"Any Time, Any Place" Janet Jackson: The Queen of Slow Jams #SlowJamsCanHealUs

Episode Transcript

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[00:00:00] Get Your Tickets For Banjee Boombox 2024

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[00:01:22] Opening Theme (Music by Danya Vodovoz)

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[00:01:53] Welcome to the show

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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 what's happening people. And what's up. I G people too. We live over there.

DJ Sir Daniel: absolutely. Queue Points podcast is the podcast dropping the needle on black music history. And as Jay Ray said, we are omnipresent. We are on your Twitter feed. We're on your laptop. We're on. Facebook, we're on YouTube and we're now we're on IG. So there's no need to, you can't resist

resistance is futile. what's going on with

Jay Ray: Nothing, man. Listen, I am glorious and grateful. I think I said this on the show a couple of weeks ago. I am grateful for, I'm sure a black person that invented air conditioning.

I'm sure they are black and I am happy to have AC because it's hot out in this, in this world right now. And correct me if I'm wrong, y'all had a huge rain thing that just happened today, right?

DJ Sir Daniel: Oh yes. Um, over the past couple of hours before we started this broadcast. Um, yeah, we, it was like a mini monsoon just like I, when I was leaving the gym, I was like, Oh yeah, the sky's about to open up, you know, how the, the, the light and the clouds are shafting and it looks really majestic and beautiful.

But at the same time, it's like, Oh, mother nature is about the clown. So let me get where I need to go. And it was so bad that I thought. I went to Kroger to grab a couple of things and thinking, Oh yeah, I should be good. Even though I could hear it was raining outside and re I mean, really coming down. But I was like, I got an umbrella.

I'm straight. I got this.

Jay Ray: What happened?

DJ Sir Daniel: out there, man, I, the wind and the rain was like, F your umbrella, sir. They were literally were like, um, Dave Chappelle kicking the couch, like, F your couch, F your umbrella. And, um, Yeah, I, I, I was like, you know, I'm not even going to try and run to the car cause that could result in me falling and injuring myself even more.

So I was just like, it is what it is. My back was completely soaked. My little footie socks was soaked, but Hey, I am here all dried off and ready to discuss, to warm it up. And J Ray, we really about to warm it up with this episode.

Jay Ray: We are about to, it's up. It's going to be so high. It's going to be a lot of moaning, but listen, before we go there. So sir, Daniel, we

DJ Sir Daniel: Yes.

Jay Ray: are about to travel to a place where you grew up.

DJ Sir Daniel: Go Brooklyn. Go Brooklyn. Yes, indeed. Queue Points podcast.

[00:04:49] Exciting Announcement: Banjee Boombox Event

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DJ Sir Daniel: We were about to be on the road again for a little, it's not for a long time, but it's for a good time. And, uh, we've been asked to be the, the media partner

for, uh, a really great event that takes place in Brooklyn.

This is their,

Jay Ray: I think this is their third or their fourth event Yeah, but

DJ Sir Daniel: And tell them about it.

Jay Ray: Absolutely. So, uh, we are a media partner for Banjee Boombox. It's a QT BIPOC festival collective that celebrates, amplifies and provides safe spaces for the voices of women, non binary and LGBTQIA plus artists, DJs, and musicians. And we are going to be hanging out with them in Brooklyn.

Uh, the event takes place on August 3rd. So we will absolutely make sure. that we share all of the information, um, on our socials and all of that, but, um, definitely follow Banjee Boombox wherever you are. So all over the socials, that's Banjee, that's B A N J E E B O O M B O X. And your boys will be in the building.

Shout out to, uh, Banjee Boombox for asking Queue Points to be part of this. We're really excited to come to Brooklyn and, um, share some, some dopeness with y'all.

DJ Sir Daniel: Absolutely. So all of our new york peoples from the outer boroughs, even jersey, you know, we're going to be there. It's going to be for a few hours. Please come out and support. See your boys. Um, you know, touch our hands, shake our hands. You know, we might have some surprises on us and, you know, You just never know what's going to happen when Jerry and Sir Daniel are in the building.

And we love live events

like that. We love being with the people and seeing people in person and, and getting to say hi, because we really appreciate how much you have all have taken us under your wings and take us everywhere to listen to this show. This wonderful show that we call Queue Points podcast and Jerry. This episode, we've, uh, we've been, we've been threatening to do this for a minute, but now is the time and now is the place. Jayware, we are about to discuss the Janet Jackson slow jam appreciation. Anytime, any place, as you see, I've lowered my voice. I'm going to get a little breathier uh, you know, we're just going to start off the conversation. Because Janet Jackson low key is the queen of slow jams. And I want to start, start this off.

