December 1, 2025 • 30 mins
Join DJ Sir Daniel and Jay Ray for a very special Queue Points episode, part of The MPN Network’s "The Neighborhood Feast" Thanksgiving programming. In this conversation, they dig deep into how Queensbridge and Marley Marl shaped Black music history, exploring the significance of community, creativity, and legendary hip-hop rivalries. From the roots of the Queensbridge projects to the ripple effects throughout hip-hop and Black culture, this episode is a feast of stories, impact, and perspective.
Key Takeaways
- Queensbridge's Role: Discover why Queensbridge is considered the most influential neighborhood in hip-hop history and how its legacy shapes the genre.
- Marley Marl’s Influence: Learn about Marley Marl's foundational role as an innovator, radio host, and connector who lifted an entire generation of artists.
- Community & Competition: Get insights on how community, borough pride, and neighborhood competition fueled legendary battles and creative innovation in hip-hop.
- The Roxanne Wars: Uncover the story behind the iconic Roxanne Shante battle, answer records, and how young women helped put Queensbridge on the map.
Tune in and celebrate the rich tradition, powerful storytelling, and unbreakable community spirit that defines Black music history.
Check out The MPN Network's Neighborhood Feast on YouTube: https://link.queuepoints.com/mpnthanksgiving25
Chapter Markers
00:00 Intro Theme
00:18 Welcome to Queue Points
01:13 The Significance of Queensbridge Projects
02:31 The Birth of Hip Hop Rivalries
06:30 Marley Marl and the Juice Crew Legacy
21:00 The Rise of Nas and Other Queensbridge Legends
28:25 Conclusion and Farewell
29:40 Outro Theme
Support Queue Points By Becoming An Insider: https://link.queuepoints.com/membership
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sir Daniel (00:18):
Greetings and welcome to another episode of Queue Points podcast.
I'm DJ Sir Daniel.
Jay Ray (00:23):
And my name is Jay Ray, sometimes known by my government,
is Johnnie Ray Kornegay III.
Sir Daniel (00:28):
And this is a very special episode of Queue Points.
For the MPN Network, JayRay, tell 'em all about it.
Jay Ray (00:35):
Yes, we are so excited to be here, uh, recording for the MPN Network,
uh, this very special episode, whichwe're gonna talk about in a second.
But what y'all need to do is head onover to the MPN Network's website.
It can be reached@mpn-llc.com.
You should also check outthe MPN network on YouTube.
(00:58):
They are at.
MPN Management on YouTube, so makesure that you go and subscribe.
But Sir Daniel, because we aredoing this for the MPN network
and the MPN stands for Mr.
Peterson's neighborhood, it's onlyright that we have a conversation
(01:19):
about what might be the most famousneighborhood in all of music history.
Sir Daniel (01:27):
Well, Jay Ray, I'm just gonna say flat out.
Jay Ray, the Queensbridge projects.
Is the most influential and consequentialneighborhood in all hip hop history,
and that's what we're gonna discuss onthis episode of Queue Points podcast.
Queensbridge Projects wasestablished in 1939, and it is the.
(01:51):
Absolute largest public housingproject in all of the United States.
Jay Ray (01:59):
Yes.
Sir Daniel (01:59):
And as Jay Ray, as somebody who grew up in New York,
uh, who grew up in Brooklyn, um,Queensbridge just naturally had this.
Reputation about it when you saidQueensbridge and people, and then
they put projects at the end of it.
You know, I grew up in the eighties,so projects had a connotation.
(02:20):
Connotation to it, conation.
Mm-hmm.
So, um, but I wanna start theconversation off Jay Ray with a question.
Yes.
Why do you feel.
As a people.
Mm-hmm.
Black people specifically.
And, um, as it pertains to hip hop,why is representing your neighborhood,
your projects, your street, yourtown, why is that so important to us?
Jay Ray (02:42):
You know, it's so funny that you, you mentioned that, so in
preparation for this show, I actually hadthat question running through my head.
Sir Daniel (02:50):
Mm-hmm.
Jay Ray (02:50):
And here's what I have come to, here's what I think.
Because of the nature ofhow hip hop began, right?
Yes.
The, the, the architects of the culture.
Sir Daniel (03:03):
Mm-hmm.
Jay Ray (03:04):
So many of the individuals that we talk about.
Their worlds were where they lived.
Right.
So when we think about, uh, Queensbridge,when we think about, let's just say
New York City in general, right?
Sir Daniel (03:20):
Right.
Jay Ray (03:20):
There are people today that have never left their borough.
There are people today that havenever left their neighborhood right.
And so I think when you take this idea of.
I am a storyteller and I'mgonna talk about what's real.
