Why Marvin?

I get asked all the time, why is Marvin Gaye my favorite artist.  This post will be a very deep explanation on why I am a huge Marvin Gaye fan.  I listened to Marvin Gaye as a kid, I remember my father had his greatest hits album, and would tell me and my brothers stories about Marvin.  To be honest with you as a 7 year old kid, who was extremely sensitive, and compassionate the story scared me half to death.  I remember watching VH1 with my brothers and watching documentaries on Marvin, where the viewer only gets generic details on Marvin's life, music and his death.  This is my deep illustration on Marvin Gaye and how his music changed my life.

When I was a senior in high school I got into a relationship with a girl, and similiar to that track by Bloodstone I was on a "Natural High."  I was listening to a lot of r&b music because I wanted to know how those musicians felt and I came across a song that forever changed my life.  That song was "Come Live With Me Angel."  The song originally a song called "Comfort" by Leon Ware and Minnie Riperton (random fact).  Being 18 years old at the time I did not listen to the song the same way that I listen to it now.  I must admit the lyrics are raunchy... (connect the dots).  I got deeper into his music after listening to a couple more tracks on the "I Want You" album and I was instantly hooked.  As I gotten older I would listen to Marvin sporadically, but it wasnt until a crucial time in my life until I was able to fully understand Marvin Gaye.

In June 2008, I randomly bought Marvin Gaye's album "Here My Dear" in a Circuit City (remember those stores).  This will sound absolutely sad, but I bought Lil Wayne's album Tha Carter III the same day I bought "Here My Dear."  Quite honestly I saw an album on sale so I bought it, and I never opened it until I was 2010 nearly two years later.  I can say that I was disgusted with myself for opening Lil Wayne before Marvin Gaye, but mentally I was not prepared to listen to "Here My Dear."  I was riding in a car one night, and randomly I decided to play "Here My Dear" and I was going through a very rough time in my life.  For the first time in my life I had an album that spoke to me.  The album to me personified life, and showed that lust had its consequences.  The album was a modern day Shakespearean novel, that emphasized a dark side of love existed, and there was a lot more to relationships than love, trust, sex, and that sometimes no matter how much you love someone it doesnt always work.  I felt that Marvin Gaye was a true writer, he wrote about what he was really feeling, and explained why he felt a certain way. 

Every Marvin Gaye album was an itenerary of his life, he represented someone who was human and had feelings just like every one else.  People see "Let's Get It On" as a sex album, but there is a lot more to the album than sex.  The album broke many barriers in music, of an artist being free to talk about whatever is on their mind.  To be honest "I Want You" is a pure sex album, when you really think about it the songs on the album have twisted meanings.  The songs are made for the listener to think, and quite honestly it wasnt even his album.  I feel that in a way i'm similiar to Marvin.  I am a man who sees the world a specific way, i'm not afraid to let anyone in my world, and I express myself on a consistent basis.  Marvin was proud to be the man he was, but his own demons haunted him.  That is my translation of his lifetime, but what we all state is a form of translation and it is seen through another person's eyes.  Marvin translated how he felt in form of his lyrics, and if you listen closely you feel his pain.  Marvin just wanted to find peace and happiness, but he never found solace in his life.  I'm learning from what the man translated to me that I find solace someday.