The Concept of Gratitude (Guests: B4Nine Podcast)

Episode 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 require them.

Jay Ray: Hey, what's up, good people. It's Jay Ray, the co-host of Queue Points, and I wanted to come to you because there are two really important ways that you can support our show. One is by subscribing to it wherever you listen to or watch your podcast. Queue Points is pretty much everywhere. The other thing that you can do is you can visit us on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify and on Pod Chaser, and you can leave us a star rating.

Please rate us five stars because you know you love Queue Points. And on Apple Podcasts and on Pod Chaser, you can actually leave us a written review. It's not required, but it really does help to spread the word about the show and it helps people to discover it as they're looking for new podcasts to listen to.

We're always appreciative of you supporting Queue Points. We thank you so much for all that you've done for us so far, and enjoy

Combined File: the show.

DJ Sir Daniel: Yes. Welcome back. It is, well, it's been a minute, but this is Queue Points. With your host. I am DJ Sir

Jay Ray: Daniel. And my name is j Ray, sometimes known by my government as Johnnie Ray Kornegay III, what's happening

DJ Sir Daniel: people listen, you are tuned into Queue Points officially dropping the needle on black music history.

Listen, J Ray, let's just cut to it. The holidays are upon us. Um, yes, let's just cut to it how you feel. I was just about to say, how are you feeling? So is that a little holiday? Cheering that

Jay Ray: cup. There's a little holiday cheering this cup. So folks, we have not been live like this in September, so, and it's the holiday, so I brought me a little eggnog, I spiked it with a little rum.

It's a lot of rum in here, you know, and uh, so I'm feeling good sir. Daniel, how are you feeling?

DJ Sir Daniel: I'm feeling excellent. Um, We closed up shop early today because of the holiday. So I was able to run down to one of my favorite, um, places to go hang out little five points. And I ran into the people of dope coffee and I finally got my hands on some of their iced coffee, which is infused with spinach, which can't really tell, but I, I'm enjoying this experience, so I don't have, I don't have the holiday cheer in there, wink wink, but it's giving me the, you know, a little pet in my step so that we could talk about all the stuff that we need to catch up on.

All the things that people, black Friday is coming up, so people need to go shopping. And so, you know, when it comes to shopping Queue Points. Got you. We do Got you. Merchandise that they can get their hands on. Jay Rain,

Jay Ray: you know, so check it. Y'all, y'all know. Well, before we even get into this, we going do a, we gonna do a first step shout out to something severe.

Who is our Insider's Max Member Trey has been here since day one. That's right. Day one and has been such a huge supporter of the show and is now an Insider's Max member. So one of the things that you can do in addition to buying products is you can subscribe to Queue Points. And we highly encourage you to do that because we got, um, Exclusive shows back there.

We got the entire archive of Queue Points, which you can't see anywhere else but on our website you can listen everywhere, but you can't see us. But if you go to our website, you can. So all of that's back there. So if you become a member, you have access to it. So you can do that. Okay. Them products. So you see how Sir Daniel got that Fly Queue Points uh, shirt on that right there.

You can own one yourself. If you go to our store, if you visit store dot Queue Points.com, you could check out all of our merch. We got shirts, we got hoodies we got for y'all. DJs, we got slip mats. Yo, you one, you got dj Sir? Daniel

DJ Sir Daniel: got one. I'm, listen, I'm right here. I, it's right here in front of. What? It's so dope.

It's so dope. And y'all, for those of you who are going to be in tune to my upcoming live broadcast when I DJ live, you will see the, um, the slip mats in action. It's beautiful. They're very, they do what they need to do and they look good. It just pops out at you. So I'm really proud of, you know, what we got going on here on Queue Points.

And again, shout out to Trey, something severe for always, always holding us down. Things like that are what make community and Queue Points as a community. And before we go any further, I wanna shout out to another, another member of the Queue Points community. I wanna shout out Jay Ray. I wanna shout out Jay Ray.

Well, thank you because he, so you guys, Jay Ray, um, just did an article, has an article featured in the Atlanta Journal Constitution. And it was quite a ver, it was a very touching article. Because it dealt with the issue that a lot of people don't think about. And that's, um, what do students do at HO during the holidays?

Yep. Now I work, some people may know that I work with the homeless people who are experiencing homelessness. And a lot of times, a lot of those people are students because at during the holidays, if the campus doesn't allow you to stay on, on site, then you have to go. You may or may not have somewhere to go.

And there's lots of reasons why people may or may not have some somewhere to go because their family doesn't accept them, which is a huge reason, or you just can't afford it. So, I think that the article is about creating community to answer those issues about, uh, food insecurity and, uh, possible homelessness and, and just loneliness during the holidays.

So shout out to UJA Ray for spotlighting those, um, those fascinating young people down there at the AUC making some things happen for other students. If you wanna check it out, please go look on j Ray's socials. He has links to the article. It's a great read. It will, it'll really, it'll make you feel like doing something special for other people and not just thinking about yourself during the holiday, which is what

Jay Ray: it's all about, man.

Thank you. I did not know you were gonna do that. So thank you Sir Daniel for, for doing that. And yes, I'm incredibly grateful. So I actually wrote that piece. CMPs or the counter-narrative projects, the reckoning. And we have a partnership with the ajc. And so, uh, we typically will send them all the newest articles and say, Hey, if there's something you like, and they selected that one, they were like, Ooh, we can use this AUC Thanksgiving article.

And I was like, what? So, yep. You know, just knowing that my advice to folks is you can use your voice in many ways and I was so happy to be able to tell that story of those young people. Um, and so thanks man for shouting me out. And yo, we gotta shout out a couple more people. So shout out to Matthew who is in the chat and shout out to Wany, who's one of our day ones who is also in the chat.

We love it. And um, yes, y'all, we are live like so we're able to talk to you. It's been a while.

DJ Sir Daniel: very, very much live, very much glad to be here. And um, again, key Points is a community, um, and we want to. We're thinking about all the communities outside of Queue Points. Mm-hmm. that are going through, I mean, going through it.

Um, our thoughts and prayers are the, with the, the families of the victims of the Colorado nightclub shooting. Mm-hmm. , which, um, Jay Ray, you and I have discussed ad nauseum. Um, unfortunately the country continues to have to have this discussion ad nauseum. Yep. And, but not even this morning, what, 48 hours after that.

There's another shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia. And so, you know, information is still coming in about that, um, that involved employees. It's Listen, everybody, listen. Here's my 2 cents, and I think I may have shared this before, but I, I've been trying to live by a motto that has become my mantra.

My mantra is grace and space. Mm-hmm. . I know a lot of times when we go out in the world, sometimes we may not be in the best place. We don't know what other people, what place other people are in. And so I try to live by the mantra grace and space. Try and give people just a little bit of grace and give them some space.

Give yourself some space if you need to because we just don't know what people are going through. Um, you don't know what kind of encounter can trigger somebody. So, Aside from being, keeping your head on a swivel mm-hmm. , you know, please be safe out there, but when we encounter each other, let's just try and have a little grace for each other so that we can stay alive basically.

Jay Ray: Yes. Now and you know, so Sir Daniel and I, we talked about Club Q on um, however, comma, which is our members only show, um, and really dug into it. So if you wanna really get into what we think, definitely check that out. But I will, I will echo what you said about the grace and spacer, Daniel. And I think also from a policy perspective, we have to figure out this gun, these this gun thing, this gun problem that is so unique.

