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Isaac Hayes is back-and cooking
SAAC HAYES, THE HOTbuttered voice of Chef, began his career as a songwriter and producer at Stax Records, crafting '60s hits like Sam&Dave's "Soul Man" and Carla Thomas's "B-A-B-Y." In the superfly '70s, he became Black Moses, a bald sex bomb in chain vests and tights. After a spectacular bankruptcy, he's now riding the blaxploitation revival, as both actor and funk icon. NEWSWEEK'S John Leland caught up with him at WRKSFM in New York, where he hosts a classic soul program. J NEWSWEEK: Chef walks the line of being an oversexed racial stereotype. How do you keep him from going over?
HAYES: That's up to Matt and Trey. Somebody asked me, "Is that an insult to black people?" Of course not. Chef is not demeaned in this series.
They've made fun t of Indians, Jews, whites-they spread all that stuff around generously. When they first showed me the script I said, "Do you guys have insurance?" The juicy part is that Matt and Trey were unknown at first. I was the only one people could recognize, so I got all the...