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Watch John Legend And The LA Philharmonic Prove Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On' Is Still As Relevant As Ever

Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY.

Marvin Gaye is the latest iconic and innovative soul music luminary to have his legacy commemorated, as contemporary soul's royalty John Legend paid tribute with a front-to-back performance of the landmark call-to-action piece What's Going On with The LA Philharmonic. And at what better a time then now? When we've got the kind of horrific brutality that's been going on in the streets of Ferguson and in Gaza, and really the world over. Gaye's message of self-love, civic duty and environmental awareness are both as necessary and as proper today as they were in 1970 and Legend's righteous orchestral renditions prove that in lush sonic spades.

Marvelous Marvin wasn't the only one to get a tributary treatment this month. On the very same Hollywood Bowl stage just a few weeks ago, James Brown's legacy was commemorated with a an all-star line-up that put D'Angelo and Get On Up star Chadwick Boseman in front of a packed house performing "Soul Power" and a slew other hits with the original JBs in tow (though admittedly, D made Boseman look more like Bobby Byrd than The Godfather.) Though the performance was live streamed on Yahoo! Wednesday night, you can watch John Legend's epic retelling of Marvin Gaye's What's Going On in its entirety below.