on his reinvention, Rikers Island, why he won't sing about Fox News

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Amerigo Vespucci Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Feb-09-10 05:46 PM
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Hip-hop pioneer Gil Scott-Heron on his reinvention, Rikers Island, why he won't sing about Fox News
Gil Scott-Heron, the baddest musical comeback
The hip-hop pioneer on his Johnny Cash-style reinvention, Rikers Island and why he won't be singing about Fox News
By Steve Almond

http://www.salon.com/life/feature/story/index.html?story=/mwt/feature/2010/02/08/gil_scott_heron



If you had to bet on which aging musical icon was going to stage a major comeback, the smart money would not be on Gil Scott-Heron. His status as a pioneer is undisputed in the world of hip-hop, where his politically charged anthems ("The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," "Angel Dust") remain heavily sampled. But his personal life has been, to put it gently, turbulent.

Twice in the past decade, he's done stints at Rikers Island, stemming from an arrest for possession of cocaine. Rumors of addiction and failing health have swirled among fans, and more than a dozen years have passed since his last record.

All of which makes the sudden resurgence of the 60-year-old singer that much more astonishing. His forthcoming LP, "I'm New Here," was produced by Richard Russell, owner of the British label XL Records, and a man renowned for his work with the White Stripes, Thom Yorke and Vampire Weekend.

Jude Rogers, of the Guardian Newspaper, was so dazzled by the disc that he proclaimed it one of the decade's best -- just a few weeks into the decade. British DJ Zane Lowe debuted the first single, a chilling cover of Robert Johnson's "Me and the Devil," as his Hottest Record in the World.

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mix Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Feb-09-10 05:55 PM
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1. can't wait to hear this
:hi:
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babylonsister Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Feb-09-10 05:58 PM
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2. I've read nothing but sterling reviews on his new release. nt
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Gabi Hayes Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Feb-09-10 05:58 PM
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3. double plus KR. here you go:
Edited on Tue Feb-09-10 06:00 PM by Gabi Hayes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS3QOtbW4m0

A collage of Youtube clips to the original recording from Gil Scott Heron's classic first album, complete with unedited slips...
Words from the later, and more well-known recording are:


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.
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