The news of Frankie Beverly’s death left music lovers heartbroken. The Philly-born frontman of Maze is one of R&B’s most loved singers, songwriters and producers. Knowing that Frankie has left us just after a beautiful and heartwarming farewell tour with Maze is truly bittersweet: the world got to say goodbye without knowing how final that goodbye would soon feel. But it’s wonderful that Frankie Beverly got to feel all that love.
But Frankie Beverly was always loved.
It’s not an exaggeration to say the passing of Frankie Beverly feels like losing a family member. He managed to become a fixture in the collective consciousness of Black folks. With his phenomenal band Maze, Beverly was an altogether unique cultural figure: a true legend of R&B possessed of a distinct voice and a repertoire that could rival any of his peers. And as a performer, Frankie Beverly was gifted with the panache of a superstar couched in the easygoing grace of an everyman.
Maze – “Golden Time Of Day”
And his body of work informs, inspires and permeates the essence of contemporary Black music. Originally dubbed “Raw Soul,” Maze would become a towering institution of Black music and the Bay Area, with as enduring a catalog as Earth Wind & Fire and as devoted a fan base as The Grateful Dead.
And hip-hop? Hip-hop loves Frankie Beverly.
As a music and culture that grew out of a sense of community, it’s apt that hip-hop gravitates to the sounds of Frankie Beverly and Maze. Theirs is the sound of summer block parties and family reunions; the soundtrack to countless spades tournaments and Big Momma’s birthday celebrations. And Frankie Beverly was the voice and the image. Roots drummer, producer and musical sage Questlove offered tribute to what Frankie Beverly meant to a culture.
“Philadelphia legend,” Beverly’s fellow Philly native wrote on IG as news spread of Beverly’s death. “This is our yacht soul. Our feel-good music. This is the pinnacle of what passionate soul music was about.”
The Funky Four Plus One – “Do You Wanna Rock”
Perhaps the earliest example of hip-hop sampling Frankie Beverly and Maze is The Funky Four Plus One’s party starter “Do You Wanna Rock.” The emcees trade lines over a recreation of the perennial “Before I Let Go.” Sugar Hill Records dropped The Funky Four Plus One’s single less than a year after Maze’s classic was released. Even at this relatively early point in the song’s history, it was already recognized as an anthem for good times.
Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock – “Joy and Pain”
So often, rappers and hip-hop producers tapped into Frankie Beverly’s songs for their joy and benevolence; more often than not, samples and references to the music of Maze led to hip-hop songs born of that same breezy positivity the band fostered in listeners. The thumping “Joy and Pain” by Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock connected a generation of hip-hoppers to the Maze Classic of the same name. Released as the third single in 1989 after the success of their timeless “It Takes 2,” Rob Base takes Beverly’s ode to love’s perseverance and gives it a b-boy makeover — maintaining the positive themes of the original.
2Pac – “Can U Get Away”
Me Against The World is arguably Pac at his most soul-bearing and melancholy but one moment of respite amidst what can be a consistently grim album is “Can You Get Away.” On the Mike Mosley-produced track, Pac open-heartedly pines for a woman who is in a strained relationship. It’s not incidental that the song features an interpolation of Maze’s effervescent “Happy Feelings.” It’s 2Pac at his most charming, foregoing the horndog come-ons of hits like “I Get Around” and “How Do U Want It” for something more earnest.
Jeezy – “Talk To ‘Em”
Jeezy’s surging “Talk To Em” is lifted by a sample of the surging “I Need You” from 1978’s stellar Golden Time Of Day. As Jeezy raps about the strains the hustle can foster, the sped-up vocal lamenting “Like a person needs a soul/like the winter needs the cold” amplifies the urgency. The atmospheric grooves of the ‘70s original inject life into a 2000s trap classic on the album that turned The Snowman into a superstar.
He’s been sampled and covered by everyone from Boosie to Beyoncé; from Keith Murray to Ab Soul. He’s inextricable from what hip-hop and Black music overall has looked and sounded like for more than 45 years.
“For decades, Frankie Beverly and Maze has been a staple in music,” wrote hitmaker Mannie Fresh. “Every wedding, every barbecue, every family reunion, every party was a great moment when one of [his] songs came on.”
Maze – “We Are One”
Music lovers everywhere are grieving the loss of Howard “Frankie” Beverly. His music has lived in the hearts and minds of so many for so long. And hip-hop is saying goodbye to one of its most beloved uncles; a man whose music informed it and whose lyrics inspired it. Frankie Beverly’s brand of soul will always be in hip-hop’s DNA.
Because hip-hop loves Frankie Beverly.
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