When Isaac Hayes passed away three years ago, he left behind a legacy riddled with controversy. In spite of some questionable attempts to remain in the spotlight and his involvement with Scientology, Hayes’ musical achievements are indisputable. As a precursor of disco and one of the most sampled artists for hip hop producers, “Black Moses”’ artistic output outlived his success. One of his crowning achievements was his work on three soundtracks between 1971 and 1974 for the Blaxploitation motion pictures “Shaft”, “Three Tough Guys” and “Truck Turner”, in which he also starred as an actor. On the third anniversary of his death, we take a look back on Ike’s film scores.
As the wah-wah guitar begins to sputter over a racing hi-hat pattern, a man leaves the subway station on Broadway looking, if anything, determined. The man proceeds to swagger confidently and without regard to the traffic signals across a street, barking insults at a taxi driver who almost runs him over. You see, this cat is a bad mutha– and he ain’t gon’ take no jive from no one…
The famous opening scene from Gordon Parks’ 1971 movie “Shaft” won Isaac Hayes an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Following up on his groundbreaking 1969 album “Hot Buttered Soul”, Hayes continued to enhance his crossover success, becoming the first African-American non-actor to receive an Oscar, as well as the first black musician to earn a platinum certification. Interestingly enough, the height of Hayes’ appeal to white audiences coincided with his involvement in the empowerment strategies of black cinema at the time. Although technically not the first of its kind, “Shaft” marked the breakthrough for the African-American film genre that would become known as Blaxploitation. Characterized by the portrayal of tough, fearless and uber-cool black protagonists standing up against an oppressive white system, Blaxploitation films were in line with the Black Power politics of the Civil Rights era. Hayes released the “Shaft” soundtrack on the infamous Stax label, which had undergone a political radicalization and a switch to an all-black management after tensions had risen in Memphis following the assassination of Martin Luther King. The confident, hypermasculine black man that “Black Moses” embodied as a performing artist became an icon for many African-American males, just like the protagonists of Blaxploitation movies.
In “Shaft”, the protagonist (played by Richard Roundtree) is a private detective who is hired by a black mobster to rescue his daughter out of the hands of the Mafia. As with most Blaxploitation flicks, the plot is not what film critics would describe as a masterpiece. Far more central to the movie are the jive-filled dialogues, the main character’s cool persona and defiant attitude, especially towards “The Man”, and of course the music. With the help of Stax’ studio band The Bar-Kays, Hayes created a soundtrack that works not only as a film score accompanying John Shaft’s street-suave personality and his lively excursions through Uptown New York. The record also works as a stand-alone album and represents Black Moses’ logical progression from his similarly cinematic previous releases (e.g. “Hot Buttered Soul” and “…To Be Continued”). The track list reads as a classic film score but what you hear is an Isaac Hayes record. Take for example the track following the title theme, “Bumpy’s Lament”. In spite of its unusual brevity, this is what Ike does best: a heavily orchestrated, slow and soulful tune that is built up to an emphatic climax from where it calmly descends back into a heartbroken mist.
Bumpy’s Lament
But although certain continuities are noticeable, “Shaft” was nevertheless Hayes’ most versatile album at the time. The Samba-like groove of “Cafe Regio’s” fuses into the jazzy “Early Sunday Morning”, the aptly titled vocal track “Soulsville” is Gospel-induced Southern Soul that launches into the symphonic funk of “No Name Bar”. While much of this diversity can be traced back to the scenic ambition of the album as a soundtrack, it does not take away from the record’s broad artistic vision. Hayes had taken Soul music to different realms with his earlier releases. “Shaft” saw him take a different direction – all while putting the Blaxploitation sound on the map and creating a blueprint for soul and funk artists dabbling in the art of scoring action movies.
Soulsville
It would take three more years until Hayes would get involved with another Blaxploitation project. For Ike, the years between 1971 and 1974 had been nothing less than turbulent. Following his Oscar success, Hayes became one of the most celebrated stars in the music industry. Only five months after the release of “Shaft”, he put out the ambitious double-album “Black Moses”. The flamboyant staging of Hayes as a saint-like savior figure presented by the album’s lavish gatefold cover became the latest testament of Ike’s extravagant public persona. Stax had started to lose some of its mojo, and milking Ike became the management’s way of keeping their head above water. The Wattstax festival of 1972 provided further evidence of this tactic, when Hayes took the stage on his 30th birthday in a golden chain-shirt, bringing the festival to a spectacular close.
By the time 1974 hit, self-indulgence was beginning to take its toll, and both Hayes and his label were gradually drifting into financial trouble. Neither “Black Moses” nor his 1973 output could in any shape or form tie in with the success of “Shaft” and “Hot Buttered Soul”. His need for money might have had something to do with why Isaac Hayes would launch into the pursuit of an acting career around that time. Be it as it may, 1974 saw Hayes star in two Blaxploitation pictures as leading actor, the Duccio Tessari directed “Three Tough Guys” and Jonathan Kaplan’s “Truck Turner”.
Now while both of these movies are more convincing for their (at times unwanted) comical than their cinematic value, their soundtracks are bonafide funk fabulousness. The characteristic pomp of Hayes-style orchestration is still there, loud and clear. The opening theme for “Truck Turner” is in fact remarkably similar to the “Shaft” theme, wah-wah guitar, female vocal shouts of the protagonist’s name and all. Ike seems to follow the same formula that proved successful for his first film score, inserting jazzy tunes, isolated epics and very few vocals. The recipe works out astonishingly well a second and even third time around. Both “Truck Turner” and “Three Tough Guys” have their fair share of memorable cuts like “Pursuit of the Pimpmobile”, “Give It to Me”, “The Red Rooster” or “Run Fay Run”, which would later also be used by Quentin Tarantino for his first “Kill Bill” soundtrack.
Pursuit of the Pimpmobile (Truck Turner)
Give It to Me (Truck Turner)
The Red Rooster (Tough Guys)
Run Fay Run (Tough Guys)
When watching the two flicks, one gets the impression that the music here is more ends than it is means. The drawn-out fighting scenes, car chases and pistol duels sometimes become bearable only because of the funky Hayes tunes playing in the background. It seems almost as if the movies were made for the soundtracks and not the other way around. “Shaft” had kick-started the audio-centric Blaxploitation experience that quickly developed into a cult with star musicians like Curtis Mayfield (“Superfly”), Roy Ayers (“Coffy”) and Bobby Womack (“Across 110th Street”) taking on the musical conductorship for movies that were often outshined by their superb scores. “Truck Turner” and “Three Tough Guys” are no exceptions to the rule. Without Hayes lacing the flicks with his nonpareil shot of soul and funk, reclaiming his spot as Blaxploitation music’s godfather, these two movies would probably be long-forgotten artifacts in the vaults of a handful of antique dealers.
Ike would go on to star in a bunch of other movies and TV shows and also famously lent his voice to South Park’s Chef character in the late 90s. Musically, his heyday was about over with the completion of his soundtrack work. His next album “Chocolate Chip” was noteworthy in that it was one of the first Disco records, but it would be Hayes’ last LP to chart in the US Top 30 (and to induce a rather positive critical response, one might add). Considering these facts, Ike’s Blaxploitation scores can be seen as the artistic pinnacle to which he would never again return, a final funky fanfare by an extraordinarily talented musician and bon vivant.