(03:40):
You end up talking about what's realto you and what's real to you is your
neighborhood, your friends, your family.
And that's why I think that's a bigthing is because we naturally are
telling stories about where we from.
Sir Daniel (03:56):
Yes.
And let me build on that toyour point, about the pioneers.
Mm-hmm.
Specifically, and specificallythe DJs and the sound systems
that will come out of that.
Were born out of hip hop.
A lot of, um.
Hip hop, as we stated, we saya lot in our history of hip
hop was built on competition.
(04:18):
And competition was, andwell not your competition.
Your clout was built around havinga reputation from your neighborhood.
Because within your neighborhood itwas like, it's like a, um, a football
or a basketball, um, I guess, uh,what do they call those things?
Brackets, it's like a bracket.
Jay Ray (04:37):
Uhhuh.
Sir Daniel (04:37):
So whoever in that neighborhood, whoever's the best
sound system, the best dj, youknow, you get to the top and then.
Outside of that street, then you gottago to the block, and then from the block
it goes on to the, to the borough andthen outside the borough, you know,
it beco it becomes a whole thing.
And so, yes, you're absolutely right.
And then Jay Ray, let'seven take it further.
(05:00):
When you think about a people who,um, for a lot of, for all intents and
purposes, were, um, disenfranchised.
Jay Ray (05:08):
Yep.
Sir Daniel (05:09):
And we also know.
That these projects, Queensbridge anda lot of projects that were established
in New York City in the early thirties,right after the Great Depression
were actually made for white people.
Jay Ray (05:22):
So can we talk about that for a second?
Absolutely.
Because think that's really important.
And I think that is what, I thinkthat was what one of the things that
makes black folks so brilliant, right?
Mm mm-hmm.
The idea that this place.
Was actually created for whitefolks, and then because of the
way racism works in America.
(05:42):
Yes.
Sir Daniel (05:42):
Mm-hmm.
Jay Ray (05:43):
Then reclassifying the income levels.
Mm-hmm.
So to make white flight income, whiteflight, so the income levels, if you made
over this amount, you couldn't live here.
Right.
So all the white people had to move outand go wherever they went, which left.
Black and Latino folks in Queensbridge,but what do we do every single time is
(06:08):
we're gonna make the best of where we areone, and we are going to innovate and be
creative in what it is that, that we do.
And I think that that, thatthat stew that was mm-hmm.
Stirring in Queensbridge.
Oh, and I'm gonna say something SirDaniel, I think you'll agree with this.
(06:30):
Uh, that stew that was stirring inQueensbridge allowed Marley Marl,
who I think is the most importantfigure in Queensbridge, like period.
There's
Sir Daniel (06:45):
without a doubt.
Jay Ray (06:46):
Okay, so I'm not off there.
I'm like, Marley is like thefoundation for through which
all of these other folks.
Are kind of able to stand onhis shoulders and move forward
Sir Daniel (06:59):
and, and I'll raise you one Marley Marl is actually the through line.
For, uh, the connect the connectionto a lot of, not just Queensbridge,
but to a lot of bubbling, um,hip hop rap acts in the moment.
Um, because, um, where do I wanna start?
So, yes, as you said, what wedo, what we do, we do best,
(07:21):
we create community mm-hmm.
Wherever we go and we establish community,we establish bonds, we establish
a culture within wherever we live.
Jay Ray (07:30):
Yes.
Sir Daniel (07:30):
And so.
As you stated, um, Marley Marlis, first I gotta say this, as a
New Yorker, Queens per capita haslike an abundance of rap artists.
Period.
Jay Ray (07:44):
Yes, yes,
Sir Daniel (07:45):
yes.
Out of all the boroughs, I mean, when youthink about everything I, I'm thinking
about, because salt and pepper justgot inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
You've got salt and pepper, so you havethat whole Idol maker's, crew, sweet Tea,
Dan, Dan, oh no, Danny Dana from Brooklyn,but you got the Kim run plays, DMC,
Jay Ray (08:01):
all the mm-hmm.
Sir Daniel (08:02):
Run, DMC ll.
And then, and then you come to thefuture, you've got Nicki Minaj,
you've got 50 cent, you've gotMob Deep, all of these people.
Within and within blocks of each other.
Yes.
When you have them tell thestories, they're within blocks of
each other's of, of each other.
But let's go back to the eighties,um, and, and, and, and, and stay
with Marley Marl for a minute.
(08:24):
Marley Marl has connectionsto Herbie Love Bug.
Marley Marl has connectionsto all of these.
Um, rap artists and rap producersbecause they're coming to him.
Jay Ray (08:34):
Yes.
