Scott-Heron: the Political Soul of Afro-American Pop

Where KRS-One and the Jungle Brothers are now exhorting black audiences to acknowledge their history, singer Gil Scott-Heron, who headlined Club Lingerie on Saturday, has always given a pretty good idea of what that history is--”Johannesburg,” perhaps his best-known song, calls for black unity in South Africa. What better way to celebrate on the eve of Nelson Mandela’s freedom than at a Scott-Heron concert?

Twenty years before Public Enemy’s Professor Griff dubbed himself the Minister of Information, 15 before Grandmaster Flash finally got “The Message,” Scott-Heron was the political soul of African-American pop, an erudite guy who waxed funky against Nixon, nukes and apartheid, who eked out hits about PCP, alcoholism and gun control. He was angry before angry was cool.

At the Lingerie, Scott-Heron ran through the hits, leading the six-piece band from his Fender Rhodes electric piano, which sounded almost antique, definitely funky. If you listened really carefully to the lyrics, some of them might have sounded a little dated too, filled with references to Karen Silkwood and Sgt. York military weapons, but his band was loose and jazzy, and his deep, do-right voice hasn’t mellowed a bit. Even with his best work a decade behind him, Scott-Heron is as vital and contemporary as any rapper you could name.