It as to your point, you said on Monday on, however, it's as American as apple pie. Yep. And this is not it. This is not it. And, um, yeah, we, uh, so definitely sending from Queue Points love out to the families in Colorado, from Club Q as well as, uh, the families of the victims in Virginia today. And, um, yeah, policy wise, we gotta figure it out.

We gotta elect folks that are going to figure this out. And Rafael, who just jumped in the chat, uh, has a lot of really interesting thoughts around this as well. Making sure that you check out Raphael's, uh, uh, um, podcast called White Label American, which is super dope as well. So shut out to Rafael and White label

DJ Sir Daniel: American

It's so funny, like this holiday that we're about to celebrate was built. Violence, . It was built on, established on violence, on taking away the lands and the property of indigenous people. But we don't wanna dwell on that. You know, it's already, like we said earlier, it's already difficult during the holidays for a lot of people.

And what we wanna do in this moment that you're with us here at Queue Points, it's just to, you know, lighten up the mood a little bit. We gonna talk some music. We got some friends that we're reconnecting with. Mm-hmm. . Um, and it's Thanksgiving. What I like about the idea of Thanksgiving is having gratitude, and I am super grateful to have a, a partner in uja Ray Ray because when we started this podcast, we, not only did we take a different approach on how we wanted to, you know, talk about the things that we talk about on here, but we've been very intentional about how we do business because Oh, absolutely.

Good point. Is a business and we're treating it as such because ladies and gentlemen, uh, while j Ray was on one of his trips down here in Atlanta, he and I met up and we had an official Queue Points signing party because in the words of the immortal Sean Carter, I'm not a businessman. , I'm a businessman. Ok.

Sorry. I had to do it. I had to do it.

Jay Ray: Yo. Um, so excited. Like from a podcast perspective, um, this podcast, uh, is our business. This is me and Sir Daniel. We are business partners in this business. We actually got paperwork to approve it now, right? Mm-hmm. . And we have to treat, um, the things that we love with the respect they deserves and Queue Points.

That's right. Absolutely deserves all of our attention. And one of the things that we had to do was to formalize. Queue Points. So Queue Points LLC is real. And um, thank y'all so much for making sure that we could make this possible. It's with your support, it's with your work, it's with your talk telling other people about the show that we are able to do this.

And so, yeah. Congratulations sir Daniel. We, we, we done made it to another

Combined File: thing.

Mashaun D. Simon: Congrat ,

DJ Sir Daniel: I'm telling you, we're up to 79 shows. We've got our LLC signed. I mean, things couldn't be better. I, things couldn't be better for us Queue Points and for, like you said, our supporters who keep in contact with us on the social medias and regardless of what's happening out there, , regardless of the, of the dumpster fire that Twitter is right now, we are gonna keep in contact with you guys because you know, without you, there's no us.

I hate to sound corny, but it's true. Without you, there is no us, but you know, indeed. Twitter is a dumpster fire right now. It's, it's, it reminds me of those, it reminds me of those, um, those, uh, those evangelical movies about being left behind , those, those end of days movies, the second coming movies where, you know, what are we gonna do?

People are running around. They're, they're, they're, they're making all kinds of hot takes about, you know, who should be on here, who should be on this platform? People are allowed to come back that probably don't need another platform. It, it's really crazy out here, Jerry, and you are relatively not, not, not new to it, but yeah, you know, really playing on the Twitter streets like that.

Jay Ray: I didn't, I didn't start playing on the Twitter streets. We talked about this too on however, so we really got into Twitter and if you wanna know, one of the things that me and Sir Daniel, Got in our email from Twitter. You need to go watch that show for real. Like it's crazy. Go watch. However, anyway, um, I didn't start playing in these Twitter streets until we started Queue Points.

For real. I had always had an account, but I hadn't really like, leaned into it. And then I started loving on Twitter and then I'm like, oh shoot. Twitter's, this is horrible. . Yeah,

DJ Sir Daniel: it's wild. But like you said, um, I really think people really need to get into the things that we chatted about on, um, on however comma mm-hmm.

So however, comma, what you need to do is subscribe so you can check out that show because we let now you think we let loose here, we really let loose on however j Ray be cussing and stuff. You wouldn't even, you probably wouldn't even recognize J Ray, that other side of J .

Jay Ray: Listen, there's no filters when it's behind the wall.

Cause it's, it's just us talking. It's, it's,

DJ Sir Daniel: listen. It's just me and you talking. Right. Okay. And so, you know, the thing about the thing about the socials, the social medias, the different platforms like Twitter has spaces and mm-hmm. places where people can get on and, and talk that talk. Right. Including, you know, a lot of celebs, a lot of rap artists.

I'm putting up my Bunny airs rap artists.

Jay Ray: They be rap artists, sir Daniel.

DJ Sir Daniel: Okay. That's what they do. They, you know, and most recently, it seems like, okay, just recently, 21 Savage. Mm-hmm. , you know, defended his, his gaw or, and claimed that he really wasn't talking that talk about, um, NAS, NAS Uhhuh, and then the most recently NBA young boy.

It's quoted as saying, Jay-Z can't out wrap me. Now, here's the thing. Mm-hmm. , what's gonna happen is, and people have to know this, when you say make kind of inflammatory statements like that, no matter what your, your definition is or what your explanation is after that, you know they're only gonna take that one little piece and run with it.

Yep. So now the, it's NBA young boy is labeled as saying he can, he got bars, more bars than Jay-Z and he can out out wrap Jay-Z, which, you know, is a very questionable statement on behalf of that young man.

Jay Ray: Yes. So here's the thing. What we know about, I think if we put it all in context, right? Mm-hmm. , rap, hip hop, particularly rappers themselves, but the culture as a whole in a lot of ways, and we've talked about this on in fact the last few shows, um, Talking greasy, being braggadocious.

Being saying you are the best is important for a rapper, right? Yeah. And we also, I think this is one of those situations where you have to be mindful of exactly what you're saying. It's kind of the same thing that I felt with 21. I didn't think what, 21? When you looked at the context of what he was saying, I get where he was coming from.

Mm-hmm. . It's just like those weren't the right, exactly the right words in the right formation that you wanna do. Yeah. Cause I don't know. I don't know about the statement of Jay-Z. Him, him Jay-Z can outra him. I don't, I don't know. I don't know the validity of that. I

DJ Sir Daniel: don't know. , listen, NBA young man, I think you just keep living and keep striving.

Yes. That's, that's what I'll say, NBA young man, you keep striving until you, your generation may in fact call him the Jay-Z of his generation.

Jay Ray: Yep. And like Rafael said in the thing I rem he remembers one period where everybody claimed to be the king of New York. Exactly. That's true. It was just kind of a thing.

That's true. Like, but this is like Jay, when you start putting people names in there, you be like, okay, now you, now you got us. Make it comparisons.

Combined File: Right,

DJ Sir Daniel: right. And you know what, I'll say this. So years ago when I was working in radio, um, somebody gave me some really good advice because of, I went in to talk to a program director because I really wanted a job at this radio station.

And when I went in to talk to the, um, To the program director, one of the first things I started doing was comparing myself to other people that were working there and naming them by, by name and was saying, well, I can do this better than so and so, and you know, I can do this better than so and so. And I left that meeting thinking, oh, you know, I got this, or, you know, I'm, I'm as shoe in for a position.

And I went and spoke to my mentor at the time. Mm. And he basically looked at me and said, yeah, you're lucky that he didn't walk you out right then and there because. What, and and essentially what I did by comparing myself to those people and saying that I could do what they do better, which was probably false at that time too.

