- Source: Superfly (soundtrack)
- Source: Super Fly (soundtrack)
The soundtrack for the 2018 crime film Superfly was curated by American rapper Future, who also acted as a producer on the film. It features guest appearances from Miguel, Lil Wayne, Khalid, Young Thug, PartyNextDoor, H.E.R., Gunna, Sleepy Brown, and Yung Bans, among others.
Background and release
In an interview with AllHipHop, the film's director Director X stated,
I wanted the current sound of Atlanta, so I hunted [Future] down. We were doing the Gap commercial with him and Cher. I normally don't mix things up, but we just started talking about [working on Superfly] on set.
On June 15, 2018, the second half of the album was released with an addition of ten tracks.
Singles
Future released the first single for the album, "No Shame" featuring PartyNextDoor, on May 4, 2018, as the lead single. A second song by Future featuring Yung Bans called "Bag" was released later in the month, as the lead promotional single. On June 5, 2018, "This Way" by Khalid and H.E.R. was released as the album's second promotional single, followed by "Walk On Minks" by Future on June 6, 2018, as the third promotional single. The album was released on June 8, 2018.
Commercial performance
Superfly Original Motion Picture Soundtrack debuted at number 25 on the Billboard 200 based on 17 million streams of its songs and 5,000 pure album sales, which Billboard equated to 15,000 album-equivalent units.
Track listing
Credits adapted from Tidal.
Notes
^[a] signifies a co-producer
"No Shame" features background vocals from Andrew Watt
"New Goals" features vocals from Rico Love
Additional personnel
Credits adapted from Tidal.
Charts
References
Super Fly is the third studio album by American soul musician Curtis Mayfield, released on July 11, 1972, by Curtom Records. It was released as the soundtrack for the Blaxploitation film of the same name. Widely considered a classic of 1970s soul and funk music, Super Fly was a nearly immediate hit. Its sales were bolstered by two million-selling singles, "Freddie's Dead" (number 2 R&B charts, number 4 Pop charts) and the title track (number 5 R&B, number 8 Pop). Super Fly is one of the few soundtracks to out-gross the film it accompanied.
Super Fly, along with Marvin Gaye's What's Going On (1971), was one of the pioneering soul concept albums, with its then-unique socially aware lyrics about poverty and drug abuse making the album stand out. The film and the soundtrack may be perceived as dissonant, since the film holds rather ambiguous views on drug dealers, whereas Curtis Mayfield's position is far more critical. Like What's Going On, the album was a surprise hit that record executives felt had little chance at significant sales. Due to its success, Mayfield was tapped for several film soundtracks over the course of the decade.
Background
Mayfield had previously contributed two songs to Krakatoa, East of Java; the film was a critical and commercial failure, but marked his first foray into soundtrack work. His contribution began when Super Fly director Gordon Parks Jr. asked Mayfield and his backing band to cameo as a nightclub act in the background of a scene. Parks wanted a full song to play in the scene, which led to the beginning of soundtrack sessions.
Production
The recording session for the song "Pusherman" took place at Bell Sound Studios in New York, and was followed by a several months-long hiatus (during which Mayfield wrote The Times Have Changed for his former group The Impressions and formulated his next solo effort, Back to the World). The instrumentals for the remaining songs were produced in a three-day session at Curtom Studios, which involved an in-studio band of as many as 40 performers. Guitarist Craig McMullen states, "The advantage of it is, if you have a full orchestra, when you place your licks, you don't have to worry about your licks bumping. You can hear everything that's going to go down." The album was primarily written by Mayfield from a basement apartment in Chicago while undergoing a trial separation from his wife and children.
Release
Super Fly was originally released in 1972 on Curtom Records in both LP and eight-track formats. It also featured distribution in countries outside of the United States, including Italy, Germany, France, Canada, and the United Kingdom. On November 11, 1997, Rhino Records released a 25th Anniversary collection of the album with a bonus disc of demo versions of songs, radio spots, and interviews. In 1999, Rhino Records reissued the album with two bonus tracks.
On December 11, 2001, the British record label Charly Records re-released the album with several bonus tracks.
Reception, sales and legacy
Music critics lauded Super Fly. The album was RIAA certified Gold within three months of release. Rolling Stone's Bob Donat was favorable of Mayfield's anti-drug and self-liberation themes, and called Super Fly "not only a superior, imaginative soundtrack, but fine funky music as well and the best of Curtis Mayfield's four albums made since he left the Impressions". Rock critic Robert Christgau of The Village Voice gave the album an A− and lauded Mayfield's songwriting. Christgau also wrote that "these songs speak for (and to) the ghetto's victims rather than its achievers (cf. 'The Other Side of Town', on Curtis), transmitting bleak lyrics through uncompromisingly vivacious music. Message: both candor and rhythm are essential to our survival". Robin Katz of Disc praised the album stating to not mistake the album as a "big bad blaring instrumental LP. This is Curtis Mayfield combining a fine musical message with gentle vocals but powerful lyrics." and that the "nine tracks on the album and what never fails to amaze me is how Mayfield balances his instrumental work and lyrics without overdoing either. It is a touchy situation, but Mayfield handles it brilliantly."The album itself as well as songs "Freddie's Dead" and "Junkie Chase" received nominations at the 15th Annual Grammy Awards.