[00:07:37] The Art of Slow Jams vs. Ballads

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DJ Sir Daniel: You made a brilliant discussion, a brilliant, um, differentiation between slow jams and ballads in one of our previous shows. Go ahead and hit them with that again about why it's so important to, to make a difference, to make a distinction between a slow jam and a ballad.

Jay Ray: Yeah. So it's, it's so interesting because the, um, the delineation is really, um, is really fine. Like you can, uh, first of all, all slow jams are ballads, but not all ballads are slow jams. So that's kind of the delineation. So slow ballads exist in any genre. So you can have a, you have a ballet in all genres.

It is a very common form of, of music. Slow jams are really specific. In that they are really tied closely to black tradition. So they are really tied closely to R and B music in particular, soul music in particular. Uh, we also have slow jams that are hip hop joints, right? But the difference between the two is the groove within the song, right?

With a slow jam, Sir Daniel, and we've seen this, People be nodding their heads and grooving, you can snap your fingers and you can nod your head to that slow jam. That bass is going to be giving you what it needs to give you, and the artist is going to be melodically bouncing over that groove. Whereas a ballad tends to be more straight ahead.

So, perfect, let's use Janet Jackson for an example. If we take The Janet album, for an example, Sir Daniel just mentioned, um, the title of this, uh, show anytime, any place, anytime, any place is a very classic slow jam, right? You can groove to anytime, any place on that same album is again, again, as a ballad you, and when you, when you put those two side by side, it makes it really clear, like, oh, this song is a ballad.

Um, it, it, it sits, it could sit in any genre. Whereas anytime, any place is squarely an R& B song. Yes.

DJ Sir Daniel: let's take another Janet. Oops. Sorry about that guys. Let's take another Janet. Um, streak

Jay Ray: Yes.

DJ Sir Daniel: We have, um, funny how time flies. But then we also have let's wait a while. It's the subject matter. Also let's wait a while as a ballad. And it's very chased. It's very, you know, I just want to make sure that you love me before I give myself to you. Whereas funny how time flies is like we getting it in and we doing it. We getting it in so hard. And so often we don't even know what time of day it is.

[00:10:37] Janet Jackson's Iconic Performances

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DJ Sir Daniel: So, yeah, so you guys, so there's a really big distinction between the two, but we're, we're talking about this Jerry, because Jenna has been all over the news lately and because the tour, the tour that she is on is such a huge success. And as she's everywhere and it's like. We love to see you. We love to see Janet standing in her icon ness and her, her legendary status and people are just eating up the shows. Everybody said the microphone is on, you know, the, the choreography is, is on. Everybody is stretched and limber. So everybody's having a great time.

Jay Ray: You know, um, so I had the opportunity to watch the essence performance and The thing that I absolutely love and, um, Janet has been doing this for a number of years is that it is very clear, um, that she has a command of her strengths, that she understands, um, her place in, uh, music history and her place in pop culture history, and that she is Aging gracefully on stage.

We have seen so many artists, her and her same age range, right? That are trying to be young, that are jumping around this stage, that are doing these things that are just age inappropriate, amen. And we're watching Janet. One get on this stage and it's like I'm 58 years old and I'm still serving right in an entirely new way the the the song still sound fresh because they are They've reworked the the arrangements of them The choreography still works Janet is in and out of that choreography because guess what?

She can't dance the whole thing and sweat it out Like she used to do before. It's just, she's 58 years old. That's not a thing. And not only that, she's a 58 year old mom. And so there are just things that she is clear about. And I love watching that.

DJ Sir Daniel: Absolutely. And I love that for her. I love that for us,

Jerry, on this past, what, July 13th, you know what happened on July 13th, 31 years ago,

Jay Ray: What? Oh, yes, I do. Yeah.

DJ Sir Daniel: was released. So we were talking about the Janet album in particular.

Jay Ray: 13th.

DJ Sir Daniel: and particularly the rollout for that album, is that Janet would typically hit us with, um, with an up tempo, high energy video concept, video, you know, something to get the dance, pack the dance floors, right? Janet was completely a different mood. It was like, she came, the first single was so mellow. That's the way love goes was just so chill and so laid back, you know, a very beautiful, um, video with just her and the dancers just, you know, kicking it in a room and, you know, vibing to the song. and, and and we loved it.

We ate it up. Right. But she said, but I got something for you for the second single. And when July 31st, excuse me, July 13th

rolled around in the if video dropped, it was pandemonium Jerry. It's pandemonium because, and that song to this day, we were talking about her, her performances on the tour. She cannot perform if to this day without doing the breakdown,

Jay Ray: you know that

particular

DJ Sir Daniel: if she doesn't do the

Jay Ray: We would literally be mad. And even though now she doesn't do like the full all out breakdown. She still has to do a version of it because guess what? Everybody is going to be doing the hand motion and then the on top of that thing.

