Gil Scott-Heron

Dance and hip-hop have borrowed (or stolen) so much from this album that it's easy to forget how original Scott-Heron's mix of soul, jazz, and pre-rap once was. Alternately angry and hopeful, his heartfelt debut still resonates decades after its release, tackling love, politics and personal history with equal passion.

Here is an album that needs discovering. It's strong, deeply soulful and possessed of that
rare and wonderful quality in this time of hollow, obligatory "relevance"–intelligence. Gil
Scott-Heron's first album, Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, was released almost two years ago
when its author/composer was 21. Like the Last Poets' work, Small Talk was predominantly
conga-backed poetry but it lacked the energy and flash of the Poets, and after I... More >