Open share drawer Each Sunday, Pitchfork takes an in-depth look at a significant album from the past, and any record not in our archives is eligible. Today, we revisit Gil Scott-Heronâs 1971 album, a sorrowful and prescient appraisal of the Black experience. In 1971, Gil Scott-Heron observed the gradual demise of a man in his neighborhood who was driven over the brink after being let go from his job without warning. What came of Scott-Heron bearing witness to that unraveling is âPieces of a Man.â For the song, Scott-Heron replaced the neighbor with a fictitious account of his o...