“Sly Lives!” — And How

For a time in the late 60s and early 70s, Sly and the Family Stone burned bright on the cultural landscape. From “Dance to the Music” to “I Want to Take You Higher” (memorably performed at Woodstock), the group racked up numerous Top 10 hits. Their blend of funk, pop, rock, and San Francisco psychedelia was perfectly positioned for the Woodstock generation. It combined the uplifting hippie vibe of envisioning a better world (“Everyday People”) while squarely acknowledging the harsh realities of the post-civil rights years (“Stand”).

A new documentary on Hulu called Sly Lives! traces Stone’s rise from his church roots to influential San Francisco deejay to one of the most complex figures in music. Like his earlier project, Summer of Soul, director Questlove does an excellent job of documenting Sly’s unique vision but adds something else: the subtext of this film is “The Burden of Black Genius.”

Sly had exceptional natural gifts and a vision for the future of music that blended races and sexes. I mean, Cynthia Robinson’s trumpet and white boy Greg Errico on drums?  Without that, there would’ve been no Prince and the Revolution. But as he became more successful, Stone faced a kind of pressure the documentary describes as “leavin’ the ‘hood.” Artists including Vernon Reid, George Clinton, Andre 3000, and Chaka Khan talk candidly about this subtle phenomenon in the black community. It encompasses aspects of guilt and a certain shame for “gettin’ above their raising.”  This is the particular “burden of black genius.”

This partly explains why Sly famously went off the rails as the 70s progressed into the 80s.  His drug and alcohol use exploded, he wouldn’t show up for concerts (if he did, he was late), he repeatedly got into trouble with the law. A clip from an interview conducted in the early 80s shows this combination of not suffering fools mixed with an almost painful shyness: when the interviewer notes how he’s ‘blown it,’ a look of real pain flickers across his face. It made me want to hug him.

While the music business has famously mistreated many of its artists, Sly Lives! points out a consistent pattern of the abuse of gifted black performers. These range from Billie Holiday to Frankie Lymon to Sly himself, who had been robbed of his royalties and at one point, was living in a cheap trailer. The subtext Questlove points out is an attitude of, “Who do these black artists think they are?” An undercurrent of this thinking explains the lack of generational wealth among many successful black musicians compared to white artists.

As the 70s unspun, groups like the Ohio Players and Earth, Wind, and Fire began to upstage him. Stone tried to reinvent his sound and image. But unlike David Bowie who constantly did the same, Sly wasn’t given the same leeway. He struggled to remain relevant, participating in various stunts including getting married onstage to Kathy Silva at Madison Square Garden before a 1974 show. His last studio album was 1982’s Ain’t but the One Way.

Fortunately, a new generation of artists ranging from LL Cool J and Dr. Dre to Janet Jackson and The Roots, have dipped into the extraordinary back catalog of Sly and the Family Stone, sampling the hell out of it, and presenting their extraordinary sound to listeners of today.

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis recall how one small bit from “Thank You (Falettin Me Be Mice Elf Agin)” (Larry Graham’s slapping bass line) brought Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation” together in an instant.

Happily, Sly Stone is still with us, clean and sober. In 1993, he made a surprise appearance to join his bandmates when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He won a lawsuit that rightfully restored much of his hard-earned fortune. His family surrounds him and helped him with his 2023 memoir, Thank You.

Sly Lives! is very much worth watching, as it explores both an artist’s incredible music and some important questions the industry has yet to successfully address.

-Cindy Grogan

Photo: Getty Images