Sexyy Red, Kendrick Lamar, and Hip Hop's Future - podcast episode cover

Sexyy Red, Kendrick Lamar, and Hip Hop's Future

Feb 14, 202556 minEp. 176
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Episode description

Hip-hop is always evolving, but where is it headed next? In this episode of Queue Points, DJ Sir Daniel and Jay Ray drop the needle on the latest cultural shifts shaping the future of the genre. From Sexyy Red’s viral moment on The Jennifer Hudson Show to Kendrick Lamar’s game-changing halftime performance, the duo unpacks the growing tension between artistry, entertainment, and respectability politics.

Are we witnessing the golden era of female rap, or is a commercial bust on the horizon? What role do gimmicks, image, and corporate influence play in shaping today’s hip-hop stars? And could a return to rap crews and creative collectives help revitalize the culture?

With sharp insights, humor, and a deep love for Black music history, Queue Points dissects hip-hop’s evolution, its past inspirations, and where the next wave might take us. Don’t miss this conversation that blends education, nostalgia, and unfiltered cultural commentary.

This episode is sponsored by "What's Poppin' Penny?"

Parents, caregivers, teachers and trusted adults, go on over to YouTube and subscribe to "What's Poppin' Penny?" so that your Brownstone buddies can check out the animated version of the podcast when it is released this Spring.

Subscribe by visiting: https://qpnt.net/wppsub1

Links to Content Referenced in This Episode


Chapters

00:00 Intro Theme

00:16 Welcome to Queue Points Podcast

00:44 Jennifer Hudson Show and Sexyy Red

02:44 Shame and Respectability Politics

05:44 Women in Hip Hop: Then and Now

09:17 The Future of Female Rap

14:35 The Role of Gimmicks in Hip Hop

17:56 The Importance of Crews and Groups

21:34 What's Poppin' Penny? Ad

23:06 Kendrick Lamar Halftime Show

26:14 Controversy Over Kendrick Lamar's Performance

28:35 Cultural Cleansing and Critical Thinking

31:50 The Battle Between Culture and Corporations

40:37 The Chitlin Circuit Tour and Ticket Prices

44:37 Celebrating Spike Lee's School Daze

49:13 Hip Hop Love Songs

53:41 Wrapping Up and Final Thoughts

55:15 Outro Theme

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Transcript

DJ Sir Daniel

Greetings and welcome to another episode of Queue Points podcast. I'm DJ Sir Daniel.

Jay Ray

And my name is Jay Ray, sometimes known by my government as Johnny Ray Cornegay the third. What's happening, folks?

DJ Sir Daniel

Listen, Jay Ray, they say the best things in life are free,

Jay Ray

Mmm.

DJ Sir Daniel

Queue Points podcast, because you don't have to take a second mortgage out on your home to get tickets to come to our show, but check it out.

Jay Ray

Ah, shade. Uh

DJ Sir Daniel

of Queue Points. We are the, the podcast dropping the needle on black music history and, um, JRay, so I was on, as I always do, I'm going through my social media feed

Intro Theme

The Jennifer Hudson show posted their latest pre show celebrity tunnel clip. If you're all familiar with the pre show tunnel clip is when whoever

Welcome to Queue Points Podcast

the celebrity guest is they come walking down the the hallway and the the the the the the showrunners and the the uh the What are they

Jay Ray

I guess the production team. Yeah.

DJ Sir Daniel

is they they make up a song and they clap the person down the hall while they do a little jig down the hall. It's really cute. It's a signature. It's a signature social media post for the Jennifer Hudson show and it goes over really well with with.

Jennifer Hudson Show and Sexyy Red

everybody. So, um, needless to say, I was super surprised when I saw today's feature was none other than Get It Sexy. Get It Sexy. Get It Sexy. Sexyy Red was coming down the hallway. And in true Sexyy Red fashion, she was being Sexyy Red. She had on what I, Derek, she had on what I like to refer to as daytime lingerie. Right,

Jay Ray

But outside the house, like not in the bedroom, right?

DJ Sir Daniel

She was, she was wearing her best daytime lingerie look, coming down, and of course, you know, in Sexyy Red fashion, she bent it over and, you know, kind of cracked it a little bit. And they had to put a heart over it. So they censored it. So that means know that it's a bit much for the Jennifer Hudson audience.

Jay Ray

Yes.

DJ Sir Daniel

yeah, so I was just like, when I saw that, I was like, um, this is where we doing now? This is where we at? Okay, so I'm, the question I have for y'all that are already in the chat and that are tuning in, because we have a, it's part of the larger topic that we have tonight. But, Jay Ray, is there anything, do we need to start shaming? People just a little bit or is there anything wrong with a little bit of shame these it's a little bit

Jay Ray

don't, I don't. Yes. So it's just a general yes. I don't think it is. We need to shame people because I don't think I'm gonna speak for I, I Johnny or Jay Ray. Hey, don't have the ability to just like shame somebody. Like, I don't feel like that's my place. I don't feel like that's you ain't my child. You ain't nobody that I can like,

DJ Sir Daniel

you ain't mama. You ain't none of my

Jay Ray

ain't none of my, you know what I'm saying?

