Gil Scott-Heron - Me and the Devil

If hip-hop is dead, then Gil Scott-Heron made a pact at the crossroads. With Me and the Devil he succeeds in resurrecting the genre’s gaudy corpse and brings it to atonement for past sins. Scott-Heron’s commanding bluesy holler leads a restless gaggle of samples, the track’s power reminding us not only of the importance of his output in the 1970s but also the creative “desert of despair” that current mainstream hip-hop finds itself in. Its brilliance is inspiring and whets an appetite for the troubled prophet's first album in 16 years, but it makes you wonder whether a voice this vital will ever emerge from Generation Fiddy. [Joe Barton]