Disregard the understated title;
Small Talk at 125th and Lenox
was a volcanic upheaval of intellectualism and social critique, recorded live in a New York nightclub with only bongos and conga to back the street poet. Here
Scott-Heron
introduced some of his most biting material, including the landmark
"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"
as well as his single most polemical moment: the angry race warning
"Enough."
Still, he balances the tone and mood well, ranging from direct broadsides to clever satire. He introduces
"Whitey on the Moon"
with a bemused air ("wanting to give credit where credit is due"), then launches into a diatribe concerning living conditions for the neglected on earth while those racing to the moon receive millions of taxpayer dollars. On
"Evolution (And Flashback),"
laments the setbacks of the civil rights movement and provides a capsule history of his race, ending sharply with these words: "In 1960, I was a negro, and then
Malcolm
came along/Yes, but some nigger shot
down, though the bitter truth lives on/Well, now I am a black man, and though I still go second class/Whereas once I wanted the white man's love, now he can kiss my ass." The only sour note comes on a brush with homophobia,
"The Subject Was Faggots."
~ John Bush