[00:15:00] The Making of 'If' and Its Cultural Impact

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Jay Ray: We all know the thing and I think we need to take a set the stage for this too.

So, Dominic Senna was so significant about the If video too is it was directed by Dominic Senna. Dominic Senna is actually the dude who also directed the Rhythm Nation short film. So the album before the Rhythm Nation short film, Dominic Senna did that, that joint. And we know how powerful that 30 minute short film was.

I think it was about 30 minutes, but it included all the videos, including. The thing that I feel like really set if up, um, I think is the miss you much ending. Remember the ending. That's the end. No right

DJ Sir Daniel: hmm.

Jay Ray: of us that were there in that moment, we remember when them chairs came out and it was like, Whoa, there's a chair routine that's happening.

And I feel like Dominic just understood the importance of and Janet understands the importance of dance and theater. Like that's her bag. Like she gets that. And so if is. All of those things, you know, there's like a gajillion, what seems like a gajillion dancers. I there's rare times when we would see Janet and Michael were known for this, where you would get like a bunch of dancers.

In a music video dancing succinctly in choreography, but Janet mastered that in a way that I felt like was very special. But if when that joint came out, I remember thinking it was weird. I'm like, Janet looks similar as like, that's the way love goes. But then I'm guessing like, Oh, it's a continuation of kind of like, we're going from this to this.

Um, and man, they smashed it. They smashed that entire video.

DJ Sir Daniel: Absolutely, you know what you're absolutely right They did fought that color pattern

does follow throughout all the videos for that janet album And yes, the the orange the reddish orange hair and everything blowing in the wind and But, so, okay, so you know, I'm a dj, so I had to look this up. You know why we all love, we all know that the breakdown is coming because we hear the very distinct sound of,

Jay Ray: Dun, dun, dun, da, da, da

DJ Sir Daniel: do you know that, that this particular song. If is made up of three remarkable samples. So that first one, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, those, um, those strings that we hear, that's actually a sample from Diana Ross and the Supremes someday we'll be together.

Jay Ray: It

DJ Sir Daniel: And you would never think that that, you know, that.

tune someday we'll be together that very happy go lucky cherry tune would lend itself to such a high energy dance number and then we get to um that I just found this out the sound that we hear that That's used in, um, I said before the real Roxanne Bang Zoom, which was a huge record in Europe. Um, that's actually a musician by the name of John McLaughlin and his song Honky Tonk Haven. And to follow it now, a beat that we've heard all the time,

that we hear that

in

Jay Ray: hmm.

DJ Sir Daniel: um, right here, the Human Nature Remix. And, uh, quite a few other songs that is from the Lafayette Afro rock band. And the name of that song is Hey, he hot. She, I hope that I'm pronouncing that. Correct. He hot Shay. And, um, yeah, that song, Jimmy jam for Jimmy jam and Terry Lewis, not to be hip hop producers, quote unquote, they mastered samples,

They,

mastered them samples and put it together in such a dope way they were using breakbeats. At just as much as Pete rock and whoever you want to mention on the hip hop side It

Jay Ray: highlighting that because I think that's a part of, um, music history. That's really important. And it's the part that I think so many people try and run from today. Is it wasn't just sampling for sampling sake. These samples all mattered for the construction of this song, where it was these layered chops where if you know, you know, but if you are people like us, you want to do the research and you want to know like, what is this drum pattern?

What is this intro? Like what is all of this stuff? And because those folks understood music, music. Part of the craft of just creating a song is realizing that there's a lot of history to pull from. And If is a song that continues in that tradition. And one of the reasons we like If To your point, sir.

Daniel is because it has all of these little things in it that lead you back to a generation before real quick fun fact also on They apparently were just in there Diana Ross in the Supremes bag on the Janet record because you want this has the sample of lovechild That

DJ Sir Daniel: energy video mclight got a really good look

Jay Ray: was a good look for her

DJ Sir Daniel: that was a really good look for her and pushed her over the top. But, um, you know what else is funny about, and we're going to get to the, to the slow jams

Jay Ray: Of course.

DJ Sir Daniel: but you know, we want to pay homage to this moment of if, um, Can we talk about how Janet was ahead of the game with this, um, Japanese

Asian motif throughout the video is futuristic.

There was artificial intelligence all throughout the video. And now here we have a, you know, we've got Meg the stallion, Watashi all over the place with the

kids are doing this Watashi,

um, dance and tick tocking all over the place. And, you know, Japanese culture.

