Why Major Labels Killed the Protest Song (And Who's Fighting Back)

This video explores how corporate incentives and industry consolidation pushed major labels away from supporting protest anthems, favoring safer, commercially viable tracks and silencing mainstream political expression. Hosts DJ Sir Daniel and Jay Ray trace the shift from civil rights era anthems to today’s conscious artists, while highlighting how independent musicians keep protest music alive despite financial and structural barriers. It also examines gaps in modern gospel, activist burnout, and the need for community organizing to counteract drift toward apathy and market-driven trends.

Analyzing why major labels killed the protest song requires examining how corporate incentives shifted the music industry away from social movement anthems. Hosts DJ Sir Daniel and Jay Ray detail how corporate consolidation, activist burnout, and risk-averse executive structures silenced mainstream political expression while independent musicians continue fighting back. From civil rights-era hits to modern releases by Kendrick Lamar and Janelle Monáe, the conversation explores the structural and financial barriers facing conscious artists today.

The Rundown

  • The Financial Shift from Activism to Commercial Safety: Examining how major record labels moved away from supporting movement anthems in favor of risk-averse commercial tracks.

  • Activist Burnout and Corporate Co-Optation: Analyzing how performative activism, corporate sponsorship, and social media fatigue impacted modern protest music.

  • The Role of Independent Artists in Keeping Conscious Music Alive: Understanding why non-label creators currently hold the creative freedom to publish unfiltered social commentary.

  • The Absence of Political Voice in Modern Gospel: Evaluating how contemporary gospel artists prioritized crossover commercial markets over historical civil rights advocacy.

  • Rebuilding Community and Collective Action: Discussing why unity and grassroots engagement remain necessary to overcome cultural apathy and individualistic industry trends.

Chapter Markers

00:00 Hook

00:29 Disclaimer

00:47 Intro Theme

00:52 Intro & Catching Up

01:10 Can We Make Revolutionary Music?

04:55 Record Labels & The Commercial Music Problem

05:39 Protest Burnout & Corporate Co-optation

16:17 Artists Making Protest Music Now

21:02 Gospel Artists & The Disappointment

24:00 Community, Unity & Moving Forward

31:45 Outro Theme

Subscribe to the channel and leave your thoughts on modern protest music in the comments below. Let us know which independent artists you think are carrying the torch today.

#ProtestMusic #BlackMusicHistory #MajorLabels #IndependentMusic #QueuePoints

Transcript

*DISCLAIMER: Transcripts are created using AI, and may not accurately represent the content exactly as presented. Transcripts are provided as a courtesy to our listeners who would like to use them. For the accurate context of what was said, please refer to the audio or video of the episode.

[00:00:00] Hook

Jay Ray: if you are a major label artist-

Sir Daniel: Mm-hmm ...

Jay Ray: your record label ain't trying to drop a protest song. You gotta be an indie artist- No ... to, in order to drop a protest song, for real. I think that's actually the bigger thing. I think commercially, when we're talking about, uh, artists that are, that are kind of in that commercial, that super, you know, big label space- Yes

there's no room to do it.

[00:00:29] Disclaimer

Jay Ray: What's up, y'all? Today we're dropping one of our favorite moments from our live archive. If you want the full archive for Queue Points Live, become a member at queuepoints.com. We love y'all. Enjoy the episode. Peace.

[00:00:47] Intro Theme

[00:00:52] Intro & Catching Up

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 governments as Johnnie Ray Kornegay III. What's happening, folks?

Sir Daniel: So I, I was looking at, um,

[00:01:10] Can We Make Revolutionary Music?

Sir Daniel: Amanda Seales- Mm-hmm ... made a post, and she was like, "Hey, y'all. You know, this ain't our time to be on the front line. But so even though we not on the front lines, can we make some revolutionary music?"

Jay Ray: Can we make bops?

Sir Daniel: And I was like, "Huh." Can we Can we Can we, are we able to make revolutionary music?

