MEMPHIS—He doesn't look anything like Black Moses, aside from the shiny bald head and sunglasses. In fact, he looks like a black biker. He's wearing jackboots, old jeans, a black T-shirt and a blue denim jacket with the sleeves snipped off and a "Memphis Choppers" club sign embroidered on the back. Maybe he's getting into the character of Chocolate Chip, the "master rip," from his new album by the same name.

Whatever. He's Isaac Hayes and he's sitting at a mixing console at...

Among the Kwottos of Northern Nigeria the King of Panda used to be regarded as an incarnate divinity, who had power over the elements. Nevertheless at an annual festival one of the king's slaves, a strong, handsome man, was allowed for a single day to wear a leopard's skin (the badge of royalty) and to adorn his head with a pair of buffalo horns; thus arrayed, and attended by a bodyguard of 50 men, armed with stout sticks, he used to strut proudly about the town, explaining, "I am king...