Shame and Respectability Politics

However, I Jay Ray do have some shame about myself and I'd be like, I am not going to go on national television in the middle of the day and do this kind of foolishness going down the thing. Now, this is not a respectability politics thing. Y'all. I, sir, Daniel, you know me, I am so liberal, baby. You like it. I love it. It is fine,

DJ Sir Daniel

we're not policing black women's

Jay Ray

policing, black women, body, Sexyy Red could do whatever she wants with her body. However, and there's a time and place for stuff and, and on national TV going down the, the, the Jennifer Hudson soul train line, where do you got to put a heart over the thing?

DJ Sir Daniel

over the booty here

Jay Ray

seems like, it just seems like it's a bit much. And I think Kyriakos and Mark. Are kind of echoing the thing that I think I think I get why she's a thing. So Kyriakos, I do get why she's a thing. I just don't think it's for me. It's definitely not for me, but honestly, I don't think it's I don't think it should be for a lot of people. There's she should come with. She should literally walk around with a parental advisory label, like over her body.

DJ Sir Daniel

her body. Shout out to Shannon Perez. Darby is in the, is in the

Jay Ray

up,

DJ Sir Daniel

chat. And it's so funny that she's in the chat because her, along with her show partner, we had a discussion, Tashmika, we had a discussion about this, something similar to this earlier last year, as a matter of fact, and it is coming around again, where it's almost like. Okay, I get it. I see where the ladies are going.

Um, I don't want to make this about hammering that, hammering down the women that are in the game that are doing their thing because yes, we know they've been carrying the, um, we know that

Jay Ray

hop on their back.

DJ Sir Daniel

on their backs. They've been selling out shows. all of that good stuff. I think we, Jay Ray and I just recall a time, as a matter of fact, 27 years ago in the month of February, 27 years ago, Vibe magazine, um, February's issue was a double cover

Jay Ray

Yes.

DJ Sir Daniel

and then it's this double cover featured the top hip hop artists, both male and female. And this was such an iconic cover because this cover featured, uh, Kim, Lil Kim, Missy Elliot, Foxy Brown, Lauren Hill. They had their own cover cause they, they separated it by, um, men and women. And it was such a dope idea. Um, you know, of course we had the brat in the mix. You had Trina on the come up. You have Rod Diggle on the come up, a mill, all of these different

Women in Hip Hop: Then and Now

flavors of women in hip hop. And they were all coexisting, J. Ray. Now, look at Kim.

Jay Ray

Look,

DJ Sir Daniel

Kim is in full That ain't daytime

Jay Ray

that's not daytime lingerie

DJ Sir Daniel

that's nighttime, you know, hardcore La Bella Mafia lingerie right there. That's Kim doing what Kim does and having a great time doing it. And we respect her for it.

Jay Ray

Yes,

DJ Sir Daniel

But there was a time where, but Kim, Fox

Jay Ray

look at like look at Lauren look at Missy look at Kim look at foxy like

DJ Sir Daniel

it all, it coexisted together. They, everybody had their own flavor and was still selling records, winning, winning multiple Grammys, um, and all kinds of awards. But now it's just like, uh, what are we doing guys? What are, what are we doing here? How did we get here?

Jay Ray

How did we get how you got to sing the song?

DJ Sir Daniel

did we, okay. Before we get, before we get kicked off of IG and

Jay Ray

Because you know, Deborah Cox will come on and be like how they said how they sounded so good singing my song. Right? Um, so. What I absolutely love about this moment is it's such a variety of like styles, right? You know what I'm saying? Even when we look at the men. So you have LL, who by this point is a legitimate veteran, like LL is 13 years into his career. As part of this cover, right?

So you got an LL, you have Busta Rhymes, you have Method Man, and you have Master P, who's fairly new on the national stage at this time. He had been around for a while, but nationally new. But let's go back to these women, to that point of like, there was a moment in time When Missy, Kim, Lauren, and Foxy could not only be on magazine covers together, they were all selling platinum albums at the exact same time and were able to do these different flavors of what hip hop was right now.

Everything is so one note, at least from a commercial. We're talking from a commercial standpoint because we can already hear y'all like there's a whole lot of rappers. There are a whole lot of women who are out here killing the game. But commercially we get one type of thing that is currently happening.

DJ Sir Daniel

And so here's the thing. I, you know, I'm rubbing my crystal ball and I'm making a prediction here. I'm having a vision like Raven. That's so Raven. Like, I'm starting to feel like there's going to be a bust.

Jay Ray

There has to

DJ Sir Daniel

like how the economy is about to bust and they're warning that the, the housing, all that stuff is about to bust. There's a B, there's about to be a, a bust in what people are going to. continue supporting, especially when it comes to female rap, because like we said earlier, female rap is pretty much carrying the game on, carrying the game on their back right now. But I predicted that there's going to be a bust that people aren't going to be.

The Future of Female Rap

As likely to support or things aren't going to get be on the level as they were and I could be wrong here This is just me, but I'm starting to see well Maybe there might be people are getting desperate desperate times call for desperate measures. You even got the one young lady What was her

Jay Ray

Who?

DJ Sir Daniel

She's, now she's in a commercial featuring, uh, covering Kaya's My Neck, My Back, but it's for a, a Dove soap commercial. You know, the young lady that don't like children on a plane with her, that was going, was going head up with T. I. 's grandchildren,

Jay Ray

What's her name? Chica?