Yeah. And that was the question. I was like, you know what? And then when things happened, I was like, "Jay Ray, we gotta talk about- Yeah ... um, what has happened." In our lifetime we've witnessed, what, one, two, three, maybe about three wars now. We had the- Yeah ... the, the, the, the, the Gulf Co- The Gulf War- The Gulf War

the Afghanistan War. Mm-hmm. And now this. And now this, uh, occupation or- Yeah ... or they're calling it a conflict i- with Iran. Mm-hmm. Um, but yeah, so we witnessed some stuff. We witnessed the fallout. You know, of course 9/11 was a- Mm-hmm ... huge deal that pushed us into t- into war. So we're used to it. The only difference between us and the boomers, our g- our parents' generation, is they were, they were w- the answer my friend is blowing in- Yes

they were outside on their guitars and writing songs about freedom.

Jay Ray: Yes.

Sir Daniel: Can we, can we do that? That's my question this evening. Are, can we come up with some revolutionary jams?

Jay Ray: so I think the answer, um, to the question is yes, we can. And even when we look back, right? So if we go back in time and think of the anthems of, of history. So when we look at Vietnam, we have, you know, of course Marvin Gaye's What's Going On?, we have- Mm-hmm

Curtis Mayfield, People Get Ready. Um, later on we get, you know, an, uh, a Wake Up Everybody, uh, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, all of that stuff. Mm-hmm. Right? Um, and these songs were created, one, as a response, but also out of necessity. But I do think there is something that made... There's two things that I think made those things possible.

One, um, the world was different. People were reading w- the, the, uh, the context for some of the things that were happening was, um, uh, uh, there was some deeper knowledge. And even for those folks that didn't have deeper knowledge, right, they were able to translate the feeling of the people into the songs.

They just had the knowledge to be able to do it. The other thing, though, and I think this is the biggest thing It was commercially okay to do. Like, these songs these songs were also commercially acceptable to create. So we had come out of the- Yeah ... Civil Rights movement and had those songs. We had, you know, uh, uh, during the, the, the, the, the peace and love movement of, you know, we had those protest songs, right?

So we had in the '60, the '50s and the '60s, it was just kind of the music industry was... Protest songs were a part of the engine that created hits in those eras. And so you have artists that are like, "Ah, okay, I have something to say." The record label is like, "Boom, I can make that a hit. Let's go." Right. I don't know that record...

So I think the thing that gets in the way now is

[00:04:55] Record Labels & The Commercial Music Problem

Jay Ray: if you are a major label artist-

Sir Daniel: Mm-hmm ...

Jay Ray: your record label ain't trying to drop a protest song. You gotta be an indie artist- No ... to, in order to drop a protest song, for real. I think that's actually the bigger thing. I think commercially, when we're talking about, uh, artists that are, that are kind of in that commercial, that super, you know, big label space- Yes

there's no room to do it.

Sir Daniel: No, there's no room, there's no permission. Actually, and quite frankly, I don't think there's any motivation- Mm ... for not just the label, but for even the artist to do it. I just beli- I believe that, um,

[00:05:39] Protest Burnout & Corporate Co-optation

Sir Daniel: over the past six years, after the civil unrest we had here in the, during the protests over, um, Mike Bla- Uh, George Floyd

George Floyd. Mike, mm-hmm. Uh, Sandra, um- Sandra Bland, yep ... Sandra Bland. That whole everything. Even starting off with Trayvon.

Jay Ray: Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel: In that time span, I believe that there was a moment of There was a moment where people got galvanized and, and, and electrified, and there was a feeling that this was it, you know, pe- that things were shifting, people are a- are waking up.

And then, you know, things started getting performative. Um, corporations got involved. People, people started getting paid for their,

um, for their performances, for th- And when I say performances, I mean their performative protesting. Mm-hmm. And so it, it, protesting got co-opt, co-opted-

Jay Ray: Yes. Oh,

Sir Daniel: corporate- ... by the industry ...

Jay Ray: corporate dow.

Sir Daniel: You know what I'm saying? So I feel like, so after that, I think people were like, "Okay, I'm tired of... This is, there's a burnout here."

