She Had the Voice of a Legend — So Why Did Sparky D Disappear?

Transcript

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Jay Ray: Nia Records saw this thing and was like,

DJ Sir Daniel: We can make some money. Let's make some money off of this, make some money off of these girls. We gonna take them on tour and we are going to let them battle it out. They're gonna diss each other to tears, and we're gonna make money off of these tickets along with the promoters. And we're gonna put it on wax and sell it.

DJ Sir Daniel: Greetings and welcome to another episode of Queue Points podcast. I am DJ Sir Daniel

Jay Ray: And my name is Jay Ray, sometimes known by my government as Johnnie Ray Kornegay III. And Sir Daniel, we back

DJ Sir Daniel: Guess who's bizack? What's up, Jay Ray?

Jay Ray: Yeah, man. Um, excited to be in space with you. Um, and I'm also excited to have the conversation that we're about to have today because even though this is a very sad occasion, so one of the things, of course, that happened was that the one and only, and for real, when you talk about pioneering legends, uh, Sparky D passed away

DJ Sir Daniel: Yeah

Jay Ray: And we are going to dedicate time to talking about Sparky D's career, and I am excited that we're gonna spend some time, uh, talking about her because as we were getting ready to do this show, Sir Daniel and I were talking about the fact that folks from that generation. So, uh, people may, uh, disagree with the way I calculate these things, but I consider Sparky D to be part of, like, the second generation of hip hop.

This is in hip hop years. A lot of people might say she's part of first generation, a lot of folks, though, from those first two genera- from those early generations, I'll say it like that, don't get talked about, um, because of the way we just kinda, I think, view age, the way we view music culture, how we're always searching for the new thing, um, and we don't teach the history a lot.

So I'm glad that we get a chance to spend some time just kinda talking about Sparky.

DJ Sir Daniel: And we also don't gauge... We, we tend to gauge success by how much money, how many records an artist has sold, whether or not they have a hit record that we can recall off the top of our heads. And so espe- specifically in hip hop music, rap music, specifically in the early days, that was a time when a lot of these MCs, first of all, they were still evolving

Jay Ray: Yep

DJ Sir Daniel: creating song structure.

Jay Ray: Right

DJ Sir Daniel: them did not have song structures. A lot of the music did not have song structures. That's why early records like Sugar Hill, Sugar Hill Gang and, um, you know, uh, Super Rappin' and all those things, they're super

Jay Ray: Long ass songs with lots of rhymes.

DJ Sir Daniel: no hooks, just rhymes. I mean, rhyming, rhyming on top of rhyming, and, that, so that's, a- an evolution that had to happen within the, the artistry of hip hop music is that they effi- they learned the efficiency of song structure, and, uh, creating a song that only lasts no more, well back then probably lasts no more than four minutes as opposed to seven or 10.

And so, and then a lot of them were not, they weren't in the studio. They weren't studio rappers.

Jay Ray: Yeah

DJ Sir Daniel: live MCs. They were show MCs. They were sh- um, it was all about showmanship, and battling specifically, which is where we see Sparky D enter, and gain her reputation, is on the battle scene,

Jay Ray: Yeah

DJ Sir Daniel: specifically when it came to the Roxanne Wars, which I think because her, because she's attached to the Roxanne Wars is the reason why, um, she kind of gets a little more notice than a lot of the other women that preceded her or came out around the same time as her. So again, you know, shout out to, um, Steven. He's the one, that, that let me know early on a Saturday morning, I was like, that she was gone, and I saw the, it was a video by MC Shan who announced her passing and that, you know, they have become friends. And, you know, it just sent me into like this spiral of, wow. I think a lot of people are taken aback because we've been so used to mostly death notifications about male counterparts, the men. That's because men typically aren't taking care of themselves,

Jay Ray: Mm-hmm

DJ Sir Daniel: are doing a lot of things that will be detrimental to their health, to their health. And so we've seen a lot more of the men pass away in large numbers, whereas this is a woman.

