>*We are forever grateful for his love, patience, innovation, playfulness, compassion, and unmistakable groove. His contributions offered comfort, joy, and a sense of unity when we needed it most*. *Oh, Sly your spirit will live on eternally. We love you, because YOU got it like that*. [Jungle Brothers](https://www.instagram.com/p/DKtIOT_o7V-/) # This is my second entry for the month of music in YouHive, quite a challenge. A few days ago we were left by a music giant that many people probably have no idea existed. He is Sly Stone. This publication presented me with two challenges, each one more complex than the other. On the one hand, a lot has already been published about him these days, which makes it very difficult to do anything other than repeat the same thing that ten thousand voices have said before and will repeat ten thousand others afterwards. I have no vocation to echo, and on this occasion even less so.

The second challenge has been how to pay homage to a creator who is part of a culture that is not my own. That is to say, I am absolutely certain that I am missing many of the keys that give meaning to Sly Stone within the history of the African-American community in the United States. I'm not even sure that the term African-American is the appropriate term to refer to those millions of human beings descended from slaves. Women and men born free on the African continent and who died slaves in a strange land. For almost two weeks, I have taken advantage of many empty minutes to fill them with their songs, read their lyrics, watch the documentary by musician (The Roots) and director Questlove: Sly Lives!: The Legacy of a Genius. I've also reviewed multiple interviews with people who knew Sly and revisited an appearance by Sly Stone himself on a 70's TV show. I do not want to start without inviting @suisver @angeluxx and @vezo to participate in this initiative or in the next ones of this community.

# Prince and Michael jackson # Who is Sly Stone? Wikipedia tells us that: # >Sylvester Stewart (March 15, 1943 - June 9, 2025), better known by his stage name Sly Stone, was an American musician, songwriter and record producer. # Up to this point, there doesn't seem to be any reason to justify this tribute, but if you're a fan of Prince or Michel Jackson it may not surprise you that these two huge artists were both big fans of Sly Stone. But perhaps it will surprise you to know that Prince's or Michael Jackson's music would probably have been very different if Sly had not existed. About Prince it is said that between 1984 and 2016 (someone counted until 2016) he played more than 400 times covers of Sly & The Family Stone songs in his concerts. Musician Michael Bland, who collaborated with Prince for 8 years, explained in an interview how Prince one day, after making him listen to him listen to early Sly Stone records, told him that: “That was an education he couldn't have gotten anywhere else.” [Source](https://www.plasticosydecibelios.com/la-fallida-colaboracion-entre-prince-y-sly-stone/) If we talk about Michel Jackson we can find the evidence of Sly's influence in this [link.](https://michael-jackson.fandom.com/wiki/Sly_Stone) Michel Jackson besides being an admirer of Sly also recognized his great importance in the [music history](https://www.michaeljackson.com/news/quote-day-104/): >Look what he did to music: all these funky tracks that you hear today, that’s where it came from. Sly Stone, James Brown, these are people that started funky music. They stood between the gospelly soul and the dance music. And that’s funk: Sly, James Brown, and people like that. So it doesn't seem strange that when he founded his own music label in 1983 MIJAC Music, one of the first things he did was to buy all the rights to Sly & and the Family Stone's recordings. [Source]( https://www.mjhideout.com/forum/threads/el-estate-de-mj-adquiere-los-derechos-de-sly-and-the-family-stone-para-usa.133597/)

# The documentary The recent documentary Sly Lives! (2025) provides us with a lot of information about who Sly Stone was/is: a pioneer, a trailblazer. He swapped the tuxedo worn by Soul and R&B bands for shiny capes, tight-fitting jumpsuits or fringed denim jackets. Accompanying this wardrobe with high boots with even higher heels, huge sunglasses, etc. a show full of color and transgression. Very much to the taste of the street and far from the model of Soul or Funk artist of the moment. His most important band, Sly & The Family Stone, knew how to mix what nobody had dared to mix before: funk with rock and psychedelia. He was also a pioneer in incorporating a novel instrument to his recordings: the multi-track drum machine. --- # ||| |-|-| # --- More things can be said and very grandiloquent... but I found the key to approach the monumental figure of Sly Stone in a recently released film: Sinners (2025). A great friend of mine, Carlos Monty, a few days ago defined in his Facebook page the film in a very accurate way as “*THE GREATEST ODE TO BLUES I can ever remember seeing in the 7th art ”*. And he's right, that's Sinners, an ode to the Blues... and to freedom. From this moment on, mentions to Sly Stone will be intertwined with mentions to Sinners. We'll see how this experiment turns out.

