Spike Lee, Don Lemon, and Taye Diggs were amongst the crowd that attended an IMAX screening of Prince’s Sign O’ The Times concert movie in New York Wednesday night. IMAX, Mercury Studios, FilmRise, and Paisley Park Studios hosted the event at the KMC Kips Bay 15 IMAX theatre in New York City. The evening started with attendees walking the purple carpet and standing in front of a floral arrangement and sharing their observations on Prince’s legacy. Luann de Lesseps, Dianne Brill, Amir Arison, and Genevieve Gorder joined artists and musicians, including members of Interpol, Eugene Hutz (Gogo Bordello), Blu DeTiger, and Emmett Skye, along with designers and cultural figures in honoring Prince’s artistry. DJs AKU (Florence & The Machine), The Muses, Rex DeTiger, and a surprise live tribute performance provided the entertainment while guests sipped on purple cocktails.

Sign O’ The Times is one of the most important concert films, as it captured Prince at his height and was the companion film to an equally significant album. It was Prince’s second time directing a film, having done so previously with Under The Cherry Moon. Sign O’ The Times was praised by critics, unlike UTCM and despite it not doing so well at the box office, it has become an essential part of the Prince story and pop music. The IMAX version of the film will be available on streaming platforms and in theaters on August 29th. 

Cautious Clay drops “Fade Blue (11 PM)” almost three months after the release of The Hours: Morning. The easy vibe made of disco strings (think Barry White), a friendly blues guitar riff and a bumpy bass ride are all Clay needs to sing about being in the moment with no self-judgment. He spelled out the course of “Fade Blue (11 PM)” in a press statement.

“This song is very much about removing all expectations about what you might be connecting to in your life versus how you are living your life, because they are not always the same. Being present-minded is something that is becoming harder and harder to do today and throughout all of The Hours I’m not only the Morning but also the Night, and I’m trying to prioritize being present. Blue is also becoming one of my favorite colors.”

Clay co-produced “Fade Blue (11 PM)” with Some Randoms, who has been just as responsible for crafty contemporary music as Clay, having worked with Kehlani, Lil Wayne, Wale, Ant Clemons, and Reneé Rapp. He stepped outside of producing and writing for John Legend, Khalid, John Mayer, and Billie Eilish to release The Hours: Morning, which is his third studio album. Clay’s tour for The Hours starts in September and tickets are on sale now. 

Sly Stone has passed at the age of 82 decades after his rise as a soul and funk pioneer of the ’60s. Stone was a native of Vallejo, California, and he grew up in a religious household with parents who had a great appreciation for music. When he was a child, he and his siblings Freddie, Rose, and Loretta formed the gospel group, The Stewart Four. They released the single “On The Battlefield” locally in 1956. Sly’s musical gifts were recognized while he was still a kid, and by the time he was 11 he was proficiently playing keyboards, guitar, drums, and bass. As a teenager he was a brief member of a local doo-wop group called the Viscaynes. Sly and his friend Frank Arellano, who was Filipino, were the only non-Black members. It was at this time that he also released a few songs under the name Danny Stewart and formed The Stewart Brothers with his brother Freddie. Stewart was Sly’s formal surname and he later chose Stone as his recording alias. He became an influential DJ heard on KSOL-AM and KSAN while playing keyboards for other prominent artists, including Dionne Warwick, Marvin Gaye, Chubby Checker, and many more. Freddie had a band called Freddie and the Stone Souls and Sly’s was called Sly and the Stoners. They decided to combine both groups and released their first album, A Whole New Thing, in 1967. 

Sly and the Family Stone were unusual because they were a multiracial, coed unit. Their soul and funk fusion was built on Sly’s gospel foundation and they wouldn’t get a hit until “Dance To The Music,” which was the title track from their sophomore album. It wasn’t until their fourth album, Stand!, that their popularity took off with the success of the song “Everyday People.” It was during the summer of 1969 that they achieved stardom and Sly became one of the most important voices in music, with an influence on his genre and artists who didn’t even record soul or funk music. They were the only band to perform at Woodstock and the Summer of Soul concerts. 

Sly and the Family Stone were labeled as progressive soul pioneers for their sound that pulled rock, gospel, and R&B together with lyrics that could sometimes be political. Their music changed after 1971 when they released There’s A Riot Goin’ On. This album had a deep, muddled sound thanks to Stone’s overdubbing of the songs instead of their previous recordings, where the band played live together. Larry Graham’s slap bass style burst through and became a blueprint for countless bass players. It was their fifth album and one of the first to use a drum machine. The band’s drug use started to interfere with their ability to tour. Concert promoters became hesitant about booking them because of a pattern of not showing up and being able to perform. The original lineup recorded two more albums together before Stone became the main member of the band’s last recordings. He also released a solo album in 1975. The changes in the group did not alter his ability to create foundational soul and funk gems. Heard Ya Missed Me Well I’m Back, Back on the Right Track and Ain’t but the One Way all had some of the brilliance of his earlier music. 

In the 80s he participated in some powerful collaborations with George Clinton’s Funkadelic and Jesse Johnson. He also appeared on a Bar-Kays album and wrote a song for the Burglar soundtrack. In the ’90s Sly and the Family Stone appeared on the Red Hot Organization’s Red+Hot+Dance compilation. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 and that would be Stone’s last major appearance before he disappeared into seclusion. Sly’s reclusive behavior was broken up with unpredictable performances, such as a show with George Clinton in 2009 at the African Festival of the Arts in Chicago. He also made some appearances with his daughter Novena Stone’s group, Baby Stone. The LOVE CITY convention in 2015 at the Den Lounge inside of the Fox Oakland Theater was a tribute to him and he showed up with four of his band members. He never recaptured his career but the tributes were forthcoming and he performed at the Grammy tribute to his band in 2006. Hip-hop has kept his music relevant because he has been sampled so much by rappers through the generations. Prince, D’Angelo, Janelle Monáe, and Amp Fiddler are but a handful of the artists to feel Sly’s influence. 

In 2023, he released his memoir, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) and he completed a screenplay about his life in 2024. There are four documentaries about Sly Stone: Coming Back for More, On The Sly: In Search of the Family Stone, and Questlove’s Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius), which was released this year. 

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