‘We All Have Similar Fears, Similar Tears’

Long before today’s generation of rappers, Curtis Mayfield was the musical voice of the black experience. With his group the Impressions in the early ‘60s, he tapped into the idealism of the civil rights era in such gospel-inflected anthems as “People Get Ready.” His 1972 soundtrack for “Super Fly” is a landmark work that defined much of the R&B; that followed.

Mayfield’s ability to describe and comment on the fabric of life in the black community made him a pillar of popular music and a profound influence on today’s hip-hop artists, who freely cite his example and sample his sounds.

Mayfield, 54, was silenced in 1990, when a lighting rig fell on him at an outdoor concert and left him paralyzed from the neck down. But against the odds, there’s a new Curtis Mayfield album, the just-released “New World Order.” While it features collaborations with such contemporary forces as Organized Noize and Daryl Simmons, it also slips easily into Mayfield’s oeuvre of hard-bitten but hopeful commentary, governed by an abiding spirituality and tenderness. (See review on F12).

In an interview from his Atlanta home, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member--who will appear tonight to be honored at the annual Jazz at Drew Legacy Music Series at Charles R. Drew University--talked about the recording, race relations and the changes his life has undergone.

*

Question: It must be a thrill to have a new record out after all this time. How were you able to participate with your collaborators, given your physical restrictions?

*

Answer: Well, yes, I feel great. I feel great about having finished it. . . . I would either be there or, lots of times, on the phone when they would get started in the studio. I definitely would add my input as to what I needed. It worked for me. Everybody who was there to help with the new sounds and the new grooves of the ‘90s always left it open for Curtis to write his own lyrics and lay his own melodies, which I suppose was my signature.

Q: What about singing? Is that a strain for you?

A: Yeah, when I came out of the hospital the first time I ran straight to my studio and had ‘em put up a track, and gosh, I sounded terrible. But that was to be understood. I had to learn another way. Once you know your limitations, you can still shoot for the sky. . . . I don’t have the diaphragm anymore, my lungs are very weak. I could never sing on stage for you anymore.

But through the recording [technology], I know how to sing a song and stop it here and pick it up on the other side so you’ve got just as much strength and just as much sincerity. . . . And, of course, I had to lie down, basically, to sing these songs, ‘cause gravity was with me there, whereas if I were to try and do it sitting up, I would go out of breath much faster.

Q: In the album you continue to comment on the condition of the black community. When you look at the racial divisions in America today, do you see any kind of solution?

A: The solution is in how every individual takes it in perspective, and how they live, how they give respect. That’s all people of all races, creeds and colors. And if they truly want it, so be it.

Q: Do you think music can create social change?

A: Well, yes, I do. . . . Music and entertainment have always been something that could bring everybody together, so they can lay down their arms for a minute and listen. Then they can find that we all have similar fears, similar tears . . . find out that we’re all human, and not be afraid to reach out and try to understand another person and their culture.

It’s mostly fear. We’re all here but we’re so afraid to reach out or run over to another person’s house and say, “Hi, I’m Curt. You play chess? . . . Want me to teach you?” It ain’t about hangin’ out, it’s about beginning to find people out, say, “Wow, the guy isn’t so bad.” If just every person would do that. But how does it happen? There are so many other things, of course, that destroy that and set it back in a closet somewhere. ‘Cause so many people do well by keeping the racial pot stirred.

Q: You are cited as one of the major influences on rap. Do you see it as a successor to what you were doing?

A: Well, I don’t know, I guess there’s a few. I always appreciated Public Enemy. And there’s a few that come off trying to be positive. It’s just when you get into the gangster thing and you’re betraying your own by putting your own down. Claiming who’s gonna outdo this and outdo that. Terrible games that turn into criminal games really, and I don’t think anybody’s too happy about that, especially after seeing how Tupac went out.

Q: Talk a little about your adjustment after the accident. You must have been forced to reevaluate things.

A: Of course you have to take inventory and evaluate what is left for your life. But I was fortunate to come through the incident with my full mental abilities, so I look upon that as a blessing. And then, of course, once one learns and knows their limitations, you go back to stretching out. That’s what I’ve found myself doing since I’ve been down. So I feel very good that I’m capable of raising and bringing about an income for my family.

Q: Did you experience any bitterness?

A: No, I never did. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t a tear in my eye here and there. I’m quite emotional now. But I never thought, “Why me? I’m angry at the world. . . .” I had none of those frustrations of feeling the world owes me anything, and I don’t think I ever will. It happened, and gosh, I’m still here, and it could have been much worse, and I’m still living with my family and I have so many friends. . . .

I’m lookin’ upon this as just another experience in my life. Maybe one of the last, but it’s another experience in my life. I don’t feel like there’s something I didn’t do. I got 10 children, I found success in my business and I have a wonderful wife. I’m still Daddy, I’m raising children. I got 14, 15, 16, 18 and 19 [year-olds] I’m trying to get out of the house. . . . So there ain’t too much changed. . . . I’m very adaptable. Along the way you have the aches and the hardships and the loss of blood pressure, and when those things kick in, you know you don’t dictate to the body anymore, it dictates to you. . . . I’ve learned patience.