Sir Daniel (08:35):
DJ Clark Kent once said, and he's from Brooklyn, DJ Clark Kent once
said he went to Marley Marls house andto, to, to, to soak up knowledge from him.
Marley Marl is the, perhapsthe epicenter of a, of.
Golden era hip hop as itpertains to Queensbridge.
And then on top of that,Marley Marl was on the radio.
On the radio.
(08:56):
He was, he was on a college radiostation and, um, with him and
then, um, partnered with Mr. Magic.
Jay Ray (09:03):
Mm-hmm.
Sir Daniel (09:04):
Uh, got the whole BLS thing going so.
There is a lot to be said about MarleyMarl, but of course the story that
you love to hear over and over again,the story that you love to tell.
I mean,
Jay Ray (09:14):
it's a great story.
Sir Daniel (09:15):
It's a great story.
We've got the juice crew.
Jay Ray (09:20):
Yes,
Sir Daniel (09:20):
the juice crew is probably, I mean, what.
Enough can't be said about the juice crew.
Jay Ray (09:28):
Yeah.
Tentacles throughout the entire historyof hip hop and the juice crew encompassed,
of course, folks, a bunch of folks fromQueens, so Craig g and, and, uh, MC Shan
and Roxane Chante, but also Brooklyn.
So you got, uh, uh, uh, bigDaddy, big Daddy Kane, I think
that's the A was from Brooklyn.
Bis.
Marque, yes.
Yeah.
So you have these, but once again.
(09:51):
To your point, and I love that youput it that way, like Marley, Morrow,
kind of bridging this gap becauseI've always wondered this bridge.
Bridge, I see what you did.
Yeah.
Bridge.
Right.
I've always wondered, and we couldtalk about this later, um, how
important where you were from, likefrom your experience when you were
kid, how important your borough was.
(10:13):
To how you walked through the world.
Sir Daniel (10:16):
Oh, that's easy.
It was super important.
Okay.
And I think as, and I know we'rekind of skipping around here, but
of course we know that the bridgewars as they were coined Yes.
Um, was a, was an, um, was.
Due to the static between thatstarted growing between Mc, Shan
(10:37):
Boogie Productions, uh, boogieProductions, who was from the Bronx.
Right?
And speaking of Boogie Productions,and the song, the Bridge is Over,
I think Caris One literally put it.
Perspective about the differentburrows because he says it in
the, um, he does in, in the rhyme,he says The Bronx cre cre in it.
(10:59):
Mm-hmm.
Brooklyn keeps on taking it.
Taking it.
And what that means is Brooklynis a burrow full of feed.
Brooklyn.
Lemme tell you something.
Brooklyn had a reputation of.
If you like all of this, like if yougot on a chain, keep it tucked when you
walk out walking, because you can getsnatched, you can get jook at any moment.
(11:22):
Biggie told you in his rhymes,it was always robbing season
in the borough of Brooklyn.
So I said all that to say thatbecause of that, um, war mm-hmm.
That, um, that Ron warbetween Mc Shannon krs won.
The KRS one helped to establishthe importance and the status
(11:43):
of, um, of the boroughs.
The borough.
Yeah.
Okay.
Within New York, because all ofthem, and he put that on forefront
for the rest of the world to knowthat, hey, when you come here to
New York, this is what's happening.
That borough right there.
Thieves.
They got sticky fingers.
This one right here, we created hip hop.
Mm-hmm.
But this one right here, they thinkthey're running things, but they all kind.
(12:06):
But they, but they're biters, you know?
So that was the kind of reputationthat he, he wanted to establish.
Which is debatable.
Jay Ray (12:15):
Yeah.
Sir Daniel (12:15):
Which is how debatable.
Jay Ray (12:16):
Yeah, yeah,
Sir Daniel (12:17):
yeah.
But I will say that when it comes toresults, when it came to, um, just.
Numbers.
Jay Ray (12:27):
Mm-hmm.
Sir Daniel (12:27):
Queens.
Listen, Queens is the thing, like I,we mentioned earlier you had your run
DMC, and you had your LL Cool J, whichif you talk, if you want to talk about
the beginnings of hip hop, superstardom.
Jay Ray (12:42):
Yeah.
Sir Daniel (12:43):
Those two.
Two establishments.
Oh yeah.
Run.
DMC and LL Cool J are at the top.
Yeah.
The apex of what itmeans to be a rap star.
And they held from Queens.
Jay Ray (12:54):
Yeah.
So I wanna go back to the story.
So I, we are, we're gonna mentionsome of the famous people that have
come from Queensbridge in a second.
Um, but the story.
That really puts Queensbridge on the map.
Mm-hmm.
I think this is a good time totell, here's how the story goes.
