In 2021, the musician H.E.R. won the Academy Award for best original song for the track “Fight for You” from Judas and the Black Messiah that took inspiration from the soul and protest songs of the ’60s and ’70s. Holding the gold statue, she said in her acceptance speech, “All those days of listening to Sly & the Family Stone and Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye really paid off.”
Now, that early education is paying off again as she premieres her directorial debut at the 2025 SXSW film festival. The feature documentary The Makings of Curtis Mayfield explores the music and legacy of the “Come on Up” and “Superfly” singer, songwriter and composer.
After name checking Mayfield in her Oscars speech, H.E.R. was approached by producer Peter Afterman, who was behind music-focused docs on Tom Petty and Joan Jett, about directing a doc focused on Mayfield. The Grammy winner decided to primarily focus on the music, only occasionally dipping in to Mayfield’s personal biography, using long conversations with Dr. Dre, Mark J. Blige, John Legend and others to prove the thesis that his sound directly impacted R&B, hip hop, and some of the world’s most famous artists.
How did the timing work out on this project?
Peter was so great and patient enough to wait for me because when the project did come together a few years ago, I was focused on touring. I think I was — I don’t want to say fearful — I was questioning, “Man, can I really do this?”‘” It’s so heavy to have someone’s legacy somewhat in your hands. I had a lot of time to think about the approach.
The doc is not the typical bio-doc in that the focus is the music and a general appreciation of his catalogue, as opposed to going point by point into Curtis’ life and career.
From the beginning,that was always the most interesting thing to me. As I was sitting down with people, the common thing that I recognized the most within the conversations was impact. His nickname is “a gentle genius,” and I had no idea what that meant until I was listening to how many people were students of his. His presence is not only about loving that song from ’72 or watching Superfly. No matter how versed you are in who he is, his presence was so felt and his genius was so felt. People give the credit to Marvin Gaye, and they give some credit to Stevie [Wonder] and there’s a lot of people who spoke politically to Sly [Stone], but [Mayfield] came before a lot of those people.
You have some big names in this doc talking about Curtis Mayfield. Did you cast a wide net when looking for interviewees?
We were very targeted. It was about people who had a connection to Curtis. We would find out that Dr. Dre was a major Curtis fan, so we had to talk to him. Not to say that this isn’t the right thing for other docs, but this wasn’t about sound bites. This wasn’t a documentary that was going to get so-and-so, who everybody loves, to say that Curtis Mayfield is great. I wanted to talk to people who really had that visceral reaction to him.
What interview helped to inform the documentary?
Everybody was so different. Dr. Dre was really special to me because we were in his space [filming took place in Dr. Dre’s home studio], and he knew so much about Curtis. He had these child-like reactions to the music in real time. When people experience Dr. Dre’s love for Curtis in this doc, they get a different Dr. Dre. I think that is so powerful. In that interview, you get to see how he influenced hip hop.
Much of this doc sees you interviewing musicians at sound boards, breaking down the production of Curtis Mayfield songs. What was the thinking behind that?
We had access to stems [isolated audio tracks], which is great. Curtis was a very private person, so hearing his voice singled out was as intimate as you could get. You can hear just the horn part that he came up with or just hear the guitar part that he came up with, and that is how you get close to him. That’s why those moments were so special, seeing people who love him, and their reaction to those single pieces, those little bits of him. When you’re making a documentary, you only have so much to work with, and so you hold on to the pieces that are super up close and personal. That’s what makes this documentary really cool: You’re not just seeing the performances, but you get to break down the music.
Did you talk to the Mayfield family prior to making the doc?
I had a call with Cheaa, one of his sons. He was very young, even when Curtis passed. [Editor’s note: Mayfield became paralyzed from the neck down following an accident during a 1990 performance, and later passed due to complications with type 2 diabetes. He was 57.] I connected with him way before we started shooting interviews; I thought that was really important to get his perspective. He gave us what he could, and he’s later in the doc, because that was what he remembered from when he was a kid. I hope that the way that I’m telling [Curtis’] story is the way that he wanted to be told. I think Curtis would have wanted us to focus on the music as much as possible. He was actually such a pure soul, really a man of integrity. Talking to his family and thinking about how to stay true to him were important to me. I did not want to be like, “Where’s the scandal? What’re the things that he did in the dark?”‘” I wanted to give him the credit that he deserves.
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