As co-founder of The Roots, a legendary hip-hop group and the house band for “The Tonight Show,” Ahmir Khalib Thompson, better known as Questlove, has proven himself a respected musicologist. An Oscar-winning producer and director of the documentary “Summer of Soul” and DJ, Questlove’s career and new documentary “Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)” on Hulu reveals he appreciates highlighting unknown music and musical stories.
“I got tired of the drug addicted — like troubled [narrative] … He chose drugs when he got successful,” said Questlove in an interview with Sherri Shepherd talking about Sly Stone, the famed lead singer of Sly and the Family Stone. “This shows you the psychology behind the trepidation and fear of why.”
Sly’s Influence
Without a doubt, other artists adore Stone’s composing and producing skills, from artists such as Andre 3000 of OutKast, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, George Clinton of Parliament Funkadelic, Q-Tip and A Tribe Called Quest, all who admitted to sampling his music.
From his early days in San Francisco radio, Stone started making records at age 19. He liked all genres of music, capturing what he loved into what he produced for others.
His broad foundation in music was how the Family Stone evolved. Formed in the ’60s, it was a diverse rock/soul band that included musicians and singers who were Black, white, and Hispanic who could jam.
“I was excited from the very beginning,” said top music executive Clive Davis.
With the group’s success, relationships between The Family Stone became tense. Members began to leave. It was Sly’s lateness, spending money before paying the band. Bringing people around just to hang out, and the drugs. Sly was retreating.
“It’s a type of separation anxiety,” said Andre 3000. “He was always vulnerable. Values change.”
Questlove has another documentary he produced on Peacock, “Ladies and Gentlemen, 50 Years of SNL Music,” which was created in support of the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live.”
He said digging into musical stories, particularly about Black artists, and sharing their truths motivates his work.
“There’s literally no Black genius in music that hasn’t been painted as a tragic figure. From Bird to Ray Charles to Michael Jackson. And Sly represents that. So yes, there’s one story to be told, how somebody was so pioneering using their music to break boundaries, but something happened in 1969 and 1970 after Woodstock, and “Summer of Soul” that changed him, and I want to find out what it was,” Questlove said in an interview with International Documentary Association (IDA), when beginning the work for “Sly Lives.”
“That’s a common action that’s been happening for 50 years. So, hopefully in providing the outlet to study mental health and that sort of thing that normally Black people don’t speak of, there will be something deeper under that,” he continued. “I want to investigate — and tell the story of the guy who wrote great music and saved hip-hop, and all those other things.”