Most definitely false. And then it also attacked him. It also assaulted him and his decision making skills as a program director. So I completely jumped out the window, put my foot in my mouth, all the cliches you can think of, and nearly committed career suicide early in the game. And so I say all that to say, and people don't tell you this, a lot of times young people don't, they don't get this kind of mentorship.

They don't get people giving them jewels like that. Like if you want. Say you're the best. That's fine. Leave everybody else out of it. Don't bring anybody else you don't want to do that. Just work on you. Work on your product. Show 'em. Prove what you can do. Point to that. Don't point to other people. and compare yourself to them because then, then you're just opening yourself up to, you know, possibly getting run out of Twitter and you know, being, have a whole generation of folks looking at you sideways and not really wanting to support your music.

Because regardless of what they think, I think it'll, it behooves them to have support from everybody, from all age groups and that participate and listen to hip hop. But, you know, that's the, on that,

Jay Ray: you know, and I think to that point, sir Daniel, I think the goal for folks, for all of us is to get that time behind us so that we can gain the wisdom, right?

Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, the hope is you get the opportunity for like an NBA young boy and a 21 that they get to have a career like a nas, right? Mm-hmm. , they get to the, all that 30 year mark and say, wow, not only am I at 30, I'm still. At, I'm so relevant at 30 years. Right? Absolutely. So you wanna get to that point.

And so, to that point, we are going to talk about gratitude on today's show through our conversation with our guests who are gonna be coming up after, um, in our, in our next segment. But I wanted to, uh, bring up Nas because King's Disease three has been on repeats around these J Ray office streets. Mm-hmm.

and, um, you know, so there's a lot of gems on this record. I'm actually enjoying listen, listening to multi-millionaire, like older Nas rap, you know what I'm saying? Because I don't feel like he takes it for granted. And so I wanted to pull, I thought about, um, the songs on the record and wanted to pull out lyrics from one of the songs that speaks to gratitude.

One, the song is called Reminisce, and it includes a sample, interestingly enough, from Mary j Blis. You remind me, not reminisce, right? So, um, but, uh, so it includes that sample and, and some of the lyrics. This is actually part of a refrain. He says, I reached every goal that was high on the shelf. My comfort gives you discomfort.

Just know that in the hood, they go and bump this, and I'm only strong as my circle. The things that shaped me would've meed. Like just this idea of like, listen, I've been here, I have reached high highs and it hasn't been easy. And just reflecting on the people that have also been part of that is really important.

So, um, gratitude, y'all, you know, the goal is to get to NAZA's point. Get to NAZA's level.

DJ Sir Daniel: My mother as a child, my mother used to say a West Indian saying, a guy, you saying, wait, boy, you'll come. Like when, whenever I would complain about something or, you know, make fun of somebody older or whatever, she'll be like, ah, wait, boy, you'll come because you, uh, at some point, if you are lucky.

I always tell people, if you're lucky, you'll get to be my age. If I'm lucky, I'll get to be my mom's age. Mm-hmm. , you know, because consider the alternative. Mm. Because we all listen, we all have friends that we've lost. Yes. And we consider the alternative that whether we like, you know, we're flourishing basically.

Mm-hmm. in the lives that we have. Mm-hmm. . And so I absolutely don't take that for granted. And so, you know, I'm happy for the young people doing what they do, but I'm like you, I am super happy to see someone like Nas just live an example of. Can be waiting for us on the other side of a certain age, especially if we just put, put that work in and do what we're supposed to do.

Jay Ray: Absolutely. So listen, y'all, we're gonna take a quick break. Uh, we go and get a word from um, JB uh, and then we're gonna come back and we are going to be joined, uh, by our guests for the day. So we will be right

Combined File: back.

JBs commercial: Hey, what's happening? This is JB of jbs Record Lounge and I wanna give a quick shout out to

Queue Points

keeping our history

and current events alive in black music.

Shout out to Sir Daniel and j Ray for making all of this possible.

Come visit us at jbs Record

Lounge 89 8 Oak Street, suite

F Atlanta, GA

anytime we're open. Wednesday through Sunday, noon to six. Come see us for your vinyl fit.

DJ Sir Daniel: That's right. We are back as you are listening to Queue Points, dropping the needle on black music history.

I am DJ Sir Daniel.

Jay Ray: And my name is J Ray and we about to have some folks join

DJ Sir Daniel: us. We are. But real quick before we bring on our, um, guests. So we just saw, um, JB uh, I just got the call from JB himself. Yours truly will be doing a set on Black Friday, which is this coming Friday, um, in regards to it's also record store day.

Mm-hmm. . So there's gonna be a list of DJs doing sets come through to JBS at 8 98 Oak Street support, small business support, black business, um, and just come out and hear some great music and get you some vinyl folks. And he doesn't just have vinyl. Yes. He has lots of other things there too. Um, for the music lover in your life or for yourself.

So, With that being said, I am so ready to talk to these two right here, . Oh my God, yes. We got a lot to catch up on. We got a lot

Jay Ray: to catch up on. So I'm gonna read their show bio and I actually have an interesting connection to this show that we will talk about when we bring them on. Um, but. So in the spring of 2018, Ashli would meet the man who would change her life forever.

As she slowly saed into her place of work, she came across Maan and looked curiously and eagerly into his eyes. She didn't know it then, but standing before her was the man who would become her greatest challenge and unexpected blessing. From that moment on, things would never be the same, and from that moment on, they would embark on a journey that would.

A dream, dream fulfilling opportunities in that moment B4Nine was born. B4Nine is all the things. Uh, and what does that mean? It's pretty simple. They are both complicated but not so complicated. Creatives with opinions and perspectives that are unique and often shared by others afraid to express their points of view.

They are both unapologetically black and are not afraid to share their opinions and perspectives about all things, blackness, popular culture, relationships, sex and identity. And it is with that, that we are going to bring on Ashli J. Washington and Mashaun D. Simon B4Nine nine. Podcast. Podcast. Welcome to the

DJ Sir Daniel: Yes.

So Jay Ray, while you were reading that, it sounded like the, the synopsis of a really great

Jay Ray: romcom. It did. I was like, oh my God. This is like, what happens next?

like

Ashli J Washington: me. How did

Jay Ray: I meet you?

DJ Sir Daniel: What had happened was tell us a little, you approved everything that went up on that website. So there you go. Listen, we, we

Ashli J Washington: need to update that. That must be from 2019 honey.

DJ Sir Daniel: And you can say, and this is the kind flavor you can get on B4Nine on the B4Nine podcast, but tell, um, tell our audience because we're familiar with your dopeness, but tell our audience all about B4Nine and how it came to pass and what they can expect on the show.

Go ahead and ask.

Ashli J Washington: Okay, so, uh, Maan met me first of all, ,

Combined File: we'll start there.

Ashli J Washington: Um, but no, yeah, Maan and I used to work together and, uh, the name of the show, actually, I don't think it was in the bio, but the name of the show actually came about because we both would get to work B4Nine. And our friendship really developed in like that half hour to 45 minutes or so before everybody came to the office.

He got there early and I would get there early and we just like organically would have these rich, beautiful. Uh, deep, uh, enlightening vulnerable conversations in the morning, and it just, it just bloomed our relationship and our friendship bloomed from there. And I know it was Maha's idea. I don't remember the exact conversation, but I'm sure it was Maha's idea to start a podcast.

And, uh, yeah, that was, we've been tight

Jay Ray: since

Mashaun D. Simon: then. So she leaves out one little piece and that Ashli was used to getting there before everybody. And so when I started getting there earlier than her , it used to annoy her.

Combined File: Right? What's to do? With's, .