There's a awokeness burnout. There's, you know, how especially like everybody's on board to protest and is, is standing in solidarity and blacking out their Instagrams. All that kind of stuff was happening. And I just think that after a while people got burnt out with that and just started minding their own business, especially after the pandemic.

Jay Ray: Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel: Um, we became a little disjointed with each other. And then I think, you know, there's a generation that just feels like, "Hey, I am all about the pleasure principle. I'm all... I'm not trying to feel all of that. I wanna, I wanna feel joy. I wanna ex- I wanna be excited. I don't wanna think I just want to...

So all of this is happening right now. You, you older people are putting us through this, and I really don't want anything to do with it. You know, voting sucks, you know. Mm-hmm. Everything is, we're deeply unserious. You know, most of the things are a joke. But that's a, but we know that's a, um, that's a, a, a mechanism that we have in place to make, you know, to, to help deal with the things that we're dealing with.

So that's why I believe, back to my, my first point was I don't think there's any motivation for a lot of artists to do anything that is revo- what we think is revolutionary. I do think that some of them, in their own way, feel like speaking up in their voice, um, being, um, unfiltered, being, uh, just doing things with no apology, being unapologetic, whether it's being grimy and being ratchet, is a form of, of protest or revolution in their thinking maybe, in their minds.

Yeah. And so, and being, and you know, this being, I'm being authentic. I'm ratchet. Mm-hmm. I'm gonna be ratchet. That's authentic. That's my form of protest. Meh, okay.

Jay Ray: And that's, I mean, do you, boo. Yeah. Um, that's fair. That's fair. I, I, I do- Sure. I do get that this current... You know what I think it is, honestly too?

I think the reason why folks also don't wanna do it, there truly is something to lose for these folks now. You know what I mean? And when I say that, here's what I mean. If we think about, um, Black music specifically in our, uh, uh, in our, uh, protest music r- uh, revolution period. So of course you get it in the '50s, the '60s, and the '70s.

Mm-hmm. And it continues in the '80s and into the early '90s, right? During that time, Black music was still heavily, uh, uh, uh, made by, supported by Black people. White people were a large part of the audience, and that's why people got a chance to cross over, right? 'Cause white people is definitely buying the music.

But Black folks was talking to Black folks in the music, right? For sure. So if you're talking to your people, you gonna say what your people need to hear you say, because you t- we talk- we was talking to each other. Okay. Now, because as we- We're a mixed

Sir Daniel: company?

Jay Ray: We're a mixed company now. And now for real, for real, that filter that used to be there where the, the, the, the big white man who sat up in the office would give the money to the Black dude and be like, "Go forth and make this," right?

"Do what you gonna do." But the money is filtered down. But now these artists in this new space, because of just the nature of the industry, the artist is literally, the boss is that dude, right? So they're, like, directly tied to that person. Mm-hmm. And if that person is like, "Nah, son, that's not what we doing," 'cause, you know, they, they got BlackSense now.

"That's not what we're doing," it's, there's just no ability to do it. So yeah, it is- All of that. And I do get our desire, and this is, I'ma blame, I'ma just, I'ma say this here is me as a Gen X-er.

Sir Daniel: Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray: I was part of this problem too, of like getting tired of needing to fight, right? And- Yeah.

Sir Daniel: Yeah ...

Jay Ray: so if, it's like, okay, well listen, we have fought, fought, fought, fought, fought, fought, fought.

Let's just enjoy ourselves. The problem is that thing has now transformed into, uh, misinformation, disinformation, disinterest, um, be- and, and, and self, and, and, and protection of self. Yeah. Very individualistic, which is what this country likes. Because we there, we really have to pull ourselves out now and put ourselves back into community, and we need to be talking to us again.

Sir Daniel: Mm. Yeah. It's like, uh, the, it, it's a numbing cream effect.

Jay Ray: Mm.