Sir Daniel (13:14):
Yes.
Jay Ray (13:16):
Do you wanna tell it?
Sir Daniel (13:18):
Sure.
Are we
Jay Ray (13:19):
talking
Sir Daniel (13:19):
about
Jay Ray (13:19):
the Roxane the obvious, talking about the Roxanne and Shante story?
Sir Daniel (13:22):
Sure.
We, we talking about, and it started allwith a pair of Jordan ass jeans, you know?
Yes.
Um, it's been told so many times before,but you know, Shante, Roxanne, Shante
had a reputation of just battling.
Rappers in the neighborhood.
In her neighborhood.
And as we've plainly stated,Marley Marl is the man about town
(13:43):
as far as music is concerned.
Production and, and being on the radio.
Jay Ray (13:49):
Yes.
Sir Daniel (13:49):
And so, um, at the round this time, UTFO, and I've heard ver
different versions of the story,but around this time, UTFO, um, was
really popping U CFOs from Brooklyn.
And they're popping becauseof their hit record.
Roxanne Roxanne Roxane, from what Iunderstand exactly, there was supposed
(14:11):
to be, um, Marley Marl and some otherpromoters had booked UTFO for a party
allegedly and booked UTFO for a party, andthey flaked, UTFO did not show up for this
Jay Ray (14:26):
party.
Oh, now that is interest, okay?
Mm-hmm.
Sir Daniel (14:28):
Right.
So.
As a means of get back.
You know, Marley was like, well,hmm, let's do a answer record.
Jay Ray (14:39):
Why not?
Sir Daniel (14:39):
And so, why not?
Because answer records at that time.
I'm trying to think if evenbefore that, I don't even think
this was, think of that many
Jay Ray (14:48):
the first time that
Sir Daniel (14:49):
answer records.
Yeah.
Jay Ray (14:50):
Yeah.
This was really the first time inhip hop history that we really had
like a true, like a answer record.
Sir Daniel (14:56):
Right.
And so as history as, as the peoplethat lived at Tellit, Shante was on, on
her way, and if you, if any of you havelived in a neighborhood where you have
to go outside of the home to do laundry.
Do laundry,
Jay Ray (15:10):
yes.
Sir Daniel (15:10):
Doing laundry is a. Very important chore.
And if you grew up with a singlemother, you know that if you did
not do what she asked you to do,it was gonna be curtains for you,
Jay Ray (15:20):
right?
Sir Daniel (15:20):
So as the story tell, as she, as it's told, Shante was
doing her mother's laundry, doingthe laundry for the household, and.
You know, I guess in, in the projectsthey have a laundry facility.
Jay Ray (15:33):
Yeah.
Sir Daniel (15:33):
And you can go put the clothes to wash, leave it, and then come back.
And so Marley of a legendarily,um, yelled out the window as
Shante Hey, you, you, you rap.
I know you, you're theneighborhood legend, right?
I need, I want you to come up here andspit something on this beat for me.
And he told her, he was like, haveyou heard this Roxanne Roxanne record?
(15:56):
She was like, duh, whohasn't heard the record?
And he's like, I need you tomake, I need you to dis them.
I need you to answer them.
You know, pretend you'reRoxanne and Roxanne, Roxanne.
Mm-hmm.
And answer them and dis them.
And she was like, but.
But why, you know?
Right.
Not, but he was like,she was like, Hmm, okay.
(16:17):
Whatever.
Right.
Nothing written.
Nope.
And when you listen to the, whenyou listen to the OG recording,
it was straight mic to tape.
Jay Ray (16:26):
Yes.
Sir Daniel (16:26):
It was nothing.
And it was him, him actually, um, uh,catching the record back and forth over
the specific drum pattern and historywas made, like it, and it went from tape.
So on air, but then therecord label recorded it from
on air and put that on wax.
(16:48):
So when you have a 12 inch of uh,Roxanne's revenge, you're actually
listening to a radio recording ofRoxanne Shante going off the dome.
Dissing UCFO and that record, of course,um, it starts, it's, it's historical.
The, the Roxanne, the RoxanneWars, it starts the Roxanne Wars.
(17:10):
It starts the, the, the, the, um, the,I guess the industry of answer records
and within hip hop because, and it'salso listed in the Guinness World Book
of Records as the had the record that hasstarted the most amount of answer records.
Ever.
And so at this, so nowQueensbridge is on the map.
(17:32):
The map Queensbridge is with the
Jay Ray (17:35):
place a woman.
With a woman.
With a woman as the, the mc du jourthat I think is so important to,
and when you think about this idea,and you, you, you, you talked about
this a second ago, the Queensbridge,there are families of course,
living there, but there are mm-hmm.
