From NY Daily News:
Platinum-selling rapper Kayne West led the mourners Thursday at a memorial service for Gil Scott-Heron, the innovative spoken-word artist hailed as the “Godfather of Rap.”
West closed out the Riverside Church service by performing his song “Lost In the World” – featuring a sample of Scott-Heron’s “Who Will Survive in America?”
West, dressed in black and sporting a pair of dark sunglasses, hugged members of Scott-Heron’s family at the end of the service.
Scott-Heron’s daughter, Gia, performed the Bette Midler song “The Rose” before reading an original poem, and the Gil Scott-Heron Band played their front man’s “Better Days Ahead.”
Speakers included his first wife, Brenda Sykes, who reminisced about NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar introducing her to Scott-Heron.
The program for the memorial listed Stevie Wonder as an honorary pallbearer, but the superstar musician was not in attendance.
Scott-Heron’s body was not brought to the landmark Harlem church for the memorial.
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