Music Icons Speak on ‘Black Genius’ Sly Stone In Upcoming Questlove Documentary

André 3000, D'Angelo, Chaka Khan, and more speak on the 'Black genius' that is Sly Stone.

Questlove rounded up an A-list group of Black musical talent to praise Sly Stone in his new Hulu documentary, Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius).

The film premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on Thursday, followed by the debut of the official trailer, Billboard reports. The two-minute trailer features music legends, including André 3000, Chaka Khan, George Clinton, D’Angelo, and Q-Tip, reflecting on Stone’s groundbreaking role as a funk-soul pioneer.

Questlove can be seen asking André 3000 if he believes in the concept of “Black genius” before quick highlights of Stone, who shot to fame in 1968 with the release of his band’s first hit, “Dance to the Music.” Energetic dance moves, flamboyant costumes, oversized sunglasses, and a towering afro set the stage for highlights of Stone’s career, all accompanied by his 1969 No. 1 hit, “Everyday People.”

Photos of the diverse making of Sly and the Family Stone help transition the conversation around how “massively popular” the group was with its messages of peace and unity and a string of Billboard Hot 100 top 10s, including “Hot Fun in the Summertime” and No. 1 smashes “Family Affair” and “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again).”

“Sly created this unique space,” Q-Tip says.

P-Funk icon Clinton goes on to note how groundbreaking Sly and the Family Stone were to have a “mixed” line-up of men and women, white and Black, in their band. “They sounded like nothing else,” producer Jimmy Jam says of the group’s uplifting blend of soul, pop, R&B, funk, and gospel.

The band’s songs served as anthems during a time when the nation was deeply divided over the Vietnam War. Archival footage in the documentary shows the heightened attention Stone received during the 1960s and 1970s before his drug use and erratic behavior effectively ended the group by 1975.

“At the time… it was almost too much all at once,” Stone says in the doc.

With all highs come some low lows, and the trailer highlights how the film will delve into the “anxiety, the pressure, the drug use” that plagued Stone’s career.

“If you’ve been on this heightened, explosive life…your body has taken in so much energy, and you’ve given out so much energy, and you stop where’s that energy go?” André 3000 asks.

Other icons who lent their time to appear in the documentary include Nile Rodgers of Chic, P-Funk singer Ruth Copeland, music industry icon Clive Davis, and Family Stone members Larry Graham Jr., Jerry Martini, and Greg Errico.

Sly Lives will begin streaming on Hulu on Feb. 13.

The film is Questlove’s second documentary following the Oscar-winning 2021 Summer of Soul about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival (aka “Black Woodstock”), which featured Sly and the Family Stone.

Next up for Questlove, the director: a documentary on Earth, Wind & Fire.