On This Day 11/08/1996 Gil Scott-Heron

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On this day, 11 August 1996, American jazz poet, singer, musician, and author Gil Scott-Heron played Cardiff’s Big Weekend.

Known for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s, his collaborative efforts with musician Brian Jackson fused jazz, blues, and soul with lyrics relative to social and political issues of the time, delivered in both rapping and melismatic vocal styles.

He referred to himself as a "bluesologist", his own term for "a scientist who is concerned with the origin of the blues". His poem "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", delivered over a jazz-soul beat, is considered a major influence on hip hop music.

Scott-Heron's music, most notably on the albums Pieces of a Man and Winter in America during the early 1970s, influenced and foreshadowed later African-American music genres, including hip hop and neo soul. His recording work received much critical acclaim, especially for "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised".

AllMusic's John Bush called him "one of the most important progenitors of rap music", stating that "his aggressive, no-nonsense street poetry inspired a legion of intelligent rappers while his engaging songwriting skills placed him square in the R&B charts later in his career.

On This Day 09/05/1993 Gil Scott Heron

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On this day 9 May 1993, African-American soul singer, jazz poet, musician and author Gil Scott Heron played Cardiff’s Coal Exchange.

Known primarily for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s.

His collaborative efforts with musician Brian Jackson featured a musical fusion of jazz, blues, and soul, as well as lyrical content concerning social and political issues of the time, delivered in both rapping and melismatic vocal styles by Scott-Heron.

His own term for himself was "bluesologist", which he defined as "a scientist who is concerned with the origin of the blues".

In 1993, he signed to TVT Records and released Spirits, an album that included the seminal track "'Message to the Messengers".

The first track on the album criticized the rap artists of the day. Scott-Heron is known in many circles as "the Godfather of rap" and is widely considered to be one of the genre's founding fathers.

Given the political consciousness that lies at the foundation of his work, he can also be called a founder of political rap.

"Message to the Messengers" was a plea for the new generation of rappers to speak for change rather than perpetuate the current social situation, and to be more articulate and artistic.

Regarding hip hop music in the 1990s, he said in an interview:

“They need to study music. I played in several bands before I began my career as a poet. There's a big difference between putting words over some music, and blending those same words into the music. There's not a lot of humor. They use a lot of slang and colloquialisms, and you don't really see inside the person. Instead, you just get a lot of posturing.”