"Superfly" (Curtis Mayfield)

Super Fly (the film) originally was released in mid-1972.  For better or worse, it set the stage for what came to be known as the "blaxploitation" genre.  
I've seen the film maybe twice over the years on late-night TV.  It's a story about "Youngblood Priest" (played by Ron O'Neal), a street-smart, young coke dealer who decides he wants out of the game, and all of the shady characters and crooked cops who try (by persuasion and/or violence) to keep him from making one last $1M score.
It's an okay film with decent performances.  But it's not really a movie you watch for the plot or the acting; you watch it to gawk at the crazy ass clothes and Priest's pimped-out, custom Cadillac (which, incidentally, belonged to an actual pimp named K.C., as the liner notes of the re-issued soundtrack album point out).
Speaking of the soundtrack, it's the most compelling reason to watch the film.
What makes it so good is that it's not two or three Mayfield songs, surrounded by a lot of cheesy instrumental filler; it's a complete Curtis Mayfield album.  He set out to create a work that would stand on its own while expressly tying each song to a scene or character in the film.  (Unfortunately, the editors of the film didn't always use the songs in the appropriate spots or to the greatest effect.  Key example: there's Mayfield's anti-drug song, "No Thing on Me," playing during a scene where Priest is convincing his old mentor to front him 30 kg of cocaine.)
In all cases, Mayfield never tried to glorify any of the situations depicted in the film; he simply was a omniscient narrator, chronicling what he observed, delving into the characters' thoughts, while constantly reminding the listener that these were human characters with human foibles.
Such is the case on the track "Superfly."  Mayfield more or less summarizes the entire plot of the film in the lyrics, characterizing Priest as a resourceful, complicated man who is the product of his environment.  As the song goes on, Mayfield comments that Priest realizes there's no future in dealing drugs, and although he has no clear idea of what the future holds or what challenges he's going to have to overcome to get there, he's still tryin' ta get over.
You can't beat Mayfield's singular voice on this tune.  But the stars of the show are the fat bass (played by Joseph "Lucky" Scott) and the pitch-sliding roto-toms and congas (by "Master" Henry Gibson) that punctuate the track.  It's no wonder why everyone from The Beasties to Sean Combs have sampled the intro hundreds of times.