# The griot This ode to the Blues that is Sinners begins by introducing the African figure of the Griot. An equivalent to the troubadour in Europe, a musician and storyteller who orally transmits the important events: the history, myths and legends of the community. In other words, the griot's mission, apart from entertaining, is to maintain the identity of the community. Transmitting from one generation to the next the history and values of the community from its origins to the present and the future. Sinners begins with a voice-over explaining that : >There is a legend that tells of people who have the gift of making music so authentic that it can pierce the veil that separates life and death by invoking spirits from the past and the future. At one point in the film, (you can see it in the video that accompanies this publication) the figure of the Griot is present, represented by the Blues singer “The Son of the Preacher”. On that stage, among people dancing and laughing, the spirits of the past and the future appear. A magical moment, in which Africa (the origin) is projected to the most modern Hip-Hop. Showing the chain of which the Griot is part, a link that connects the past, the roots (Africa), with the present and the future.

# Sly Stone I have no doubt that Sly Stone is a modern day Griot. A being with so much magic that he was able to connect the most ancestral tradition with the present and with the avant-garde sounds that sound today and will sound the day after tomorrow. There is a scene in the film where the character Delta Slim (the club's pianist) unveils the Blues' connection to the past and the pride of being part of the African-American community: # >Blues wasn't forced on us like that religion. No, son... We brouhgt this with us frome home. It,s magic what we do, It's sacred and big. # In Sly Stone's music remains that sense of pride of a community for its roots, for what it is. At the same time there is a deep connection with generations of Blues or Jazz musicians who also look to the future. Questlove (The Roots) is very clear in this respect. Sly Stone wrote the dictionary of at least six decades of Black music: >QUESTLOVE: Sly will invent the alphabet for which most of pop and R&B or Black music will write from for, you know, the next 60 years. Like, we're still writing from his dictionary to this day. >Their music influenced Prince, George Clinton and Funkadelic, the Ohio Players, Earth, Wind & Fire and many hip-hop artists. >[Source](https://www.npr.org/transcripts/nx-s1-5290223)

---  --- # The Blues Club They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, in the case of cinema there are scenes that weigh more than a million words. The recreation in Sinners of a blues club located at the beginning of the 20th century in KKK territory and among large cotton fields is more than brilliant. Not only is the club a meeting place for the African-American community. It is a place of resistance and at the same time of joy and hope. A bubble of freedom in which men and women can enjoy a few moments free from racism, from segregation, from the KKK, from oppression, from the cotton field, from everyday life. And this is also Sly's music: unity and commitment, as well as joy and hope.

# Tributes And it was time to give way to the tributes, I mean the tribute. I've already seen several videos in tribute to Sly Stone, but I'm left with the one made by one of the greatest rockers of the last four decades: Lenny Kravitz.

>*Estaremos siempre agradecidos por tu amor, paciencia, innovación, alegría, compasión y ritmo inconfundible. Tus contribuciones ofrecían consuelo, alegría y una sensación de unidad cuando más la necesitábamos.* >*Oh, astuto tu espíritu vivirá eternamente. Te amamos, porque eres así de bueno.* [junglebrothers](https://www.instagram.com/p/DKtIOT_o7V-/) # Esta es mi segunda entrada para el mes de la música en YouHive, con todo un reto. Hace unos pocos nos días nos dejó un gigante de la música del que es probable que mucha gente no tenga ni idea de que existió. Se trata de Sly Stone. Esta publicación me planteó dos retos a cada cual más complejo. Por una parte, ya se ha publicado mucho sobre su figura en estos días, lo que complica mucho la tarea de hacer algo que no sea repetir lo mismo que dijeron diez mil voces con anterioridad y repetirán otras diez mil después. No tengo vocación de eco, y en esta ocasión menos.

El segundo reto ha consistido en cómo hacer un homenaje a un creador que forma parte de una cultura que no es la mía. Es decir, tengo la total seguridad de que me faltan muchas de las claves que dan sentido a Sly Stone dentro de la historia de la comunidad afro-americana en Estados Unidos. Ni siquiera estoy seguro que el término afro-americano sea el apropiado para referirme a esos millones de seres humanos descendientes de esclavos. Mujeres y hombres nacidos libres en el continente africano y que murieron esclavos en una tierra extraña. Durante casi dos semanas, he aprovechado muchos minutos vacíos para llenarlos con sus canciones, leer sus letras, ver el documental del músico (The Roots) y director Questlove: Sly Lives!: El legado de un genio. También he revisado múltiples entrevistas a gente que conoció a Sly y revisado alguna aparición del propio Sly Stone en algún programa de televisión de los años 70´s. No quiero comenzar sin invitar a participar en esta iniciativa o en en las próximas de esta comunidad a @suisver @angeluxx y a @vezo.

