Interview: producer of Questlove’s Sly and the Family Stone documentary

Anna discusses a revelatory new film about Sly and the Family Stone with the film’s producer Joseph Patel.

In this Slate Plus episode, Anna talks about the trailblazing psychedelic funk band Sly and the Family Stone with Joseph Patel, producer for the new documentary Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius). Joseph talks about collaborating on the film with his friend Questlove and how they approached frontman Sly Stone’s rise, and his struggles, with fairness and empathy.

Podcast production by Cameron Drews.

This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive bonus episodes of Death, Sex & Money—you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Death, Sex & Money show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/dsmplus to get access wherever you listen.

Anna Sale is the creator and host of Death, Sex & Money, the podcast about “the things we think about a lot and need to talk about more.” After debuting at the top of the iTunes chart in 2014, Death, Sex & Money was named the #1 podcast of the year by New York Magazine in 2015. Anna won a Gracie for best podcast host in 2016 and the show won the 2018 Webby and 2021 Ambie for bestinterview show.