Quincy Jones and Will.i.am on the importance of black history

Quincy Jones and Will.i.am on the importance of black history

It's hard to amass a musical resume as diverse as Quincy Jones. The famed music producer has worked with everyone from Miles Davis to Michael Jackson. And he's still not finished. Jones is executive producing the re-recording of "We Are the World," 25 years after its initial release helped raise more than $30 million to fund hunger relief in Africa. But Jones said many of today's musical artists do not have a strong sense of their "musical history." "What they've done is let go of their past with blues and jazz," Jones said in a recent interview with NBC News. "But you cannot do that, because jazz is like our classical music." Jones also said technology, such as the use of Auto-Tune, has allowed artists to take shortcuts in production. "If you know your music, [the technology] is ok," Jones said. "But if you don't, it just makes you lazy and have to depend on the mind of the machine." "**SEE THE TOP 15 POP CULTURE MOMENTS IN BLACK HISTORY AT BLACKVOICES.COM**":http://blogs.blackvoices.com/2010/02/01/pop-cultural-moments-in-black-history/ **WILL.I.AM DISCUSSES HOW BLACK HISTORY MONTH IS IMPORTANT TO AMERICA:**