Mashaun D. Simon: But yeah, like, it, it very much, I, I just had the, this thought one day and I was like, we should do a podcast. Like we're having some very real, very authentic, very unique, very rich conversations. And other people should hear. These things coming out of our, our mouths.

Jay Ray: Yeah. So I feel like this is a good time to talk about how my connection to B4Nine the podcast.

Yep. So when Mashaun was in, uh, Mashaun actually came to me, so this is probably 20 18, 20 19 timeframe and wanted to talk to me about podcasting. And so the first season of B4Nine the podcast, I had the pleasure of producing with these folks. Um, and I'm so gr I'm just like one, y'all got all the lessons?

Cause y'all, they edited the show. They came into this with no experience doing that, was taught how to do. I recorded the show. They edited the show. Released the show, and now they're on season three. So I'm just incredibly grateful that I got to be part of y'all launching this thing and, um, am happy that, uh, y'all are on y'all new season.

Um, but y'all took a break. So we need to talk about this, this break. So y'all took a hiatus. Um, tell us about what you did during the hiatus, um, and individually and collectively. Um, what does B4Nine kind of wanna say now, after your break?

Mashaun D. Simon: Well, it was an unexpected hiatus. Like, let's, let's, let's start

DJ Sir Daniel: there.

Uh,

Mashaun D. Simon: we got into this habit of, after everything that Johnnie taught us, we were like, okay, we're ready to do this thing ourselves. Um, and so we did season two. We recorded season two, all on our own. Um, most of it here in my home. Um, and then pandemic. Um, so. , um, I think Ashli had a covid scare. Someone close to Ashli had a Covid scare.

Mm-hmm. . And so it caused us to think about how are we gonna continue and then what ways could we continue? So we were very much on the fly. We were using all these websites that were record for us. We were calling each other on FaceTime while recording it. It was this whole thing. Um, and then we ended season two and we just never really set a date to come back for season three.

Like, it was just like, okay, we're done with this. We're gonna take a little break, um, just to sort of give us a chance to breathe and.

DJ Sir Daniel: It took a while

Jay Ray: to come back . Two

DJ Sir Daniel: years. And so now when, when things like that happen, you know, j Ray and I talk a lot about this, like some podcasts, you know, they, they just don't come back.

You know, they pop and then they shake and then they're out of there. Was there ever a moment where you, either of you were like, you know what, we did this, we were good at it. It was cute. You know, we got some stuff out of it. We, we did what we needed to do. Was there any consideration of not coming back?

Ashli J Washington: We never talked about it. Um, but I think it, like things got so like busy. And to answer part of Johnnie's, first of all, Johnnie, thank you for. Being there and being the foundation of B4Nine, you are still at the heart of, of, of B4Nine. And I feel like there wasn't an episode either on the record or before we started recording or after we started recording where we, you know, we didn't speak your name and say like, we missed Johnnie.

Um, so just thank you so much for sewing into us in the way that you did. Uh, I will never forget that and I know Mashaun will never forget that, so thank you so much. Um, but I, I think so we got, so we got busy. We got busy during the pandemic. Um, to answer, you know, your question Sir Daniel, um, I was sewing, I sew.

So I have like, I have an associate's degree in fashion design and so I was sewing mask. At the beginning of the pandemic, so maybe, well, right, not right at the beginning, whenever the CDC was finally like, Hey, y'all wear some masks. Um, you know, which probably was like around April, may-ish, I was making masks nonstop.

Like I, this space that I'm in right now was full of masks. I live with my best friend. I was teaching her how to make masks and we was making them, sending them out. And um, so it got really busy then, and then just opportunities came up. I was, you know, on a reality TV show, um, at one point. I started writing for, for the screen, and it just was like, things just kept piling on top of each other.

And of course at the same time, Mahan is still moving and doing things and creating. And so we never had a, we never had a conversation about not coming back. We just weren't having a conversation at all. Um, and then Mahan, of course, was the first one to be like, okay, well when are we gonna start? And we were having that same conversation for what, at least six months Maan.

Like, okay. Like . It's literally like taking us probably almost a year to actually come back together and record something. Yeah. And I'll,

Combined File: I'll, I'll leave it at that and let answer,

Mashaun D. Simon: I mean, yeah. Um, and, and uh,

DJ Sir Daniel: there was one point where we had

Mashaun D. Simon: a conversation, uh, probably. Early 2021. And I remember vividly actually being like, okay, so you know, I'm doing this and you doing this, and so let's just see after this point.

And so I think we waited a couple more months and then we brought the conversation back up. But life just kept life. Um, and so like things kept happening in our lives professionally, things kept happening in our lives personally. Um, I lost several people in the midst of the pandemic, um, that it, it altered how I just even presented in the world.

DJ Sir Daniel: Um, and

Mashaun D. Simon: so we just couldn't, we couldn't make it work. It just, we would meet, we would talk about it and we would talk about what are we gonna talk about when we come back? And it just wouldn't, it wouldn't pop. But I think one of the things I appreciate is we ended up coming back when it was time to come back.

Um, and so the fact that we are now back, um, recording, um, this is our first week of the new episodes. It, it, it happened when it needed to happen. And I think we both were just sort of leaning there, like, we're not gonna force it. Um, there was a period of time we were forcing it because we almost had the opportunity to record somewhere else and we worked so hard to make that thing work.

DJ Sir Daniel: And then we both were just like,

Mashaun D. Simon: why don't we just do what we always been doing? Like let's just, let's just do that. It works for us. We know how to make it happen. And if and when the chance comes, then we'll making use of that space.

Jay Ray: Go ahead,

DJ Sir Daniel: Sain. So, so I was, you know, um, it's all about timing, right? And I can't just sitting here, just listening to you all talk.

I just can't help but think of. You know, this is just, this is like DC three, you know, everybody is always asking when are, when are y'all gonna get together again? You know, y'all are making, y'all are making these solo appearances in the public and we love that. We love that. But when is the, when is the group getting back together again?

And this is like homecoming for you guys? This our, our Coachella. This is your Coachella. Coachella up. I'm not gonna ask which one of you is the Beyonce ? I think, I think, I think we know, but I'm not gonna ask, but No, but seriously, its great to see you all back together and being apart from each other and still, but I still, there's still support.

There's mm-hmm. , y'all still supported each other, even outside of the show, because there is a relationship there. And, you know, we talked about gratitude earlier. In the show and it's like, what are you, what are you most grateful for in each other as partners on the show? Like when you think about it, you be like, you know what?

I'm really glad Mashaun is my partner in this because, or I'm super grateful that Ashli is my partner in this because

Ashli J Washington: Oh wow. I feel like this is like a therapy session. This is good.

Combined File: Hey,

DJ Sir Daniel: um,

Combined File: he's casting situation , right?

Ashli J Washington: Right. . Um, I think I'm grateful for Rashan and this partnership, um, because of his commitment to it and, um, how passionate he is about the show, about the podcast

Combined File: and,

Ashli J Washington: and then the relationship too.

Um, he's great at building and maintaining great relationships with people. And that's a big part of the reason why our show is, is successful in the way that it is, is because we have that, uh, relationship. I'm not always super great at that. And so I think if Michelle wasn't a part of this equation, if it was two of me, I don't know.

Um, but yeah, I'm really grateful for for that.

Mashaun D. Simon: Oh, thank you Ashli. I mean, you know, I am amazing and all those great things and so, you know, I get it. Um, it's funny because in the episode episode we just recorded, that's coming out in a few weeks, um, Ashli made this statement that I hadn't really considered.

