Directed by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson
**** (four stars)
Running Time: 1 hr 52 min
In his most private, interior, quietest moments (should he be blessed to have any), I am wondering, just one month after his historic 13 minute halftime performance at the 2025 Super Bowl, how Kendrick Lamar is feeling.
I do not reflect upon this question in regards to how he may have critiqued his own performance or even necessarily the world of responses to it (although, those elements are bound to figure into his thought process). I am wondering how he is legitimately feeling on the purest, soul deep emotional level as a human being, as a superlatively talented human being, as a Black human being existing within an unforgiving world of constant, relentless judgement. I wonder how he is feeling within his own mind, heart and spirit. And above all else, I sincerely hope, from one Black man to another, that regardless of his mountainous artistry and cultural power, he is being cared about and cared for.
"Sly Lives! (aka The Burden Of Black Genius)" the second documentary feature film from Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, while no less electrifying and evocative as his debut feature, the Oscar winning "Summer Of Soul (...or When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)" (2021), was a sobering experience, which left me filled with an existential sadness. Not that what Questlove adhered to the standard rise and fall narrative of so many documentaries and biopics. But how, with such tremendous yet rarely delivered empathy--especially when it comes to focusing upon Black figures--with regards to just asking the question why behaviors occurred rather than centering upon the what and calling it a day, making for yet another musical cautionary tale.
By performing the asking, which allows the film and the audience to have a true conversation, Questlove again has helmed a work that transcends, reaching outwards from and towards not only his titular subject and like minded Black musical artists of the past and present like himself. "Sly Lives! (aka The Burden Of Black Genius)" is a message to the Black community at large about our collective mental health. For no matter what skills and talents we posses, no matter how gifted and exemplary we are, no matter how often we inspire and transform American and therefore, world culture, we exist as a community that resides within a nation built upon the backs and blood of our ancestors. Meaning we are a community that, even now in the year 2025, has never been accepted and acknowledged as full human beings deserving of being treated humanely, let alone having our mental health regarded whatsoever. Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson's film serves as an urgent and compassionate wellness check with the music and life story of one of our most innovative, ingenious creatives as its dazzling, pulsating heartbeat.
Questlove's "Sly Lives! (aka The Burden Of Black Genius)" chronicles the life story of Sly Stone--born Sylvester Stewart--from his upbringing in the San Francisco Bay area and musical cultivation within rigorous, nearly daily performances in the church alongside his siblings, to his growth and development within the wider social culture performing within integrated high school bands, mixing styles and genres during his career as a popular Bay area radio DJ and his beginnings as a record producer, notably being the man who produced The Beau Brummels Merseybeat styled "Laugh Laugh" single (released December 1964) and the first version of "Somebody To Love," made famous by Jefferson Airplane, but in this case an early band starring Grace Slick with Stone teaching the song instrument by instrument to her then bandmates.
Housed by a personal world view in which he truly regarded individual people as such, regardless of race or gender, as well as a musical vision that freely in took music itself as a full entity and not defined by the narrow confines of genre, Sly Stone gave birth to his vision with the creation of his band Sly and the Family Stone, which included, alongside himself, his brother Freddie Stone (guitar, vocals) and sister Rose Stone (vocals, keyboards) plus Greg Errico (drums), the pioneering bassist Larry Graham (bass guitar, vocals), Jerry Martini (saxophone) and Cynthia Robinson (trumpet, vocals).
On sight, Sly and the Family Stone was as audacious as it was unprecedented: a fully integrated band crossing race and gender, Sonically, even moreso as through Stone's compositions, production and arrangements, genre was thrown out of the proverbial window as soul and R&B merged seamlessly into rock & psychedelia with folk and gospel thrown in for good measure, inventing a new style of funk that spiraled even further from where The Godfather Of Soul himself, JAMES BROWN had already propelled it.
While the band's debut album "A Whole New Thing" (released October 1967) failed commercially, Stone regrouped and injected a more deceptively simplified pop approach upon the band's follow up "Dance To The Music" (released April 1968) connected with the masses powerfully, inventing psychedelic soul, inspiring already established artists from The Four Tops, The Temptations and The Impressions among others to creatively extend themselves and blasting open the record charts by beginning a series of what would become iconic musical staples from which music would draw from for nearly 60 years.