This is, know, um, somebody who for, um, was very much on the verge of getting her life together and wanting a new start. I had the pleasure and opportunity, of meeting Sparky D a couple of years back during the, um, Hip Hop 50s, um, celebration. And on the campus of Spelman, there was a conversation amongst, um... I forget who put it on. I believe it's the Hip Hop Caucus put it on. And they had different women from here in the metro area, including my good sis, um, Lisa, AKA Peppermint Gatti, was a part of the panel as a DJ. And so one of their special guests was Sparky D. And I was like, "Oh, I'm about to get all of my records that you see behind me. I'm gonna get all of my Sparky D records, which are in great shape, I'm going to go meet this, um, hero of a woman," because Sparky also gets mentioned in the conversation because of the Roxanne movie

Jay Ray: Yeah

DJ Sir Daniel: that came out se- it's been so long.

It's been almost several years now

Jay Ray: And y-

DJ Sir Daniel: that movie came out.

Jay Ray: yeah, yeah. Yeah

DJ Sir Daniel: um, did so well, and it's such a, a, a great, um, storytelling of Roxanne Shante's story. But we, one thing that stuck out- stood out to us is that Sparky is featured in the movie, or her character is featured in the movie the young lady that she's on the road battling, which is

Jay Ray: Yeah

DJ Sir Daniel: that record back there, the, The Battle:

Jay Ray: Yep

DJ Sir Daniel: They, record labels are, were all

Jay Ray: They,

DJ Sir Daniel: a

Jay Ray: uh, Baby, Nia Records saw this thing and was like,

DJ Sir Daniel: We can make some money. Let's make some money off of this, make some money off of these girls. We gonna take them on tour and we are going to let them battle it out. They're gonna diss each other to tears, and we're gonna make money off of these tickets along with the promoters. And we're gonna put it on wax and sell it.

Jay Ray: I think it's a good time, and maybe what I can do is

just do a high-level overview of Sparky's career,

um, up to that point because I feel like, um, this is some stuff that folks might know- might, might not know. So one of the things that's interesting about Sparky D too is she's from, uh, Brooklyn.

Sh- Brownsville. So she's a pioneer because she's one of the earliest hip hop stars from Brownsville, which of course produced all of these legends, including the Notorious B.I.G. later. But Sparky D is like a one pioneer from that particular community. Of course, started, started out as a dancer earlier, and then of course, uh, like the culture moves, she moved into, uh, MCing, battling specifically, um, and was just kind of doing that.

But then... Now I've heard this story a couple of different ways. So I think I've heard a version of the story where she saw City Slim and Mo Ski rhyming and thought, "I could be in this group, so I'ma ask them to be in this group." And then they kinda said yes. I've heard that version, but I've also heard the version where they heard Sparky D and asked her to be in the group.

So one of those two things happened, but anyway, she joined The Playgirls, right, and this is kind of a fateful moment because she joins this group. Um, the girls released this song called Our Picture of a Man, which is a cutesy, very 1983 hip hop song.

DJ Sir Daniel: We're the ladies of the '80s and we're gonna tell you about these men these days

Jay Ray: Exactly. So now what's interesting about that is of course, so this song, not of course, but this song is produced by Spyder D. And Spyder D becomes a very central figure in the career of Sparky D as a solo act. So, um, they do the song Our Picture of a Man. That song comes out. Sparky D in some way begins to entertain her solo career, produced by Spyder D.

She appears on Spyder D's song. The name of that song is escaping me at the moment. Comes out in '84 on Sutr- uh, Sutra, I think is, or that might have been Profile actually. All these labels were working together. But anyway, uh, which leads to, uh, these two artists working super closely together, uh, which als- ultimately leads to the f- the moment in 1985 when they hear, uh, Roxanne's Revenge and decide, Sp- uh, Spyder D and Sparky decide to do this song that then kind of changes both of their lives in a lot of ways

DJ Sir Daniel: Yeah, uh, s- so much... It's so funny how back then, like, it didn't take much for you to catch a wave.

