Gill Scott Heron
Gill Scott Heron was a revolutionary black activist who spread his messages of Black Nationalism, direct action against racism, African American injustices, government corruption/manipulation, etc most widely through his music. His music featuring beautiful jazz rhythms and in depth lyrical analogies (similar to the likes of Amiri Baraka) led him to be a huge influence on black culture and fighting against systematic oppression and victimization of African Americans in the United States until his death in 2011. This influence also led to many considering Heron as "The Forefather of Rap", leading the way for modern influences in African American culture and injustices for African Americans in the United States, like Childish Gambino. Gill Scott Heron may have passed away but his music and influence on other artists will last forever.
One of Gill Scott Heron's most influential songs is "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised". This song is a call to action for direct action in the African American revolution against systemic and governmental discrimination. Heron repeats how "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", opposed to how all the distractions such as happy-go-lucky tv shows and the news are. He says this to expose how people are sucked in and distracted causing these issues for African Americans to get looked over time and time again. This song from Gill Scott Heron uses a style similar to Amiri Baraka's style in "In Memory of A Radio" where he is not using the direct striking harsh realities of African Americans but is rather using a more figurative and indirect yet relatable approach that is uplifting. He focuses on widely known slogans such as "brought to you by Xerox", "brought to you by the Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia", and "And women will not care if Dick finally got down with Jane". Although Gill Scott Heron doesn't directly say "These examples of pop culture are a disgusting distraction and disrespect to the discrimination and victimization of African Americans", the constant repetition of these references and "The revolution will not be televised" allows an easy comprehension of this call to action.
Another one of Gill Scott Heron's most influential songs is "Whitey On The Moon". "Whitey On The Moon" again shows how the United States of America puts off the issues of African American victimization and hides this victimization in the media with other topics. In "Whitey On The Moon" Heron spreads the message that African Americans are being victimized but oh it's no big deal because the United States sent a white person to the moon. The irony of this is that a white person on the moon is such a big deal when the United States of America can't even solve the problems on Earth. Why is landing on the moon even a good thing if there is oppression, racism, and victimization of African Americans on Earth. These questions are prompted directly through a use of sarcasm by Heron in "Whitey On The Moon" when he says, "Taxes takin' my whole damn check,
Junkies makin' me a nervous wreck,
The price of food is goin' up,
An' as if all that shit wasn't enough
A rat done bit my sister Nell.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Her face an' arm began to swell.
(but Whitey's on the moon)" (Whitey On The Moon Gill Scott Heron). When Heron says "but whitey's on the moon" he is using sarcasm to show the blasphemy of the situation. This is another use of shock value by Heron to spread his messages of how the bigotry in the United States in the 1960's is reaching ridiculous proportions, as the media and white America continue to try and shove these issues that African Americans in America are facing.
African Americans are facing discrimination and injustice on Earth but the media is busy focused on the next biggest thing which happens to be a white person on the moon. Once this happens all the discrimination and protesting for justice for African Americans is forgotten and pushed to the side while these issues are still as pressing as ever. This is similar to George Floyd's murder as after the BLM protests, and sentencing of the officer who killed George Floyd, these murders of innocent African Americans by police have continued while the uproar and backlash from the public and media has stopped leading artists like Childish Gambino to create "This is America" to call out the media, government, etc for disregarding these pressing issues as well as bring attention to the victimization of African Americans.
