Okay- I have wondered for years what makes people love this man so much. I mean I'm a 72' baby(yeah, I'm old, don't say it!) and I know that he has been around for a long time. Is it the theme to "Shaft" that makes people love him or is it his other musical works or maybe even his role as "Chef" on South Park? Can somebody please enlighten me about "Black Moses."

To be honest, I think people in general have quite mixed feelings about Hayes' musical output. I don't think he is that highly regarded in overall, but some good stuff.

it is because of a variety of reasons.
first, he was one of those musical prodigies, taught himself keyboard, organ, and sax at an early age.
second, he was one of the forces behind the "memphis/stax" sound. he wrote 100's of songs for stax artists in the 60's, including "soul man", and "hold on i'm coming".
third, was his solo career blending r&b, soul, and jazz, was on the forefront of soul in the 70's.
he was one of those guys that sort of paved the way for prince in that he took control of production, and musical artistic vision.
he also, sort of paved the way for prince in his openly sensual/sexual style of lyrics and performance.

medoc2003 said:

Thanks medoc2003 for enlightening me better , then all props to Isaac Hayes .

Shaft don't belong to Black Folks no more. That's Funk 4 tha White Folks!!!! No disrespect, but the truth is the truth!!!!! Singer,Songwriter,Producer,Drama King (WAAAAAY before DJ Kay Slay). Start with "Hot Buttered Soul", and then keep it movin'!!!!!

Chef was mainly for the White Folks as well!!!!! Mr. Isaac Hayes' musical legacy makes me love him SO MUCH!!!! He has also done TV/Movies as well. It gets much DEEPER than SHAFT!!!!!

woogiebear said:

SHAFT is kinda mainstream now-so, what does most of his music represent and are there some songs in particular that you like the most? (besides Hot Buttered Soul).

medoc2003 said:

At a very early stage in his career, Prince was supposedly approached to work for Isaac Hayes, but I have no proof for this. It was mentioned in a documentary more than ten years ago.


Isaac Hayes sort of invented the symphonic soul sound because his music teacher taught him about classical music, which influenced him a lot.

I don´t like everything by him, but I used to be a big fan in the mid to late 90´s ...his album "Joy" is great, the song is almost 15 minutes long and a good example for his trademark symphonic soul sound.

Black Moses is also not bad.

To Be Continued is also cool...contains that famous melody later sampled for MaryJBliges " I love you".

Isaac Hayes was a great artist. It might be hard to believe it now, but a one
time he was just as popular or more popular than soul giants Marvin Gaye and
Stevie Wonder. He was one of the first R&B artist to make tightly constructed
concept albums. He was also the first R&B artist to sell a million copies of
a album, before him it was all about the singles in R&B. He influenced a whole
decade of soul music with the sound of Philadelphia, Barry White, and disco.
He also had some influence on rap also. Ike could also be very over-indulgent,
it worked in his early years, but got tedious as the decade went on. Isaac
Hayes was a top notch soul man and is so much more than just "Chef" from some
damn South Park.

jasco82 said:

Thanks jasco82 for enlightening me on Isaac Hayes .

nurse said:

No problem Nurse

Hot Buttered Soul was the first R'n'B/Soul album to go platinum in 1969. JB, The Supremes, Temptaions or Aretha had never had a platinum LP to that point. Also, J5 were the second soul act with a platinum record.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

WOW!, thanks LittleBlueCorvette for the info-I never knew this .

Hot Buttered Soul is the shiznit!

He's an innovator.
I started liking Isaac Hayes's music when I saw the
oldie but goodie Blaxploitation flick "Truck Turner" in 96'.
Great movie and music.I ended up getting the soundtrack in 04'.It's a double cd with Truck Turner and another soundtrack "three tough Guys"
Listening to it I fell in love with his sound.I reccomend anybody to buy this.
Mellow/funky instrumentals with few vocals.

He's a great instumentalist.Then I started picking up a few albums of his and downloaded some tracks.

Excellent musician.Much more than Shaft and The Chef.
[Edited 4/30/06 9:53am]