so long gil scott-heron. i hope he died without cocaine in his system. i was never much of an aficianado, though of course i used to listen to 'the revolution will not be televised.' i think he's mischaracterized as the father of hip hop, though he did spoken-word over music. (i'd say the same about last poets.) i'm not certain that the people who actually originated hip hop, such a kool herc and grandmaster flash, had ever heard these folks, though they may have. but the fundamental source is jamaican dub and dj music. hip hop is only in place when you have turntabling/sampling, and if you listen to early emcees like the cold crush brothers, it certainly would be hard to detect an influence from people like heron, in style or content: early hip hop emceeing was characterized by extreme rhythmic structure and rhyme that just wasn't there in heron or last poets, and there's almost no politics for awhile: it's a party style. one might say he anticipated hip hop to some extent, and he may even have been an influence on the political turn in the late 80s (as in krs one), or on later use of jazz by people like guru, but even on that i would take some convincing. that's not say the stuff isn't good. that last album - i'm new here - was quite something.