After the band's highest watermark with the sensational, relentless "Stand!" (released May 3, 1969) further augmented by explosive appearances at both Woodstock and the Harlem Cultural Festival, where else was there for the band, and therefore Sly Stone to go but downwards?
While the subsequent album "There's A Riot Goin' On" (released November 1, 1971) is rightfully regarded to this day as a funk masterpiece, overflowing with sonic, musical innovation (incorporating primitive drum machines to sparkling effect, for instance), it was in reality a dark affair, largely recorded obsessively by Stone alone and fueled by the trappings of fame, mounting drug abuse and most importantly, cultural expectations that stemmed from his towering successes.
Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson's "Sly Lives! (aka The Burden Of Black Genius)" is a revelatory, deeply affectionate, multilayered documentary which cements the director further as one of our greatest and most essential music historians. As lovingly curated, edited and arranged as his famous DJ sets, Questlove brings Sly Stone's journey to vivid, present life through a collection of archived interviews, photography and film clips, combined with excellent new interview footage with the surviving members of The Family Stone plus Black musical artists whose lives Sly Stone has clearly influenced from Q-Tip, D'Angelo, Andre 3000, Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid, George Clinton, Nile Rodgers, Chaka Khan and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.
Now, I must say at this time, that throughout the entirety of my life, I actually have not been an active listener to Sly and the Family Stone. That being said, his music has been as ever present as the air which I breathe. It is constant, ephemeral and eternal.
My parents owned a copy of "Stand!" (I can vividly remember listening to the title track at a tiny age and feeling compelled to do precisely as the song instructed while also taking individual lyrics literally with striking mental images--"a giant about to fall," comes to mind instantly) and of course, the hit singles--"Hot Fun In The Summertime," "Dance To The Music," "Everybody Is A Star," "Everyday People," Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again)," "Family Affair"-- are all hardwired to my consciousness.
My devotional listening the likes of George Clinton's vast emporium of harsh Black realities combined with Afro-futurism within both Parliament and Funkadelic, the riotous clash of style, genre, sex and politics within Fishbone and undeniably the one of a kind musical universe of Prince would not exist at all if not for Sly Stone. Artists from hip hop giants from A Tribe Called Quest, Public Enemy, The Beastie Boys, LL Cool J and OutKast for instance, to British acts like The Human League, Fatboy Slim and World Party, as examples, all contain the still continuing musical reverberations as created by Stone.
Because of these truths, I absolutely love that the first half of the film's title is "Sly Lives!," not solely because Sylvester Stewart is still with us among the living at 81 years old, living a decidedly quieter life enjoying old Westerns and being with his grandchildren as interviews with his children in the film attest. It is also because of of something Questlove expressed himself during a recent interview with NPR's Terry Gross for "Fresh Air," in which he stated concerning Stone's legacy, "Sly will invent the alphabet for which most of pop and R&B or Black music will write from for the next 60 years. Like we're still writing from his dictionary to this day."
The first of several multilayered feats within Ahmir "Questlove" Thomson's "Sly Lives! (aka The Burden Of Black Genius)" is how the film takes music that is so undeniably familiar and weaves the fabric to not only makes these songs sound brand new again, but to illustrate precisely why the music of Sly and the Family Stone is so crucial to understanding how popular music itself progressed from that time.
Take the track "Dance To The Music," a song Stone composed almost out of frustration with his record label's requests to have him simplify his already complicated music as a means to greater reach the masses. From the song's title, you can see Stone's derision. Regardless, he ended up constructing a song that not only was a direct hit to the label's desires, it simultaneously refused to dial down any of his musical sophistication.
Questlove gives us a thrilling sequence as to how and why "Dance To The Music," and therefore the musical vision of Sly and the Family Stone was so revolutionary. Where pop songs generally possessed one hook, Stone would flood his music with several all at once. There would be vocals in unison, overlapping harmony vocals, sections where several band members traded lead vocals. It is a song in which every member has their chance to shine, to be seen as individuals as well as being connected as a team--which further connects to Stone's utopian outlook overall. "Dance To The Music" is a song that deconstructs and reconstructs itself in real time as we are all...dancing to the music! Ingenious!
A later, and equally captivating sequence, features Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis reminiscing about the period in which they were in full collaboration with Janet Jackson and how they ended up utilizing just a moment from "Thank You (Falettin Me Be Mice Elf Again)" and ended up creating the mammoth "Rhythm Nation." Writing from Sly's alphabet indeed and during a time period where musical genres were rigidly segregated at that.
