ABOUT THIS ITEM

Gil Scott-Heron: the voice of inner city malaise; the champion of transparent honesty in musical expression; the man who lived the dark, wretched existence of addiction and “Inner City Blues” he so eloquently described in his music. Refusing to divorce his music from the objective realities surrounding him, he tackled the most wretchedly unspeakable aspects of human suffering without a moment of flickering doubt or hesitation, dissecting and decimating systematically the pseudo-academic justification for Black America’s continued wallowing in the depths of poverty, crime and disenfranchisement. Scott-Heron lived the darkness: always on the verge of death, one foot in the coffin, one firmly planted on the cracked concrete of inner city America, he managed to stand firm against the tide unaware and unconscious thought typical of the mindless rabble in favor of a markedly witty and free-spirited, joyous assault on the dominant social relations of 1970’s America, all the while battling a stupendous Heroin addiction. Indeed, Scott-Heron knew that of which he chronicled in his songs, ascribing words to previously inexplicable miseries plaguing the downtrodden masses of the world. This 12” from Slow To Speak’s Francis Englehardt and Paul Nickerson features three of his dopest and most powerful songs, including two live takes, “Angel Dust” and “The Bottle” (the 14 minute live version, as sampled by MAW) in addition to the breathtaking “We Almost Lost Detroit”.