The Genius of Mayfield

Soundtrack to the Movie Superfly

Curtis Mayfield is one of the most consequential artists of the 1970s soul era, uniquely blending R&B and Funk into complicated compositions, and embedding social consciousness into story telling lyrics.

Mayfield first made a name for himself in the 50s and 60s in the group The Impressions where he wrote the song People Get Ready.

During the 70s alone, Mayfield released 17 albums. The Superfly soundtrack was album #4, a work that resulted in the artist not only receiving critical accolades for the songs, but also being recognized as a musical contributor to the highly influential film genre called Blaxploitation. Superfly and other films within the genre were gritty, often violent and shined a light on inner city challenges during that period.

The genre gave the spotlight to black directors like Melvin Van Peebles and Gordon Parks (Sr. and Jr.), and actors like Pam Grier. The term for the genre is not without controversy and negative connotation. Last month, Grier was interviewed for a story in IndieWire where she stated the term was meant to be negative, but there were storylines that overcame the exploitive nature with inner city heroes, “Robin Hoods,” and feminism.

The Superfly soundtrack is one of the best movie albums every made and truly a gem in my collection. Its story telling could have completely stood alone without the film with songs like Little Child Runnin’ Wild and Pusher Man.