Sly Stone disregarded the perceived norms and blazed unapologetically forward with his own self-created path and the people followed him like a pied piper, song after song, album after album and one show after another, scaling spectacular heights for a Black man in the turbulent White America of the 1960's determined to keep male, female, White and Black separate. As band member Jerry Martini expressed with reverence, "I was a White guy trying to be Black but he was a Black man being everything!"
To that end, as Andre 3000 also explains plaintively, "The same thing that made you great becomes the thing that kills you."
As with the very best films, especially documentaries, Ahmir "Questlove" Thomson's "Sly Lives! (aka The Burden Of Black Genius)" could have easily existed as a celebratory musical exploration of a living musical legend and called it a day. What allows this film to transcend from being a very good film into being a great one, is the empathetic depth Questlove brings to the proceedings as he delves deeply into what it is to be what he has termed as a "Black Genius," for all of its ascension and pitfalls.
While Sly and the Family Stone co-existed with the likes of James Brown and Jimi Hendrix, each of those artists essentially existed within somewhat firm lanes while Stone and his band continuously blurred genre lines, of which there had been no precedent or even a blueprint for a Black artist.
Granted, for any artists, the process of evolving is a precarious path due to commercial and audience expectations. Not everyone can be The Beatles or David Bowie, musical artists who consistently grew and shape shifted into creatives that took all that arrived before them and then, invented their own musical languages and universe overall. That being said, The Beatles and David Bowie are White artists, which means that artistic evolution for Sly Stone was exceedingly difficult based upon the expectations of a segregated music industry as well as the desires and expectations of both White and Black audiences.
Yet, in the larger societal landscape where there could be many White artists afforded the ability to grow, change, experiment and evolve like The Beatles and David Bowie. for Black artists...there can be only one. Within "Sly Lives! (aka The Burden Of Black Genius)," Questlove taps into the pressure, the anxiety, the internal pain, survivor's guilt and imposter syndrome that fuels the isolation and the overall sense of aloneness already inherent in the existence of being Black in America, making his film serve as a powerful companion piece to Cord Jefferson's "American Fiction" (2023).
Who else was there, especially in 1969, for Sly Stone to look to, as a Black creator, for counsel or solace? I appreciated tremendously how Questlove, as previously stated, utilized his film to be curious and caring enough to ask why the downward slide of Sly Stone's career occurred rather than lose and mire itself into the more salacious aspects.
After scaling the mountainous heights of "Stand," White audiences clearly saw Stone as a visionary, leading a utopian worldview through...well...dancing to the music. For Black audiences, a double edged sword existed as the same adoration led to desires for him to becoming some sort of "Black savior" to those who were more skeptical, as he was so adored by White audiences...essentially, was he catering to Whites while leaving his Blackness behind.
As a composer, Stone was savvy enough all the while to make the seemingly inoffensive pop songs subversive, with interpretations clearly designed for Black audiences, while conversely making his music darker, funkier and decidedly "Blacker," when questioned for his authenticity. A great moment arrives with a tale about how he was approached by the Black Panther Party and his response to their request for his support. Sly Stone was always a moving target, so to speak, one that was impossible to pin down as he, to paraphrase his own song, just wanted to be himself, whomever that was going to be and therefore, become on his own terms.
So, the behaviors that followed "Stand," combined with the tumultuous time period starring the death of the '60's dream, Stone turned inwards with the harrowing self-reflection of "There's A Riot Goin' On," fracturing the family of The Family Stone in the process, leading to key departures. New, shadier influences arrived and surrounded his inner circle, drug abuse deepened, erratic behaviors from late concert arrivals to no shows plus increasingly lengthy and more solitary recording sessions and more began to overshadow the music being made. All of this leads Questlove, as well as us watching, to ask the questions if this self-destructive behavior was indeed self-sabotage, purposeful or no.
It struck me while watching of why Questlove included the key current musical figures that he did during interview segments within the film, beyond being individuals he is personal friends with and with whom he has collaborated. It means something to see the revered yet famously reclusive D'Angelo, who has only released three albums, and still has not released a follow up to his previous album, which arrived 11 years ago. To see Andre 3000, despite the constant calls for him to release a new work within the hip hop genre showcasing his peerless skills as a lyricist/rapper, return to releasing music in an all instrumental format, while himself performing on a variety of woodwinds and without even one spoken word. Or Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest, who has teased three new solo albums for years but still none of which have seen the light of day.