(17:55):
Women who are heading households there.
Absolutely.
So when you think about the ideaof black women and what they
represented within community.
It's kind of only right thatthis like gruff of rough, of an
mc would be this little girl.
'cause she's gotta, she's gottahold it down in her community.
(18:19):
Mm-hmm.
It just is what it is.
Sir Daniel (18:21):
And I love the fact that she was like, she did it.
And she was like, okay.
Oh, and she did it for a pair of jeans,
Jay Ray (18:30):
right?
Sir Daniel (18:30):
She, because Marley worked at, Marley, worked at a
Jordache, um, factory, and she waslike, okay, you want me to do this?
I need a pair of Jordachejeans, so what's up?
And then she did it.
She was like, okay, I need my jeans.
I'm about to go get this laundry.
See you later.
The next thing you know, hervoice is all over the radio.
Jay Ray (18:48):
She is
Sir Daniel (18:49):
a
Jay Ray (18:49):
legend.
Sir Daniel (18:50):
She's a legend.
And you know, earlierI had mentioned that.
Housing projects all over the,all over this country mm-hmm.
Tend to have a, a bad,um, connotation to them.
Have a negative connotation to them.
And, but the thing is, like we saidearlier, these projects were established
for working class white people.
Jay Ray (19:11):
Yep.
Sir Daniel (19:12):
Queensbridge left rack.
Red Hook, all of these differenthousing projects did not start getting
their reputation until the crack era.
Jay Ray (19:23):
Yeah.
Oh, that's really interesting.
Um, because that is the thing.
So in the 1980s.
Lemme take a step back.
I heard, I knew about, uh, Queensbridgejust from the, uh, the dis war
between Boogie Down Productions andMc Shan because, uh, you know, when
I was a kid I didn't have a conceptof neighborhoods in other places.
(19:45):
I only knew my neighborhood.
So there's two points thatI think are interesting.
One, uh, the, the rise of Queensbridgealso underscores the fact that
rap used to be really local.
You know what I'm saying?
So that's like one thing I wannaunderscore, and then two to your
point, um, housing, uh, projects,housing developments in, uh, in, in
(20:10):
black and brown communities becamelightning rods for the political.
Administration of the time Yes.
To, you know, begin locking folks up.
It, it, it got real crazy and therewas a lot of things happening.
You,
Sir Daniel (20:25):
the term welfare queen
Jay Ray (20:27):
come around, welfare queen come around, crack babies, which never existed.
But that was a term that peoplewas using and you did have
this, uh, influx of money.
To, to some of the folks thatwere in communities, right?
Because they were doing nefarious things.
So that was a thing.
Um, guns did become moreprevalent all of a sudden.
And so all of these places becamefamous on the news for that.
(20:54):
Mm-hmm.
Also producing these brilliant artists,
Sir Daniel (21:00):
and we cannot talk about Queensbridge and not speak
on one of the most prolific.
Rappers to come out of Queensbridge,because when you talk about, it's,
it's such a dichotomy when youhave that environment where it's,
it's full, it's full of killers.
Mm-hmm.
Um, there could be static at any moment.
(21:21):
Um, people are doing what they,whatever they need to do to make
money to survive because Reaganomics,
Jay Ray (21:28):
yes.
Sir Daniel (21:28):
And so, but out of this.
Confusion conflict out of thatgrows a very prolific yes.
Young man.
Um, and I don't know if, if being ableto, to look through your apartment window
and see the bridge Queensbridge and seethe water and then see the skyline of
(21:51):
Manhattan right outside your window,I, because Manhattan, of course, is
the promised land because Manhattan.
Represents money.
Jay Ray (22:01):
Mm-hmm.
Sir Daniel (22:02):
And so I guess from, I don't know if seeing that right outside
your window kind of gets those wheelsturning, but clearly like, how can I get
Jay Ray (22:10):
over there?
Sir Daniel (22:11):
Right.
And so, but clearly, Nasir Jones,who we all know is Nas, um,
was clearly born with a gift.
Jay Ray (22:19):
Oh yeah.
Sir Daniel (22:19):
And, but he was not, um, immune.
To the stuff that happens to,to especially young black men
growing up in this environment.
Jay Ray (22:30):
Mm-hmm.
Sir Daniel (22:30):
And so before we go any further, I think we do need to, to name
some people who don't get a lot of shine,who don't necessarily, aren't necessarily
shouted out, but you got, um, big no.
Mm-hmm.
Black poet.
The brave hearts for UI Wally fans, Uhhuh.
Uh, Capone of Capone Noriega.
(22:51):
Yes, Uhhuh.
Noriega is from Left Rack, so that'swhy he's not in in this conversation.
