SLY LIVES! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)

There's never anything pedantic about this film. [Questlove] wants to share his passion about this particular musical genre and this musician.

This is absolutely extraordinary.

An exploration and celebration of Stone’s prodigious talent, but also an attempt to understand his downfall, and to place it in the wider context of being a black artist in America, with all the obstacles and traps that are placed in the way.

A fascinating, pulsating documentary that captures a spirit worth following.

It goes harder than a typical biography.

While the various artists help assemble a humanistic picture of the great yet tragically flawed musician, they also bring to mind their own struggles to fit inside that impossible space: entertaining but socially conscious, Black but not too Black.

One leaves this fine documentary wondering not only at Sly’s body of work, but at the ripples his career sent through the musical world, paving the way for Janet Jackson, Prince, Parliament/Funkadelic and many others.

The interview style Questlove employs for Sly Lives! Is somewhere between conversational and empathetic, and helps define the film’s tone – it’s informative and thoughtful in equal measure.

Sly Stone defied expectations and pushed boundaries. He challenged the norms of Black American identity, navigating both self-perception and societal acceptance.

What struck me the most was how Questlove concludes the film, turning burden black artists must carry into what is essentially a death sentence.