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Gil Scott-Heron Died on Friday, He Was 62

The man who is sometimes referred to as the Godfather of Rap has died.

Gil-Scott Heron, a poet and songwriter, died Friday after becoming sick after returning from a European trip, the Associated Press reports.

He was 62.

Heron was famous for his mix of percussion, politics and poetry—which he called bluesology.

The inspirational poet was born in Chicago, and transplanted to Tennessee before making it to New York.

He was known for his spoken word performances and his views on politics and society.

His most famous work, “The Revolution Will Not be Televised,” addressed issues surrounding the black community.

“You will not be able to stay home, brother.  You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.  You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip, skip out for beer during commercials, because the revolution will not be televised” is how Scott-Heron started the poem.

He recorded dozens of albums over his career, where he discussed his own experiences and hardships, as well as social and political issues at the time.

Some of his famous albums are, “Secrets,” “Reflections,” “Bridges,” and “Small Talk at 125th and Lenox.”

Although he recorded many of his albums early in his career, Scott-Heron came out with the album “I’m New Here” earlier this year.

His influence on the music world was so strong that some people consider him the Godfather of rap, a title he disagreed with.

“If there was any individual initiative that I was responsible for it might have been that there was music in certain poems of mine, with complete progression and repeating ‘hooks,’ which made them more like songs than just recitations with percussion,” he wrote in the introduction to his 1990 collection of poems, “Now and Then,” according to the Associated Press.

The rapper Snoop Dog took to Twitter to pay his respects to Scott-Heron: “rip to 1 of tha greats gil scott heron,” he said.