Jay Ray: Hmm.

DJ Sir Daniel: Um, you really just had to be in the place, the place to be.

Jay Ray: Mm-hmm.

DJ Sir Daniel: And I think for Sparky, not only did she have the, um, support of Spyder D, she also, you know, had the support of DJ Red Alert.

Jay Ray: Mm-hmm.

DJ Sir Daniel: She, um, she recorded a song, because DJs back then would have a song to kind of announce them, and one of the 12 inches is the one behind me that you can see is, um, it's, um, D- DJ Red Alert Goes Berserk.

He's my DJ,

Jay Ray: Queue

DJ Sir Daniel: and this is, 'cause this is the era of the 12-inch record.

Jay Ray: Yeah. 'Cause all her joints is mostly 12 inches up until her full length, which takes a while

DJ Sir Daniel: which takes a while to come on out. And as we were discussing before we got on the show, by the time that came out comparison to her counterparts, you could tell there was a, a big, a marked difference production-wise in how everything slated out for her. And I think that also had an effect on the way she was received by the new generation or, or the upcoming generation that we call, that's part of the golden era.

Jay Ray: Yeah

DJ Sir Daniel: And there's a, know,

there is a, um, a tsunami of women on the mic. And before we do that, I mean, what we, I was referring to, um, moment in the, the Roxanne Roxanne Roxanne, where she, Roxanne Shante and Sparky D share a moment outside of the tour bus, which I think solidified, which solidified their sisterhood and was just a really touching moment their lives, these girls, they're, these are teenage

Jay Ray: These are teenage girls.

DJ Sir Daniel: They don't, they barely, they don't have ma- pr- managers, quote-unquote. They don't have handlers. They've got boyfriends, and they've got friends that are along for the ride. And so, you know, as a performer, especially when you're out on tour, paid is key. And in several situations, Roxanne Shante has, has stated that people have, j- you know, tried to jerk her around

Jay Ray: Mm-hmm.

DJ Sir Daniel: and succeeded at jerking her around by not paying her.

She famously tells a story of how Mike Tyson

Jay Ray: we'll go collect her money

DJ Sir Daniel: Got co- went and collected her money for her. And, um, but yeah, so th- this promoter, um, didn't wanna pay her. And at this point, Shante is a brand-new mother, a teenage mother, and this money is, she's using this money to help raise her child and to send money back home to her mom, who's I'm sure taking care of the baby at the time. And so without thinking about it, is like, "Yo, what's up? Why you, you know, why are you crying?" Despite the fact that they're on tour battling each

Jay Ray: Right

DJ Sir Daniel: after a while it's like, yeah, we might be battling each other on stage, but you get to know each other. And she was like, "Yo, what's up? What's going on?" Shante tells her, without thinking, Sparky reaches in her pocket and gives her a stack and was like, "Don't even worry about it. Take care of that baby." And that, I- that's the moment where they become sisters.

Jay Ray: Yeah

DJ Sir Daniel: I think that's such an important within when I started seeing all of the, um, the memories that were being shared and all the memorials that people were making on Instagram for this woman, is like s- there was an actual sisterhood amongst these ladies back then. Even when we thought they were all battling and dissing each other, behind the scenes they, they grew to love each other. They, they were, there were only a handful of them

Jay Ray: And, and they were surrounded by all of these m- all of these men that were, you know, and, and, and, and let's keep it a buck, right? Not only surrounded by all of these men, but these dudes were actually in a lot of cases just kinda taking advantage of these, you know, these women, these young girls

DJ Sir Daniel: These girl, these teenage girls taking their money, you know, they're the ones on the f- on the front, and we've seen this time and time and time again. Some people got lucky, Jay Ray. Some people got lucky. You know, they, some... I think sometimes a hit record and/or video may have saved a lot of these young ladies' lives. Whereas if you remain faceless, 'cause like if y- like I said, a lot of these, um, a lot of the early works were just 12 inches.

