Ten days short of his 66th birthday, the original Black Moses, the baddest of the baddest of the cool, Oscar and multiple Grammy award winner, soul and funk master Isaac Hayes died this morning in Memphis.
Another member has posted a single-word diary, but I thought that Mr. Shaft himself deserves a whole lot more than a single-word diary. More over the fold.
Yep! The grandmaster of cool is dead.
Long before Michael Jordan spotted a baldy, he made bald look so baaadd it was cool itself. And today we talk about bling, but he was the father and creator of bling with his gold chains and rings, and that was long before many of today's rappers were even born.
With his dark shades, his out-of-this-world long robe and that voice that only Barry White could match, Isaac Hayes Jr. crossed numerous thresholds to bring joy, hope, fulfillment and raunch to millions not only in America but around the world.
I know, because I came across Isaac Hayes as a college student in W. Africa. Week after week I would walk across from my department to the mass communication department where they had a college radio station and a grand library of foreign LPs, and I would "dub" song after song unto cassette tapes. There was nothing like a little Hayes to make known that you were hip, too, especially with the girls.
Hayes grew up in poverty, began to sing as a kid, and his first recording attempts in the early 60s weren't exactly fly. Then he got a job at Jim Stewart's Stax Records in Memphis writing and producing songs with partner Dave Porter, with Booker T and the MGs as session. There Hayes created what came to be known as the Stax sound and out of that came a host of stars, most notable among them being Otis Redding.
In '69 he stepped out from behind the stage and hit the world with the ground-breaking Hot Buttered Soul (the first Bling cover ever created and one of the most sampled LPs in hip-hop). Rode all the way to the top with songs like One Woman and Hayes's inimitable rendition of Walk on By.
'70 brought mixed takings, notable being Hayes's cover of You've Lost That Loving Feeling, but in '71 all funk and soul hell broke loose when the sound man hit again with his eponymous score for the movie Shaft. Shaft won Hayes the first African American Oscar outside the acting category, as well as two Grammys.
Then came '72 and the birth of Black Moses. Walk on by, Mr. Miles Davis, cos there's a new King of Cool in town! Without Black Moses there would be no Barry White or a whole host of other neo soul men that came afterwards. And that wasn't all that Hayes gave us in '72. Never Can Say Goodbye. If Loving You is Wrong. Feel Like Making Love.
'73 he gave us the double-LP Live at Sahara Tahoe, and in '75 Juicy Fruit with its controversial album cover. Then he went on to act in movies, win additional Grammys, produce countless hits for others, and in his older years devoted himself to charity.
Younger kids were introduced to Hayes in '97 when he provided the voice for Chef in Southpark, a role that he would later walk away from due to misunderstandings within the Southpark management.
Hayes moved off to Africa and built a home in Ghana where he helped pioneer affordable computer literacy. He was honored with a chieftaincy there. But he gave here as well, sponsoring scholarships and engaging in numerous other charitable activities, most of which he did quietly.
He made the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame with the class of '2002 and in '04 he returned to acting form in Hustle & Flow.
Today, though, the silent stalker caught up with the grandmaster of cool, and thank goodness it was no other place but where it all began: right down in Memphis.
Hayes was the father of 12 children, the last one born in Ghana in 2006. He's also survived by numerous grandchildren and at least 3 great grandchildren.
Isaac Hayes Jr., song and dance man, August 20, 1942 - August 10, 2008.