Curtom Records · 1972
Mayfield wrote against his own film — and the tension between the music and the image is where the masterpiece lives.
Curtis Mayfield wrote Superfly before the film was finished. He worked from the script and rough cuts — and what he chose to write was a sustained moral argument against his own protagonist.
The film presents Priest, the dealer, as an aspirational figure: tailored coats, white Cadillac, the street as stage. Mayfield's music refuses this. Pusherman — built on a bass line that moves like something trying not to be seen, Johnny Pate's strings floating above it like smoke — is not an admiring portrait. It is a diagnosis. Four minutes forty seconds of groove so precisely constructed it functions simultaneously as pleasure and indictment. Freddie's Dead follows immediately, those staccato brass stabs and fractured rhythm working like a lament dressed up as a dance. The lyric is an epitaph, not a celebration. By the time Super Fly closes Side B — that groove erupting with something that sounds almost like joy until you listen to what Mayfield is actually saying — the record has done something the film cannot: it has shown the cost.
The falsetto is never innocent in Mayfield's work. Since The Impressions, that high, precise voice had always carried a specific argument: vulnerability as dignity rather than weakness. On Superfly it becomes a political instrument. You cannot sing about a pusher in falsetto and intend admiration. The emotional register does not allow it. The tension between the beauty of the sound and the weight of the subject is where this record lives.
On vinyl, the original Curtom pressing (CRS 8014-ST, 1972, orange and white label, Buddah distribution) sounds genuinely excellent: Joseph Scott's bass has presence and weight without bloom, Pate's orchestrations carry the warmth that analogue mastering of the period handled better than anything digital. Clean VG+ copies surface on Discogs between twenty and sixty euros — worth the search. Mid-decade Warner Bros./Curtom represses are essentially equivalent. The modern reference is the 2014 Rhino/Curtom reissue, available on 180g: tighter mastering, better-defined bass, a quieter surface that allows the inner detail of the string writing — especially in the transitions inside Super Fly — to come through in a way worn original pressings tend to compress.
Fifty years on, the film is a period piece. The music is not. That is because Mayfield chose to write about what the film was selling rather than join in the selling of it. Start with Pusherman. Everything follows from there.
The soundtrack that chose to interrogate its film rather than serve it. Original Curtom pressing for the document; the 2014 Rhino 180g for the sound. Pusherman alone is worth the price of admission.
Superfly on Vinyl — Which Pressing?
CRS 8014-ST (1972, orange/white label, Buddah distribution). The historical document — Scott's bass carries body and presence, Pate's strings are warm and deep. Hunt VG+ on Discogs between €20–60
Sonically equivalent to the original, easier to find in clean condition. A solid choice if the Buddah original proves elusive
The modern reference. Cleaner mastering, better-defined bass, quieter surface that allows the orchestral inner detail to emerge. The recommended choice for everyday listening
Unofficial budget reissues circulating through the 1980s — audio quality inconsistent and often stripped of the original analogue warmth
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Is Superfly genuinely a critique of the film, or is that reading too much into a soundtrack?
It is both, and the tension between the two functions is exactly the point. Mayfield wrote the record before the film's edit was finalised, working from the script and rough footage. He deliberately chose not to celebrate protagonist Priest — the lyrics of Pusherman and Freddie's Dead are morally opposed to the film's image. It works simultaneously as a perfect soundtrack and as an independent critical act.
Which pressing should I choose — original Curtom 1972 or the Rhino 2014 reissue?
Depends on purpose. The original Curtom (CRS 8014-ST) is the historical document: warm, analogue, with the grain that is part of the sound. The 2014 Rhino 180g has more defined bass, a quieter surface, and is the better choice for everyday listening on a modern system. For a collector, ideally both.
How extensively was Superfly sampled by hip-hop?
Comprehensively. Pusherman is among the most sampled records in hip-hop history — Ice Cube, Scarface, Jay-Z, Common and Kendrick Lamar have all drawn directly from Johnny Pate's sessions. The Freddie's Dead bassline has been equally heavily used. Listening to Superfly on vinyl means hearing the source of decades of rap production.