Jay Ray: Yeah

DJ Sir Daniel: uh, excuse me, a lot of times 12 inches didn't have your picture on

Jay Ray: Nope, it was literally just that sleeve and then whoever it was, and that was it

DJ Sir Daniel: And that was it. And that way nobody could... Sometimes people didn't know what you look like because this is still pre-video.

Jay Ray: Mm-hmm

DJ Sir Daniel: And so how are they gonna support you? How are they gonna look for you to support you in the future? And so every now and then sh- you have to keep reintroducing yourself. And I don't even, I can't recall Sparky even having a music video to reference, whereas a lot of her counterparts at least have one or two music videos that people can say, "Oh, that," and point and say, "Hey, that's Sparky D." Luckily we do have the amazing photo session that Jen, um, by Jeannette Beckman

Jay Ray: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm

DJ Sir Daniel: of the round table of female MCs.

Jay Ray: Yeah

DJ Sir Daniel: is a legendary photo that also includes Millie Jackson

Jay Ray: is there, you know? It's, they're cutting up

DJ Sir Daniel: They're coming up and they're, they're at a high school, I believe in Brooklyn. And, um, yeah, thank- thankfully that photograph has actually, that actually highlight- h- heightened her profile as well. You know, gave us a visual of who Sparky D was, not to mention the fresh Dapper Dan

Jay Ray: Yeah.

DJ Sir Daniel: outfit that she

Jay Ray: on as well.

​

Jay Ray: I want to spend a couple of minutes, Sir Daniel, talking about the artistry of Sparky D, 'cause I found this to be interesting. So in preparation for this conversation, I went back and just listen- let's listen to the Sparky D catalog, 'cause there isn't, there aren't a ton of songs. So you can literally just kind of listen to Sparky D songs, and two things jumped out at me.

The first thing is You could clearly tell the songs that Sparky wrote on. Like, there became this moment in time kind of in like '88, '89 when Spyder D wrote a song and it sounded completely different than what Sparky D was writing for herself. So that was very interesting is she had a very clear, uh, ca- a, a very clear, uh, a songwriting stamp that she used in her rhymes.

Two is she cut through. That voice

DJ Sir Daniel: The

Jay Ray: and th- and that delivery. And when you... So when you listen to the Playgirls, and this is no shade to the other two members of The Playgirls, but it was very clear that Sparky had that thing. She did have that. Yeah, she had that thing that she could, like, do something. And the thing that I...

So I just wanted to, to note that just as an artistry perspective. Um, she wrote, if not all... No, she definitely didn't write all, 'cause there were a couple that she didn't write on. So she wrote most all her stuff though, and she cut through. But at the same time, um, it was disappointing listening because you could tell, like, that she was stuck in the producer's box that the producer was in.

And I was like, "Dang, if she just had the team that LL Cool J had that could, like, move her from out of this box into 1987, into 1988, what would that have been like?" They were trying to do it, but it w- she was still in this box, and I'm like, "This is still a step behind of what people were, the cadence and the way people were rapping at the time."

The voice was there. She coulda did what MC Lyte and Queen Latifah did, without question. But she was just stuck in... I, I do think she was, she was stuck in the box that the producer was stuck in. And unfortunately, th- her producer was her boyfriend, was also, like, managing her career, and was her whole world. She talked about in her book, her Spyder D was her world

DJ Sir Daniel: Yeah. And that's never, that never w- works out well for specifically the woman in the situation. But you're, you're, absolutely right. Um, I hinted to, I hinted at it earlier, like when Spa- when Sparky D's World finally came out, the full-length album, um, one, I wish because she was on B-Boy Records, I wish that she could've worked with like KRS-One, 'cause they, they were label mates.

Jay Ray: Yeah

DJ Sir Daniel: and the whole Boogie Down Productions team, and I wish that she could've worked with them because you could tell, like Throw Down is one of the records that

Jay Ray: I love that record.

DJ Sir Daniel: through,

Jay Ray: Yeah.