Sir Daniel: You know, we just, like you said, we've, we've been satiated by the money that has been made that was floating around. We've got everything now to distract us. We've got these phones. We can distract ourselves with everything on our phone from music to, to corn, as the kids like

to say. And it's just, you know... Yeah, I, I just believe that there is a disinterest in-

In reaching out across the table. There's a disinterest because now, now we're, we're splintered off into these different groups 'cause, you know, you know, that, that stuff that's happen- that's happening to them immigrants and, you know, I ain't... That ain't our business. I'm b- I'm Black. I'm a foundational Black American, so that ain't my f- that ain't my business.

Now we're, we're splintered off into these different sub- subsets of Black people. And now

Jay Ray: Black, now, now Black folks th- that are, uh, descendants of slaves- Mm-hmm ... now you have the foundational Black Americans, and then you have all the... And it's like we keep dividing ourselves more. Yep. That's what the system wants us to do.

Sir Daniel: Absolutely. Absolutely. And so when that's happening, it w- then we can't agree on music, and then everybody has their own, you know, wants to listen to what they wanna listen to, and it's, you know. Yeah. Now, I see in the, um, in the chat that we have, um, let's see, uh, Mark and Leah-

Jay Ray: Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel: Mm-hmm ... have made some suggestions about who could sing.

I saw Ledisi.

Jay Ray: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel: I saw Fantasia.

Jay Ray: Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel: And there was somebody else. Ledisi- I said John Legend ... Fantasia, and John Legend could create something anthemic and beautiful. I agree. You know, they've recent... Well, John Legend was most recently on that, um, the Glory song. That sounded very, you know- Mm-hmm

protesty. And oh, here's what I was thinking. This is what I wanted to say. You mentioned, um- radio and the record labels and whatnot. Mm-hmm. I could d- distinctly, even with radio, there was an opportunity on ra- different radio stations for an Arrested Development to be played- Yes ... for, um, Public Enemy's records to be played.

Mm-hmm. And that's when, um, Black radio specifically still had a, had local- Yeah ... hooks, had local, um, gravitas in, in this, in their prospective cities. If you look and see, most of these radio stations are owned by huge corporations.

Jay Ray: Yep, and their-

Sir Daniel: There is- ...

Jay Ray: format is standard ...

Sir Daniel: standard. There is nothing, and when I tell you there is nothing, um, grassroots about it, there's nothing...

They try to stay a little bit local, you know, have some local flavor, but anything that's too radical or revolutionary does not have any s- any room on these radio stations in the programming, and it's called programming for a purpose, for a reason. Mm-hmm. And programming for any of that, anything that will make you wake up or wanna question what is being fed to you.

So know that as well.

Jay Ray: Hmm. Um, so true. So I, I, I do want to lift up, I'm glad that people put those artists in, in the chat. Mm-hmm. Um, I do wanna lift up the fact that, uh,

[00:16:17] Artists Making Protest Music Now

Jay Ray: Roby has been killing it, so we had two protest songs in a row. Yeah. He just dropped Pride, uh, for Black History Month, um, and then Change in twen- at the end of 2024, which was co-written with him and Donny.

Um- Mm-hmm ... so, and there's, so there's an appetite, right? And, and folks, so I think this is the beautiful thing. We definitely showing love to our indie artists who do-

Sir Daniel: For

Jay Ray: sure ... they have the ability, they ha- you know, they're not, they're able to do this because of where they sit in the industry. Mm-hmm. And so I think that's another thing to continue to champion as well is for our indie artists, you have some more freedom where you can play a little bit more, and because of the way the industry is now and the way things are set up, you could drop a protest song as a "white label" quote, unquote on a streaming platform and just promote it on the back end and, and do whatever it is that you need to do, but there's opportunity.

I wanted to also mention that- While there, from a commercial standpoint, while there aren't as many- Mm-hmm ... um, revolutionary songs, there have been some. We talk about Kendrick Lamar's Alright. Yes. Um, To Pimp a Butterfly realistically is, like, a protest album, right? Uh, and so that record, um-

Sir Daniel: Yeah, um, what's his name?

Um, Danny Glover.

Jay Ray: Danny Glover. Donald Glo-

Sir Daniel: Donald Glover ... Don-

Jay Ray: Donald Glover. Yes, Donald Glover- Danny Glover ... with This Is America.

