Gil Scott-Heron by Brian Jackson & Yasiin Bey | Vivid LIVE

As part of their 15th year takeover, Sydney tastemakers Astral People are excited to present a world-first celebration of the inimitable Gil Scott-Heron, the American poet and musician whose politically charged, spoken-word performances and fusions of jazz, blues and soul helped transform the sound of rhythm and blues in the 1960s and ’70s, paving the way for what became hip-hop. Scott-Heron’s searing proto-rap single 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised' – from his 1971 masterpiece Pieces of a Man – remains a fiercely incandescent anthem of defiance and activism.

This celebration of a musical titan is led by the man who musically knew him best - none other than Scott-Heron’s musical director, Brian Jackson, the man whose Rhodes electric piano and flute played a part on so many of their seminal records throughout the 1970s. A multitalented keyboardist, flautist, singer, composer and producer, Jackson played on Scott-Heron’s Pieces of a Man and Free Will (1972), and together they co-headlined a string of groundbreaking records, including the jazz-funk classic, Winter In America (1974).

Joining Jackson as the voice of Gil Scott-Heron is the legendary Brooklyn-born rapper, musician and multidisciplinary artist Yasiin Bey, a figure who has moved fluidly between hip-hop, big-screen stardom and trenchant social commentary. An artist who emerged from the New York underground in the mid-1990s and released a pair of classics in his solo debut Black On Both Sides (1999) and a 1998 collaboration with Talib Kweli, Yasiin Bey & Talib Kweli Are Black Star (1998). A fitting heir to Scott-Heron’s activist legacy, Bey has garnered multiple Grammy Award nominations and remains one of the most critically acclaimed rappers of the past 30 years.