DJ Sir Daniel: um,

Jay Ray: That Boz Scaggs, uh, sample

DJ Sir Daniel: the sample, and it kind of, um, cuts through the rest of the album because e- the album, this is '88 when the album drops. By n- by 1988, you've got already, you've got, um, Salt-N-Pepa is one and going on two albums. You've got, um, Sweet Tee's On the Smooth Tip is already out. Um, Lyte as a Rock is

Jay Ray: Yep

DJ Sir Daniel: I mean, and then in '89, of course, you get All Hail the Queen.

Jay Ray: Mm-hmm

DJ Sir Daniel: These, as far as debut albums, the production on these

Jay Ray: Bar

DJ Sir Daniel: are so above the bar

Jay Ray: Mm-hmm.

DJ Sir Daniel: that when you listen in comparison, listening to Sparky D's World, it just doesn't compare. And, um, and that's what happens w- like when you're, like you said, when you're isolated with just one person on production, whereas these young ladies, even though, even though, let's take Salt-N-Pepa for instance. Even though they were working with Herbie ev- s- still Herbie had h- Herbie, to his point, had a musicality that allowed him to expand their sound

and make it a lot more commercial, even down to the mixing.

Mixing

Jay Ray: Yep

DJ Sir Daniel: important because I can still hear on that record that it's not co- it's not mixed well.

Jay Ray: Mm-hmm

DJ Sir Daniel: It, it doesn't have that extra, you know, thing that a, a mixed record would have. And a lot of that is budget. You know, don't know. It could've been budget. It could've been the label. All of these things.

There are a whole lot of factors we're saying is not her fault

Jay Ray: Right, right, right, right, right

DJ Sir Daniel: Because the only thing, and we said this before we hopped on,

the only thing separating Sparky the, from her, her, peers, from her classmates of '88, '89, is community. And community is key. Community, crew, whatever you wanna call it, is key. And, uh, fortunately f- I know that they, she was down with like UTFO, the whole Brooklyn crew, UTFO and, and all of them. um, and The Real Roxanne at one point. You know, it's still Howie T, Chubb Rock. It still doesn't cut through like say how a Light had the first priority music team and Audio Two, Two with her. You know, Salt-N-Pepa's, um, Sweet Tee, Antoinette, all part of Idol Makers.

Jay Ray: Yeah

DJ Sir Daniel: and Quiz is down with Uptown. You know, it makes a difference. It a difference, and only does that affect your sound, but when you feel isolated, this is when the demons start to come. A- and here's where we are

Jay Ray: Sparky's done a, a lot of this, so if you wanna really get into the history of Sparky D and her life, you can definitely do that.

She's been very open about it. But she was also in the throes of major addiction, and I think that's also part of the isolation,

DJ Sir Daniel: Yeah

Jay Ray: Right? She is in a different space than some of the other folks that she would've probably been in community with at the time if she had not been in the throes of that addiction.

And that's, like, really... She was young, so we- we're also talking about, like, a 20... She, apparently she had got started using at, like, 19, so we're talking a 23-year-old young woman in the throes of addiction.

DJ Sir Daniel: still developing.

Jay Ray: Yep

DJ Sir Daniel: I mean, it's, it's real- it's a horrible time to get caught up in that,

Jay Ray: Yeah

DJ Sir Daniel: get caught... It's never a good time to get caught up in drugs, especially, especially a very addictive drug.

Jay Ray: Mm-hmm

DJ Sir Daniel: Like, and, and let's just put it out there. In this, in this time span, let's say from the, from disco to the early beginnings of, of hip hop, rap music, coke, cocaine, cocaine use was out in the open.

It w- it was a thing. A lot of people, a- and you hear them in their early rhymes and in their names, if you had a coke, a or a spoon in

Jay Ray: Or below?

DJ Sir Daniel: or a blow, a blow in your name, or a snow or anything like that, that was a dog whistle to everybody that you were down to party. You were down to party and play. And so, um,

Jay Ray: Not that kind of party and play

DJ Sir Daniel: Wow.

