2. Sly & The Family StoneThere’s a Riot Goin’ On
I thought of Sly And The Family Stone as our only competition. We thought we had a handle on that R&B/psychedelic look. And here comes somebody from the West Coast who made it all a little easier to accept. They looked cute too: all dressed up, black and white members; they had the perfect balance. We were short, fat, tall, all black and rowdy. When we were Parliament we were straight with slick suits, but by this time we had changed because we saw it coming – so we had to get crazy, quick! And it didn’t take much to go to Boston and drop a tab of acid. We came over [to the UK] in ’68. Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle. We stayed out there and tripped. So we saw Sly coming along as a pop version of what we were doing – we were underground and they were straight pop. And we were close friends at that point.
I wasn’t threatened though. We learned a long time ago not to be threatened by anything that was good. Matter of fact… I always tell myself when I hear something good: "Damn, I ain’t done shit." I mean, when I heard Eminem… I let myself feel that. I ain’t gonna try and sleep on One Nation and ‘Knee Deep’. That’s old, that’s through. I got great-grandkids! I’m on Kendrick Lamar’s new record, and he’s on mine. When I hear people like that, doing something that makes you pay attention? Or Rakim, when he came out? I thought: "Oh shiiiit!" I thought I was pretty good with lyrics! Eminem and Rakim were like: go back to school. It’s a new day. You gotta learn what they do.
I’m thankful for it. As opposed to not liking them, I love to hear kids that make me feel like I ain’t done shit, cause my ego is what’s gonna make me get back into the game.