Um, Craig g. . Um, Mo Deep.
Jay Ray (22:59):
Yes.
Sir Daniel (22:59):
Bernard Fowler for the Rolling Stones background
singer for the Rolling Stones.
Yeah.
Jay Ray (23:03):
Yeah.
Prince
Sir Daniel (23:04):
Bridge, Verne Fleming, NBA Player Sean Green, NBA Player.
Um.
Uh, the list goes on.
Mel Johnson, actor and film producer.
Uh, we said Jungle Nature.
Andy Walker, another, um,uh, another NBA player.
So Queensbridge, youknow, can really boast.
(23:26):
A lot of star power, a lot ofchildren that have grown up in tho
in that environment and you know,really made something of themselves.
And so, but I think.
When we talk about, as I stated in thebeginning of this, um, episode, that
(23:46):
Queensbridge is the most influentialand consequential because on the, in
the golden era, you have, like yousaid, this little 14-year-old girl
Jay Ray (23:57):
mm-hmm.
Sir Daniel (23:57):
Who literally.
Starts sparks a whole movement.
Jay Ray (24:04):
Yes.
Sir Daniel (24:04):
A dis war movement, A answer record movement, a crew, a move, a whole
crew, a movement for, for women MCs.
Mm-hmm.
Because, um, you know, to coin her phrase,I gave birth to most of them MCs, you
know, and she wasn't really, she wasn'tonly talking about female rappers.
No.
She was literally talking about her crew.
(24:24):
The juice crew.
Yes.
And so all of that.
Got them all record dealsbecause without her.
Pop art, and then later on, yes, WarnerBrothers would've not been interested
and created a whole label for them.
The cold chilling label.
The cold
Jay Ray (24:40):
chilling label,
Sir Daniel (24:41):
and so that showed other record labels that this music is
viable, this music is marketable.
Then you have, and then because MarleyMorrow is a radio personality and dj,
he's getting tapes from different people.
He's getting a tape from a. Aproducer named Herbie Lovebug, a
(25:03):
group called Super Nature, who'sanswering another hot record.
Yep.
Called The Showstopper.
Jay Ray (25:09):
Yep.
Sir Daniel (25:09):
40 years later, we have salt and pepper being inducted into
the Hall of Fame, hall of Fame.
You have, uh, up a lot of uptown MCA,um, artists are actually being produced
by Marley, Marle Mar, and so uptownMCA, of course, becomes this mega.
Label, um, that houses That Bringgives us Mary j Blige and Jodeci.
(25:34):
Come on.
So all of that stems from QueenBridge, Queens Bridge, and back
to your point, Jay Ray, it prettymuch starts with Marley Marl.
Jay Ray (25:45):
Ha.
Um, this is so amazing.
I'm so glad we decided tohave this conversation.
I want to.
I wanna, I'm curious toknow what this is for you.
Um, when is the first time, or what doyou think kind of is the most iconic.
(26:08):
Visual of Queensbridge.
Sir Daniel (26:11):
To me it's the, i the most iconic.
Then if we're gonna talk aboutthat, is the cover of Mc Shans.
Um, I think it's the cover forthe 12 inch of the Bridge Bridge.
So on this cover.
A lot of the publicity shots is himwearing his Fila, um, tracksuit, his
gold chain, and his, uh, cango literallyposed in front of Queensbridge.
(26:36):
The monument is right in your face.
Jay Ray (26:39):
I remember.
Of course Nas' Illmatic cover, justseeing like a young, this young kid's face
with this sprawling complex behind it.
Mm-hmm.
Um, spoke volumes, um, one aboutthe scale, but also about the
weight that that place carried.
(27:01):
Yeah.
Um, and.
Yeah, this is, um, and this is a neighbor.
This is a very, this is a neighborhood,this is not even all of Queens.
Y'all.
We are talking about a place in Queens.
Sir Daniel (27:16):
In Queens, absolutely.
We are talking about a, here's thething about, um, public housing.
Especially way back in like the seventiesand eighties, they were insular.
Yeah.
Like a lot of public housing had, theyhad their schools on, on location.
You had grocery stores on location,um, recreational centers, the
(27:40):
playgrounds, everything was rightthere because it was done on purpose.
So that, for that, so that peopledidn't have to go far, they literally
had a neighbor, a community.
That they had everythingright there, um, for them.
And so that caught, again, thatcreates a sense of community
(28:01):
and a sense of belonging.
And when you enter into the hip hopera, you know, that creates a sense of.
This.
If we don't know anybody out, we don'tknow anybody outside of this village.
Jay Ray (28:14):
Yeah,
Sir Daniel (28:15):
if you not from this village, you, you know, we'll
be looking at you sideways.
