"Theme from Shaft", written and recorded by Isaac Hayes in 1971, is the soul- and funk-style theme song to the film Shaft. The theme, released as a single (shortened and edited from the longer album version) two months after the movie's soundtrack, went to #1 in the United States in November 1971. The following year, "Theme from Shaft" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, with Hayes becoming the first African American to win that honor (or any Academy Award in a non-acting category). Since then, the song has appeared in numerous television shows, commercials, and other movies, including the 2000 remake of Shaft, for which Hayes re-recorded the song without making any changes to it. "Theme from Shaft" is sometimes considered more iconic than the movie for which it was written.
