A few days after his death in New York at the age of 62, the tribute train has gathered momentum for Gil Scott-Heron.
Scott-Heron died of as-yet-unknown illness after returning to the US after a European trip, depriving the world of one of the world’s foremost ideological thinkers and yes, although the man himself always strongly refuted it, the ‘godfather or hip hop’.
Spinner offers a run-down of the respects paid to the great man by some hefty figures in the music world. They include:
* A tweet from Eminem, who said, “RIP Gil Scott Heron. He influenced all of hip-hop.”
* Also on Twitter was Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers, who said, “ahhhh gil scott-heron…………man……….R.I.P. what a beautiful dude, been listening to him a lot lately too…….god bless his soul.”
* Hip hop artist Talib Kweli tweeted, “I met Gil Scot Heron at SOBs in 1993, I went to see him perform. He completely influenced me as an artist.”
* Chuck D of Public Enemy said, “RIP GSH..and we do what we do and how we do because of you.And to those that don’t know tip your hat with a hand over your heart & recognize.”
* Soul singer Usher wrote, “I just [sic] learned of the lost of a very important poet…R.I.P. Gil Scott Heron. “The revolution will be live!!”….URIV”
* Lupe Fiasco wrote, “Awww man…sad day…RIP Gil-Scot [sic] Heron…May God have mercy on your soul!”
In addition, Radiohead put up an ‘Office Chart’ on Saturday (May 28) on their official website, with a playlist of songs devoted to the late Scott-Heron, both by the man himself and other artists including the xx‘s Jamie XX.
Radiohead, polite middle-class white fellows from Oxford, England, being precisely who Scott-Heron’s music was aimed at, of course.
