Sly Stone’s journey highlights the difficulty of showing emotions, something that is even more difficult for Black people in the U.S. Expressing feelings at times felt dangerous for us. You could get laughed at, ridiculed, teased, ostracized, punched, or killed. To protect themselves, black people adopted a “cool” exterior — acting as if they had no feelings — which hid their true emotions and led to feeling numb inside.
This struggle can feel like being a goldfish in a bowl, constantly watched by others, making it hard to be real. While his talent shone brightly, Sly faced the pressure of living up to those expectations, creating a constant conflict between his creativity and the anxiety of being in the spotlight. His artistry was amazing, but it also came with the heavy burden of dealing with these challenges.
Sly Stone was such a trailblazer that I worried that focusing too much on his achievements might distract from the important message about mental health we aimed to highlight in the Sly Lives! doc. His humor in creating mock commercials for his radio show predates similar sketches on SNL, and his vision of a racially and sexually integrated world echoed Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream, even as it had the potential to stir controversy. In the late 1960s, the candid nature of Sly’s lyrics — expressing deep emotions and struggles — was not something many in the Black community were prepared to confront, as survival took precedence over vulnerability. His childlike melodies often hid the heavier messages within, as in “Everyday People,” which called attention to the importance of our lives despite its playful sound.
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Sly’s innovative spirit foreshadowed much of what would come in hip-hop, suggesting that had he emerged 20 years later, he could have rivaled the likes of Public Enemy and De La Soul. He experimented with altering his voice and created concept videos long before MTV popularized them, showcasing his ahead-of-the-curve creativity. His brother Freddie contributed significantly to the funk “bow chika wow wow” sound that became synonymous with the Seventies.
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Sly created the DIY, all-in-one genius lane that Stevie Wonder, Todd Rundgren, Prince, and Shuggie Otis would not only follow, but also build empires on. There is a playful freedom that dances somewhere in between “wow this is serious!!!” And “wait—is he serious?” And “uh….he can’t be serious.” The isolation of Riot and Fresh is a stark contrast to the all-inclusive, “everyone sing along!” feeling those five group albums provided.
You hear the ironic breeziness of a summer we never get to experience in “Hot Fun In The Summertime.” And I also hear Sly provoking his sister Rose into sending strays to Norman Whitfeld and the Temptations for biting his shit. “Hot Fun” was the O.G. “Not Like Us,” without you knowing. On the other side of that coin, the Tempts fired back with “Superstar (Remember Who You Are)” — but Sly got the last laugh ghostwriting for the Tempts in ’76 once Whitfield left the organization. Sly defined prolific in ways even this guy with six jobs didn’t know was possible.