Ashli was like, you know, you're the prim and proper

DJ Sir Daniel: and scholarly one. And I'm like,

Mashaun D. Simon: um, I can't remember exactly what you said, but it was like, not exactly Hood rat, but you were like, I'm a little more street or something like that, . And so

DJ Sir Daniel: then we did this switch in the midst of the episode

Mashaun D. Simon: where she started talking proper cuz she says, I'm all proper.

And I was giving, you know, you know, 1, 2, 1 3. And so I think

DJ Sir Daniel: that is one I appreciate about our

Mashaun D. Simon: partnership is that like, we feel the slots the best way we know how. Um, and, but we play off of each other and feed off of each other so well. Um, like, like Ashli said earlier, we used to work together. And so even though we weren't doing the podcast anymore, we still were connected with each other through work.

And if it were not for Ashli, I don't know how well I would've survived that space where we were there together because there was a lot happening in my life and that space took a lot out of me. Um, and so I was having this really difficult time with work life balance. And if it hadn't been for actually being there, um, I don't know if I would've been able to succeed the way that I did.

And so the podcast is just an extension of that. Um, because we have this bond, we have this strong relationship. She's my sister. Um, um,

DJ Sir Daniel: her parents are my parents about this. All the, listen, I talk to Mama Washington just the other day.

Jay Ray: Um, she told me

DJ Sir Daniel: And so there's this very real, there's

Mashaun D. Simon: this, she is, she is the sister I never had. And I can authentically be myself. She can authentically be herself. We learn from each other, we push each other. Um, and we support each other in everything that we have going on together and separately. And I'm so very thankful

Jay Ray: for that.

Mm. So I think to that point, what can, it's, it's been a couple of years. What can people expect from this season of B4Nine? The podcast,

Ashli J Washington: Mashaun, I'm

Jay Ray: gonna let you take that one. Mashaun is so excited to talk about it, to .

Mashaun D. Simon: Um, I mean, so there's an interesting thing happening with the season so far, um, which is why I am excited.

So we came in with these ideas of what we were gonna do for the season, all of these topics, et cetera, et cetera. And it has changed on the dime, like we came in with, with the whole season laid out. And yet I think we recorded half of that season so far, and only two of the cover, two of the things we

DJ Sir Daniel: planned is where it's come out on the season.

So we're like, okay, let's just roll with

Mashaun D. Simon: it. Yeah. Which is what happened, like season one was plotted out and we had these topics and themes that we, we, we lived into Season two was very off the cuff. Season two was very. What's going on now? What's happening? What do we wanna talk about? Season three seems to be a, a, a mix of the two.

Um, um, just the other day I sent Ashli a message about this guy's rent on TikTok about, uh, what black men should be talking about on podcasts. And Ashli was like, well, I guess we need to talk about some of these things too, . I was like, I guess we do. Um, and so it's just a mixture of all things. See, that first episode was

DJ Sir Daniel: very much a what have we been up

Combined File: to

Mashaun D. Simon: during the break?

Um, episode two, um, we, we do this thing called nine Questions that Apparently Everyone Loves. And so we did a whole episode on nine questions. Um, um, we're talking about Hunt for Jesus, save Your Soul. We're, we're gonna bring in guests this, this season in a different kind of way. Um, actually made me do half of a show talking about Renaissance.

um, like made

Combined File: me

Mashaun D. Simon: And so that's just sort of what's coming out of it. It's very much what's going on, what do we care about, what do we need to talk about, um, and what's gonna be fun, um, and entertaining all at the same

DJ Sir Daniel: time.

Well, entertaining. You two are definitely entertaining. Yes. Together and apart, because I don't know, for those of you that are, are watching this broadcast, there is a, there's a, a bodis figure behind Ashli, and on top of that Bodis figure is a hat, is a, is a crown. And the significance, if I'm not mistaken, that's the same crown that was featured in a viral video of Ashli doing her good old lip sync of, um, of Queen Lafa lady first.

Yes. And I mean, she had the, she had the, the, the suit, the power suit, which we had a down , it was down. And you know me, you know, As the, um, as the, um, the resident, uh, historian, female rap historian. I can tell you that was very accurate in your portrayal. The lip sync was on point. And, you know, on on Queue Points, we, we gonna drag you into a music conversation cuz that's what we do.

And, um, topics. So the topic had come up, uh, Jay Ray and I talk about stuff like this all the time. Mm-hmm. , the topic came up from Rolling Stone, had this article coming, came out about the top 50 greatest concept albums of all time. And we've. Looked at the list, we started talking. Um, I threw out something.

Jay Ray was like, nah, I don't think so. We started disagreeing already on one thing. So I, speaking of Queen Latifa, I brought up the fact that I thought that Black Rain was a concept album, um, of Queen Latifa. And, and Jay Ray was like, eh, I could see where you're going, but no, no. Right. So I think, so I think where we'll go first is, we'll, we'll look at what is a concept album according to like Rolling Stone or, you know, and, and, and we'll go from there.

But we're talking about this article regarding the top 50 greatest concept albums of all time. And B4Nine Crew, we wanted y'all to chime in on this as well, but J Ray, what's the definition of a

Jay Ray: concept? Okay, so the definition of a concept album is actually pretty straightforward. So Rolling Stone loosely defines it as thematic albums tied together by specific moods or interconnected songs.

That is very important. When I went back and I looked at their list because some stuff was on their list, and I was like, no, no, no, no, no. That's not what we're talking about here. But based on what they define a concept album as it makes sense. But two things I wanna bring up. Um,

Combined File: Oxford,

Jay Ray: this is very interesting cause there's some racism afoot.

Oh, Oxford defines concept album as a rock album. Featuring a cycle of songs, expressing a particular theme or idea. So that was very interesting to me. And, and, and I, and I'm gonna tell you how they got there. So in the history of, of concept albums, most people land on the Beatles, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band as the first concept album ever released.

But what's interesting about that, I actually found some research, um, it's like that can't be true. That just doesn't make sense. And there's a reason why it doesn't make sense, because it's not completely true in modern rock history. Sergeant Peppers, uh, the Beatles, it makes sense, but actually, um, there's this really good article, it's actually from Ultimate Guitar that talks about really the first, uh, concept album being this album by Woody Guthrie.

And I went and I listened to it. It's a total concept album. It was called the Dust Bowl Ballads. And he was telling these stories about the dust bowls coming through and then breaking down all these different things. And it actually ended up being like three albums, you know, over a period of time. But, um, that was kind of a concept album.

But so I kept going and I was like, well, let me find the black people. Like when's the first, like what's the first black concept album? We Queue Points over here. When's the black album coming?

DJ Sir Daniel: Come on, let's get .

Jay Ray: This particular article raised up, uh, miles Davis' Porky and Best. as a, a concept album, and I had never thought of that record as a concept album before.

Um, and that's mainly because, you know, of course there's, there's a, there's a, an opera theater, you know, production of that mm-hmm. . But what Miles did, and I didn't realize this until researching for this show, is he, and Bill Evans took what Gershwin did, rearranged it into this whole other thing. So it is actually a concept album where he took the concept of Porky and be, and spun it in a completely different way and created something that was not only different, it was really transformative for what Jazz was doing at the time.

So, It was a concept album. So if we're gonna pinpoint the first black concept album, we will probably end up landing at Miles Davis', Porky and Best. Um, and that was 1958, um, as the first concept album. So, rolling Stone did this list. I looked at the list and I was like, oh, this is cute. Mm-hmm. , I was more concerned with number one.

Like I was like, I thought number one was gonna like, make me mad. And so I'm curious to what y'all think, but I think one of the things they got right, I think their number one is really solid. Like their number one is Kendrick Lamar's, good kid, mad City concept album from top to bottom. It has a story.