Sir Daniel: This Is America. Danny Glover.

Jay Ray: Danny Glover, Lethal Weapon. Um-

Sir Daniel: Yes, he- Mister was protesting, Mister was protesting too. Right. Um- That was him running and dancing in that, in that garage.

But anyway- I don't wanna... Sorry for distracting you, Jerry. Go ahead.

Jay Ray: Go ahead. Well, Janelle Monáe, we talked about this, uh, in getting ready for this show.

Sir Daniel: Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray: Um, that Hell You Talkin' Bout? where, you know- Hell You Talkin' Bout? Yeah, there was, like, a 2013 version, and then Wondaland as a crew did, like, a 2015 version, right, as an update.

Um, uh, Lil Baby has a joint that Lil Baby did. Who? I don't know any Lil Baby song. But I do know this song, and he did the Bigger Picture in, uh, back in 2020. Mm-hmm. You know, H.E.R., where is H.E.R.? I know she's acting. She was just in, she was in The Color Purple and doing stuff like that. H.E.R. had a joint- Right

the I Can't Breathe thing. Um-

Sir Daniel: Yeah.

Jay Ray: Yeah, so there- Yeah, that, all of that was really- ... have been songs. Yeah.

Sir Daniel: All of that was really, it was nice. It, it was part of the moment. It was very-

Jay Ray: Yeah, but here's the thing, so I'm- Uh-huh ... wondering this, so this is a question, Sir Daniel, to you.

Sir Daniel: Okay.

Jay Ray: Because I also think this is the problem, and when we started, um, and I think Leah said this in the chat, you know, people could read...

Uh, no, it might have been Mark. People could read and understand context. Um-

Sir Daniel: Mm-hmm ...

Jay Ray: and we're now in a hashtag society. So the reason- Mm-hmm ... why these songs were able to be made, right, was because there was, like, a hashtag. It was like- Yes ... you know what I'm saying? I can't breathe. Okay, I can do a song, you know what I mean?

Like, related to that. And because that's the way people's ti- uh, uh, this thing. That's the way their attention span works. Mm-hmm. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So my question to you, Sir Daniel, is- Is that okay too? Like, uh, do we need a both/and where we get this kinda like piecemeal where you getting a little bit at le- you know what I'm saying?

At least it's not nothing. Or do- Yeah ... or do we need something more? What are your thoughts?

Sir Daniel: Um, I think because I don't think you can recreate it now because it's been done.

Jay Ray: Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel: And I don't think that they'll f- I don't think they're gonna fall for it again. Okay. Uh, I think people are very much... You know, there's a, there's a level of cynicism that has grown amongst us where even, even younger people are super, super cynical, and there is a optimism that does not exist, or at least I haven't seen it.

Jay Ray: Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel: Whereas there were, you know, in the before times, you know, there was a lot of optimism. There was, you know, reason to live. Now it just feels like we just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Mm-hmm. And so I don't know, I think we might see a, you know, party like it's 1999 attitude more so now. Hmm. And you know who I'm really disappointed in?

Jay Ray: Who?

[00:21:02] Gospel Artists & The Disappointment

Sir Daniel: I'm disappointed in a lot of gospel artists.

Jay Ray: Oof.

Sir Daniel: I'm disappointed, gospel, not for nothing, gospel really could be- It could be ... like could be standing on people's necks right now. Yes. But y'all wanted to go for that, what is that? That CCM money- Yeah, yeah, yeah ... and that CCM crowd, and so we know you not gonna ruffle any feathers because your, your- I know where the money's coming from

your

Jay Ray: mammy,

Sir Daniel: y- your mammy and your pappy and your sky daddy are over the ones that are pa- you know, giving you those large amounts of money. And so you can't protesting because protestings, that's not of God. That's out of order. And- Mm. You know, and, uh, and praising your Blackness is, is wrong. Yeah, okay, so that, so that's, I think that's why we're not seeing or getting anything from the gospel community either, and that's a shame.

