Sly Stone is one of the most acclaimed and enigmatic figures in music history. His story, full of tragedies and triumphs, will be coming to Hulu’s Onyx Collective and directed by Questlove.
Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius), will convey his remarkable artistic legacy and the brilliance of Black artistry.
“This film was sort of the lightest, least passive-aggressive way that I can have an intervention talk with all of my peers without me grabbing them by the lapel,” Questlove told Variety.
Deploying “cinematic intervention,” Questlove had insightful conversations with Family Stone members Cynthia Robinson, Jerry Martini and Larry Graham, George Clinton, Nile Rodgers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, D’Angelo, and André 3000.
“The most common feedback that I’ve gotten from people who’ve seen this film [was], ‘We saw the look in their eyes once they realized that they weren’t here to talk about the harmony structures of “Everyday People,” Questlove said.
Because of the approach of the documentary, many notable perspectives interviewees declined the be a part of the conversations
“For a lot of us not being used to being vulnerable. Especially the kind of society that we’re in right now, where your life is wide open for criticism and up for review. I found out in these two and a half years that this particular subject is probably the most frightening of all,” Questlove shared. “Revealing the hurt that’s underneath the facade of the smile.”
He noted that André 3000 was excited to participate in the intimate discussions.
“André is probably the one that was the most excited to make this a therapeutic moment for him,” he says. “But even for the members of the band, there are moments where they’re like, ‘Wait a minute, you didn’t tell me I was going to therapy.”
Although he did not speak with Sly, Quest used period interviews such as a revealing Maria Shriver’s interview from 1982.
That interview, I felt, was more sobering, honest, and more hard-hitting,” he added.
Along with the documentary, Sly’s autobiography “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin): A Memoir” was released on Questlove’s Auwa Books in 2023.
As a documentarian, Questlove is also releasing Ladies & Gentlemen … 50 Years of ‘S.N.L.’ Music on Jan 27. In 2021, his Summer of Soul documentary won an Academy Award.
First screened at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, Sly Lives! (The Burden of Black Genius) premiers on Hulu on Feb. 13.