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‘Sly Stone was way ahead of the game': Questlove explains the ‘genius' legacy of the late funk-rock master
Sly Stone, funk pioneer and frontman of Sly and the Family Stone, died Monday at the age of 82, following what his family described as 'prolonged battle with COPD and other underlying health issues.'
'It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved dad, Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone,' the family wrote in a statement. 'Sly passed away peacefully, surrounded by his three children, his closest friend, and his extended family. While we mourn his absence, we take solace in knowing that his extraordinary musical legacy will continue to resonate and inspire for generations to come.'
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The legendary musician was the subject of a recent Hulu documentary, Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius), from Oscar-winning director Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson. Questlove recently sat down with Gold Derby and shared stories about Sly Stone, his genius, and his lasting impact on pop culture.
SEE 'A lot comes with jumping into that inferno': Questlove explores the burden of Black genius in 'Sly Lives!'
"Sly was way ahead of the game," Questlove shared. "There are trillions of Sly genius stories."
One such story, ultimately left out of the documentary, highlights Sly's remarkable real-time creativity during an urgent re-edit of 'Stand!' after testing it at Whisky a Go Go in 1969. 'Sly was a little disappointed that people weren't losing their minds to his new single,' Questlove recounts. 'Then, a girl he was with gave him the inspiration, saying, 'It's 1969, man. We need a get-down part.'
"Sly learns that in the wake of James Brown's 'Cold Sweat' in '68, a year before, the idea of letting the bass and the drums have their moment — that was a new thing. It needs to go somewhere else just to spike the punch a little bit.
"Sly literally wakes the band up as the club is letting out at 1:45 a.m. and says, 'Get to the studio now. We made a mistake!' And they get to the studio and they work on what we now know as the ending of 'Stand!,' and he calls up Columbia the next day. He's like, 'Destroy all the 45s. We have a new ending. Forget that version.' They're like, 'We already printed it up.' So there's about 40,000 copies of the original 'Stand!' out there. I was lucky to find one."
Questlove on Sly Stone's innovation: "He literally pioneered — or was the first — for so many things that we take for granted now. He was the first to use the drum machine, the first to take advantage of multitrack recording — doing everything himself. Sly made three whole music videos in 1969. The purpose of a music video was basically — if you were unable to travel to Europe, you would just perform a generic performance video that they would air on television shows overseas. But if you look at 'Dance to the Music', if you look at 'Life,' if you look at 'Everyday People,' those are conceptual videos — and this is like 10 years before MTV was launched."
Generations continue to be inspired and entertained by Sly Stone, whose timeless music has been sampled in countless hip-hop tracks, shaping the genre and leaving a lasting impact. 'For me, my sweet spot was always with the hip-hop heads,' Questlove said. "You might be aware that Arrested Development's 'People Everyday' is [Sly and the Family Stone's] 'Everyday People.' You might recognize the drums from 'The Humpty Dance' as 'Sing a Simple Song.' You might have some sort of hip-hop-adjacent, 'Oh, that LL Cool J loop is definitely Sly Stone.' You might be that person. Hip-hop heads know about Sly Stone's impact."
Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) is streaming on Hulu.
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