In a 2004 review of the album, Rolling Stone gave Super Fly five out of five stars and cited it as Mayfield's "creative breakthrough". Charles Taylor of The Boston Phoenix, in an article on Mayfield, deems "Superfly," "Pusherman" and "Freddie's Dead" to "remain his paramount achievement, as hard and pitiless as any music ever to make the charts." John Bush of AllMusic praised the album's lyrical substance and sound, calling it a "melange of deep, dark grooves, trademarked wah-wah guitar, and stinging brass". On its significance, Bush concluded by stating:
Super Fly ignited an entire genre of music, the blaxploitation soundtrack, and influenced everyone from soul singers to television-music composers for decades to come. It stands alongside Saturday Night Fever and Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols as one of the most vivid touchstones of '70s pop music.
In a positive retrospective review for Pitchfork, writer Mychal Smith notes the political relevance of Super Fly's messages to early 70's U.S. politics, in particular the issues facing the black population:
As Mayfield's third studio album as a solo artist, Super Fly perfectly encapsulates the post-Civil Rights/early Black Power feel of black America struggling to survive the social and political consequences of the nation's conservative backlash. [...] Black America faced an uncertain world in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the election of President Richard Nixon. Politicians were promising to restore "law and order" after years of urban rebellions frightened white folks who had long fled to the suburbs. Steady divestment from black communities, along with increasing levels of violent policing, right at the moment where black people were supposedly free to enjoy the rights of American citizenship, put black neighborhoods at economic depression levels. The drug trade offered the best sense of escape. No one, as Mayfield pointed out, was exempt from the temptation. He had intimate knowledge of this world. Mayfield was a son of Chicago, having been raised in the notorious Cabrini-Green housing projects. The lyrics were as much his personal reflection on ghetto life as they were based on the characters of the film.
In the Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (2002), writer Colin Larkin gave the album a five-star rating. In 2003, VH1 named Super Fly the 63rd greatest album of all time. The title track was selected by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll". In 2003, the album was ranked number 69 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, 72 in a 2012 revised list, and 76 in a 2020 revised list. The album is ranked number 986 in All-Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd edition, 2000). In 2019, the album was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Super Fly was a formative work in the development of the hip hop and rap genres, and has been cited as an influence and sampled by the likes of Beastie Boys, The Notorious B.I.G., Erykah Badu, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Chance the Rapper, and Beyoncé. The singer Bilal names it among his 25 favorite albums, explaining that, "I just think that's one of the best movie soundtrack albums ever. Just the way he described the whole movie, you don't even really have to see the movie, just listen to the soundtrack and you already know the whole movie. It's just killer the way he did that." Mychal Smith notes the impact Super Fly had on the genre of blaxploitation soundtracks in particular, noting Mayfield had "inspired imitations [...] such as Bobby Womack’s "Across 110th Street", James Brown’s Black Caesar, and Willie Hutch’s The Mack."
Track listing
= Original LP
=All songs are written by Curtis Mayfield.
= Reissues
=Personnel
Curtis Mayfield – vocals, guitar, producer
Phil Upchurch – guitar
Joseph Lucky Scott – bass
Master Henry Gibson – percussion
Tyrone McCullen – drums ("Pusherman")
Morris Jennings – drums (all tracks except "Pusherman")
Craig McMullen – guitar
Roger Anfinsen – engineer
Johnny Pate – orchestrator, arranger
Glen Christensen – art direction
Milton Sincoff – packaging
Harry "Slip" Lepp – trombone
Charts
Certifications
See also
List of number-one albums of 1972 (U.S.)
List of number-one R&B albums of 1972 (U.S.)
Notes
References
Nathan Brackett, Christian Hoard (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Completely Revised and Updated 4th Edition. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
Colin Larkin (2002). Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Edition 4. Virgin Books. ISBN 1-85227-923-0.
Katz, Robin (12 August 1972). "Curtis Mayfield: Super Fly (Curtom)". Disc. Retrieved 19 January 2021 – via Rock's Backpages.
External links
Super Fly at Discogs
From Super Fly to Super Star — By Ebony
100 Best Movie Soundtracks: Super Fly Archived 2012-10-12 at the Wayback Machine at Entertainment Weekly
Anniversary Edition: Rolling Stone review — By Robert Christgau
Collected reviews on Superseventies.com
Kata Kunci Pencarian:
- Superfly
- Super Fly (album)
- Super Fly (film 1972)
- Superfly (soundtrack)
- Superfly
- Super Fly (soundtrack)
- Superfly (2018 film)
- The Return of Superfly (soundtrack)
- Future (rapper)
- Dr. Dre production discography
- Andrew Watt (record producer)
- Bangladesh (record producer)
- Music of Illinois