The following editorial appeared Tuesday in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Isaac Hayes, who died Sunday at age 65, was a pivotal figure in American popular music, film, fashion and TV. Composer, singer, multi-instrumentalist, he helped spawn soul, funk, hip-hop and rap.

His life and career are studies in homemade American art. Born in Covington, Tenn., Hayes picked cotton as a boy, was raised on his grandparents’ sharecropping farm, and learned to play keyboards, trumpet and woodwinds. He also largely taught himself to read music, leading to his career (not enough credited) as an arranger.

His music is everywhere. With songwriting partner David Porter, he wrote, among other hits, the Sam and Dave tunes “Soul Man” and “Hold On, I’m Comin’,” which helped propel the Stax label (itself a homemade business in Memphis, Tenn.) into a national powerhouse. Stax gave him a contract, and his second album was the brilliant, breakaway “Hot Buttered Soul.” His music combined persuasive emotion, innovative production, and an often irresistible beat.

That’s all on display in his biggest hit, 1971’s “Theme from Shaft,” for which he won two Grammys, plus an Oscar for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture (he was the first black to win that award). Propelled by Charles “Skip” Pitts’ percussive wah-wah guitar, the tune is permanent on playlists around the world. Hip-hop and rap artists often credit Hayes’ spoken-word verses as the beginnings of their art.

He also broke ground with his “Black Moses” look: shaved head, sunglasses, chains, hoods, bare arms and chest. His hypersexual male image helped create a much-copied urban fashion movement still going strong in rap and hip-hop fashion.

New generations came to know Hayes as the voice of Chef on Comedy Central’s “South Park.” The role was self-satire, with Chef — the cook at a grade school cafeteria — making lascivious remarks and bursting into funky song. Hayes left the show in 2006, reportedly after a dispute over one episode’s mockery of Scientology, which he practiced.

When elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, Hayes said of his career that “I didn’t know what was unfolding.” Like many American artists, he made it up as he went along, and in so doing created valuable art that wasn’t there before.