SLY LIVES! (AKA THE BURDEN OF BLACK GENIUS)

Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius), Hulu

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Review by Mark Dujsik | February 12, 2025

At its core, Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) is a traditional sort of biographical documentary. The subject is Sly Stone, best known as the frontman and musical mastermind of Sly and the Family Stone, and his story is more or less a familiar one in the realm of sudden fame. Because the film is directed by musician Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, though, it's more probing and curious about the nature of celebrity and the influence of Stone's music than that broad description of the documentary might make it seem.

Thompson either didn't receive or, as might be the case after hearing the breadth of the central figure's story, didn't ask for access to Stone, who is still alive and seemingly enjoying a private existence in his early 80s. There are some more recent photos of the man, presumably provided by his children or found on social media, and all things considered, he looks to be in good health and of good spirits. Considering all of those things that the film recounts over the course of his rocky career, it's genuinely nice to see him like that.

That feeling is partly how we know the film succeeds at its main goal, which is to tell Stone's story with a level of understanding that wasn't always offered to the musician when he likely needed it the most. Like so many artists who have celebrity thrust upon them, Stone didn't know how to handle the attention and scrutiny of the spotlight.

Thompson and his multiple interview subjects, musicians who admire and/or worked with the man, argue that Stone's position was unique. There had never been the equivalent of a "Black Elvis" before Stone, so even if the man wanted to seek advice about how navigate this world of overwhelming fame, there'd be no one to ask.

What made Stone unique as a musician was both his undeniable musical talent—in the practical sense of being able to play several instruments, as well as in understanding music on a compositional level and in how to produce it for recording—and the times in which he was at the height of his fame. It was the late 1960s when Sly and the Family Stone came to prominence, off the popularity of "Dance to the Music," and in a time of social and cultural turmoil and division, Stone formed a band made up diverse musicians—Black and white, men and women.

They were there for two major cultural events of the era: Woodstock and, as Thompson previously showed (in the filmmaker's great Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)), the Harlem Cultural Festival—both in 1969. It meant something that the band represented inclusion at that moment of history, and it also was noteworthy that a group fronted by a Black musician crossed over as significantly as Stone's band did during that period. Stone didn't see it as some revolutionary political act, though, because he just selected the best musicians for the kind of music he wanted to make.

At the time, that music probably sounded pretty different or maybe even eclectic—a fusion of pop, rhythm and blues, rock, and the emerging style of funk, with all of it assembled by a team of musicians who were, at the height of their popularity, in complete harmony with each other. They'd eventually help to shape the psychedelic music that would follow, too. It's arguable, as a few of the interviewees here do, that Sly and the Family Stone was one of the most important music acts of its time, and Stone was behind all of that.

Thompson mostly tells this story, as well as the one of Stone's early life (learning music from childhood to young adulthood, becoming a radio DJ, almost falling into a gig as a beloved record producer, and setting off on his own career as a musician), by way of those interviews. They include new ones with band members Jerry Martini, Larry Graham Jr., and Greg Errico, as well as archival ones with the late trumpet player Cynthia Robinson, but there are others with several musicians who have been inspired by Stone: André 3000, Chaka Khan, Q-Tip, D'Angelo, and more.

Thompson lets the people who were there for Stone's rise and repeated falls tell that story, along with archival footage and recordings of the man telling it himself. It's informative and, with the amount of film and photographs (sometimes roughly animated to the beat of the performance of a particular tune) of the band in action, energetic. Even when the material falls into the usual form of a biographical documentary, it possesses a driving sense of momentum that elevates it.

As for the other musicians who mostly weren't there (Khan speaks of seeing the band perform as a kid, while George Clinton performed with Stone and has some stories to tell about their behind-the-scenes activities with recreational drugs), the film allows them to dissect the music and assess Stone's unique celebrity at the time, how that might have led to his abuse of drugs, and the way the media appeared to take glee in watching his downfall. Thompson's musical knowledge and industry status, of course, mean that his questions are to-the-point and sometimes pointed, such as when he asks his interview subjects to relate their own lives and careers to Stone's.

Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) is a revealing and lively documentary. It helps us comprehend and recognize Stone's personal struggles and his place in the history of modern music.

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