Is has always kind of had this parallel dance with black culture and you know, take from, they definitely take from each other, have

taken from each other, but Janet was ahead of the curve and had that in the video.

And she's done that in quite a few videos,

the doesn't Matter. video. Has a huge Harajuku

influence in the video, but, and, and we can't wrap up this conversation without shouting out Tina Landon and Omar for their choreography, because we ain't dancers, but like Jerry said, we can do that. That hand movement.

Jay Ray: hmm.

DJ Sir Daniel: and be in sync and got that part down and, and go to the left and then go to the right.

Oh, anybody can do that. And that's thanks to Tina Landon and Omar and their dope choreography. And, you know, I still, whenever those videos pop up, J rate on the timeline of the making of videos

and like the rehearsals, I have to sit and watch and just like, damn, did y'all know y'all were going to turn it like that?

Jay Ray: So there's two things I want to, um, as we wrap up this piece and get into the slow jams, um, there's two things that really caught me about Janet, in particular, as we researched for our first show. If you haven't watched our first show, by the way, on Janet Jackson, y'all definitely need to check that out.

Um, Two things. One, there's a making of if that you can watch on YouTube. Um, I see that we have Carlton is on Instagram. So I'm sure Carlton is absolutely seen this making of. Shout out to all the folks, by the way. Yes, um, shout out to Mark McPherson, who's joining us on Facebook. We have Black Women's Stitch, Carlton, Kiriakou, Slow So, so many people joining us on IG.

Thanks a lot for hanging out with us. Shout out where you're from. If you've got folks over on YouTube and Twitter, shout us out, let us know where you're tuning in from. Um, but. Two things I wanted to point out Janet really respected dancers like she there was a moment I was in the watching of that making of Where a dancer is being corrected in some way and Janet steps in and she's like, oh, actually that's probably me I'm probably late They're probably right So and I love that like that moment of stopping and saying no, no, no, no, no I know why you're saying that and it's not it's not it's probably not them.

It's probably me. I think I'm late. So That note on there and Carlton just said it that was Charnette where it was like Oh, and then Janet steps in is like no, no, no, that's not her. That's me. That's power

DJ Sir Daniel: That's professionalism. That's, that's always being a student and knowing that you, that you never stopped learning and that you're not beyond or above some type of correction or teaching a teachable moment.

And that's, that's what makes her a great and makes her the great. So, um, J Ray, you ready for this?

You ready to, uh,

Jay Ray: Listen, I feel like I need to lean in. I feel like I need to lean in to, cause we going to talk, we going to talk about Miss JJ

DJ Sir Daniel: Jenin

Jay Ray: Sir Daniel, Sir Daniel, you know what it was. You know what it was that you knew the Janet records were about to shift.

There was a,

DJ Sir Daniel: so talk about

Jay Ray: listen.

DJ Sir Daniel: Speaking of the monsoon, talk about it.

[00:25:23] Janet Jackson: The Queen of Rain and Sensuality

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Jay Ray: Speaking of the monsoon and because we are from the quiet storm generation of growing up, right?

We grew up going to sleep to the quiet storm, right? When a Janet Jackson record was slowing down, that music would fade and you would hear that thunder. Right? You would hear that thunder and that rain would start to fall. And there it is. Mark just said it. When that rain came, you knew it was time to get it in.

Okay.

DJ Sir Daniel: Absolutely. Yes. Just like Kyriakos is saying, the queen of rain, you are going to get a, a rainy forecast with Janet Jackson with a chance of orgasm on one of her albums. So let's just get into it. All right. So, and what we're seeing is the earlier part of this conversation, we were talking about Janet as. a dance artist and somebody who can, who understands the theatrics of a really good performance.

So that adds to her duality as an artist because she's a full on quiet storm artist as well.

She has had so many songs in rotation in the quiet storm that you cannot. Not, um, not have her in the conversation of slow jams and ballads.

A lot of artists don't have that kind of duality. A lot of artists, a lot of artists can do high energy and can do, you know. do mid tempos,

but not everybody can do a slow jam and do a, do a ballad that like Janet can, and that has made her a staple in black radio.

Jay Ray: Absolutely. Positively agree. So we don't I think we are beginning to give Janet more credit for this now, but we talked about this in kind of the last segment where Janet is a student. So she understands that she is sitting in a tradition of performers needing to be able to do it all and understanding that somewhere along the way.

Um, I don't know if it was, uh, the working with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis that kind of helped her get this, but the longevity comes in her ability to record these kinds of baby making songs. We all know for a fact that over the years we've heard, there are certain artists where babies have been conceived to their music.

