For anyone who’s ever thought that extremely talented people also often had problems coping with the challenges of daily life, Questlove’s new documentary on Sly Stone directly examines that contention. It’s at the heart of Sly Lives!, his latest production, which debuted last Thursday on Hulu. He also told NPR’s Terry Gross he’s experienced the same phenomenon himself, particularly in the wake of all the acclaim given to his previous documentary Summer of Soul in 2021. “Even though my experience with Summer of Soul was one of the most magical, transformative moments of my life … there’s a fear of winning, because if you’re too successful then you’re singled out,” Questlove said. “And being singled out for positive reasons or negative reasons is such a nightmare for most Black people.”
Sly Stone and his band created such seminal hits as “Everyday People,” “Dance to the Music,” and “Family Affair.” “Sly will invent the alphabet for which most of pop and R&B or Black music will write from for the next 60 years,” Questlove added. “We’re still writing from his dictionary to this day.” But success took a toll on Sly, and he struggled with fame and drugs. “As with most Black artists, the guilt of being the chosen one, the guilt of being the winner sort of sets in, and Sly will be kind of the first domino in a long list of people that will self-sabotage a good thing,” Questlove continued. “And so that’s what this film explores, like, why do we self-sabotage?”
In fact, Questlove says he chose the title Sly Lives! because he wanted to focus on Stone’s recent life and the fact that he’s now been clean for close to a decade and is doing fine. “He has an everyday, normal existence, like he plays with his grandkids,” Questlove says. “To be normal, to be human, not to be the scary Black guy, not to be the oversexualized person, but just a normal, relatable, everyday person. To me, that’s the dream.” Questlove also added that Sly has his own perspective on his biggest hits, and fans might be surprised by how he feels about them.
For instance, on “Dance to the Music,” Questlove said, “What people don’t know is that Sly basically considered ‘Dance to the Music’ his sell-out song. Sly had released this really intelligent debut album called A Whole New Thing, which is probably my favorite album of his entire canon. But it was way too wordy, way too smart, way too nerdy, just so ahead of its time that only a certain few latched on to it. And the rejection of that album kind of depressed Sly, and his label said, ‘Look, you’re doing way too much. You got to simplify it. People aren’t as smart as you are. Like, instead of you being the smartest guy in the room, be a relatable guy in the room. People just want to dance to the music.’”
He adds that “Stand” has a special place among Sly’s gems. “I kind of think that was Sly’s nod to the Black community, because by that point, Sly was such a pop hit, but he really didn’t have many numbers on the board for his Black audience. Like when he first came out of the box, his white audience immediately latched on to him. I know with certain Black artists, even though it’s unspoken, one of the burdens of Black genius is sometimes, like, the burden of being white people’s favorite Black person. That’s, like, a mark of shame like, ‘Man, I gotta get right with my people first before the rest of the world loves me.’ So, I almost feel as though in a sort of code-switch way, he wanted to add a part to that song that really made Black people say, ‘OK, he’s still down with us.’ You know? So, he adds this really funky part at the end that really solidifies his genius.”
He also cites his innovative qualities—first to use a drum machine, and his do-it-all persona—as well as the constant juggling of racial considerations and motivations. “The messaging of his music was always encouraging, always a cheerleader of justice and a cheerleader of positivity. And unfortunately, even though the music spoke of that optimism, inside, he was sort of falling apart at the seams because there’s a pressure—or a burden—which is why we call it ‘the burden of Black genius.’ There’s a burden when one puts themselves in that position where they often have to come up with the solutions or the answers to why society is the way it is.”
“What winds up happening is for every time the pressure is on Sly to prove his ‘Blackness,’ the more success he gets, his only answer is to create ‘Blacker’ music. … The pinnacle of it will be his fifth album, which is There’s a Riot Goin’ On, which every critic salivates over that album like, ‘Oh my God, it’s the most amazing funk album ever.’ Yes, it’s the very first funk album, but for me, it’s probably 41 of the most painful, documented minutes in a creator’s life. Like, this is clearly someone who is an unwilling participant in his journey. I hear someone crying for help, but because the music is so awesome and so mind-blowing, we wind up fetishizing his art and you don’t see the pain of it.”
Ann Marie Baldonado and Anna Bauman produced Sly Lives! It’s currently streaming on Hulu.
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