You get a beginning, you know the characters, you know his mama, his daddy is in the thing, you know, his friends are in the thing. You know, he going to see Shara. He need to stop going to talk to that fast girl. Shara. We know that story cuz it's a concept. Mm-hmm and, um, shout out to that record because 2022, that record celebrated 10 years.

10 years on the Billboard 200. It's been on the Billboard 200 since it was released. Wow. It has never left . So, yeah. So one of the things I think they got right. Was, I think Kendrick's Good kid, mass City is a brilliant concept album. It explains what concept albums are. So I'm curious to know from y'all, like what did, what did they get right?

Combined File: Uh,

Ashli J Washington: I would say Lemonade was also on that list. And, and let me, hold on, let me backtrack. So I don't, so let me just, I'm gonna just go ahead and be, uh, authentic and transparent in that I didn't know, I had never heard the term concept album before. You know, we got our talking points and notes for the show, and so of course, I guess I'm going through the list.

I was going through Rolling Stone's list. I was like, okay, this makes sense. This makes sense. Okay, I see this, I can see this. And I, I think it's, I think I wasn't aware that it was like this whole thing because I feel like as a millennial, I'm 35. I just turned 35 a week ago, and I, I, I think that like, we didn't get a lot of these.

Growing up, I feel like obviously music has changed a lot in the last three decades, three and a half decades. But I think when I was at the point of actually like figuring out what my music tastes were and what I liked and what I didn't like, I feel like there weren't a lot of concept albums, black concept albums, certainly during that time when I was, was growing up.

Um, and so back to the number one, back to Kendrick, when I was thinking about concept albums, I thought about, and it's not Ridley, but kind of, and I guess it, it is kind of obvious because it's a soundtrack, but thinking about the first Black Panther, Uh, the music that was inspired by Black Panther, which Kenrick Lamar obviously was heavily involved in that, in that project.

And how the album was kind of split into two, so like one side was the child, or the other side was Kil Monger and it had two very different vibes. But then there was also like a story threaded through each of those. It was kinda like a, a side and a B side. Uh, you know, one side had more like Global Vibes.

The other side was more like California, Oakland, you know, vibes and kind of told the story of Kil Monger, um, in particular. Um, so I thought it was interesting that Kenrick Lamar, I mean he's just an incredible artist, um, in my opinion, just generally. Um, but yeah, so that, that album obviously. And then Lemonade of course is, you know, again Beyonce, um, but just really.

Lemonade was, was and is. We had our conversation when I made Maan, had our conversation about Lemonade or about Beyonce and Renaissance Lemonade came up and he admittedly was like, you know, I fooled with that album. And you know, it, it did tell a story. The, the visual part obviously made that very clear.

But if you just listen to the album, it's, it's obviously a, a concept and a great one. Um, a heartbreaking one, um, at that. So

Jay Ray: I knew you was

Mashaun D. Simon: gonna bring up that conversation. I, I, I was like, watch she gonna come up with me saying something like, she gonna try in public to be like, Michelle likes Beyonce.

Combined File: Hold on. .

Mashaun D. Simon: It's not what I said. We got it on record, but no, seriously, um, it was interesting. So slightly, um, I think I had an idea of concept album. because I grew up in the Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson age. Mm-hmm. . Um, and I remember very vividly at some point in my younger years, I don't, I didn't have the language of concept album, but I had the language of, oh, there's a theme here.

Mm-hmm. , um, and it's a theme throughout the entire project. That's interesting because I had never experienced it that way in any of the other music I listened to. Um, so I was surprised to not see some things on that, on that list. Like Janet Velvet Rope. Mm-hmm. , which I think is in my top four, if you will,

DJ Sir Daniel: of best concept albums.

Um, I was surprised not to see,

Mashaun D. Simon: um, anything from mj j cuz several of his projects, um, were very concepty. Um, there is a album that I want to say Marvin Gaye did for a movie that wasn't on there, and I

Jay Ray: was really surprised. Trouble man by that.

Mashaun D. Simon: Trouble, man. That's what it is. Mm-hmm. . Um, I was very surprised to not see that.

Um, and, but then again, I was like, you know, as a former, as a, as a semi journalist, I know how some of these things go. Um, so I was like, I'm not, I should not be surprised that there are some things missing. Um, I was a little

Jay Ray: surprised to see Kendrick Lamar at number

Mashaun D. Simon: one. Um, of, of course I was like, of, sure, for sure.

It's gonna be in the top five. But number

DJ Sir Daniel: one, I was really surprised by, um,

Mashaun D. Simon: just because journalism, um, and racism. Um, and I was surprised to see Jasmine Sullivan Hotels on there. Mm-hmm. . Yeah. But I was like, yeah, this is, this is a very solid project. Um, I was surprised not to see Velvet

DJ Sir Daniel: Rope on there.

Mashaun D. Simon: Mm-hmm. , um, from Jan Jackson. I was very, very surprised by that. Um, but not surprised to see control. So, Yeah, it was interesting engaging that list, um, and seeing like some of the stuff from Marvin Gaye that was on the list to see Millie Jackson on that list. Mm-hmm. to see. Mm-hmm. , um, Donna Summers on that list.

I was like, oh, okay. This is, this is really interesting.

DJ Sir Daniel: So yeah, it's like when they, when Rolling Stone got it. Right, they got it right. Yeah. When they fumbled, they fumbled. Like your point. So to your point about control being on the list, it was so glaring to me and J Ray, we were like, no, not control.

Jay Ray: Rhythm. Revelation

DJ Sir Daniel: 1814 is a whole, is a whole ass concept album. There's a whole movie, a video movie about, um, rhythm Nation 14, where there's a storyline. Um, the education and drugs and all of that. All of that is, um, is examined and expressed throughout that whole album. The first side is dedicated to all of those things that I mentioned.

So I was like, hold up. Y'all put control, and I get it. Not, you know, control. To me, control is a, is a B album. Yep. Like back to back bs, but Rhythm Nation 18, 14, to me, should have been on that list as far as a concept album. Through and through. Even the whole, the album is black and white. The videos were black and white.

Every, visually, everything that happened with that album me meshed together to complete this whole concept. And, um, as you were talking, I was also surprised that outcast and their speaker box, love Below album was left off of that because not, it's not just a double album that is a concept album. Yeah.

It's very much a concept album. And if you think about it, um, maybe a criminal could have been a concept album as well listed for, um, for Outkast. And I was also surprised not to see, and I think I mentioned this to you j and you kind of like were on the fence about it, but Sparkle written by Curtis, Curtis, um, Mayfield.

Curtis Mayfield. Mm-hmm. and Aretha Franklin of course singing, um, all the tombs on there to me. I don't know, maybe soundtracks are kind of like a, uh, a cheat soundtracks are a cheat code because it's a movie. And so yes, there is a concept behind it, but I think that album still goes to this day and people still purchase it like it was made yesterday.

So I think that that was a glaring omission to me as well. There were, now what they did get right, I did see, um, Janelle Mona's Arc Android on their mm-hmm. total concept album. But if you look at her whole discography, all concept albums. All concept albums, her coming out as the Arc, Android as Cindy Mayweather.

Mm-hmm. , and you know, her half human half. Concept, the whole thing. Mm-hmm. all concepts and you know, maybe arch Arc, Android was like at the top of her superpowers. But yeah, black, we got black musicians, we got the concept, uh, album game on lock. There's plenty plenty that we have

Jay Ray: on there. Yeah. Like, um, I was excited to, to your point Sir Daniel, see all the blackness that was on the list, cuz sometimes this could go left.

