Family Affair

Recorded in 1970 and 1971 for There's a Riot Goin' On at Record Plant in Sausalito, California. Sly Stone produced the session, with Billy Preston contributing electric piano and Richard Tilles serving as engineering consultant. Released as the lead single from There's a Riot Goin' On, it marked a stark, introspective turn from the band’s earlier celebratory sound. The song became Sly & the Family Stone’s final Billboard Hot 100 number one and one of the defining records of early-1970s funk and soul. Its drum-machine-driven groove and subdued mood helped widen the language of funk and influenced later R&B, hip-hop, and pop production. The track remained one of the band’s signature recordings and was widely covered and sampled in later decades.