Rahim Islam is a National Speaker and Writer, Convener of Philadelphia Community of Leaders, and President/CEO of Universal Companies, a community development and education management company headquartered in Philadelphia, PA. Follow Rahim Islam on FaceBook(Rahim Islam) & Twitter (@RahimIslamUC)
I’ve written a few articles using Gamble and Huff’s musical catalog because most of his songs are the foundation for my thinking, and the strategies that I currently employ to organize the Black community – “Message in the Music.” What is the message? The message he once told me was about LOVE. Love, love, and more love. As a songwriter, probably one of the world’s most gifted, the theme of love is something that they cling to and is a key ingredient for most successful songwriters. Their infatuation with love is higher than most, and because they’re able to tap into that spirit, unlike most, they become a channel for the delivery of some of the most profound expressions of love in song.
The love of child for his mother; the love of a man for his woman; the love of a woman for her man; and the love of love. In fact, I once told Kenny Gamble that his songs made me believe in the love that he speaks about, especially that the love between a man and a woman was achievable. I would later learn, while it is achievable, that a tremendous amount of work that is required to accomplish the love he writes about in his songs (his songs are the compact version). However, I’ve never seen anyone more focused on those words than Kenny Gamble. I’m not talking in some shallow and inconsequential way; I’m talking about in a lifestyle, in purpose and most importantly in his commitment to the concept of love as a key component of leadership.
Kenny Gamble is a visionary leader and is willing to fight for a vision that will benefit our people. Similar to the great leaders of the past, i.e. Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, Leon Sullivan, etc.), Kenny has the passion, strength of will and necessary knowledge to achieve his vision. In addition, like all great leaders, Kenny Gamble thinks about the future at all times because he knows the limitations of the present. He thinks about where we need to be rather than where we’ve been or where we are now. He thinks about the opportunities of tomorrow rather than focusing on the problems of the past or getting bogged down into the challenges of the present– at times while exhilarating his optimism is burdensome to me.
To be Kenny Gamble, you must practice a high level of “idealization” in each area of your life and believe that you have no limitations on what you can be, do, or have. Kenny Gamble’s imagination is magnificent and disregards the limitations that many of us allow to defeat our aspirations. As a visionary, our thinking is long-term and we delay immediate gratification for the posterity of our people. Specifically, our self-sacrifice and resolve is uncompromising where we may not experience the benefits of our actions during our lifetime. Kenny Gamble inspires everyone he meets especially our youth. When others are talking about months and maybe years, Kenny is accustomed to talking about decades and centuries. On many occasions, it becomes my responsibility to reconcile what he said to the outcomes he desires. This responsibility may be scary to some people.
In the final analysis, Kenny Gamble as much as is humanly possibly, has complete control over his life and is the “Captain of his fate and the master of his soul.” He has accepted leadership that is accompanied by a great personal responsibility. This acceptance of leadership is both terrifying and invigorating he consistently states that every day of his life has been an adventure. Kenny is a true leader, having cast off the shackles of fear and dependency that hold most people back. Designing his own future, Kenny is on the path of extraordinary to history making. Kenny Gamble lives his life’s mission at a higher love and commitment than most people, and by the way he didn’t just observe this lifestyle. When questioning those who have known him the longest, he has always been this way –an exceptional lover. Kenny is a true lover of all sorts, but his most important love that I’ve watched him exhibit with absolute fidelity is his love for the Creator (God) first, and then his love for the Creator’s creation, specifically Black people in America. When I reflect on who he is, I’m overwhelmed by God’s blessing on me to have placed me so close to him independent of anything that I could have done on my own. While we do have differences, mainly because were part of different generations, when it is all said and done, he’s 1000 percent right (please don’t tell him I said these things).
You can tell a lot about a man by how he deals with people, and Kenny is the best. He takes time for everyone without exception. He listens attentively and will hold court wherever he is, i.e. airport, city hall, office building or even on the street. Over the years, I’ve learned to add an additional one hour to our travel time to compensate for the many human interaction pauses. I’ve watched him go from meeting with Kings (leaders) and immediately afterwards meet with lifetime drug addicts, or individuals in dire need-his treatment of them both is indistinguishable – his love for them both is unshakable. For the leaders, his counsel and instructions is always to encourage and sometimes demand that the King does more especially given that God has given him much more to work with and he will ultimately be judged by his ability to manage God’s blessings. For those in much need, he gives and gives with the goal of listening to determine if “real” and “permanent” solutions can be achieved to help them help themselves.
You can also tell much about a man by how he treats his mother – this relationship will determine how he treats his woman and pretty much all women. Experts state that men who grow up with very nurturing mothers tend to be more sensitive and attentive in romantic relationships – this is where all of those great love songs come from (i.e. She Use to Be My Girl, Close the Door, If you Don’t Know Me By Now, Love, Need and Want You, etc.) These men adore their moms because they were raised by queens who instilled core values like discipline and deference, and showed them how to value a woman early on – they have a great respect for women overall.
