Groundwork done by Mayfield and his group The Impressions during the 1960s paved the way for Gaye and other black artists to extend themselves politically by confronting issues of pride, prejudice and social conscience head on.
When Mayfield decided to further test the waters by launching his own label and assuming total control of his first solo effort, the result was an inspiring album of message music delivered in Mayfield's seductive falsetto with soulful grace and guile.
It's not difficult to spot the parallels between Curtis and Gaye's 1971 masterwork: Mayfield's Other Side Of Town becomes Gaye's Inner City Blues, and his We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue is mirrored in Gaye's Right On.
But where Gaye opens his album with the relaxed banter of partygoers, on Mayfield's (Don't Worry) If There's A Hell Below, We're All Going To Go the chitchat is drowned out by a woman exhorting us to read the Book of Revelations. The warnings on this album are against complacency and the dangers of leaving a job half done.
It's not all sermonising, however. Album centrepiece Move On Up is a celebratory precursor to disco's extended dance mixes, all bongos, horns and swirling strings.
Its irrepressible energy imbues the album with a hopeful and positive spirit and paints Mayfield as first and foremost a pioneer of funk, an intuitive soul singer unafraid to experiment with form and instrumentation.
The album, which hit No 1 on the Billboard Black Album chart, closes with an altogether more personal soul ballad. Give It Up stands apart from the other tracks, its tale of regret in the face of a failed marriage a reminder that personal politics can pose the greatest challenge of all.
