Rodriguez

The “lost episode” of the early 1970s rock and roll, if you will, Rodriguez was born in inner-city Detroit, and still resides in a house that he bought for fifty dollars at foreclosure auction.

He describes his teenage life as living on the streets, and shares his unique cosmovision through Dylan-esque poetry, throughout both of his only albums (Cold Fact and Coming From Reality).

There’s nothing I’ve ever heard that’s like it! People’d say “Bob Dylan and this, and…”, no, no, no, no, no. Bob Dylan was mild [compared] to this guy.
-Clarence Avant, 2012

No one in the United States had ever heard of this musician, as his records failed to even reach double digit sales until the Oscar-nominated documentary, “Searching For Sugarman”, clued the population into the inner city poet.

If I had to name 10 artists that I’ve ever been involved with, Rodriguez would be in the top 5. Simple as that.
- Clarence Avant, 2012

The film displayed the fame that Rodriguez had reached in South Africa from the 1970s all the way through present day, as he still makes trips there to perform concerts for thousands of his fans. This fame, though, was unbeknownst to Rodriguez, as the first copy of Cold Fact to reach South Africa was a bootleg, from which several copies were made; this is reason why he ended up seeing none of the profits from the record sales. And even still, as he stated in the documentary, he gives most the money he earns from the concerts to his daughters, and continues to live a life of austerity.

Rodriguez remains as one of the most curious cases in Rock n' Roll history.

He passed away on August 8 2023 after he had a stroke. He was 81 years old.