This is why Kenny is the ultimate protector of Black women in believing that as the “mothers of civilization” we must do all we can to protect our women, and he has/does this consistently. Not only is Kenny a great father to his daughters, but he is also a phenomenal role model as a husband (I wish I would’ve listen to him more in this area).
Kenny truly loved his mother and he took care of her every need and she lived to the beautiful age of 95 – she had the opportunity to see Kenny Gamble grow up to be a great man and fulfill many of the dreams he held as a child.
This had to be a tremendous blessing for her to see what came out of her womb that would gift the world so much.
They had a very special relationship- one that was rewarding for both of them and he wrote a number one song about her “I Always Love My Mamma” – message in the music.
I am always exasperated at walking down the street or going anywhere with Kenny because I’m usually wanting to get to my destination on time – that doesn’t matter to Kenny Gamble especially when people stop him and want to express something to him. He would always tell me that this is a blessing because this is how ideas come to him – the ideas come from the people. I will give you two examples of what I mean: 1) in an exchange with a person he hadn’t seen in some time and had to get on a bus, she quickly asked him “When Will I See You Again” and he went into his office to write that song that was performed by the Three Degrees and became one of his all-time biggest hits; and 2) a friend of his returned from a trip down south and further into the discussion it was discovered that his friend had just returned from a “Family Reunion” which Kenny immediately wrote another number one hit –Family Reunion- again the Message in the Music.
I think it’s important to let you know how I’m connected to Kenny Gamble. First and foremost, before I ever met him, I was a big fan of his music. Not only did I enjoy the music immensely, I was overwhelmed by the lyrics- the message in the music. Significantly, I used to literally study his many albums covers and read his personal message (liner notes) about his philosophy of life and mostly his love for our people and what we need to do as a group.
He wrote about unity, peace, love, trust, and a “Universality” of life and the respect that we must restore for each other in our daily life. While he wrote many memorable love songs, it was the songs of “social” change that will remain relevant forever- “Wake Up Everybody,” “When the Worlds at Peace,” “Love Train, Ghetto Child, Don’t Call me Brother,” “For the Love of Money.”
I formally met Kenny Gamble in 1992 when I was doing an event in Philadelphia called, “The Celebration of Excellence,” which was designed to be a weeklong of activities that celebrated the successes in our community. I was introduced to him as a potential sponsor. This is not abnormal because most, if not all, efforts undertaken in the Black community in Philadelphia has his DNA all over it and my project was no exception.
He bought into our concept and not only did he become the chair of the event, he became the biggest financial sponsor and used his awesome personal and political capital to bring the Black community together. Needless to say, “The Celebration of Excellence” event was an incredible success.
From the time we met in 1992, to today, we haven’t stop dreaming and working together. Like his meeting with his writing partner nearly 50 years ago, Leon Huff, our meeting was destiny and as they say “the rest is history.”
I have many titles for Kenny Gamble in my life. Not only has he been a friend, mentor, father figure, and teacher of life. I now call myself a student, disciple and protégé of Kenny Gamble. He has invested so much into me, mostly the spirit of his convictions in the Universality of Man. I’m not sure what he saw in me- but whatever it was, he cultivated it and nurtured me to be the man I am today – I owe so much to him personally, professionally, and spiritually. While he has given me so much, his most profound impact in my life is the chance to serve my people and to fulfill, what I believe, is my divine purpose.
At a later date, I will write more on the culmination of Kenny’s spiritual journey that I’ve had the great opportunity to witness. He has termed this journey “One World, One People.” Many of the thoughts, ideas, and strategies that I assert and write about originated with him. Further, when you consider most of his songs were written in the ‘60s and ‘70s, we can only marvel that Kenny Gamble was/ is a man ahead of his time. While I won’t bore you with his entire biography as it would consume the entire article-it’s important that I do justice, especially for the younger generations, to describe just how successful Kenny Gamble was in music.
Kenny Gamble, is a world-renowned musical writer, composer, producer, founder and CEO of Philadelphia International Records and founder and current chairman of Universal Companies.
Kenny Gamble, along with his partner, Leon Huff, is responsible for writing, producing, and recording more than 3,000 songs performed by over 50 artists with 200 becoming all-time hits (standards).
It is estimated that one of Mr. Gamble’s songs is played every thirty minutes somewhere around the world. This body of work affectionately termed “The Sound of Philadelphia (TSOP)” is one of the largest music catalogs in the music industry represented by signature artist (male and female individuals and groups), signature musicians, and great, great songs.
Many people attribute the title “hit maker” to Berry Gordy and Motown. While that would be accurate, after Berry Gordy and Motown- there was Gamble and Huff and- there hasn’t been anyone like them since.
