Isaac Hayes: From Shaft to Chef

Isaac Hayes packed a lot of achievement into his 65-year life, which ended Aug. 10 after he collapsed in his Memphis, Tenn., home. He wrote hit songs, produced platinum albums, starred in movies and on television. But the biggest triumph for this self-described Black Moses had to be in 1972, when his theme from Shaft–a cunning mix of wocka-wocka percussion, a sassy chorus and Hayes’ basso talk-singing–won an Academy Award for Best Original Song, making him the first African American to win a music Oscar.

Producing many of the Stax hits of the ’60s, Hayes helped define that studio’s sound, dispensing with the pop craftsmanship of Stax’s main rival Motown Records and revving up the testosterone. His imposing frame, and a stare that managed to intimidate and seduce, made the songwriter a natural for performing. He always found work when he wanted it–including an unlikely final role as Chef, the school cook who dished out ageless wisdom on the animated show South Park. For nine seasons, Chef was virtually the only adult character treated with respect–even winning a good-hearted eulogy after Hayes’ resignation over an episode excoriating Scientology prompted South Park to brutally kill off Chef in 2006. Hayes’ own death shows that even a musical sex machine can break down. But during his adventurous lifetime, Isaac Hayes was the pulse of sexual liberation, the erotic sound of black power, the voice of our best bad thoughts.