*Last month, Chicago Review Press released “Traveling Soul,” billed as the first ever “comprehensive” biography of soul legend Curtis Mayfield. The effort, which Pitchfork.com notes took to long to deliver, is a collaboration between Mayfield’s son Todd and music writer Travis Atria. The book chronicles the late singer’s early days growing up in a Chicago ghetto, his iconic music career and his activism for the Civil Rights Movement.
READ RELATED STORY: An EUR Reader (Theresa Rankin) Sees and is Deeply Affected by ‘The Birth of a Nation’
Red Bull Music Academy featured an excerpt from the book, detailing the creation of his original soundtrack for “Super Fly.”
Ver Fader.com:
“No other black artist had hit the top of the pop chart with an album like Super Fly. It was the grittiest, hardest album Curtis ever made. He painted his most unflinching picture of ghetto reality as black people experienced it – drugs, pimps, pushers, depression, despair, destruction. More than ever before, he spoke directly to the concerns of his people. He wrote no songs of conciliation, no messages of peace and understanding between races. In return for that, the public – both black and white – gave him the highest status in popular music.
It seemed contrary to everything black performers had experienced throughout history. For half a century or more, conventional wisdom held that white people wouldn’t buy “race records,” although white people had always discreetly listened to black radio stations. Such reasoning formed the underpinning of segregated radio. The only way black artists could break through those chains was to walk that tightrope between worlds, between voices. With Super Fly, Dad not only cut that rope, he replaced it with a new model of artistry.
One can debate forever the reasons why that happened. Certainly, the movement and the music of the 1960s helped make it possible. Perhaps the recent years of hard drugs, brutal assassinations, and bloody war also readied the record-buying public for Super Fly’s unflinching honesty. Regardless of why, however, it happened – and it would happen for black artists with increasing frequency in coming decades. It’s hard to imagine the fearless honesty of hip-hop catching on with white suburbia – and influencing the music, culture, fashion, and language of the entire world in the ’80s and ’90s – if not for the success of an album like Super Fly.”
Read the full excerpt from RBMA Daily here.
We Publish News 24/7. Don’t Miss A Story. Click HERE to SUBSCRIBE to Our Newsletter Now!