DJ Sir Daniel: Yes.

Jay Ray: And she has figured out that to one, I can be on radio for the rest of my career. If I make these songs and two, I can insert my peep myself into some of the most important and intimate moments in people's lives, Jada Jackson has been part of people's lives in so many different ways, not just on the dance floor, but in the bedroom,

[00:28:38] Queue Points Mid-Roll Ad

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DJ Sir Daniel: I would stay up every weekend until 2am to listen to Mr. Magic and Cool DJ Red Alert and record their shows. I wish I still had those cassettes.

Jay Ray: Man, so in the summertime I would flip between BET and MTV all day long and record music videos on those big VHS tapes.

DJ Sir Daniel: Videos changed Everything. I would catch the number four express because it would get me home quicker to watch video music box.

And on Fridays or uncle Ralph only played hip hop videos. So, you know, it was on

Jay Ray: yo, I wish we had video music box here. But listen, music, culture, and history from a Black perspective. Cue points is all about the music that shaped our lives.

DJ Sir Daniel: And if this is music to your ears, check out Cue Points, wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Did you have a beeper growing up? Did I?

[00:29:38] Janet Jackson's Influence on Women's Sexuality

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DJ Sir Daniel: Speaking of being in the bedroom, I think Janet is also in her own special way, pioneered, um, the idea of women. receiving satisfaction or creating their own satisfaction. she was not shy about doing that in the song.

So while we were getting ready for this show, y'all, I reached out to, um, our friend to our show and also, you know, and, uh, a radio pioneer in Atlanta, I reached out to our friend, Tasha love. To ask her, because she, um, Tasha was music director over at V103 for years. And I asked her, I said, Tasha, was there ever an issue or a, any kind of mandate that we had to edit out Janet's moans and her subsequent orgasms at the end of these songs, because several of these songs,

she's, she's, she's, she's She's finished.

Jay Ray: Yes.

DJ Sir Daniel: has, Janet got hers, y'all.

Jay Ray: She did.

DJ Sir Daniel: no, it is no secret that she got hers at the end of these songs. But I was wondering for like, for censorship purposes and whatnot, was that a thing? And apparently it was not. Um, I probably because of how late the quiet storm was on they did figure those kids need to be should have been in bed anyway

but also um Tasha may mention that she'd spoken to jimmy jam. Um at a grammy Academy Academy event where she was interviewing him, and she asked about that whole process about, um, recording these particular types of songs with Janet. And I think that we've all heard those stories where Janet has said, Listen, I asked all of them to ask the studio engineers and everybody y'all going to have to turn these

Lights down and the light here in the studio the vocal booth is going to be completely off and so that I guess people are always their imaginations are running more like what is she doing in the vocal booth

Jay Ray: Giving

us life. Oh,

DJ Sir Daniel: pick up the phone? With your hands, what you doing over there? Ha ha

Jay Ray: gonna swell up and fall apart, Jesus.

Shout out to the velvet robe. Um, so to that point though, Sir Daniel as well, I do, Janet, To that point, also, this was an 80s trope. I just needed, but it's my favorite 80s trope, Sir Daniel.

DJ Sir Daniel: Mmm,

Jay Ray: how time flies has it. If in the 80s you needed your song to sound sophisticated, you put some French in it.

DJ Sir Daniel: Ah, we real Is our, is our friend Kipper in here? Because,

Jay Ray: Kipper cause Kipper did.

DJ Sir Daniel: king of throwing in some French in

the beginning of a song a la Vanessa Williams the right stuff Was

Jay Ray: put some French in it, but to that point because I was always curious. Janet is definitely a shot. She's on record as being like a shy woman. Um, And it makes sense that the lights would have to come all the way down in order for her to be able to deliver the stuff that she was able to deliver because yeah, like I don't know that funny how time flies in particular sounds very real.

DJ Sir Daniel: I mean,

you know, to go to, if you're going to cry like Penny, you know, why not be able to fake an orgasm? You know,

Jay Ray: Sure.

DJ Sir Daniel: you know, it's called, it's called breath, width of talent. You know, that's,

that's, that's called being, being able to go into your bag as an actor and be able to pull from certain, no pun intended, to be able to pull from certain, um, inspirations. But, um, you know what Janet has also been able to do though? She's also, she's been able to take these experiences that we feel one on one with her on record

[00:34:26] Janet Jackson's Live Burlesque Style Routine

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DJ Sir Daniel: or on the radio, where she's in between our ears, but she's also been able to take it and translate it into a live show.

Jay Ray: Yeah.