DJ Sir Daniel

That's it. The one that wanted to fight, um, T. I. 's grandchildren. Right. So now she's doing commercials. Singing a variation of My Neck, My Back, because it's hard out here, it's hard out here for her, like someone that presents like

Jay Ray

Mm hmm.

DJ Sir Daniel

and raps like her is not going to be climbing on the charts.

Jay Ray

Yes.

DJ Sir Daniel

So she's gotta, so even in her own small way, she's kind of acquiescing to what the, um, the, the, the marketplace is calling for in her own way. But now it's just getting I don't know I think it's kind of getting out of hand and there might just be a Blowback and there might just be it's not just gonna be the men that aren't selling right? They're gonna be declining sales in this whole rap game Completely

Jay Ray

So, um, I want to shout out Kipper, who is also in the chat, who said, as with music in general, it will hit the wall, right? So it's what happens every time. Um, what, what I am, what gives me hope, what gives me hope is that. Listen, Rhapsody got her, her first Grammy this year, you know what I'm saying? And that woman has been churning out high quality albums for almost a decade at this point, if not a decade, right? High quality material. And it does give me some hope that.

You know, folks like her. So it's not just her out there. We have Tiara Wack and some of these other, you know, folks that are out there, LaKaylee47, all of these folks out there who are really making high quality hip hop, right? On the women's side, of course, we know Kendrick literally just reset. What men in hip hop are required to do, right? I'm sure all of the dudes are sitting there like shaking in their boots about

DJ Sir Daniel

Now we gotta

Jay Ray

now. I got a rap I got a like right.

DJ Sir Daniel

I Gotta be deep and stuff. Oh, man. Okay

Jay Ray

Oh Man right, but for the women I feel like that same sort of reset Is, you know, on the way where it's just going to be required for them to like, to like, you know, pick up the pen again. Well, the fortunate thing about women is actually the women have kind of been like, all of these women have been rapping, rapping.

DJ Sir Daniel

Yes. True.

Jay Ray

just image wise has been a whole other thing, but they've generally been like rapping, rapping. I think from an image perspective, that's where the bust is going to come. Seeing the variety. And how women can be presented to us from a commercial standpoint.

DJ Sir Daniel

Right. And you know, and speaking of the Grammys, we would be remiss if we did not bring up Dolce,

Jay Ray

Love Dochi! Yeah,

DJ Sir Daniel

like, really cleaned up at the Grammys on her first go round and has really done something special with her career. And she, you know, she told that line of You know, of being sexy, you know, she was, she had a bikini bottom during her Grammy performance. But she was up there rapping.

Jay Ray

She raps.

DJ Sir Daniel

she raps down, like, and she spits. And so, is Dolce like the, the final frontier? Is she the last hope? It's like, but what if you, what if you can't, you can spit, God, God forgive me for what I'm about to say. What if you spit like Dolce, but you look like Dank?

Jay Ray

I think that's fine, though, right? There's always, well, there's other problems with Dank, but the other Dank, there's other problems with Dank, though. So, the, okay. This is actually a really interesting point, sir. Daniel, I think, I think we are also at the point in commercial hip hop where gimmicks are kind of like some people think they need a gimmick. And I think folks look at size now as like a gimmick. You know what I'm saying? That they can play up.

So I feel like if somebody was spitting like Dolce, and looked like dank, there's an opportunity for them. There's a, there's a lane for them. I think, you know, uh, uh, uh, who's our homegirl that, that we, that, that was, uh, body positivity and she just lost a lot of weight. Lizzo! Child, that's a shame. I couldn't remember that lady's name, honey. It's been a while and she's been through a lot.

The Role of Gimmicks in Hip Hop

But I think Lizzo kind of opened. up was possible. However, I think here's what it is. The gimmicks have to stop, right? It's about letting the talent lead. And I think if there's anything we can take from this moment, taking from Dolce, right? Letting your talent lead you, right? This is no, like, no, this is what I do. If you spit, you spit. This is what I do. No matter what you look like. So I think there would be room, but it's just like, you got to lean into what you do.

DJ Sir Daniel

For sure. And shout out to, um, I believe it's Infinite64, uh, wants to join in the conversation. Please feel free to leave something in the chat. Um, that's the quickest way to, to hop in and be heard on the show. But I, you know, I think you're right, J. Rey. I think we, it's where the gimmicks have to stop and the talent has to lead. Um, But here's the rub. We have, everything now has become so media led where it's like we don't care about the music anymore. We care about your personal life.

We care about, you know, your baby father being on trial for shooting at someone. We care about your other baby daddy following you around at the, um, during the Superbowl because he's stalking you. We care about

Jay Ray

This happened. I didn't hear about this.

DJ Sir Daniel

Yeah, that was an offset Cardi B thing.

Jay Ray

Jesus Christ, sir.

DJ Sir Daniel

but, um, yeah, so those are the things that we, that people are showing up for. People are showing up for the public meltdowns. People are showing up for, you know, how much weight you lost. People are showing up for whether or not, you know, your BBL is clockable or not. That's the stuff that I think we, we play a role in it as well. We play a huge role in it as consumers and No longer, they're dictating to us what's hot. We're no longer dictating what the culture should represent.

We're no longer dictating what's fly and what's hot. It's being served to us. It's being, actually, it's being pushed down our throats, whether we know it or not.

