Musician and documentary filmmaker Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson is back to talk about his new Hulu documentary about Sly Stone. It's called SLY LIVES! (aka The Burden of Black Genius). Also, actor Sebastian Stan talks about portraying Donald Trump in the film The Apprentice. Stan is originally from Romania, born during a communist dictatorship.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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From WHYY in Philadelphia, I'm Terry Gross with Fresh Air Weekend. Today, musician and documentary filmmaker Amir Questlove Thompson is back to talk about his newest documentary on Sly Stone and his band The Family Stone. It's called Sly Lives, The Burden of Black Genius. Also, Sebastian Stan talks about his Oscar-nominated portrayal of Donald Trump.
In the film The Apprentice, he plays Trump early in his career. The filmmakers received a cease-and-desist letter from Trump's lawyers, And Trump called the filmmakers human scum.
Human scum. You know, our writer received a lot of death threats, a lot of anti-Semitic remarks as a result of that usage of words.
Stan is originally from Romania, born during a communist dictatorship. That's coming up on Fresh Air Weekend.
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This is Fresh Air Weekend. I'm Terry Gross. Today, Amir Questlove-Thompson is back to talk about the life and legacy of Sly Stone. Questlove's new documentary, called Sly Lives, a.k.a. The Burden of Black Genius, is about the impact of Sly Stone and his band Sly and the Family Stone on music and culture. Sly got his start as a DJ and record producer in the early 1960s.
formed a multiracial band with his brother, sister, and other musicians, and went on to record hits like Everyday People, Dance to the Music, Family Affair, and Stand. Their music influenced Prince, George Clinton and Funkadelic, The Ohio Players, Earth, Wind & Fire, and many hip-hop artists. The film also covers the problems that came along with fame and drugs that took Sly down.
Questlove is the co-founder of the hip-hop band The Roots, which is the house band for The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. If you feel as if you just heard him on our show, you did when we talked about his other new documentary focused on Saturday Night Live's music guests and music sketches over the past 50 years. That one's called Ladies and Gentlemen, 50 Years of SNL Music.
So let's talk about your slide documentary. I really love this film. I want to start with a song, and it's their first big hit. It's Dance to the Music. It's so catchy, and I'd like you to point out what makes this song special in its moment, which was 1967 or 8?
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