DJ Sir Daniel: And here we have another example of, you know, Janet, um, putting, Women's sexuality at the forefront and

saying, ladies, we can be, we're in control here.

Jay Ray: no pun

DJ Sir Daniel: ask for no pun intended. Let's ask for what we want.

Uh, let's take what we want and let's really, you know, turn out the party. And. She, she did that by also implementing like this burlesque element to her shows. And you know, someone in particular, J. Ray, that has the honor of not being experienced this once, but twice with

Janet Jackson.

Jay Ray: I do. Um, shout out to, uh, Ron. Um, but yes, uh, this is a real thing where Janet would pull folks from the audience to, um, end up, uh, and if there, and they've been different iterations of it over the years. If you watch the, uh, Essence show from even this year, she did a version, It's Janet. It's 58. She grown.

It's not the same. It's going to be a little, a little, uh, she got to put a leg out. She gonna pull it back and they go

DJ Sir Daniel: Right. Right. Right.

Jay Ray: before it was like, I would just take all my clothes off and like, dot it out. But anyway, uh, Ron was part of the experience where she would actually, uh, they would be bound. On the stage and then Janet, yes, they would be restrained and then Janet would do her dance, um, to them.

And I remember very specifically because I saw, um, on one of the HBO specials where she would literally climb up onto, onto them and like do a gyration. I wouldn't have been, okay. I wouldn't have been able to take that. I wouldn't have been able to take none of it. I would have been like, listen, I guess I'm straight now.

I don't know. I think I'm straight now.

DJ Sir Daniel: And Janice, not a big woman. Just a petite woman. And these are big men. And they always had them on these big contraptions contraptions to restrain them. And she like seeing her climb up on these men, these grown men and watch them be reduced to puddles.

Jay Ray: These men's faces.

DJ Sir Daniel: where they were just never the same after that and I and your your friend he experiences not once but

Twice.

I don't I don't think if it was me after the second time I'll be like, Oh, yeah, me and Janet go together. Real bad. you know, we're, we're on the show together. Real, we do this, this is our thing now. So yeah. Um, yeah, she don't care that we see other people, but we do this.

Jay Ray: Yeah.

DJ Sir Daniel: we're a couple. I, you wouldn't be able to tell me nothing. I, cause Janet Jackson has pulled me up on stage. Not once, but twice, but. I think, and, and this is how, you know, she's a legend and an icon, plenty, plenty of people have tried to recreate that same

moment in their own special way. If you recall, remember when, um, Destiny's Child did their own version at one of those BET awards and had, what's his name, Terrence Howard and a couple of the

Jay Ray: Oh yeah. I think Nelly was part of that, I believe. Yeah. I think

DJ Sir Daniel: and did a little, Yeah, and do a little cheer dance with them and, you know, cause them to have to put their hands in front of their crotches for a little bit, you know, because that's a, that's a moment of power.

That's a moment of, yeah, the power dynamic being shifted

Jay Ray: Mm-Hmm.

DJ Sir Daniel: in these situations where women, um, at that time do experience a large amount of power over men. in that moment. And that's a very vulnerable moment for men to be in.

And she's mastered that. Janet has definitely mastered that.

[00:38:49] Top Janet Slow Jams

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DJ Sir Daniel: And, um, I think we got to tell people now, Jerry, we got to give people our, let's do Three. Let's do three of our favorite, uh, Janet slow jams and I'm going to, you go first.

Jay Ray: Um, so I didn't write any of these down and I probably said them, um, in some version of a show before. Um, but my first. uh, favorite is actually Lonely, which is interesting. Lonely is not a love song in the traditional sense of a love song. Lonely is a slow jam from Rhythm Nation 1814. And she is talking about friends who are experiencing a difficult time, um, depression, reaching out for help to call me.

Anytime you feel the need, call me when you're lonely, right? Um, one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard and can easily be mistaken for a traditional love song, but that's the beauty of Rhythm Nation. Can I say something real quick? I know we're talking about our favorite love songs, but I want to make sure that we give Janet props for this.

Janet Jackson decidedly. chose to make black music. She decidedly chose to make a message music when she ain't have to do none of that. She literally Jenna Jackson could have been a pop girly in the vein of everyone else. And she decidedly made a black album and decidedly made a message album at a time when she didn't have to.

And Rhythm Nation goes so hard as a record. Um, and so to have a song like Lonely on it as a slow jam is in my opinion, like revolutionary. Cause it's like, I'm gonna take the slow jam format, but I'm going to give you a message behind it. That's not about this, this sort of thing that you would expect. So Lonely, two, um, Uh, anything from the Velvet Rope, Dear God in Heaven.