Jay Ray

Sir, Daniel. I, this leads me to also wonder. How important do you think it's going to be important for us to get back to like crews and groups? I feel like so much of the creativity gets stifled because these artists are in their own bubbles. You know what I mean? Like they don't have like a crew. They don't have a crew that they're trying to compete against to rap against. It's just them. You know what I mean?

And the people who work with them, but a lot of times it's not just like other emcees that you just kind of work with. I feel like that creativity, that, that push, that drive to do something really does sometimes happen in community. And I'm wondering if we've gotten so far away from that.

DJ Sir Daniel

Mm.

Jay Ray

for a lot of reasons. I think, you know, money wise, it's just easier to be a solo act

The Importance of Crews and Groups

because you get to keep it all

DJ Sir Daniel

Oh, yeah.

Jay Ray

And, uh, uh, big corporations don't want to pay all them people. You know what I'm saying? They don't want to have to worry about the hassle of it all. But I am wondering if that creativity means that we also need to be spending more time together as people in rooms like doing stuff. Mm hmm. Mm

DJ Sir Daniel

It's quite possible. It It's very possible. I mean, you mentioned this in a prior episode about the same thing about people being separated, about crews being separated and community at the very beginning, at the very, um, at the very nexus of this art form of hip hop was the thing people. joining together in community centers, rec centers, um, battles, all of those things, those things were happening.

But it's like, again, when the corporations came in, they split people up because they realized that there is money to be made in separation. There's money to be made through contention, battling, even though battling was, battling has been around, but it was. It was a friendly sport

Jay Ray

It's a sport! Like Kendrick talked about. He was like, I'm into it for the sport.

DJ Sir Daniel

for the sport of things. So, and, and so, okay. So this, this is a perfect place to segue into a break

Jay Ray

Mm hmm.

DJ Sir Daniel

come back because speaking of Kendrick, I think there's a lot of people who don't understand. what is, what was going on with the whole Kendrick Drake thing. And so therefore they can't understand the halftime performance. And so there's a lot of people speaking on things that they don't know about. And that's grinding my

Jay Ray

That ain't their place.

DJ Sir Daniel

Right, that's grinding my gears at this point. So we are going to wrap up this conversation about the ladies and hopefully, you know, hopefully the ladies will continue to deliver quality and as well as, um, variety in the nearby future. But Jay Ray, when we come back. We got a couple things to talk about. We're going to talk about halftime performances. It's the 37th anniversary of one of Spike Lee's most famous movies.

And um, we also gonna just touch on the ticket situation, you know, giddy up for the Cowboy Carter show. Anyway, this is Queue Points podcast. I'm DJ Sir Daniel,

Jay Ray

I'm Jay Ray, y'all.

DJ Sir Daniel

and we are dropping the needle on black music history. And we will continue to do so on the other side of this break. So you don't go nowhere. You stay right where you are. We'll be right back after this. So Jay Ray, you know, we've recently had a string of bad weather . And you know who I kept thinking about, especially on the snow days? I kept thinking about parents.

I can't imagine being a parent and having to come up with things like to occupy your children's time, but at the same time, they're missing school. So you want it to be a productive time as well. Luckily, Luckily for all our parents out there, we have a great friend by the name of Penny. I'm talking about "What's Poppin' Penny?," the fantastic children's show. And it is now available on YouTube, Jay Ray. Their first animated episode is coming out this spring of 2025. That's right. DJ Sir Daniel.

So it is the goal to have 1000 subscribers on the "What's Poppin' Penny?" YouTube page. So parents, caregivers, teachers, trusted adults.

What's Poppin' Penny? Ad

If you can hear the sound of our voices, go on over to YouTube and subscribe to "What's Poppin' Penny?" so that your Brownstone buddies can check out the animated version of the show when it is released this Spring. It doesn't matter even if you're already subscribed and listening to the show on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts, you gotta go over to YouTube and hit that subscription button, subscribe, subscribe, subscribe. Peace. Peace.

Jay Ray

Welcome back to Queue Points, the podcast dropping the needle on black music history. My name is Jay Ray and that is my brother, DJ Sir Daniel. We're going to do some shout outs real quick, Sir Daniel. So over on Tik Tok, shout out to my girl, Angie, my girl, Angie from Detroit is tuning in over there.

DJ Sir Daniel

What up though?

Jay Ray

what up doe? Adam actually is over there on from Detroit to talking about what up though. So Detroit is on tick tock, checking us out. You know what I mean? So shout out to y'all and shout out to everyone who is joining us, um, on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. We appreciate y'all so much. Shout us out. Let us know where you're tuning in from. Sir, Dan, yo, we got a couple other topics

DJ Sir Daniel

we sure do. It's so funny that Detroit is in the building cause they got a whole doll battle going on in

Jay Ray

yes, it's I which I was just like what's happening

Kendrick Lamar Halftime Show

DJ Sir Daniel

we battling over dolls

Jay Ray

Right

DJ Sir Daniel

But please go ahead.

Jay Ray

So upcoming so in terms of this Sunday this past Sunday

DJ Sir Daniel

hmm.

Jay Ray

There was a concert that had a football game.

DJ Sir Daniel

Yeah.

Jay Ray

There was a concert that had a football game. Fortunately, Philadelphia Eagles won. I live in Chester. So shout out to the Eagles.