Unless you know somebody that knows.
Somebody that knows somebody.
Jay Ray (28:22):
Man.
Oh man.
Queensbridge, y'all.
Thank you so much for y'all hanging out.
Queue Points as we hangout on the MPN network.
So once again, you can subscribeto the MPN Network on YouTube.
They are at MPN management onYouTube, and you should definitely
(28:44):
go and visit the website.
It is mpn llc.com.
Thanks to the MPN network for welcomingQueue Points onto the platform.
Um, so.
Here's what y'all need to do.
If you can see our faces andhear our voices, make sure that
you subscribe wherever you are.
Make sure you visit ourwebsite@Queue Points.com.
You can see the entire archive ofQueue Points episodes and there
(29:07):
are a lot of them to check outwith conversations just like this.
Shop our store@store.Queue Points.comand also check us out on Substack
where we have some additional content.
We appreciate y'all.
We love y'all.
Sir Daniel (29:20):
We absolutely do, and like we always say in
this life, you have a choice.
You can either pick up the needleor you could let the record play.
I'm DJ Sir Daniel.
Jay Ray (29:28):
My name is Jay Ray
Sir Daniel (29:30):
and this has been Queue Points podcast, dropping
the needle on black music history.
We will see you on the next go round.
Peace.
Jay Ray (29:37):
Peace y'all.
Greetings and welcome to another episode of Queue Points podcast.
I'm DJ Sir Daniel.
Jay Ray (00:23):
And my name is Jay Ray, sometimes known by my government,
is Johnnie Ray Kornegay III.
Sir Daniel (00:28):
And this is a very special episode of Queue Points.
For the MPN Network, JayRay, tell 'em all about it.
Jay Ray (00:35):
Yes, we are so excited to be here, uh, recording for the MPN Network,
uh, this very special episode, whichwe're gonna talk about in a second.
But what y'all need to do is head onover to the MPN Network's website.
It can be reached@mpn-llc.com.
You should also check outthe MPN network on YouTube.
(00:58):
They are at.
MPN Management on YouTube, so makesure that you go and subscribe.
But Sir Daniel, because we aredoing this for the MPN network
and the MPN stands for Mr.
Peterson's neighborhood, it's onlyright that we have a conversation
(01:19):
about what might be the most famousneighborhood in all of music history.
Sir Daniel (01:27):
Well, Jay Ray, I'm just gonna say flat out.
Jay Ray, the Queensbridge projects.
Is the most influential and consequentialneighborhood in all hip hop history,
and that's what we're gonna discuss onthis episode of Queue Points podcast.
Queensbridge Projects wasestablished in 1939, and it is the.
(01:51):
Absolute largest public housingproject in all of the United States.
Jay Ray (01:59):
Yes.
Sir Daniel (01:59):
And as Jay Ray, as somebody who grew up in New York,
uh, who grew up in Brooklyn, um,Queensbridge just naturally had this.
Reputation about it when you saidQueensbridge and people, and then
they put projects at the end of it.
You know, I grew up in the eighties,so projects had a connotation.
(02:20):
Connotation to it, conation.
Mm-hmm.
So, um, but I wanna start theconversation off Jay Ray with a question.
Yes.
Why do you feel.
As a people.
Mm-hmm.
Black people specifically.
And, um, as it pertains to hip hop,why is representing your neighborhood,
your projects, your street, yourtown, why is that so important to us?
Jay Ray (02:42):
You know, it's so funny that you, you mentioned that, so in
preparation for this show, I actually hadthat question running through my head.
Sir Daniel (02:50):
Mm-hmm.
Jay Ray (02:50):
And here's what I have come to, here's what I think.
Because of the nature ofhow hip hop began, right?
Yes.
The, the, the architects of the culture.
Sir Daniel (03:03):
Mm-hmm.
Jay Ray (03:04):
So many of the individuals that we talk about.
Their worlds were where they lived.
Right.
So when we think about, uh, Queensbridge,when we think about, let's just say
New York City in general, right?
Sir Daniel (03:20):
Right.
Jay Ray (03:20):
There are people today that have never left their borough.
There are people today that havenever left their neighborhood right.
And so I think when you take this idea of.
I am a storyteller and I'mgonna talk about what's real.
(03:40):
You end up talking about what's realto you and what's real to you is your
neighborhood, your friends, your family.
And that's why I think that's a bigthing is because we naturally are
telling stories about where we from.
Sir Daniel (03:56):
Yes.
And let me build on that toyour point, about the pioneers.
Mm-hmm.
Specifically, and specificallythe DJs and the sound systems
that will come out of that.
Were born out of hip hop.
A lot of, um.
