"Talk to me so you can see what’s going on," sang Marvin Gaye in his "What's Going On," song and album that was released 50 years. The music from the late Grammy winner was about more than just sounding smooth, it was a conscious outcry about police brutality, social injustice and the Vietnam war at the time.  

"Brother, brother there are far too many of you dying," the song continues.

Valeria Simpson of the singing and songwriting duo, Ashford and Simpson reflected on Gaye’s powerful message.

"It was true then and it’s true now. He could not even have imagined  how wonderful a piece of music that is,” said Simpson.

Ashford and Simpson wrote and produced major Motown hits and love ballads for Gaye, such as “Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "Ain't Nothing like the Real Thing.”

That was before he decided to use his music to speak out about racial and social issues. Many music critics believe "What's Going On," is one of the most important albums ever produced. Simpson got to listen to it before it went public. The Motown record label was initially hesitate to release politically and socially motivated music from one of its premier singers.

“In the year that it sat around I got to hear it and I was amazed,” recalled Simpson. “I just knew he had stepped onto another platform. This is not a song for the next six months, this is a message for all time.”

During the summer of 1971 “What’s Going On” was climbing the charts. A half a century later, the song and others from the album are just as powerful.

"Make me want to holler the way they do my life, this ain't living, this ain't living,” sang Gaye in "Inner City Blues" which is about living in poverty. There's the song "Save The Children.”“Mercy, Mercy Me” tackles environmental issues.

Singer Ryan Shaw has an album called "Imagining Marvin.” Recently at Valeria Simpson’s Sugar Bar on West 72nd Street in Manhattan he performed “Mercy, Mercy Me.”

“The whole album as a whole, it literally just summed up the world at that time, said Shaw while sitting on the stage at the restaurant and entertainment club.

Simpson says it's so important that Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On," album, lives on and helps to speak out  about past and current injustices.