DJ Sir Daniel

to the home team.

Jay Ray

Yeah, but within, you know, so that was one thing. But the big thing was the record breaking. Half time show, um, by one, um, Kendrick Lamar.

DJ Sir Daniel

That wasn't, that wasn't record breaking. He wasn't more popular than Usher. That wasn't, nah, nah, nah,

Jay Ray

According to the numbers, y'all, I, listen, I didn't make it up. I, I've only looked at the reporting. I don't know if all the reporting from reputable sources is wrong, but apparently it was a record breaking half time display. How, in addition, though, Sir Daniel, It was culturally relevant. That was the thing that I think for me was most important. My fear was, so here's my fear going in. I'm like, they done booked Kendrick Lamar for this halftime show.

And he gonna have to not do what needs to be done. You know what I mean? Because that is what They will require. I was wrong. So when the, when the, apparently when the, I guess it was the owner or the head of the NFL was like, Kendrick could do whatever he wants. They literally let that man kind of do whatever he wants. I'm like, Oh, you, you really are doing this. And thank you for putting black culture, black men together on that field to speak to our experience.

So. That's a thing that happened this week.

DJ Sir Daniel

It sure did. Let's see. Sunday was what? Five? No. Let's math. Sunday,

Jay Ray

Sunday was a four day. Oh, yeah about four days ago,

DJ Sir Daniel

Four days ago. People are still talking about it, Jay Ray.

Jay Ray

That's when you know, you hit that's what you know

DJ Sir Daniel

They are still talking and people, not only are they still talking about it, but some people are a little butt hurt over the fact that it took place. Their butt hurt, hurt over the fact that it was Kendrick. First of all. First of all, they're salty because of course he did perform they not like us, which is con is a controversial song of the summer. They are. You know, they're salty just because, oh, they're salty because, what did the young lady say from England?

When I, when I watch The Hat Times, I do not want to think. I want to be entertained.

Jay Ray

That's

DJ Sir Daniel

want, I don't want to think. I want to, and you know what?

Jay Ray

for you

DJ Sir Daniel

Good for you, but you're going to get,

Controversy Over Kendrick Lamar's Performance

you're going to get knowledge. You're going to get

Jay Ray

You're going to get this word, you're going to get better knowledge, you're getting with the people you need to get with.

DJ Sir Daniel

And unfortunately, sis, that's what's going to happen. Um, that's what happened with the Kendrick Lamar show. Um, I think that, and I really, this will be the only time you hear us talk about it, cause we're not going to go on for. Weeks talking about this thing

Jay Ray

But you can invite us on to your, to other platforms. If you want us to come on at Wax Poetic about, there's so much we could talk about, invite us on. We won't do that over here, but we'll come over to your, your platform. So if you want to have Queue Points come over, let us know.

DJ Sir Daniel

That's fair I'm not but I'm not arguing about who's the biggest star between Kendrick and Drake

Jay Ray

Oh, I'm not having that conversation.

DJ Sir Daniel

we that's dead I'll leave that to those other podcasts and But what was I saying? It's just The idea so yes, so the young lady was saying she doesn't want to think we just want to you know Have a good show and then there's this argument about Whether or not that was the worst, um, Super Bowl halftime performance ever. And that's being said by people on the right wing.

Of course, you know, Fox and Friends, they're gonna say that because, well, you know, um, there were a lot of, it was, it was culturally aware, and they can't stand when we do things that are culturally aware. And where we do things that are, well, you know, their favorite word woke, they can't stand anything that's woke. And I had to, I had to sit back and think about, we see a cleansing already. This administration is already doing a cleansing.

of anything cultural or anything that would cause you to think or have any kind of critical thinking skills, another scary word. There's a, they're being, they're being cleansed out. You see the Kennedy Center is, um, purging. People are leaving. Issa Rae is leaving. Um, somebody else, um, publicly said that

Jay Ray

Rhimes, step down.

DJ Sir Daniel

yes. So, we're seeing things, we're seeing that people, there's gonna be a, a a very Stark line. This is not an this is not an invisible line. This is not a scrimmage line See I gave y'all a football term.

Cultural Cleansing and Critical Thinking

This is not a scrimmage. This is not imaginary a real line is being drawn Between people, between people that want to exchange ideas and uphold history, teach history, exchange knowledge. And then there's the other half that wants to just completely control narratives, control information, and control thoughts. And so I think what This performance did on a grander scheme is it exposed and made that line very, very visible.

And it just is like a starting point of more foolishness to come with the administration that we have in office now and just the world and just the world in general, like they're thinkers and they're non thinkers.

Jay Ray

Listen, Toni Morrison, um, there's the great, uh, Toni Morrison in 1975 did this talk at, I think, Portland State, I believe is where that talk took place. It gets sampled all the time. People are always pulling from that, that conversation. But one of the things she talked about was how when people When racism, when people want to take control, they start erasing your culture, right?

DJ Sir Daniel

Yes.

Jay Ray

Can't let you have it, because what, when you start being able to think, when you start being able to see, it creates imagination,

DJ Sir Daniel

have pride.

