US musician and poet Gil Scott-Heron has died aged 62, media reports, publicists and publishers have said.

The cause of Scott-Heron's death, in a New York hospital, is not clear.

Scott-Heron's material spanned soul, jazz, blues and the spoken word and his 1970s work heavily influenced the US hip-hop and rap scenes.

There was a strong political element to the Chicago-born artist's work; one of his most famous compositions was The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.

Scott-Heron's friend Doris Nolan said the musician had died at St Luke's Hospital on Friday afternoon, the Associated Press news agency reports.

She said Scott-Heron had become sick upon returning from a European trip.

Two recording companies later also carried reports that the musician had died.

Scott-Heron was often described as the godfather of rap.

However, the artist himself rejected this title.

"If there was any individual initiative that I was responsible for it might have been that there was music in certain poems of mine, with complete progression and repeating 'hooks', which made them more like songs than just recitations with percussion," Scott-Heron wrote in the introduction to his 1990 Now and Then collection of poems.

His most recent album I'm New Here - released last year - was widely acclaimed and brought him to the attention of a new generation.

Among the rappers immediately tweeting tributes were Talib Kweli and Chuck D of Public Enemy.

He must be popular, he's already got another thread dedicated to him.  ;)

He must be popular, he's already got another thread dedicated to him.  ;)
Oops!

I will lock this thread.