I was like, child, I don't know. But they actually did do a really good job. I will say that I definitely agree that I think the most glaring thing that was missing was Rhythm Nation not being on this list at all. I was like, that just don't make no sense to me. I was like, I would've just replaced control.

Rhythm Nation. But yeah. And so to that point, I think that is my favorite concept album that's not on the list, um, is, uh, is Rhythm Nation. Um, and that's probably, oh, this is hard. That's crazy. So Janet, by the way, so I think we all know this, but for, for those who are listening, for the most part, Janet's classic period, which is the four albums, the Four Control Rhythm Nation, Janet and the Velvet Rope, Janet's Classic Period.

Mm-hmm. all concept albums like Janet actually Yeah. Flourished in that whole area of like, she had a story to tell and Okay, well I'm gonna just use the album to tell the story. Yeah. Um, because to Mashaun's point, I was like, oh shoot, like. The velvet rope ain't on here either. And so, yeah. Interesting. But yeah, I think my favorite that's, that, that's missing, that they got wrong, um, is, uh, rhythm Nation.

And Sir Daniel, you mentioned a record too that wasn't on the list.

DJ Sir Daniel: So hiphop, I just started thinking about all the, the hiphop concept albums, and there are quite a few, a lot, there are quite a few, um, hiphop concept albums that I, you know, maybe we need to do our own list because it, you know, because it's just left out of the, the greater conversation.

But, um, the score isn't mentioned by the Fuji, which is

Jay Ray: weird that the score is

DJ Sir Daniel: not on there. That the score is not on there. Miseducation is not on there because that the whole, the classroom concept. Yep. But my oth my favorite concept album is Digable Planet's Blowout Cone, which was their second and final, um, studio album.

So good. It's, it's like a blacksploitation flick. Um, it reminded me of like those old school, um, blacksploitation flicks that you saw on TV on Sunday morning. The commercials, the musical flares in between the, the, the concept of black, wait,

Jay Ray: how do they put it? Was it black tation?

DJ Sir Daniel: Black theism. Black theism.

Black capital, right. Instead of capitalism. So there was that whole, it, it was very much the fist, it was the Afro and you know, very much that, um, power on the power tip. And I lived, I sat with that album. I remember from when it came. In the fall of 94 to that following spring. Cuz it was my freshman year, was it my, yeah.

Freshman year at Georgia State. So I just remember all of those things happening at the same time and, and carrying that with me, that cassette where everywhere it went. Everywhere I was. And it just informed a lot of that time period for me. And it's truly a concept album. But before YouTube, before, B4Nine Crew.

Before y'all tell us your favorite concept albums. I want to stir the pot a little bit. What's the four 11 or My life concept albums one. Are they concept albums and or is one more a concept album than the other? Cause I truly have my, um, opinion about that.

Jay Ray: Yeah, I have an opinion about this. Um, my life would be the concept album, I think.

Okay. Um, What's the four 11

DJ Sir Daniel: I? And we're talking about Mary j bla for those two. Abso for those who are may

Jay Ray: not know baby. If you listening to this show, two of you Living Under a Rock, right? Who listen to this show and don't know who did those records. Oh wait, who's bla again?

DJ Sir Daniel: Exactly. . Come forward to the altar.

Come to the altar

Jay Ray: Bo listen to our Mary Jli show . So, yes. What, what have I heard from her? Um,

DJ Sir Daniel: Ashli and Jay, away from Ke,

Jay Ray: she's the queen of hip hop soul. Anyway, okay. My life. Um, to answer your question, I think squarely my life would be, um, the concept album of, of those two records. Uh, because there is a through line, you know, there's the beginning and the end, and there's a through line between each song.

I think what's the four 11? Yeah, it's not, it's not cohesive enough as a, as a theme, I think, to be a concept. But my life was conceived that way. Like it was conceived to be Mary talking about her life in that moment. So that's why I would consider that to be the concept album.

Ashli J Washington: I agree with Johnnie a hundred percent.

And I, I like, it's so interesting looking at the, uh, the list and then hearing some of the albums that you all are mentioning. It's like I, a lot of it I didn't, so like I didn't listen to my life until I. Like a freshman maybe in college, which was 2009. Mm-hmm. . So it's like I was listening it to it. I mean, when did that come out?

It was sometime in the nineties. I know. Yeah.

Jay Ray: 90, 95. 95. Mm-hmm. almost

Ashli J Washington: 15 years after the album, you know, was released. And I felt like I was, you know, I guess womanly enough to listen to it at that time. And I felt like, okay, I'm gonna listen to this. Um, and yeah, I absolutely, my life is the concept album

Jay Ray: for sure.

Mashaun D. Simon: So, full disclosure, I have never heard, what's the four

DJ Sir Daniel: 11 all the way

Jay Ray: through Really? Go play. Go play. That record. That record has, that's a time capsule. It's a time capsule. I have it.

Mashaun D. Simon: Mm-hmm. , I have it, but I've never listened to it all the way through. Um, my life I have listened to all the way through. Um, but so my life is a concept of those two.

My life is a concept. But I don't, I think my entryway to marry was through Share My World

DJ Sir Daniel: initially. Mm-hmm. , and then I ended up going

Mashaun D. Simon: back. So Share My World has always been the one that really spoke to me, but it caused me to go back and listen to what had come before it. Um, and that's very much a concept one to me as well.

But of the two, my life, I mean, yeah. My life is the concept one.

DJ Sir Daniel: And, you know, so before, so Ashli, when you said, I guess I was woman enough to listen to my life, that kind, that made me change my mind because I, I was going in this thinking, what's the 11 was definitely a concept album because, Technically it had the voice, it was the first of the albums to ever do the voicemail thing where people were leaving their voicemails mm-hmm.

their messages to Mary j Blige. And it, it automatically, if you grew up in the nineties hearing the, the outgoing message, the incoming message, the B beeps and all that beeps mm-hmm. , it, it, it puts you in the, in that place, in that time and space. And you can hear the progress. Yeah. The nostalgia, you can hear the progression of the, the songs, the searching for real love, so on and so forth.

But I think the mark of, uh, iconic album, uh, um, A legendary album. A concept album is just what you said, Ashli, if any woman, especially a black woman, can pick up that album at a particular age in her life and time and listen to it and it still speaks to her no matter what her age, between the time the album came out and the time wherever she listens to it is what makes that an iconic concept out.

So you are, is that correct?

Jay Ray: Absolutely. And I, and actually always

Mashaun D. Simon: gonna ride for the black woman. So you know,

Jay Ray: always that's what we do over here at Queue Points too. Like that is one of the reasons why I think the velvet rope holds up. That is a start to finish record. Like just play it and let it go. We have our to just let it go.

You going get something every time. like you going get something every time. True. Um, That is

DJ Sir Daniel: the, oh, honorary, honorary mention. Um, oh, on the TLC tip. Cause when you think, to me, because of the, the, the messaging, um, it is, there was nothing else like it. Mm-hmm. completely turned everything upside down as far as the way they presented the album.

Like I said, the through line of independence, responsibility, sexual responsibility, which was something that was, if you look at it, it was the antithesis of, uh, B B D

Jay Ray: and their album was the other side. Yep.

DJ Sir Daniel: And see here's TLC saying, uh, you know, hey, we like to get down two, but mm-hmm. , we not just gonna smack it up, flip it, rub it down.

Not only are you going. Respect me. I, I probably do want to do you as much as you want to do me, but guess what? You need to put these condoms on. And they spoke openly about condoms. And so that was a through line throughout that whole album to me. So I just wanted to throw that out there.

