Now that Isaac Hayes has passed on, did a whole genre of good music leave with him?

Barbara, Houston, TX

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Sugar’s Take

Can I just say that Isaac Hayes and Bernie Mac dying in the same weekend is just…wow. Ok, I’m back now. I don’t believe music leaves with anybody per se, but I’m positive there won’t be any more made until another reincarnation of Isaac Hayes or Curtis Mayfield arrives. Just playing. To be straight forward the answer is no. There are so many people Black Moses (I thought Moses was Black…anyway) brought to the Promise Land of Funk and Soul and so many people his journey has influenced, there is no way the music he helped create will die. Look at musicians like Raphael Saadiq, D’Angelo (miss you man), Divinity, Coup de Ville, The Roots whose parents probably played Uncle Isaac’s music right next to the play pen. We all have a little of his music in our bones, no matter how young or old. The good thing about music is it lasts forever in your heart and soul and feet and fingers and mind and world.

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Ed’s Take

God is sometimes a tricky comedian.  I am not sure what he is trying to tell us by taking Issac Hayes and Bernie Mac this weekend.  But we should surely give folks their flowers and props while they are still living.  Most importantly, Hayes unique skill as songwriter and composer, serving up hot buttered hits for Stax Records artists like Sam & Dave (“Soul Man” & “Hold On! I’m Comin’”, Carla Thomas ( “Let Me Be Good To You,” “B-A-B-Y”), Johnie Taylor (I Got To Love Somebody’s Baby”), has already cemented his legacy in the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame.  So, yes, a great funk/soul ambassador has passed on. But his body of work is eternal. You can hear it the freedom of Outkast, the bass lines of the Biggie’s “Warning”, and the funk symphonies of artists as varied as Prince and Raphael Saadiq.   Great art sustains us…like Hayes’ sonic blessings “Walk On By,” “By The Time I Get To Phoenix,” “The Look Of Love,” and “Shaft’s Theme.” Hayes music will still be the soundtrack for a groovy Friday night with your foxy lady, a funky good time at a modern day juke joint, or theme music to your Saturday afternoon cleaning ritual.  He is still our past and present all in one.  Future generations should take notes from Black Moses’ ability to let the music speak, even though he no longer can.

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Peep Video Of Issac Hayes Scoring Shaft!!

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About Sugar Between catching the uptown train to conduct “we luv the kids” writing workshops to dancing rumba on the lower eastside, Sugar Johnson flaunts his creative freedom in various mediums. The actor, vocalist, and educator have not only shared the stage with prolific artists such as The Last Poets, M-1 of Dead Prez, Jessica Care Moore, and Spike Lee, but he also labors to cultivate the forgotten souls of Rikers Island. Johnson made his film debut in Dave Chappelle’s Block Party. The ASCAP member holds a B.A. in Mathematics from DePauw University and will release the poetry collection Food Clothes and Shelter on his imprint Home Grown Publishing, LLC in 2008.

About Ed Award winning writer, educator, counselor, and activist Edward M. Garnes, Jr. is the founder of From Afros to Shelltoes: Art, Action, and Conversation, a nationally acclaimed series of cultural productions confronting the social divide between elders and hip hop heads, and holds a B.A. in English Writing from DePauw University and a M.A. in Counseling from Michigan State University . His seminal essay, ” Sweet Tea Ethics: Black Luv, Healthcare, and Cultural Mistrust,” currently appears in Not In My Family: AIDS in the African American Community, a 2007 NAACP Image Award nominated collection edited by Gil Robertson. (www.afrostoshelltoes.com).

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