Because if you look at the pa- Mahalia Jackson- Sing down ... was singing her face off for the movement. You know? Yeah. And she was gospel, but she knew that this wa- this ain't right. She was singing for her people and singing- Mm-hmm ... for freedom, for real, for real. And so I think it's, it's really disappointing across the boards, across the genres.

Um, there are literally people are going to have to, I don't know, just stage their own mini protests, I guess, or just do really, really small things without expecting a whole lot of fanfare or a, a whole lot of thanks. Just really- Yeah ... doing things from, that are innately Wanting change, that's gonna have- Yeah

that's gonna have to suffice for now.

Jay Ray: I wholeheartedly agree. Um, and I mean, honestly, I think that's all we can expect, uh, from folks, um, at this point, uh, uh, because, because of the way things have been set up. I do hope that we are able to roll back, um, some of this, uh, some of this apathy. Mm-hmm. I do hope that people begin to reconnect with culture, reconnect with community, um, in a way, um...

Yeah, 'cause, uh, uh, along these same lines, right, Mark is, uh, in the, in the, uh, chat here mentioning, you know, Black folks denouncing D9 orgs, talking about they demonic and all of this. And I'm like- ... oh my God, there's like all of this stuff that's just happening, and I do wonder if we're at the inflection point where it either is going to go in a direction that is going to, to move us forward and, or, or we stay where we are and get worse.

The reason why I got excited is because I don't wanna forget, and I think this is important too, I don't know why we haven't learned this by now in 2026,

[00:24:00] Community, Unity & Moving Forward

Jay Ray: the only way forward is together The only way forward is together. Now get rid of them fools. Now it's okay that the fools- ... the fools don't have to come, right?

Mm-hmm. And there's always some fools. But y'all be putting people in the fool category that don't need to be in the fool category. They all right. They need to come, okay? So we have to do this thing, and we have to do it together. There's no other way. And when I say together, I mean together together. Baby, scooping up everybody.

Come on. We gotta... It's the only way that this thing is gonna change. It's the

Sir Daniel: only way. I agree with you, Jay Ray. I, you know, I want some of that sunshine. I want s- that, that positive aura that you're giving off right now, and I hope it is in- infectious to everybody, and that we do feel like we can feel like that again.

And I'm start- So while we were having this discussion, I could not help but think of some of the attempts that have been made over the more recent years. And I'd mentioned, um, 9/11. Yes. Do you all remember this all-star tribute remake of What's Going On that featured such s- the song stylings of Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, Justin Timberlake, uh, O-Town, I'm sure, 98 Degrees.

Any, any and everybody you could think of hopped on this remake of What's Going On. And remember in the video everybody was wearing blindfolds?

Jay Ray: Yes.

Sir Daniel: Was it the f- was it the f- the flag, or it just had something across it that, I don't know if it said freedom or something. But, uh, yeah, those moments, although they were wild and they fall, um, I don't know where they fall in the annals of, of music history.

But it does, it did give me a chuckle in some ways. It gave me a chuckle. It distracted us for a moment. Um, you know, we pulled out... What color were the f- the ribbons we were wearing? Were they yellow? I think we were wearing

Jay Ray: yellow ribbons. I don't remember. What was the 9/11 ribbons? Oh, I can look this up on the internets.

Um- '

Sir Daniel: Cause we lo- Listen, guys. Is, is it time to bring out ribbons again?

Jay Ray: We need to bring out ribbons. 'Cause we love the ribbons. I'm tired. The, like- I'm telling all the artists. Like, when you go into these award shows, HIV is real. I need y'all to be wearing your red ribbons. Y'all out here playing. Um- Wear a ri-

Sir Daniel: Tie a yellow ribbon around-

Jay Ray: Oh, did 9/11 have...

No. Okay. So 9/11. Oh, I remember this. Um, I'ma, I'ma, I'ma share my screen really quick. Hold on. Uh, this is what... I typed in 9/11 in the, in the machine, in the Google machine.

Sir Daniel: Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray: And it said, and h- here's what it's showing me Can we see it yet? Hold on. We can't see it yet. It's turning on. There it is. So I remember this one, the We Will Not Forget- Ah, yes

um, situation.

