Gil Scott-Heron's Cultural Resurgence

The name may sound familiar, but it's a safe bet that few people under the age of forty are familiar with Gil Scott-Heron.  Perhaps best known for his 1970 spoken-word piece The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Scott-Heron was a prominent poet and musician of the African American Countercultural movement of the '60's and '70's.  A prolific artist, he released thirteen albums between 1970 and 1982.  In the ensuing decades, he only released two albums, and had all but dropped off the cultural radar, save for the occasional sampling of his material by hip-hop artists such as Kanye West.  Scott-Heron died this past May, but not before scoring one final triumph with the release of 2010's I'm New Here, a collaboration with British hip-hop producer Richard Russell.

I just came across Alec Wilkinson's profile in The New Yorker of the aging and reclusive Scott-Heron's long battle with substance abuse.  A very compelling read.