<\/div>\n\n\n\n
The overwhelming documentary I Am Everything<\/em> by Lisa Cort\u00e9s not only reflects the authenticity of the character in all his contradictions and the cultural legacy he left to posterity, but at the same time tells us something about America at the moment rock exploded: the cult of personality in art, which in some cases overshadows creativity (as it was for Elvis and other figures who could embody the perfect American dream) and the racial clash\/encounter. Little Richard was pure talent, he wrote hits that became milestones of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll, songs like Tutti Frutti<\/em>, Long Tall Sally<\/em>, Rip It Up<\/em>, Lucille<\/em> e Good Golly Miss Molly<\/em>, performing them with that unmistakable rebellious and unbridled streak, with an extraordinary electrifying charge, strangled screams poised between falsetto and sob, always seasoned with a sprinkling of mad exaltation and an explosive stage presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe audience was enchanted, the music industry and the prevailing respectability a little less so. Why? Because he was black, extravagant, ambiguous, effeminate, made-up, with a great quiff, his lyrics oozed sex, in his first performances he was accompanied by drag queens and, as if that were not enough, he had an innate talent for making whites and blacks dance together, making them forget the rigid segregationist wall that kept them apart. That he represented a threat is shown by the success of Pat Boone\u2019s puritanical, watered-down version of Tutti Frutti and then Elvis\u2019s, which managed to eclipse the original, or by the great commercial success of Fats Domino, another African American talent but of quite a different mould, reassuring in his good-natured looks and in his style, always energetic, yes, but not bizarre and subversive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.seeyousound.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/1-1024x819.jpg\")