Family Affair

It's a family affair.

I spent the first week of June back home in Detroit. The fact that my lifetime home is not my current home is something I’m still getting used to. As soon as I land in Detroit, I’m hit with a visceral sense of belonging.

The sound of the wind in decades old deciduous trees. The pot of beans and rice that’s nearly always on my mother’s stovetop. Strangers who speak to each other on the street like they’re not strangers at all. That’s Detroit to me. That’s home.

I felt so blessed watching my youngest brother, Kole, graduate from high school.

And I cried out of nowhere when I held my baby niece for the firt time after her baptism.

On Sunday, I saw the country from the sky. It was a clear day so, for most of the flight, I could see the patchwork of fields, mountains, and cities below.

Though it was jarring to land to the mayhem of protests in L.A., I felt deeply and instantly that the community’s anger couldn’t be more righteous. More on that another time.

On Repeat.

“Family Affair” (1971) by Sly and the Family Stone of San Francisco, CA.

“One child grows up to be
Somebody that just loves to learn,
And another child grows up to be
Somebody you'd just love to burn.

Mom loves the both of them
You see, it's in the blood,
Both kids are good to mom
Blood's thicker than the mud.

It’s a family affair.”

A week ago today, the world lost an incredible innovator and artist in Sly Stone. As we know, Stone fought many demons for most of his life and career.

By the time The Family’s 5th album was in development, the band had begun to implode from the inside out, leading Sly to handle most of it’s production on his own. Art is as much a product of an artists gifts as it is a product of their limitations. The divisions caused by Sly’s drug use and other issues led him to call on incredible artists such as Bobby Womack, Ike Turner, and Billy Preston to play on the seminal album that became ‘There’s a Riot Goin’ On.’

In addition, Sly Stone’s self imposed solitude led him to utilize overdubbing (as opposed to live studio recording with a full band) as an approach to recording the album. This led to a new and unique sound that can especially be heard on the vocal mix for “Family Affair.” He also used drum machines on the track rather than depending solely on a traditionally recorded drum kit. To this day, “Family Affair” is known as one of the first ever #1 hits to utilize a drum machine in it’s production.

Even though this track will always remind me of barbecues and summer time, the album as a whole presented a much darker sound than the world was used to from Sly and the Family Stone. In many ways, it spoke to America’s uncertainty as it departed the 1960’s and entered a new and uncharted decade.

As we are witnessing now, America has never handled uncertainty well. I can only hope that artists lean even deeper into the difficult questions at hand and that more life changing art can be born to remind us of our humanity.

Check on your friends and family. When you ask someone how they are, listen a little longer.

Playlist coming soon <3

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