Jay Ray: Well, we all know what the people be doing

DJ Sir Daniel: Listen. And so, so that, so there's a whole generation of rappers that openly used,

Jay Ray: Mm-hmm.

DJ Sir Daniel: were lacing their joints, the whole nine. They openly used, some caught up in, in to the crack era.

Jay Ray: Yeah, absolutely

DJ Sir Daniel: in the crack era. A quite a few of them have been vocal that they used crack,

Jay Ray: Queue

DJ Sir Daniel: thought was so, which I thought was so, um, interesting, Jay Ray, because when we were growing up, the messaging was clearly anti-crack.

Jay Ray: Absolutely

DJ Sir Daniel: whack. Don't do it. All of the, all of the things, right? We were told that on these records, but a lot of our faves were, were doing lines and bumps their life off the scene, off camera, and behind the scenes. so you can't fault, um, someone, especially a young lady who's try- who's trying to prove herself in this industry be down and b- and stay up all night

Jay Ray: Mm-hmm

DJ Sir Daniel: perform and to be in these places, 'cause that was a thing.

You had to go from the Latin Quarter to the, to the Rooftop, to the different, to The Fever all in one night to, to hit these shows, and you needed to stay up.

Jay Ray: Right

DJ Sir Daniel: And so y- y- somebody hands you something, you put it up your nose and you stay up. And then unfortunately, before you know it, it's, it's got its claws in you

Jay Ray: Yeah. Yeah, and that absolutely happened to Sparky. She talks about in her book where she, she, she breaks down this whole story because there's a lot of trauma associated with even her s- with even her drug use. So one, there's the connection to her partner

And she wants to do everything her partner does, right?

Because that's her world. So she's a biracial woman. She talked about not having, feeling like she had a place. So once again, there's a void that needs to be filled, right? She, a- a- and this person that she's with is filling a void. She talked about, um, the first time she, uh, hit, a crack pipe, and she was supposed to be, and the way she tells the story is quite tragic.

She was supposed to be, uh, heading to take her mom some money. Her mom was going on a trip. And, but before she went to do that, she was doi- she did this thing because, hey, they were there. They did it. She had never done it before, and that moment for her changed everything. She never made it to take her mom the money.

Her mom ended up passing away on that trip.

DJ Sir Daniel: Hmm

Jay Ray: can you imagine the trauma associated with this thing that you're now addicted to And now you're in the muck of this. So you're in a relationship that's within it. You have this traumatic moment that's now tied to it. There is so much about this woman's career, which basically ends.

By 1989, there are no more Sparky D releases.

DJ Sir Daniel: Mm-mm.

Jay Ray: you figure what we got, '83 to '88. How many years is that? Five years.

DJ Sir Daniel: Yeah. Yeah

Jay Ray: And in that five-year time, there is these amazing highs, all of these accolades, to the lowest of lows. And what's amazing and a testimony, and she talked about this of course, is because she was able to get to the other side of that.

It took her over, over years, over a decade. But she was able to get to the other side of it and be here with us to share that testimony, and I think that's also really important. Um, and that's why we also need to celebrate her and folks of that generation, because that's a lot to go through, um, and a lot to experience at a very young age.

And, uh, just wanna thank her for sharing that difficult part of her story.

​

DJ Sir Daniel: When I found out that she actually lived here in, in the metro Atlanta area, I was like, "Oh, wow." You know, I forget what... Just randomly I was online and the name Sparky D came up and that she was a minister here.

Jay Ray: Yeah

DJ Sir Daniel: And, you know, um, and a relationship with God and becoming and entering the ministry is part of what extended her life

Jay Ray: Yeah

DJ Sir Daniel: her a new chapter, um, want to hold space for her children, her grandchildren. You know, she, she reconstructed her life. Show. So the, the moment that You know, I would see coming up on those 50 years of hip hop

Jay Ray: Yeah

DJ Sir Daniel: um, those different celebrations that would come up of the women in, in hip hop, and Sparky D would be comple- I mean, just embraced by everybody. it just, it did my heart good to see that she was completely embraced.

