Music critics lauded
Super Fly.
Rolling Stones Bob Donat was favorable of Mayfield's anti-drug and self-liberation themes, and called
Super Fly "not only a superior, imaginative soundtrack, but fine funky music as well and the best of Curtis Mayfield's four albums made since he left
the Impressions". Rock critic
Robert Christgau of
The Village Voice gave the album an A− and lauded Mayfield's songwriting. Christgau also wrote that "these songs speak for (and to) the ghetto's victims rather than its achievers (cf. 'The Other Side of Town', on
Curtis), transmitting bleak lyrics through uncompromisingly vivacious music. Message: both candor and rhythm are essential to our survival". In a 2004 review of the album,
Rolling Stone gave
Super Fly five out of five stars and cited it as Mayfield's "creative breakthrough". 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". In the
Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (2002), writer
Colin Larkin gave the album a five-star rating. In 2003,
VH1 named
Super Fly the 63rd greatest album of all time. The
title track was selected by the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll". In 2003, the album was ranked number 69 on
Rolling Stone magazine's list of
the 500 greatest albums of all time, 72 in a 2012 revised list, and 76 in a 2020 revised list. The album is ranked number 986 in
All-Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd edition, 2000). In 2019, the album was selected by the
Library of Congress for preservation in the
National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
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. Mychal Smith notes the impact
Super Fly had on the genre of blaxploitation soundtracks in particular, noting Mayfield had "inspired imitations [...] such as
Bobby Womack’s "
Across 110th Street",
James Brown’s
Black Caesar, and
Willie Hutch’s
The Mack." ==Track listing==