Jay Ray: I i, i one that's so funny.

I have not listened to that album in, Ooh, I don't even know the last time it plays on. It's, you know, it's a staple on classic r and b radio. So I hear, you know, songs from that, that album. I mean, baby, baby Baby, baby Baby was just on like the other day and I was singing, oh, I was singing, I was my whole life in that car.

Cause I guess I hadn't heard it in a while, but, you know, I was, you know, doing a, a wine and the whole thing . But, um, yeah. Okay, I'm gonna go back and listen to, Ooh, on the TLC tip. Um, but you know, there's another. As we, as we wind this down. I think the other thing that this, uh, list reminded me of to Sir Daniel's earlier point, um, is how many hiphop concept albums there are.

Master Ace is just, and we've talked about this Sir Daniel, yes. Master Ace is the apex of his career is like these concept albums. Like when I think of like disposable arts and um, like a long hot summer. Um, for sure these were underground hiphop concept that was, they have like whole scripts. There's like acting on the record, like it's thing.

Um, but. You know, don't necessarily make it onto lists like this because lists like this are like pulling from all the different genres. So I do, it might be something in Queue Points pulling together.

DJ Sir Daniel: Absolutely. Because how could, how could we leave her out? Missy Elliot is the queen of Concept album. Oh yeah,

Jay Ray: yeah.

She is That whole second record. Yeah. Yeah. You're absolutely right.

DJ Sir Daniel: So we might have to, we might have to do our own list,

Jay Ray: Jerry. We might have to do our own. Oh my God. We got to listen to so many records, but this is where we come up with, but the thing, the way that Rolling Stone does it, so Ashli Mashaun, um, is you get a whole group of people that weigh in to help you to get through it all right?

To help you to figure out, so to bring things to the table and to help us figure out what we're missing. So, For those of y'all that are listening too, if y'all wanna be down with helping Queue Points for 2023, figure out our concept album list. Hit, hit, hit, hit us up. But, um, thank y'all for like, participating in this conversation.

Thank y'all. And like being here with us and we just so happy that y'all are back. Like, yeah, like hearing y'all voices. It was fun. Y'all got new theme music. I know that you back, y'all got new theme music and stuff like, y'all

Combined File: Ready?

Ashli J Washington: It's a bob

Jay Ray: too.

Mashaun D. Simon: I, um, um, some other friends of ours, friends you all know, um, were messaging me that they listened to the first episode. and both of them were like, oh my gosh, we love this new theme music. It's such a vibe. And so I was shout out to Samir Duckin for really helping us to fulfill the dream that we had season one.

Mm-hmm. . Um, and we talk about this in the episode, like I was just very much like, okay, let's get this done. And so we settled on something that was, was good, but it wasn't exactly what we wanted. And Mayor Duncan came in, um, with, with the Save for season three and that music is, I sit in here sometimes, just listen to it.

Like I just listened to the drag. Right? , .

Combined File: You're like, ,

DJ Sir Daniel: it's so good. It's

Combined File: so good. But yeah.

Jay Ray: So question. So where can people catch up with B4Nine? Where can they find y'all on the socials and all of that?

Ashli J Washington: Oh, Michelle, you're queuing me. Okay, so you can find us at, uh, on Instagram at B four nine Podcast.

And then we also are on Facebook at B four nine Podcast. I think that's it, right? We just have Facebook and Instagram.

Mashaun D. Simon: You can find us online B4Nine podcast. There we go. Come on.

Jay Ray: That's in the chat. So we got that. We gonna put that in the description. Um, and make sure, cuz you know, we want the people to, to be, to be listening.

Make sure that y'all subscribe to before now the podcast everywhere, wherever you listen to podcast. Get on over on good pods. You know, we love some good pods over here at the Queue Points so that everybody can know that y'all are listening to B4Nine the podcast. So when I go in to listen this week, I'm gonna be doing it in good pods so all my people on good pods can know that I'm listening to B4Nine.

Yes. Thank

Mashaun D. Simon: you. Yes. New episodes every Monday morning. New episode coming out next Monday, episode

Combined File: two, nine. Questions.

Jay Ray: I love the nine questions by the way. Uh, so y'all were doing, y'all did that when, during that season one. Mm-hmm. . That was always so fun. Um, sir Daniel, that's given me an idea, like we've never done like a a nine question sort of thing on this show.

That might have to be do. Yes, y'all should do that. A thing that would be super fun, like a music related one. That'd be. Um,

DJ Sir Daniel: if you know, I'm down for it, we listen. It don't take, you don't have to twist my arm. Let's do it . And so the same Jay Ram, I'm gonna point to you like how um, Mashaun pointed at Michelle at, um, Ashli and say, run down the way of how people can keep in contact with Queue Points and subscribe

Jay Ray: to the show.

Absolutely. So listen, y'all, make sure that you pop on over to our website, Queue Points.com. We, that thing, that thing be thinging over on Queue Points.com. Uh, we refreshed our members only site this week, so we got it. Update it with content, we got it, update it with all types of stuff. So definitely the website is where you want to be to get all the things.

That's it. If you are like, I love. I really love these guys. I wanna support them. You can leave us a tip. You could leave us a tip over on Patreon. It's all good. That's just like, Hey, we just wanna drop, put a little bit on your books. Just so you know. If you wanna support us even more deeply, you could subscribe, uh, and become a monthly subscriber where you can get access to all of our back catalog as well as all of our exclusive content, including however, where I do be cussing over there.

it's an adventure. Um, it's an adventure folks. It is. But you can subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts and on Spotify and, uh, make sure that you leave us a rating, uh, and a review in each of those places. And last but not least, if you are watching this show, um, and you are not on YouTube, you should go on over to YouTube and you should subscribe and hit the bell notification so you get updated on.

All things Queue Points. Boom. Right next week, sir Daniel is going to be spinning for Beta Gama Chis, um, code red, uh, it's their World AIDS Day celebration. And uh, so you should RSVP over@betagamachi.org so y'all could come and hang out with Sir Daniel who's gonna be giving the kids the music

DJ Sir Daniel: on November 30th.

Absolutely. Wow. Absolutely. That'll be a great way to bring in, um, the World Aids Day celebration. And, uh, speaking of concepts, you know, uh, the flavor I'm bringing, just to give you a little clue, is gonna be, you're gonna be hearing from artists. You're gonna hear songs that spoke to the epidemic at the time.

People, maybe a couple of people who have, have succumbed to the epidemic, but it's just gonna be a retrospect of what music, um, stood for in response to the AIDS epidemic. So I'm looking forward to that. Shout out to Beta Gamma car for reaching out to us. Like, man, I'm super, super, super, super proud to be a part of that.

But Jay Ray. What do I always say at the end of every show? First of all, thank you Mashaun. Thank you Ashli. We really appreciate you taking the time outta your busy schedules to to play with us and you know, have a good time here with us on Queue Points. J Ray, I am super thankful for you as my partner on this show and I thankful for you man.

We have a great time over here because what do I always say? Every week in this life you have a choice. You can either pick up the needle or you could let the record play. I am DJ Sir Daniel

Jay Ray: and my name is Jay Ray, y'all

DJ Sir Daniel: who? Y'all. And this has been Q 0.0.

Jay Ray: Who y'all Tell 'em who you y'all two.

Ashli J Washington: I'm Ashli J.

Washington. The one that only .

DJ Sir Daniel: Now you're Maan Desig. And this is Queue Points. Dropping the needle on black. Music history. We'll see you next time. Peace. Peace.