I thought of Erykah Badu, who has expressed that she is always creating but has not released a full length album in 15 years. I thought of who Kanye West was, what he has become and how I feel that he would be unable to recognize himself anymore. I thought of Lauryn Hill, who to this date, has still only released one studio album as a solo artist and who is spoken about these days, more often than not, regarding her own dalliances with late concert arrivals and seeming derision towards fan expectations. I certainly thought of Stevie Wonder, blessedly still with us, but to this date, has followed peak creative period during the 1970's where he created some of the best albums made by anyone, with infrequent new releases. I looked directly at Questlove himself, who despite his many projects and prolific output, is still ensconced with the creation of what is supposedly the final album by The Roots, over 10 years in the making and one, he has admittedly struggled with completing, and therefore letting go of.
Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson's "Sy Lives! (aka The Burden Of Black Genius)" is a work that speaks directly to the mental health of Black creatives specifically, and for Black people in totality, a topic that has gradually become acceptable as part of the conversations within the Black community. I found it deeply rewarding to see Questlove, as filmmaker, and through a subject that has paved the way for himself and countless others for generations, have conversations with his contemporaries and present them within a format that allows us in the audience to bear witness to their experiences, how they feel about said experiences and their respective places within the culture and the world at large.
It is a powerful statement to see people that I, and I am certain, so many others, view as heroes within the Black community, converse with each other about the very things we all feel as being Black Americans, regardless of our individualized stations in life. It is a space that illustrates to ourselves that we are truly being seen by ourselves through the lens of humanity and not celebrity, that our mental health is crucial to our continued survival and that the aloneness we all feel is undeniably shared, allowing us to lock arms in community even tighter.
Which, of course, sheds light on the Black creatives for whom this sense of community may not have been shared in this way as it was not part of the conversation decades past, within our community and definitely not White society at large, for even under the whitest of white hot lights of fame and adoration, our humanity is ignored because we--as Black people in White America--are never thought of as such...so who cares about our mental health, when we are constantly being told to essentially shut up and dribble?
Through the film, I clearly thought of my beloved, eternal Prince, who truly picked up Sly's mantle and raced to the sky with it combined with all of his battles with Black and White expectations, and music industry traumas while purposefully isolating himself as a creative and one who painstakingly cultivated his own public image all the way until his untimely passing in 2016.
I thought of the tribulations and tragedies of Marvin Gaye, Whitney Houston, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis-during his implosive five year period of self imposed isolation during the mid 70's, Billie Holiday, John Coltrane...towering figures all. What of Michael Jackson, our Icarus for no one flew higher? Yet, he was also one who was endlessly chasing impossible perfection after impossibly touching the sun, some would say, at the expense of just being able to have the relative mental freedom to create freely for creation's sake.
And still, it does not end with the music industry. What of Sidney Poitier? What of Richard Pryor? What of Simone Biles, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Venus and Serena Williams or Colin Kaepernick? What of Marcus Garvey? What of Huey and Bobby? What of Fred Hampton? What of Shirley Chisolm, Rev. Jesse Jackson and President Barack Obama? What of Martin or Malcolm?
What of Trayvon?
What of all of us...for they NOT like us?
What is more terrifying? Great success or great failure? And by whose barometer s success or failure being measured and judged-the Black community, the White community, ourselves or all three simultaneously, each influencing the other? This conundrum rests at the core of Ahmir "Questlove' Thompson's "Sy Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)" as he presents Sly Stone and how through his art, he boldly marched forwards as HIMSELF, never catering to White audiences and deflecting ownership by Black audiences, yet still feeling the need to prove he was part of the overall Black culture as he altered and shaped it forever by creating deeply introspective, individualistic music for the masses.
Sly Stone's permanent iconic place in music history cannot be overstated as his innovations have so clearly inspired and influenced more figures than we could possibly imagine over these 60 years and Questlove's film, easily one of 2025's finest features right at the start of this cinematic year, provides and solidifies this testament.
Best of all, I am thankful that Sly Stone himself, and through everything he has experienced, is here with us to to receive his flowers.