Jay Ray

You have pride, and you suddenly, all of a sudden, you don't want to do what they want you to do, right? So, I think we're definitely at that point. It is not surprising that what we're seeing happen, in particular with the Kennedy Center, is happening. Um, what I think we must do, and what Kendrick was, to your point, really making sure that we know that we have to do, is we have to do this. We gotta come here and do Queue Points every week.

DJ Sir Daniel

Yes.

Jay Ray

We have to. This is our work. We can't let this history go untold because it will be erased. We are the people that hold the history. If we don't talk about it, the people that hold the history will pass on and it will be, where is it going to be?

DJ Sir Daniel

It's a battle between culture and corporation. And it just so happens that I saw a clip today that spoke to this conversation that we're having now and It comes from somebody that I admired so much growing up. And even though, you know, he's had a few hiccups in, in his career too. And some things that we chose not to speak about or that are, have not been spoken about, but KRS One. Um, was on with, what's my

Jay Ray

Be real.

DJ Sir Daniel

Be Real from Cypress Hill and told me, gave an anecdote of a, uh, something that happened that speaks volumes to what we were talking about tonight. And we just want to run this clip for you because I think it drives the point home.

Jay Ray

I agree. So y'all, this point, this clip is long, but it's perfect.

The Battle Between Culture and Corporations

And it's Chris. So just check it out. And we, you know what I mean? And we gonna, uh, come back and talk about it. Yeah.

DJ Sir Daniel

That, I, there's no way, no other, there was a better way that that could have capsulized Everything that is going on today, whether it's Kendrick's performance, whether it's the battle between him and Drake, whether it's, um, whether or not we have black history or not, or can we, we can say it out loud, there is a war on culture right now. Corporations. are making it known that they are here to take over everything, but choices have to be made.

Choices have to be made, like intention, moving with intention has to be done in order for people to, in order for culture to survive. And that's the bottom line. It's like. We're going to see, we're going to see people, we're going to see who's real and who's not. We're going to see who's for the culture and who's not. We're going to see people that will, you know, a term that's going to come back up is what we used to say back in the day.

People are going, you're going to see who's a sellout and who's not. It's going to be so apparent. And the people that lead with money. And seeing how much money they have or flashing money. We can pretty much surmise that those are the ones that aren't on the side of corporate and corporations and not the culture.

Jay Ray

Yeah. And the thing about this is, in, in, in full transparency, and I'm sure Sir Daniel will be cool with me just talking about this, like, internal to CuePoints, we've been having this conversation, right? Deciding where, where the line is, right? And when we, we literally just like two weeks ago said, we can't do that. It was, and that was what? Like 5, 000? 5, 000. We need that 5, 000. Let's be very clear. Should we monetize here? We need this right.

To be able to keep doing what it is that we do. This is not a cheap thing to do. Right. But it was like, and it was user day. It was like, yeah, but we can't. And you were like, you're right. We can't. We cannot, we gotta, we gotta make these choices. Right. And so it you're absolutely right, sir. Daniel, like it is going to become really, really apparent and y'all big and small. We have to decide who we are, like, who, what we, what we going to do and what we not going to do.

And we going to stand on what we, we going to stand on who we are.

DJ Sir Daniel

So perfect place to bring this up and I hope we don't get stung too, too bad by the beehive because the beehive is buzzing. Um, is Are we seeing the Cowboy Carter concert series, the Chitlin Circuit tour

Jay Ray

Stop it!

DJ Sir Daniel

No, that's what it's called, the Chitlin

Jay Ray

Oh, is that what it's called?

DJ Sir Daniel

hmm. Which I adore. I like the fact that it's called the Chitlin Circuit because it pays homage. But people are complaining about the prices. And, you know, again, this is a business. Um. There's a lot, and now we probably could have a whole discussion about this alone, but it's, it falls in line with what we're talking about, is, we know people are in the business to make money, but should Is it, is it, are these prices tone deaf, you know, eggs or concert tickets,

Jay Ray

That's literally the choices we have to make nowadays.

The Chitlin Circuit Tour and Ticket Prices

DJ Sir Daniel

have to make

Jay Ray

choices we have to make.

DJ Sir Daniel

and not saying that, um, the artist is responsible for making those ticket prices. I don't, I don't know. Uh, I'm, I'm very curious if anybody has any insight to how ticket prices are calculated. We would love to hear about it.

Jay Ray

It's, it's a combination.

DJ Sir Daniel

Okay, so it is

Jay Ray

it's, it's it's definitely a combination. Because, it, it, it, it, it. The, the, the, the team,

DJ Sir Daniel

Uh huh.

Jay Ray

if you are working at that level, there are people who work for you who do all of that stuff, right? Um, I, I cannot imagine that she's in like a conference room where that conversation is happening. It's more just people get paid to make those decisions, right? Um, I think the co I think the conversation that we're having is twofold. It's much like the conversation earlier is Sexyy Red. Um, This is, I want people to experience their joy, and I want people to have the best experiences possible.

And you know what? We know that that tour is going to be beautiful and amazing and all the things. I think the question is, to that point of, is this the time to do something like that? Right? Is this the time to do that? There could be a whole lot of ways to tour. There's a whole lot of ways to tour right and and show up right but We are in a moment right now, and I ain't getting in nobody's pockets. If you can, if you can afford it and go, if you can afford it and go.

But if you can't afford it, don't feel bad about not going.

DJ Sir Daniel

Yeah.

