Super Fly is the third studio album by American soul musician Curtis Mayfield, released on July 11, 1972, by Curtom Records.

Mayfield had previously contributed two songs to Krakatoa, East of Java; the film was a critical and commercial failure, but marked his first foray into soundtrack work.

His contribution began when Super Fly director Gordon Parks Jr. asked Mayfield and his backing band to cameo as a nightclub act in the background of a scene.

[18] The recording session for the song "Pusherman" took place at Bell Sound Studios in New York, and was followed by a several months-long hiatus (during which Mayfield wrote The Times Have Changed for his former group The Impressions and formulated his next solo effort, Back to the World).

[19] On November 11, 1997, Rhino Records released a 25th Anniversary collection of the album with a bonus disc of demo versions of songs, radio spots, and interviews.

[12] Charles Taylor of The Boston Phoenix, in an article on Mayfield, deems "Superfly," "Pusherman" and "Freddie's Dead" to "remain his paramount achievement, as hard and pitiless as any music ever to make the charts.

"[26] John Bush of AllMusic praised the album's lyrical substance and sound, calling it a "melange of deep, dark grooves, trademarked wah-wah guitar, and stinging brass".

[5] On its significance, Bush concluded by stating: Super Fly ignited an entire genre of music, the blaxploitation soundtrack, and influenced everyone from soul singers to television-music composers for decades to come.

[...] Black America faced an uncertain world in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the election of President Richard Nixon.

Politicians were promising to restore "law and order" after years of urban rebellions frightened white folks who had long fled to the suburbs.

The lyrics were as much his personal reflection on ghetto life as they were based on the characters of the film.In the Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (2002), writer Colin Larkin gave the album a five-star rating.

[35] Super Fly was a formative work in the development of the hip hop and rap genres, and has been cited as an influence and sampled by the likes of Beastie Boys, The Notorious B.I.G., Erykah Badu, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Chance the Rapper, and Beyoncé.