The first biography of soul pioneer Isaac Hayes, whose
groundbreaking music provided the foundation for hip-hop and a new
racial paradigm. "Black men could finally stand up and be men
because here's Black Moses; he's the epitome of Black masculinity.
Chains that once represented bondage and slavery now can be a sign
of power and strength and sexuality and virility." -Isaac Hayes
Within the stoned soul picnic of Black music icons in the '60s and
'70s, only one could bill himself without a blush as Moses,
demanding liberation for Black men with his notions of life and
self-Isaac Lee Hayes Jr., the beautifully sheen, shaded, and
chain-spangled acolyte of cool, whose high-toned "lounge music" and
proto-rap was soul's highest order-heard on twenty-two albums and
selling millions of records. Hayes's stunning self-portraits, his
obsessive pleas about love, sex, and guilt bathed in lush
orchestral flights and soul-stirring bass lines, drove other soul
men like Barry White to libidinous license. But Hayes, who called
himself a "renegade," was a man of many parts. While he thrived on
soulful remakes of pop standards, his biggest coup was writing and
producing the epic soundtrack to Shaft, memorializing the "black
private dick" as a "complicated man," as coolly mean and amoral as
any white private eye. This new musical and cultural coda delivered
Hayes the first Oscar ever won by a Black musician, as well as the
Grammy for Best Song. Yet, few know Hayes's remarkable
achievements. In this compelling buffet of sight and sound,
acclaimed music biographer Mark Ribowsky-who has authored
illuminating portraits of such luminaries as Stevie Wonder, Little
Richard, and Otis Redding-gallops through the many stages of
Hayes's daring and daunting life, starting with Hayes's difficult
childhood in which his mother died young and his father abandoned
him. Ribowsky then takes readers through Hayes's rise at Memphis's
legendary soul factory, Stax Records, first as a piano player on
Otis Redding sessions then as a songwriter and producer teamed with
David Porter. Tuned to the context of soul music history, he
created crossover smashes like Sam & Dave's "Soul Man," "Hold
on I'm Comin'," and "I Thank You," making soul a semi-religion of
Black pride, imagination, and joyful emotion. Hayes's subsequent
career as a solo artist featured studio methods and out-of-the-box
ideas that paved the way for soul to occupy the top of the album
charts alongside white rock albums. But his prime years ended
prematurely, both as a consequence of Stax's red ink and his own
self-destructive tendencies. In the '90s he claimed he had finally
found himself, as a minion of Scientology. But Scientology would
cost him the gig that had revived him-the cartoon voice of the
naively cool "Chef" on South Park-after he became embroiled in
controversy when South Park's creators parodied Scientology in an
episode that caused the cult's leaders to order him to quit the
show. Although Hayes was honored by the Rock & Roll Hall of
Fame in 2002, the brouhaha came as his seemingly perfect body
finally broke down. He died in 2008 at age sixty-eight, too soon
for a soul titan. But if only greatness can establish permanence in
the cellular structure of music, Isaac Hayes long ago qualified.
His influence will last for as long as there is music to be heard.
And when we hear him in that music, we will by rote say, "We can
dig it."
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