After watching the brilliant modern classic Summer of Soul (2021), we caught up with director Questlove’s second film. That’s Sly Lives!

It launched in February 2025 and covers the life of Sly Stone and his band Sly and the Family Stone, who became one of America’s biggest bands in 1969 and 1970. Then it all went a bit wrong, in what’s quite a sad story of talent laying dormant due to drug addiction.

Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)

Unfortunately, shortly after the documentary launched Sly Stone (Sylvester Stewart) died (June 2025). He was into his 80s and had one very action packed, brilliant life. A genius musician and multi-instrumentalist.

Stone was born in March 1943 and grew up in Vallejo, California as the second of five children. Music was a part of his life from an early age and he was rapidly identified as a musical prodigy. Before he was even 10 he was skilled across keboards, drums, guitar, and bass.

During the mid-1960s, whilst performing in various small bands with a few of his siblings, he was also a DJ on the California radio station KSOL.

There are clips of this from Sly Lives! that really highlight how smart this guy was. Very charming, funny, and knowledgeable across funk, soul, and R&B music.

Whilst doing his DJ stuff, he formed Sly and the Stoners with brother Freddie and sister Rose. Their first album A Whole New Thing (1967) was critically acclaimed, but a commercial failure. But with their 1969 follow-up Stand! they hit the big time.

Stand! Sly and the Family Stone’s Peak Success

Off Stand!, Everyday People was a big US hit and went to No.1 in the charts. Its appeal for public unity is more relevant than ever (unfortunately).

Then there was Hot Fun in the Summertime, another big hit, and it showed of Stone’s skills for uplifting, complex singles.

Key to their skyrocketing success was Sly Stone. He wrote the songs, could play every instrument in the band, and arranged everything piece. This was coupled with his flamboyant stage presence, complemented further by a brilliant set of musicians.

Other songs like Dance to the Music and Higher aligned the band perfectly with the Sixties sense of counterculture liberation. And with a diverse band of genders and races, Stone had created a very progressive unit.

What followed in mid-1969 was a key performance at the Harlem Music Festival (see Summer of Soul), which 10 days later was backed up by their appearance at the iconic Woodstock ’69 Music and Art Festival.

Sly and the Family Stone went on stage at 3:30 am on August 17th, 1969. Nervous before the performance (500,000 people were there), the band took a bunch of drugs and went hell for leather with their set.

That really shows how much was going on in their live performances. Vocals interchange regularly between band members, there’s a trumpet solo, sax solo, harmonica interlude, and everyone is jumping up and down by the end of it.

All timed out to perfection, rather than being overwhelming for listeners.

Their set was widely considered the best at Woodstock. When considering The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and many more world class acts were there… that’s a hell of an achievement!

All this launched the band to be one of the hottest of the moment. Their next single, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), was also a No.1 hit.

The odd thing is, all the above was Sly and the Family Stone’s peak. Launched to superstardom after Woodstock, pressure mounted, fame arrived and felt uneasy, and the band all began upping their drug intake. And it’s incredible how quickly it all fell apart.

Sly and the Family Stone’s Gradual Downfall

You can see above how sharp Stone was (despite being on drugs), putting a cocky Dick Cavett in his place. He doesn’t get wound up by Cavett’s asides, instead calmly staring him down. The soul master letting silence work wonders.

But this interview being from July 1970, the band was already in trouble. As the second half of Sly Lives! documents his descent into drug addiction. Across 1970, apparently he was almost always on drugs. As you’d expect, this meant his behaviour become erratic, but he was also highly unreliable as a band frontman.

To put it into context, he missed a third of the band’s live performances in 1970. It also meant he had to try and write catchy, upbeat, complex music when he was not at all in the mood.

Despite that, the band did get a No.1 hit in 1971 with Family Affair off There’s a Riot Goin’ On (launched in November 1971). But by then, with Stone’s liability as a live performer well known, the band’s reputation dropped.

Things really spiralled out of control and Stone basically became a minor background act, occasionally popping up across the rest of the 1970s with increasingly worse music. Then the 1980s was a total right off, the documentary lists his arrests due to drug offences and it’s one huge list.

The documentary is, unfortunately, a depiction of a man’s brilliant talent disappearing in public view.

Questlove’s second film isn’t quite as outright brilliant as Summer of Love, but for our money that’s in the top 10 best films this century. What Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) offers is a candid insight into a brilliant artist, but it is sad to see his potential fade so rapidly. All in the space of about six months, the peak was gone.

That doesn’t make Sly Lives! a depressing viewing experience.

The music from the band’s peak is vivid and brilliant, it’s just a shame fame sat so uneasily for him that drugs were the derailing outlet. As with so many other rock stars from his era.

The Production of Sly Lives!

Questlove’s second documentary was critically acclaimed, but didn’t get as much widespread attention as his first effort. Despite that, it’s another fine film from the musician turned director.

The documentary launched on Hulu and Disney+, it didn’t receive a cinematic run.

After Sly Stone’s passing in June, there were many obituaries worldwide paying tribute to the lasting legacy of the man’s music. From The Guardian’s Sly Stone obituary:

“In 2023 his autobiography Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again), written with Ben Greenman, was published and Stone gave interviews in which he claimed to be free of his drug addictions. Seemingly, his daughter Sylvette and a new manager, Arlene Hirschkowitz, had combined their efforts to ensure drug dealers no longer had access to Stone. A feature documentary, Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius), directed by the musician Questlove, was released in 2024.”

That development is interesting, as we don’t recall ever seeing Stone in the news over the last 20+ years. He kept a low profile and was reclusive. In February 2006, he gave his first live performance for the first time since 1987, this one being at the Grammy Awards.

He then briefly toured again in 2007-2009 with sporadic live shows, with other one-off appearances at various US venues up until 2011.

However, it’s worth noting he didn’t contribute to the Sly Lives! documentary. An enigmatic soul.