As staff songwriters for Stax Records in the mid-'60s, Isaac Hayes and his partner David Porter wrote dozens of hits, including the Sam & Dave smashes "Soul Man" and "When Something Is Wrong With My Baby." But the Academy Award-winning "Theme From Shaft" remains Hayes' best-known song. Its propulsive rhythms, dreamy orchestration, and boastful lyrics defined the kind of Black Power cool that Hayes exemplified. The Shaft soundtrack came in the thick of an astonishing creative period for Hayes, which began in 1969 with his second album, Hot Buttered Soul. It was cut alongside 26 others by Stax staffers, as part of an attempt to pad out the label's catalog, but it was a breakout hit. Its four extended-length tracks—three of them covers of modern pop standards—sounded unlike anything else on the radio that year, and though record companies were sure that black listeners only bought singles, millions shelled out for Hot Buttered Soul.
Hayes went on to record more hit albums and movie soundtracks throughout the early '70s, forging a powerhouse second career as a pop star. He then established a steady third career as a character actor, including a long run as the voice of "Chef" on the cult cartoon series South Park. The new compilation Ultimate Isaac Hayes: Can You Dig It? contains two discs of Hayes' seminal recordings, plus a bonus DVD with three performances from the 1973 concert film Wattstax and the video for Chef's UK hit single "Chocolate Salty Balls." On the occasion of its release, Hayes spoke with The A.V. Club about how he forged his sound, how he views his legacy, and whether he gets annoyed when South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone mock his faith.
The A.V. Club: You were a performer before Stax hired you as a staff songwriter, and then you were kind of forced to become a performer again when Stax needed some quick product. At the time, had you been hoping to get back on stage?
Isaac Hayes: Always. All the time I was writing hit songs with my partner David Porter, I always had the yen to perform. Sure did. And when the opportunity came, I took it. The first album, Presenting Isaac Hayes, didn't do so hot, but it was like a prelude for what was to come. When I was given an opportunity to do things the way I wanted to, without any restrictions and no holds barred, that's when I did Hot Buttered Soul. Which changed a lot of things.
AVC: Had the sound on that album been in your head for a while?
IH: Yeah, with the horns and the strings, and that selection of tunes. And just the way I presented myself. I'd always thought if I did my own album, I'd do it like this.
AVC: What was it about that orchestrated sound? Were you trying to recreate something that you'd heard before, or were you trying to make something entirely new?
IH: I'd always loved strings. When I was in high school and saw strings playing on stage, an orchestra or a symphony, all those bows moving at the same time… wow. [Laughs.] I like that sound, man. So I just kept it in my head. David and I tried some strings with Sam & Dave, but it didn't go over too well, because people didn't want to accept that. They wanted to hear what they first heard, with those horns and driving rhythms. So when I had a chance to do my thing, I did it. I did what I wanted to. I just heard those strings, and I expressed myself through those. And I heard the horns. I kept the funky rhythms underneath, but I put the strings on top and made them speak. With authority. And I did it long because I felt what I had to say could not have been said in two minutes and 30 seconds. I took some liberties. It was kind of selfish on my part. But you know, there were 26 other albums released at the same time mine was. [Laughs.] So I just did what I wanted to do, you know? It just so happened other people liked it too.
AVC: Were you surprised that out of that pack of 27, yours was the one that took off?
IH: Yeah, I was surprised. Because they didn't display me like that. They had me in the back. [Laughs.] The artists performed live in front of the whole contingent of people all over the world that came in for a sales meeting. And I got a standing ovation, and they said, "Do you have an album?" I said, "It's back there in the back somewhere!" [Laughs.] They sought it out. They found it. They got behind it and the thing just… took off, man.
AVC: What inspired the spoken-word "raps" you stuck in front of some of your early solo songs?
IH: That was out of necessity, to communicate. It started in a predominately black club called The Tiki Club. I was ranting and raving about this tune I heard, "By The Time I Get To Phoenix." Nobody showed too much interest, so I told James Alexander, bandleader of The Bar-Kays, "Hey, I'm coming down to the club tonight, ya'll learn ‘Phoenix,' man." So I showed that night. Club was packed. Everybody talking. "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Isaac Hayes!" Nobody applauded. They were still talking. Shit. [Laughs.] So I tell James to hang up on those chords on the intro. Just recycle to the top of the song. And I started talking, about the situation I imagined would've happened if this guy's woman were taken through these changes. I started talking, and I went, and I went, and the conversations started to subside. It got quiet. I thought, "I got ya!" [Laughs.] I went, "By the tiiiiiime…" and they went, "Oh, wow!" They sat and listened to the whole thing. I went through the vamp, dragging it out, repeating it, and when I finished, not a dry eye in the house. I got 'em. That was it.
And then I did the same thing at a predominately white club. Same reaction. A local pop DJ named Scott Shannon, who's in New York now, said, "Ike, you ought to record that." So I did.
AVC: You did a lot of covers on those early albums, which was strange, since you were a songwriter first.
IH: I know, I know. But those were songs I liked. And I felt like I could do something with them. Because a hit song is a hit song. Take it apart and put it back together, it still stands, if it's put together right. So I did those tunes, because they were tunes I liked and that I could readily relate to.
AVC: You did them because you liked them and not just because you heard something you could do with them?
IH: That's why I liked them.
AVC: Were you listening generally to more rock, soul, or pop then? Because those cover songs were generally pop songs.
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