# Prince y Michael jackson ¿Quién es Sly Stone? Nos dice la Wikipedia que: >Sylvester Stewart (15 de marzo de 1943 - 9 de junio de 2025), más conocido por su nombre artístico Sly Stone, fue un músico, compositor y productor discográfico estadounidense. Hasta este momento, no parece que haya algún motivo que justifique este homenaje pero, si eres fan de Prince o Michel Jackson, quizás no te sorprenda que estos dos enormes artistas fueran dos grandes admiradores de Sly Stone. Aunque quizás, si te sorprenda saber que probablemente la música de Prince o la de Michael jackson hubiera sido muy diferente si Sly no hubiera existido. Sobre Prince se dice que entre 1984 y 2016 (alguien contó hasta 2016) tocó más de 400 veces versiones de canciones de Sly & The Family Stone en sus conciertos. El músico Michael Bland, que colaboró con Prince durante 8 años, explicaba en una entrevista como Prince un día, después de hacerle escuchar los primeros discos de Sly Stone, le dijo que: «Esa era una educación que no podría haber recibido en ningún otro lugar». _{[Fuente](https://www.plasticosydecibelios.com/la-fallida-colaboracion-entre-prince-y-sly-stone/)} Si hablamos de Michel Jackson podemos encontrar las pruebas de la influencia de Sly en este [enlace.](https://michael-jackson.fandom.com/wiki/Sly_Stone) Michel Jackson además de ser un admirador de Sly también reconoció su gran importancia en la [historia de la música](https://www.michaeljackson.com/news/quote-day-104/): >Mira lo que hizo por la música: todos esos temas funky que se escuchan hoy, de ahí salieron. Sly Stone, James Brown, son personas que iniciaron la música funky. Se situaron entre el soul evangélico y la música de baile. Y eso es el funk: Sly, James Brown y gente así. Por tanto, no parece extraño que cuando fundó su propio sello musical en 1983 MIJAC Music, una de las primeras cosas que hizo fue [comprar todos los derechos](https://www.mjhideout.com/forum/threads/el-estate-de-mj-adquiere-los-derechos-de-sly-and-the-family-stone-para-usa.133597/) de las grabaciones de Sly & and the Family Stone.

# El documental El reciente documental Sly Lives! (2025) nos da más información sobre quién fue/es Sly Stone: un pionero, un creador de nuevos caminos. Cambió el smoking con el que vestían los grupos de Soul y R&B por capas brillantes, monos ajustados o chaquetas estilo vaquero con flecos. Acompañando a este vestuario con botas altas con tacones todavía más altos, enormes gafas de sol, etc. un espectáculo lleno de color y de transgresión. Muy al gusto de la calle y alejado del modelo de artista de Soul o Funk del momento. Su banda más importante, Sly & The Family Stone, supo mezclar lo que nadie se había atrevido a mezclar antes: el funk con el rock y la psicodelía. También fue un pionero al incorporar un instrumento novedoso a sus grabaciones: la caja de ritmos de múltiples pistas. --- # ||| |-|-| # --- Se pueden decir más cosas y muy grandilocuentes… pero la clave para acercarme a la monumental figura de Sly Stone la encontré en una película de reciente estreno: Sinners (2025). Un gran amigo, Carlos Monty hace unos pocos días definía en su Facebook la película de una manera muy acertada como “*LA MAYOR ODA AL BLUES que recuerde ver nunca en el 7º arte”*. Y tiene razón, eso es Sinners, una oda al Blues… y a la libertad. A partir de este momento se entrelazarán las menciones a Sly Stone con las menciones a Sinners. Ya veremos como queda este experimento.

# El griot Da comienzo esta oda al Blues que es Sinners, presentando la figura africana del Griot. Un equivalente al trovador en Europa, un músico y narrador de historias que transmite de forma oral los sucesos importantes: la historia, los mitos y leyendas de la comunidad. Es decir, la misión del griot aparte de entretener, es la de preservar la identidad de la comunidad. Transmitiendo de una generación a otra la historia y los valores de la comunidad desde sus orígenes hasta el presente y hacia el futuro. Sinners se inicia con una voz en off que nos explica que : >Existe una leyenda que habla de personas que tiene el don de hacer música tan auténtica que puede traspasar el velo que separa la vida y la muerte invocando espíritus del pasado y del futuro. En un determinado momento de la película, (que lo puedes ver en el video que acompaña a esta publicación) se hace presente la figura del Griot, representada por el cantante de Blues “El Hijo del Predicador”. En ese escenario, entre gente bailando y riendo, se aparecen los espíritus del pasado y del futuro. Momento mágico, en el cual África (el origen) se proyecta hasta el Hip-Hop más moderno. Mostrando la cadena de la que forma parte el Griot, un eslabón que une el pasado, las raices (África), con el presente y con