Sir Daniel: We will not forget. That's it.

Jay Ray: Yeah, yeah, yeah,

Sir Daniel: yeah. That's it. And King of the Dance Floor is in the chat, and he said that was spearheaded by Lee Blake, the co-founder of Red Hot.

Jay Ray: Ah, y- listen, we love Red Hot. Thank you so much, uh, Steven. That's Steven Hicks, y'all. Mm-hmm. If y'all don't know who Steven is.

The Steven Hicks. The Steven Hicks, um, who wrote a great piece about the history of Red Hot. So definitely just Google Steven and Google Red Hot and you'll be able to read Steven's work. But we need the, the idea of that... So because that was something that would at least, for me, signal as a kid, because, you know, as a kid, you, the symbols matter.

Okay. Yeah. So I remember seeing the red ribbon and being like, "Everybody has that on. What does that mean? Oh, that's- Mm ... HIV awareness," AIDS awareness at the time. "Oh, if my favorite artist has that pin on and they're raising awareness, I should be aware of this too." Like, there's so much influence that artists have.

And I'm not saying that you got to write op-eds in The New York Times. But where do you stand?

Sir Daniel: I think everybody is afraid of being perceived as preachy, woke, um, judgmental. Um, people are afraid of being canceled. Mm-hmm. And we all know that cancellation is... That's fake. That's made up anymore. That's fake.

That doesn't work anymore. People get canceled and, you know, go on a redemption tour the next morning. Look- Look at, look at Tyra Banks. Tyra Banks is see- is now being seen everywhere now. She's being dragged to hell, but people, she's still making appearances and is going to capitalize off of that. So I think that if you are so inclined and if you do feel some, a calling on your spirit to say something, you should say something if you, especially if you have the platform for

Jay Ray: it.

Absolutely. Y'all, thank y'all so much for, um, hanging out as we wanted to talk about that. Um- Yeah ... but we definitely need this. Artists, uh, when you listen to this, share this with your favorite indie artists and let them know Queue Points wanna hear your protest, uh, songs. We need your protest jams. We will...

Hey, 'cause we can make this decision, Sir Daniel, because- Uh-huh ... we're an independent podcast. We can put those videos right in a broadcast of Queue Points. We want your protest songs, and we will put them in the broadcast. Send them over. Let your folks know. Subscribe wherever you are. Share the show with your friends, family, colleagues, because if you enjoy Queue Points, chances are they will enjoy Queue Points as well. Um, visit our website at queuepoints.com. You could become a member. Becoming a member of Queue Points keeps the lights on in Queue Points land.

Um, and it's really, really dope. You get some perks for becoming a member. All the stuff is there that you get. Um, actually, we've been behind the scenes working on, like, membership stuff. Oh, we got a new, um... So there's a, a, a group associated with the membership that's over on Telegram, so you get like a private group that we're working on where we could like talk about like music stuff and like really dive deep, and we could just like do geeky music stuff over on Telegram.

But we also started a, um, Spill Queue Points group over there so that we could also play around on Spill, Black-owned platform.

Sir Daniel: Yeah. And

Jay Ray: so if you're on Spill, you can subscribe to Queue Points over there. We got a, we got a group over there now. So, um, check us out. Uh, but definitely join Queue Points so you could become a member.

There's two different levels that you can join. We would appreciate it. Shop our store at store.queuepoints.com, and you could check out us on Substack. We have some content over there, and we have so many episodes you can listen to, so just pick an episode that tickles your fancy and catch up on Queue Points.

We appreciate y'all, and we love y'all.

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'm DJ Sir Daniel.

Jay Ray: My name is Jay Ray, y'all.

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. Make beats, not war.

Jay Ray: Yes. Peace, y'all.

[00:31:45] Outro Theme

DJ Sir Daniel, Jay Ray, Queue Points, Black Music Podcast, Donald Glover, Black Music History, kendrick lamar, Marvin Gaye, Show #242, major labels, independent music, protest music, curtis mayfield, janelle monae, civil rights movement, conscious hip hop,

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