Shout out to that song. Um, the Velvet Rope has many gems, but, um, anything is one of my favorites. Um, it definitely sounds like one of my, like 1997, but in a really good way. Um, and, oh, what's going to be my last one? I think my last one is going to be. Um, Oh, no. She's just featured on that. Okay. My last one is going to be Funny How Time Flies.

I love that song. It just never gets old. It's a staple on Quiet Storm Radio and um, so of the Janet's anything is kind of a sex song, but I think Funny How Time Flies is like a traditional sort of like sexy Janet slow jam. So those are my three. What are yours?

DJ Sir Daniel: I'm not mad at any of those. Okay. So I'm going to start with this kind of has more of a groove than you would expect for like a slow jam, let's get it on video, um, song, but I absolutely love when we, ooh, when we, ooh,

is, you know, I, I, I love the, I don't know what instrument that is that's playing back there, but you know, we get a good, um, a good thunderstorm Sound effect in the background

when that song starts and and the strings come in I love the way it comes in And yeah, when we ooh is definitely one of my favorite Janet Slow jams.

But then after that, I just have to, you know, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm a bit of a bird. I'm a bit, you know, I have, I have my, my

Jay Ray: Bird tendencies. Oh,

DJ Sir Daniel: would always turn it. Would you mind, would you mind is, is the nicest, plainest way to ask somebody to

Jay Ray: Yeah.

DJ Sir Daniel: and it, but it's, it's done in such a, a playful, sensuous, slow, it's, it's the way you want the act to happen.

I think her songs, definitely the pace pacing of the song is how we would like for the act to happen. We would like for the foreplay to take place before you get to the, the main course of the meal, you know? And, uh, yeah. Um, would you mind is definitely, and I hate that you can't get that song. You can't get it as a single.

You have to really buy the whole album to get that song. I

don't know why this is one of them weird things, but anyway. And so I think we were on the same wavelength as our last one because she's, it's not her song, but I still,

Jay Ray: about to say what I was thinking.

DJ Sir Daniel: I still consider it part of the Janet pantheon is that making love in the

rain is just,

Jay Ray: that's where I was,

DJ Sir Daniel: were staying on this rain motif.

I'm

sorry. Even though, even though being outside in the rain and trying to be intimate sound is the, Ickiest,

Jay Ray: Yeah, that doesn't

DJ Sir Daniel: most uncomfortable thing that you can experience. I'm not saying that I've experienced, but I don't like being, I don't like being wet. Exactly. Or trying to, you know, people that enjoy shower sex. Hats off to you. I feel like I, I could drown in the shop. But anyway, that's a different whole, um, that's another conversation for a different kind of podcast. But, um, yeah, making love in the rain, Herb Albert

and

Jay Ray: Lisa Keith, Lisa Keith, baby, who, who was that white woman was singing down

DJ Sir Daniel: was a white woman? She was carrying on, on those

Jay Ray: Carrying!

DJ Sir Daniel: have no, no idea, but yes, Lisa Keith, but I. I still consider that part of the Janet pantheon. So those are definitely my favorite Janet slow jams. But, uh, where's one slow jam that we did not mention J Ray. And I think there.

[00:45:49] Issa Rae's Hilarious Janet Tribute

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DJ Sir Daniel: I introduced it to you via a video that you had never seen before, and this is why I love a good song can be interpreted in so many ways. And if you, if you're a fan of Issa Rae's earlier work, you know what this video is that we're playing right now. It's from a short that she called, um, the church. Yes, the choir, no, the

choir.

and what's happening right now is the choir director has put together a lovely rendition of any time, any place and turn it into a gospel song and the, yes, the hilarity of course ensues. We're getting the lead choir singer, you know, touching herself just a little bit, but she's talking about Jesus because you want Jesus to walk with you. You want Jesus. Beside you, you want Jesus inside of you

Jay Ray: You want Jesus inside?

DJ Sir Daniel: so that you could be full of Christ's love and throw your head back with abandon. Just like what she's doing in this video.

If you haven't seen it, look up the choir on YouTube. It's from Issa Rae's. Uh, look at that, that finish where the microphone is just gliding down her body and singing in the sun. Can you imagine in the thunder and

Jay Ray: In the thir

DJ Sir Daniel: in church in the

thunder and

Jay Ray: y'all, I had never, ever seen this before we were having our meeting getting ready for this show. And, and DJ Sir Daniel's face was like, I don't understand what you're saying right now. And I'm like, I don't know what you're talking about. This right here.

DJ Sir Daniel: this.

Jay Ray: brings me so much joy. It's the most ridiculous and my favorite.

If you want J Ray's kind of humor, it's this. I want to go to this church because I would be in the audience like, yes. Right.

