About an hour into Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s debut feature “Summer of Soul,” Sylvester Stewart (aka Sly Stone) and his interracial, mixed-gender band takes the stage

There's a riot going on in Questlove's follow-up to his Oscar-winning concert doc Summer of Soul, not least in the wardrobe department. Blazing a trail for the funkadelic/glam rock '70s with metallic,

Questlove's second documentary levels up from "Summer of Soul," exploring Sly Stone's life and legacy in a kaleidoscopic and profound way.

"Sly Lives! (AKA the Burden of Black Genius)" paints a complicated portrait of Sly and the Family Stone founder Sly Stewart.

Melodically vital and bracingly frank, Questlove’s uptempo Sundance documentary “Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)” is a sonic kick to the soul. It posits Sly Stone as a martyr to his own brilliance,

But Questlove unexpectedly leans heavier on his title’s parenthetical addendum in order to illuminate some deeper truths about the challenges of stardom (especially for Black artists) that may have started with Stone,

But for his first film since the Oscar- and Bafta-winning Summer Of Soul (2021) director Ahmir ’Questlove’ Thompson challenges that familiar trajectory by analysing precisely why those inevitable lows are far more harrowing for Black artists — using as his test case Sylvester Stewart,