Does Listening to Superfly Make You Cool?

By Kyle J. Hayes

Some albums sound cool. And then some albums are cool.

Albums so effortlessly smooth, so drenched in style and swagger, that just pressing play feels like stepping into another world. Albums that don’t just make you nod your head but make you walk differently. Makes you feel different.

And Superfly?

Man. Superfly is one of those albums.

Curtis Mayfield didn’t just create a soundtrack—he created a mood. A statement. A soul-funk symphony that floats, struts, and glides with a kind of self-assuredness that cannot be faked. The grooves are deep, the horns are sharp, and the basslines carry themselves with the quiet confidence of a man who knows exactly who he is and what he’s about.

And so, the question becomes—does listening to one of the coolest albums ever make you cooler by default?

I wish it did.

I wish just spending time with Superfly was enough to give you that Curtis Mayfield grace, that effortless style, that ability to turn the act of being into something cinematic. But cool isn’t just about what you hear—it’s about how you carry it.

And Superfly carries itself differently than most.

Because, yes, it’s funky. Yes, it’s soulful. Yes, it moves. But listen closely, and you’ll realize Mayfield wasn’t just making a soundtrack to a blaxploitation film—he was challenging it. At a time when Hollywood was painting drug dealers and hustlers as heroic figures, Mayfield turned the mirror back. Songs like Pusherman and Freddie’s Dead aren’t glorifications but indictments. They’re warnings wrapped in some of the most infectious grooves ever recorded.

That’s what makes this album deserving of its place on the list.

Because it’s not just a great soundtrack. It’s not just a collection of songs. It is commentary, art, and a document of its time that still feels as relevant now as it did then.

So, no, just listening to Superfly won’t make you cool.

But understanding it? Feeling it? Letting it seep into your bones until you carry yourself with that same quiet confidence, that same unshakable awareness of self?

That just might.

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