Jay Ray

And that's the thing I think we need to say to people is it's like, it's not a ding on you. You're not a Failure because you can't go to the, the Chitlin circuit tour, right? That's not, uh, it's a rough time, right? It's, it's not an easy moment that we're in right now. You

DJ Sir Daniel

It doesn't, not being able to attend the concert does not take away from your, your level of devotion and fanhood to this artist. Like Jay Ray said, there are choices that have to be made and in this life, in this life, you gotta make, you know,

Jay Ray

to eat them eggs Oh,

DJ Sir Daniel

a little bit more than, you know, um,

Jay Ray

Hold'em.

DJ Sir Daniel

the Saint Texas, Texas Hold'em. It might sustain you just a little bit more than that. But I get it, we're not here to yuck anybody's yum.

Jay Ray

go in and laugh, child.

DJ Sir Daniel

do what you, do what you need to do. Find your joy, find your peace. But, please don't go into bankruptcy about it. Please don't.

Jay Ray

Please

DJ Sir Daniel

Please don't. We want you to be, be, be smart about what you're doing. Handle your business. But yeah, so enjoy that. But you know, you can always, always go to your favorite streaming service and you can look up, um, A classic Spike Lee movie by the name of School Days, and you can watch that for free. You can watch the Rays sing, I don't wanna be alone

Jay Ray

You know, tonight, yes!

DJ Sir Daniel

You can be entertained in the comfort of your home and celebrate the 37th anniversary of Spike Lee's School Days right along with us. 37 years, Jay Ray.

Jay Ray

Um, and 37 years, that film. Um, so much of what we love about the culture today was really kind of birth inside of school days, right? The in terms. Yes, Baychella was literally birth from school day.

Celebrating Spike Lee's School Daze

So school days is in everything. And not only that. Um, there are so many prominent performers that came out of that film. Jasmine guy has often talked about was like, that was a lot of our first movie. Like, do we had not been in a movie before that we were like stage kids and all of a sudden we're in a film. So that movie. is so groundbreaking. We talked about it. Um, during hip hop's 50th anniversary. Um, we talked about the career of Spike Lee and how important Spike Lee has been to hip hop.

So definitely go back and check out that, um, that, that show.

DJ Sir Daniel

L. Jackson, that popped up in Kendrick Lamar's, um, halftime performance, has a wonderful performance in school days. A lot of your faves, like J. Rae said. Started off in, um, school days or in a sparkly joint, but also remember Jay Ray, one of the underlying stories, one of the backstories of school days was there was a storyline about, um, about the school, uh, what's the term? Um, because apartheid was a big story

Jay Ray

Mm hmm.

DJ Sir Daniel

87 88. Um, and so the school was benefiting from corporations that um, supported apartheid. And Lawrence Fishburne's character divesting

Jay Ray

Divesting. Mm

DJ Sir Daniel

so that the school could divest from those backers so that they would not support apartheid. And that's 37 years ago.

Jay Ray

here we are.

DJ Sir Daniel

issues are coming, are being brought up again in the, in, in, in school days is happening today. So it's like art. That's the thing about good art,

Jay Ray

Yes.

DJ Sir Daniel

old it gets, it still speaks to whatever's happening right now. And shout out to visit the chat. Sam Jackson, um, played one of the Jay Ray Curl brothers at the KFC that was mad about them educated brothers coming up in their neighborhood talking all proper and stuff. And he was wearing the Jay Ray Curl cap in, um, school days.

Jay Ray

Samuel L. Jackson is literally My God, he's been in everything

DJ Sir Daniel

a walking history book.

Jay Ray

he is

DJ Sir Daniel

He is a walking history

Jay Ray

now he's been Uncle Sam

DJ Sir Daniel

And now he's been Uncle Sam. And, um, apparently, apparently some people were saying that you shouldn't call him. No, he was being Uncle Tom. He was playing Uncle Tom and then I saw something about we shouldn't use the term Uncle Tom, we should use the term Sambo when regarding to a black person that's less than honorable. That's a whole

Jay Ray

That's a whole nother conversation Lord Jesus, um, but yes 37 years of school days Um, so yeah, go watch school if you want to, if you want to get a, you know, a little entertainment, go ahead and watch school days. You know, it's, it's part drama, part musical, you know, all black. It's Black History Month. You should just go ahead and watch it.

DJ Sir Daniel

Good or bad hair? See if I care.

Jay Ray

So, um, Sir Daniel, of course, tomorrow is a day. Um, it is Valentine's Day tomorrow, Sir Daniel, um, and which is so interesting. It's been so much going on. It's crazy that it's Valentine's Day, but one of the things that of course happens on Valentine's Day is people, and Sir Daniel, you used to have a whole set where you just did your slow jam set, which was, of course, was mostly full of love songs, but this brings up a question. Um, what?

are your favorite, and it don't have to be more than one, but do you have favorite hip hop love song?

DJ Sir Daniel

Yes. Um, I think I'll go, I feel, believe this is the first hip hop Of course, LL Cool J's I Need Love.

Jay Ray

Mm hmm.

DJ Sir Daniel

Um, right after that for me is, Oh, A Teenage Love

Jay Ray

Teenage Love by Slick Rick is great.

DJ Sir Daniel

Don't hurt me again. That's hot. Don't hurt me again. And um, Bonita Applebaum.

