Gil Scott-Heron // I'm New Here

After a sixteen year hiatus, the original Godfather to Rap is finally set to unleash the already critically acclaimed ‘I’m new Here’, a release which comprises of a collection of new tracks which are split between atmospheric soul and bluesy numbers wrapped together with various spoken word jams. It’s a style which Scott-Heron is probably best known for after his industry-changing ‘The Revolution will not be Televised’, which first threw itself on the world as far back as 1971. ‘I’m New Here’ certainly offers a great deal of food for thought. All in all, life hasn’t been all that kind to the man behind one of the most important voices within 20th Century music. The inception of this release came about owing to a meeting between Scott-Heron & XL head honcho Richard Russell at a New York State penitentiary, a place in which the soul legend had spent the best part of a decade, in-between various rehab stints to deal with an ongoing cocaine addiction. If life experience offers creative fodder, then a man once described as the black Bob Dylan should be drowning in both thoughts and stories of self reflection – which is evident from the opening line ‘I did not become someone different…that I did not want to be’. From the outset of this album you are taken on a journey of self discovery…the question is, are you open enough to ingest this ride?