She always showed love. um, yeah, I, I really am glad that we took this time to hold space for her and hold space for her memory and for her contributions to hip hop, for her contributions to what it means to the, to the essence of emceeing

Jay Ray: Yes

DJ Sir Daniel: art of battling because it's what they did. It's how you represented your crew, your block.

It's how you got a reputation around the hood, which could have led to getting paid, which could lead to getting a record deal, which could lead you to getting out of the hood. All of those things mean something. And listen, and even though the production may not be all... Go back and listen to those songs

Jay Ray: Yeah

DJ Sir Daniel: when we talk about delivery, Ray J talked about her delivery, you're talking about people that aren't, don't necessarily, aren't necessarily classically trained or when they get in the studio.

So to know that she knows to, to s- to rap from her diaphragm, to have the cadence and the breath control that she had, and to be completely serious uh, and not to be played with, to be very stern with her delivery is something that is, is you can't teach that.

Jay Ray: Mm-hmm.

DJ Sir Daniel: that's something that you, you either have it or you don't. And I remember I s- I read somewhere once that Run DMC, I mean, DMC from Run DMC was like, yo, he ain't, he didn't want any problems with her on stage because, and you could see it, because she has one of those voices that could carry.

Jay Ray: Yeah

DJ Sir Daniel: you said, she cut through everybody else on those other records, even on the battle with Shante. Shante h- holds her own,

Jay Ray: Oh yeah

DJ Sir Daniel: uh, but just on voice alone and d- and cadence, Sparky kinda has that, had that above her.

Jay Ray: Mm-hmm.

DJ Sir Daniel: um, but yeah, I really do think people need to go back and to study her, her contributions, and to have empathy.

Jay Ray: Yes

DJ Sir Daniel: this generation needs to show empathy for these people that came before them, the cautionary tales that come along with being in this industry and substance abuse, and also having empathy for people who shoulders you stand on. Because we, I think we talk about, when we talk about, um, paying respect, I think it becomes too abstract for a lot of people because there is no, they don't have a reference for it. It's not in their face Like when we tell, when people tell us about the civil rights, th- there's generations that they're so far a- far gone from that they don't have a reference point for it, so therefore they don't have any empathy for it. But here's a woman who a social media presence and, and was able to, and loved young people, and everywhere you go, you see there's young people on, in social media that big her up because she was always reaching out to them and always p- um, bigging them up and, and, and pouring into them. And so here's a woman that herself available to young people and to this, this era of social media.

So you do have somebody that you can look at and you can have empathy for people of that era and say, "Hey, because of them, I can."

Jay Ray: Ooh, that's a mic drop

definitely y'all go check out some, uh, some Sparky D. Um, if you can see our faces and hear our voices, uh, hit the subscribe button wherever you are. Visit our website at queuepoints.com, which has been blowing up. Um, people, uh, our website is being recognized as a really premier podcast website. So if you haven't been to the website, you should check it out and find out why.

We got a bunch of stuff over there that y'all can do, stuff that is additional to this. So if you like this, we got more of that. Um, check us out on Substack. We have some great content on Substack, and you can subscribe to us there and leave us your email address and get the latest and the greatest from Queue Points.

And you can shop our store at store.queuepoints.com. We are actually in the process of rebuilding the store. It's gonna be real cute. So Daniel, I can't wait to share the updates with you in, like, early August. It's gonna be real cool,

DJ Sir Daniel: Nice

Jay Ray: be real pretty. So we're working on that. And, uh, yeah, we appreciate y'all.

We love y'all

DJ Sir Daniel: We absolutely do. And like I say every week, in this life you have a choice. You can either pick up the needle or you can let the record play. I am DJ Sir Daniel

Jay Ray: And my name is Jay Ray y'all

DJ Sir Daniel: And this has been Queue Points podcast, dropping the needle on Black music history. We will see you on the next go-round. Peace, y'all

Jay Ray: Peace, y'all