Jay Ray

Bonita Applebaum is a great, great song. It's so sweet. Uh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, um, what are favorite, uh, uh, hip hop love songs? Of course, for me, Silent Treatment by The Roots is absolutely, I think, one of the most gorgeous, um, slow jams, period.

Hip Hop Love Songs

Um, I think One Love by Houdini.

DJ Sir Daniel

Yes.

Jay Ray

Love by Houdini definitely does a thing. Um, You only get one. One love. One love. Alright, I'm not gonna do, I'm not gonna do that. Um, what else? Uh, Did I pick another Roots song? I can't pick another.

DJ Sir Daniel

do you think? What about, um, Common?

Jay Ray

Which one? Uh, uh, The comment has so many. But you know what? If I was gonna pick a common Love song. I do love Love of My Life with Erykah Badu. I think that's a great song. Um, but there's also I'm gonna pick You Got Me, actually. So, I got two root

DJ Sir Daniel

Dope. Dope. Dope.

Jay Ray

I'm gonna pick You Got Me. There are some We don't give We don't give rappers enough credit.

DJ Sir Daniel

Yes, I agree.

Jay Ray

Oh, the light. Yes. Um, the light by, uh, uh, Common. Um, you consider poor Georgia, wait a minute, this is like, you consider poor Georgia a love song?

DJ Sir Daniel

You know MC light MC light it had quite a few soliloquies about love gone wrong

Jay Ray

She did she did, she did,

DJ Sir Daniel

she was dating crackheads in high school and

Jay Ray

Uh, folks who are using alcohol, alcohol. Yeah.

DJ Sir Daniel

Drug dealers all of them just had a lot

Jay Ray

sidebar, we talked, wasn't in our last meeting that we talked about the fact that MC light storytelling is just my, like some of my favorite. Cappuccino is just one of my favorite stories to hear.

DJ Sir Daniel

amazing. She's, uh, she's right

Jay Ray

in and I ordered a cup. Some guy behind the back said, shut up.

DJ Sir Daniel

And I did. Pronto.

Jay Ray

Quick, fast.

DJ Sir Daniel

there with Slick Rick. Like, she's, her narration is such an important part of rap music. And shout out to those people that can entertain you and spin a tale at the same time. That takes a certain amount of skill. So shout out to MC Lyte for that. Um. You know, shout out to Sam Georgie and all the and

Jay Ray

Roughneck is a love song.

DJ Sir Daniel

and roughneck. Yes, indeed

Jay Ray

It's a tacky love song. And you listen to Roughneck now and I'm like,

DJ Sir Daniel

Got to get a what?

Jay Ray

this young man needs other, has other problems.

DJ Sir Daniel

Okay, the last point of this, the last part of this tangent that we're on. So, people have caught on to the fact that MC Lyte, um, made a song about messing around with a 17 year old or a young man that turned About

Jay Ray

Yeah. Mm hmm.

DJ Sir Daniel

listen back to that But I saw a video somebody one of these young people found it and they were like, uh, Excuse me MC light you were talking about Essaying somebody that's under 17 But yes, that's, that's a story for another day. That's a story for another day. Go ahead.

Jay Ray

How Do I Love Thee by Queen Latifah.

DJ Sir Daniel

Dope. Yes, indeed.

Jay Ray

do I love thee by Queen Latifah, which people do not give that song enough credit. You know, it's a hip house joint. She's just kind of talking over it. You know, it's very sensual. She made a video for that song.

DJ Sir Daniel

I love that one as well. And yes, shout out to Viz again. Mahogany by Rakim. Also a dope. A dope. Oh, to the opposite sex. Which a lot of rappers are, do very well about. So listen, JRE, let's wrap it up real quick, cause I know we gotta let the people go back to what they were doing,

Jay Ray

Yes.

DJ Sir Daniel

we gotta thank everybody for tuning in.

Jay Ray

Absolutely, y'all. If you can see our faces, if you can hear our voices, go ahead and hit that subscribe button. And if you want to do us a solid, it is absolutely free. Share the show with your friends, family, colleagues. If you enjoy Queue Points, chances are they will enjoy it as well. Visit our website at KUPoints. com. There you can listen to our old episodes of the show. Check in with all the other stuff that we have going on, including checking out our blog at magazine. Queue Points.

com. Um, and if you want to support the show, you can check out store. Queue Points. com and you can get yourself some fresh merged merch. We appreciate y'all. We love y'all.

DJ Sir Daniel

We sure do, and what do I always say in this life, you have a choice, you can either pick up the needle, or you can let the record play.

Wrapping Up and Final Thoughts

Peace to the lie! Respect to the lie,

Jay Ray

Okay. We.

DJ Sir Daniel

to her lie, this

Jay Ray

We are not leaving until we talk about y'all. Okay. Real quick.

DJ Sir Daniel

That girl is a star. Shout Onijah. Onijah is back home in these United States. She's already booked. already so that's peace to the lie, respect to the lie, and respect to her lie.

Jay Ray

She's amazing, y'all. Like, I'm like, that woman is not well, but I love her.

DJ Sir Daniel

She is not well at all but yes indeed. Thank you for joining us for this episode of Queue Points. We'll see you on the next go round. Peace to the

Jay Ray

Peace. My God, let it go.

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