There are huge budgets to put one of these artists out, so if you miss on an artist, you miss big. You might miss a couple of million dollars. So, do you take another shot with them? No— you get somebody new. Even though there was a lot of risk when we were doing things, I think that it was the songs that made the difference. We were song-focused, and I think that’s the best route in the industry, to be song-focused more than anything else. If you have a great song, that song is going to be around forever. Huff: And music is the foundation of the songs. I always said that after the Motown era and the Philly International era, something powerful had to come behind that—especially after Philly International. So here come the machines, because we killed them with acoustics. You couldn’t top that. Nobody could top that, with all due respect, but they had to come up with something. So here comes the modern age of technology.
make music, which is good.
Gamble: The digital sound is great because it lends itself to the machines. Digital is just starting to improve itself from years ago, soundwise, and so it’s really starting to be able to record acoustic instruments as well as analog. A lot of people cut in analog and master in digital, just to get that spread on the sound. All that you’ve accomplished for nearly the past fifty years has represented genres—blues, soul, jazz, funk, hip- hop—and both African American and music business culture. It’s unlikely that anyone will duplicate what people like you, Quincy, and Berry Gordy have done, but what would you say to someone who is ambitious enough to try? Huff: You’ve got to be focused. And don’t be intimidated by hard work. We put in a lot of hours. We completely forgot about the outside world when we came into this building, and that studio. Today, if you really want to be great at what you do, you’ve got to put everything into perspective. Partying and all that, there’s a time for everything, but if you’re trying to focus on a career—especially music—you’ve got to be focused, and be willing to sacrifice time. That studio was working 24/7 every day, and we worked all night. You had to love it. Michael Jordan would have never won those championships if he hadn’t practiced. Michael Jordan didn’t party, he didn’t hang out, when he was in championship mode. Muhammad Ali wasn’t hanging out when he was on the road to becoming a champion. Discipline. We partied or whatever, don’t get me wrong, but we were in the studio that next morning at ten o’clock, no matter how late you stayed out. If you stay out late, when you come into the studio, you are automatically reenergized. And then we’d do it all over again. So I would say, total focus. Gamble: And another thing I tell ’em—save your money. And get a job until you can make some money! Don’t be begging people for no money. Huff: [ laughs ] I tell you, man, me and Gamble, we were very serious about our songwriting and producing. We weren’t thinking about getting rich, which they do today. They want to get rich overnight. That’s not it. We rehearsed dramatically. Getting tired? What was that? We didn’t even think about that. Responsibility came into play, and it all worked. .
Gamble: What’s that movie about the machines coming, with Laurence Fishburne?
The Matrix?
Gamble: [ laughs ] The Matrix ! Drum machines, they’re not as flexible as having a drummer. I think the new music is missing the human element. The human element is sweat, the mistakes, the tempo fluctuations. A drum machine, you could just put it on, and we could travel to England, come back, and it’s still playing the same thing.
Huff: The dramatics, the high and the lows, as Gamble was saying, is the human element. That affected the day’s songs.
But sampling is evidence that a relationship between the two can work. Look at what Kanye West did with Harold Melvin’s “Miss You” for Jay-Z’s “This Can’t Be Life”— both beautiful tracks.
Gamble: Yeah, that was great. We really like all those guys. I like the science of the hip-hop thing…
Huff: Like the root of a new flower.
Gamble: They took a lot of our music and sampled it. The hip- hop movement has been great to us, and it’s all good, because each generation has their own music, and that’s the music of today. I’m just glad that they pulled us into it by sampling our music. It just keeps us current.
This article originally appeared in Wax Poetics Issue 33, 2008.
Huff: And some of today’s production tries to make the human element and the machine compatible, make them be friendly to
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