Gil Scott Heron is simply legendary. I miss the 70's era of soul, there was just such a wealth of natural talent back then.

I smoked crack with Gil
 

I hadn't heard of Gil Scott until I'm New Here came out, but after hearing that I went and checked out his older material. Definitely ahead of his time, his words echo Langston Hughes' work quite a bit in my opinion. I don't know much of his story, but his voice on New Here can only be the result of a man who's gone through some stuff.
My main reason for adding this is cuz about a month ago I had a wicked vivid dream with Gil Scott in it. It was mostly us roaming around the city looking for old Gil Scott stuff like albums or posters. At the same time we were selling cheap stuff to get money to get crack. All he wanted to do was smoke crack, so we were on a mission. It was interesting. Kinda sad tho really.

:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap:

Rekt

This is probably my favourite Gil Scott Heron song; chock full of ideas, clever lyrics and subtly-executed music: