Black Moses

The first biography of soul pioneer Isaac Hayes, whose groundbreaking music provided the foundation for hip-hop and a new racial paradigm. Black men could finally stand up and be men because here's Black Moses; he's the epitome of Black masculinity. Chains that once represented bondage and slavery now can be a sign of power and strength and sexuality and virility. Isaac Hayes Within the stoned soul picnic of Black music icons in the 60s and 70s, only one could bill himself without a blush as Moses, demanding liberation for Black men with his notions of life and selfIsaac Lee Hayes Jr., the beautifully sheen, shaded, and chain-spangled acolyte of cool, whose high-toned lounge music and proto-rap was souls highest orderheard on twenty-two albums and selling millions of records. Hayess stunning self-portraits, his obsessive pleas about love, sex, and guilt bathed in lush orchestral flights and soul-stirring bass lines, drove other soul men like Barry White to libidinous license. But Hayes, who called himself a renegade, was a man of many parts. While he thrived on soulful remakes of pop standards, his biggest coup was writing and producing the epic soundtrack to Shaft, memorializing the black private dick as a complicated man, as coolly mean and amoral as any white private eye. This new musical and cultural coda delivered Hayes the first Oscar ever won by a Black musician, as well as the Grammy for Best Song. Yet, few know Hayess remarkable achievements. In this compelling buffet of sight and sound, acclaimed music biographer Mark Ribowskywho has authored illuminating portraits of such luminaries as Stevie Wonder, Little Richard, and Otis Reddinggallops through the many stages of Hayess daring and daunting life, starting with Hayess difficult childhood in which his mother died young and his father abandoned him. Ribowsky then takes readers through Hayess rise at Memphiss legendary soul factory, Stax Records, first as a piano player on Otis Redding sessions then as a songwriter and producer teamed with David Porter. Tuned to the context of soul music history, he created crossover smashes like Sam & Dave's Soul Man, Hold on I'm Comin, and I Thank You, making soul a semi-religion of Black pride, imagination, and joyful emotion. Hayess subsequent career as a solo artist featured studio methods and out-of-the-box ideas that paved the way for soul to occupy the top of the album charts alongside white rock albums. But his prime years ended prematurely, both as a consequence of Staxs red ink and his own self-destructive tendencies. In the 90s he claimed he had finally found himself, as a minion of Scientology. But Scientology would cost him the gig that had revived himthe cartoon voice of the naively cool Chef on South Parkafter he became embroiled in controversy when South Parks creators parodied Scientology in an episode that caused the cults leaders to order him to quit the show. Although Hayes was honored by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, the brouhaha came as his seemingly perfect body finally broke down. He died in 2008 at age sixty-eight, too soon for a soul titan. But if only greatness can establish permanence in the cellular structure of music, Isaac Hayes long ago qualified. His influence will last for as long as there is music to be heard. And when we hear him in that music, we will by rote say, We can dig it.