DJ Sir Daniel: I will not be able to look at anybody because I'm here for the carrying on for the shits because I love foolishness. This is camp. Now we hadn't talked about, um, We rarely talk about Tyler Perry movies around here, but I know everybody has been talking about that, um, the latest movie that he put out, Divorce in Black. I wish Tyler Perry would lean into camp. This is camp. The choir, this performance of Anytime, Anyplace in Church, that's camp.

I think we would live, we, and Tyler would win if he just went full on camp in the best way possible, but that's all we're going to. Talk about that, but yes, I'm glad I was able to introduce you and your spirit J Ray to this part of being a Christian.

Jay Ray: Well, wait!

DJ Sir Daniel: I bet you never, I bet you never thought you could be touched like that in church.

Jay Ray: I, I, I never, I never ever thought that I would be touched in this way. Um, so to that point, that is also the mark of an artist who's made an impact. Because here you got a Janet Jackson song being in the music video. Interpolated in this comedic way and it worked so well So yeah, this is fun. That was fun.

Thank you for introducing the

DJ Sir Daniel: opened the, yes, I think it opened the doors also for what's that other song? Um, dip it low for Jesus

Jay Ray: Dip it low for Jesus

DJ Sir Daniel: yeah. So, so this, this could actually be, Janet has yet again, pioneered another lane,

Jay Ray: Yeah

DJ Sir Daniel: like slow and sexy jams for the Christian in your life that. You know, they don't necessarily want to go out and experience these things or do them yet because, you know, that's just not how they roll

because the Bible says so. But, you know, that doesn't mean that you can't, you and your heavenly father can't, you know. Get it in real quick.

Jay Ray: Oh my god, y'all. Thank you so much.

Thank y'all so much for hanging out with us as we, uh, Live loved on Janet Jackson and her slow jams as well as just her career in general. Um, please go back, take a listen to, I think it's episode 46. Um, we talked about Janet Jackson, um, around the time of her documentary.

DJ Sir Daniel: Thank you. First of all, to everybody joining us again on Instagram,

Twitter, YouTube, that's commenting and, and just being a part of the conversation.

We absolutely love you for it.

I agree with Jason in the chat. This has probably been my favorite episode so far. Uh, we went from. You know, getting freaky with Jesus and Janet to talking about the RNC and all that foolishness is popping off over there, but that's what you're going to get on the Queue Points podcast.

[00:51:25] Closing Remarks and Announcements

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DJ Sir Daniel: As a man and Jerry, we would be remiss if we did not remind the people of how they can keep in contact with us and find us wherever, whenever they want a piece of Queue Points.

Jay Ray: absolutely. Yo, please let us know by the way for we're on IG. Please let us know IG folks. Do you like us joining, uh, coming on live and y'all can watch the show on IG. Let us know by sending us an inbox. We would love to hear from you for, excuse me, for everyone who joined us this evening. Thank you so much for just hanging out with us, um, and going on this journey.

Cause it was a journey, uh, for this particular episode. And. The most important thing that you can do is watch the show. So wherever you are watching, go ahead, watching or listening, go ahead and hit the subscribe button. If they have a notification bell, hit the notification bell so you can know when we have new shows.

Um, definitely join, uh, go and visit our website, Queue Points. com. You can sign up for our newsletter there. You can also read Queue Points magazine where we have Other things that, uh, kind of support the show. Um, you can do that. You can certainly keep the lights on over in Queue Points land by shopping our store at store.

Queue Points. com. Definitely check that out. If you want to hang out with us in the future. In New York, as we talked about earlier in the show, uh, we are going to be at the Banji Boombox Festival in Brooklyn on August 3rd. Brooklyn's in the house. So definitely come and hang out with us. We'll make sure that the links so that you can purchase tickets and hang out with your boys is absolutely there.

Um, one other thing, Sir Daniel, um, We have a bunch of folks, we want to thank our folks listening on Pandora. Sir Daniel and I, um, are really, really excited about all the stuff that's happening with Pandora. So if you are checking out, uh, Queue Points on Pandora, we thank you so much. There's gonna be more to come.

If you are listening to the show and you are not, uh, checking us out on Pandora, go ahead and download that Pandora app because there's going to be other stuff that you can do over there that is Queue Points related. So more to come on that in August. But yeah, thank y'all so much for being here with us.

DJ Sir Daniel: Absolutely. And what do I always say, Jerry, 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: I'm Jay Ray y'all.

DJ Sir Daniel: and this has been Queue Points podcast, dropping the needle on black music history. We'll see you on the next go round.

[00:53:54] Closing Theme

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