2014 Record Store Day Will Include Limited Edition Gil Scott Heron Recordings, Including This 2008 Gem (Audio)

It’s soon to be almost three years since the world lost an amazing singer, poet and author in Gil Scott Heron. The Harlem, New York-based Heron is known for creating the basis of songs that spoke candidly about the last days of the Civil Rights Era, drug use, gentrification, and marginalization from family. Shortly before his death, Gil released I’m New Here, his first studio album after a prolonged hiatus. That LP, and the subsequent remix album by The xx were used prominently on Drake and Rihanna’s “Take Care,” while other Gil tracks were sampled by Kanye West, Game, and others.

For this month’s Record Store Day, XL Records is releasing 3,000 copies of Nothing New to vinyl. The album is compromised of sessions from I’m New Here, bare to the bone, before the label’s founder, Richard Russell, laced production. Included is this 2008 recording of “Alien (Hold On To Your Dreams)”:

Shouts to ego trip for the initial report.

Related: Gil Scott Heron’s Poetic & Musical Accomplishments May Be Unsung, But They’re Timeless (Video)

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