Gil Scott‐Heron

Gil Scott-Heron was an American poet, singer, and musician whose work combined spoken-word performance with jazz, soul, funk, and blues influences. Known for a rhythmic, spoken delivery and politically conscious lyrics, his recordings and live performances blended poetic cadence with warm jazz arrangements and groove-based instrumentation, and he is often cited as a precursor to hip hop and spoken-word artists that followed. He was active from the late 1960s onward and died in 2011.