GIL SCOTT-HERON: LETTERS FROM MY BETTERS

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I’ve been gone from home, more or less continuously, since May 18th, and I simply haven’t had the physical or mental time to write much about the passing of GSH. Luckily, there’s no shortage of great, thoughtful tributes being written by others:1

  • Michael Barnes dedicated yesterday’s Melting Pot show to a two hour GSH tribute.
  • Adam Mansbach writes about “the depth of his self-analysis, the delicacy of his portraiture.”
  • Jonny Paycheck argues that by battling with his addiction, “[GSH] humanized himself, and in the process, all of us.”
  • Chairman Mao shares an unreleased promo mix from GSH’s last album, I’m New Here.
  • And if this is the first you’ve ever learned anything about GSH (and hey, that’s ok, never too late to start) and you want a starting point, I would personally suggest Winter in America, his Strata-East album with frequent collaborator Brian Jackson. A beautiful, powerful album that I never tire of revisiting.

    1. Big middle finger to those insisting on describing GSH by the ridiculous moniker “godfather of rap,” a title he eschewed and a loathsomely reductive way to capture the expansive majesty of his life and legacy.