Hip hop, as we stated, we saya lot in our history of hip
hop was built on competition.
(04:18):
And competition was, andwell not your competition.
Your clout was built around havinga reputation from your neighborhood.
Because within your neighborhood itwas like, it's like a, um, a football
or a basketball, um, I guess, uh,what do they call those things?
Brackets, it's like a bracket.
Jay Ray (04:37):
Uhhuh.
Sir Daniel (04:37):
So whoever in that neighborhood, whoever's the best
sound system, the best dj, youknow, you get to the top and then.
Outside of that street, then you gottago to the block, and then from the block
it goes on to the, to the borough andthen outside the borough, you know,
it beco it becomes a whole thing.
And so, yes, you're absolutely right.
And then Jay Ray, let'seven take it further.
(05:00):
When you think about a people who,um, for a lot of, for all intents and
purposes, were, um, disenfranchised.
Jay Ray (05:08):
Yep.
Sir Daniel (05:09):
And we also know.
That these projects, Queensbridge anda lot of projects that were established
in New York City in the early thirties,right after the Great Depression
were actually made for white people.
Jay Ray (05:22):
So can we talk about that for a second?
Absolutely.
Because think that's really important.
And I think that is what, I thinkthat was what one of the things that
makes black folks so brilliant, right?
Mm mm-hmm.
The idea that this place.
Was actually created for whitefolks, and then because of the
way racism works in America.
(05:42):
Yes.
Sir Daniel (05:42):
Mm-hmm.
Jay Ray (05:43):
Then reclassifying the income levels.
Mm-hmm.
So to make white flight income, whiteflight, so the income levels, if you made
over this amount, you couldn't live here.
Right.
So all the white people had to move outand go wherever they went, which left.
Black and Latino folks in Queensbridge,but what do we do every single time is
(06:08):
we're gonna make the best of where we areone, and we are going to innovate and be
creative in what it is that, that we do.
And I think that that, thatthat stew that was mm-hmm.
Stirring in Queensbridge.
Oh, and I'm gonna say something SirDaniel, I think you'll agree with this.
(06:30):
Uh, that stew that was stirring inQueensbridge allowed Marley Marl,
who I think is the most importantfigure in Queensbridge, like period.
There's
Sir Daniel (06:45):
without a doubt.
Jay Ray (06:46):
Okay, so I'm not off there.
I'm like, Marley is like thefoundation for through which
all of these other folks.
Are kind of able to stand onhis shoulders and move forward
Sir Daniel (06:59):
and, and I'll raise you one Marley Marl is actually the through line.
For, uh, the connect the connectionto a lot of, not just Queensbridge,
but to a lot of bubbling, um,hip hop rap acts in the moment.
Um, because, um, where do I wanna start?
So, yes, as you said, what wedo, what we do, we do best,
(07:21):
we create community mm-hmm.
Wherever we go and we establish community,we establish bonds, we establish
a culture within wherever we live.
Jay Ray (07:30):
Yes.
Sir Daniel (07:30):
And so.
As you stated, um, Marley Marlis, first I gotta say this, as a
New Yorker, Queens per capita haslike an abundance of rap artists.
Period.
Jay Ray (07:44):
Yes, yes,
Sir Daniel (07:45):
yes.
Out of all the boroughs, I mean, when youthink about everything I, I'm thinking
about, because salt and pepper justgot inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
You've got salt and pepper, so you havethat whole Idol maker's, crew, sweet Tea,
Dan, Dan, oh no, Danny Dana from Brooklyn,but you got the Kim run plays, DMC,
Jay Ray (08:01):
all the mm-hmm.
Sir Daniel (08:02):
Run, DMC ll.
And then, and then you come to thefuture, you've got Nicki Minaj,
you've got 50 cent, you've gotMob Deep, all of these people.
Within and within blocks of each other.
Yes.
When you have them tell thestories, they're within blocks of
each other's of, of each other.
But let's go back to the eighties,um, and, and, and, and, and stay
with Marley Marl for a minute.
(08:24):
Marley Marl has connectionsto Herbie Love Bug.
Marley Marl has connectionsto all of these.
Um, rap artists and rap producersbecause they're coming to him.
Jay Ray (08:34):
Yes.
Sir Daniel (08:35):
DJ Clark Kent once said, and he's from Brooklyn, DJ Clark Kent once
said he went to Marley Marls house andto, to, to, to soak up knowledge from him.
Marley Marl is the, perhapsthe epicenter of a, of.
Golden era hip hop as itpertains to Queensbridge.
And then on top of that,Marley Marl was on the radio.
On the radio.
(08:56):
He was, he was on a college radiostation and, um, with him and
then, um, partnered with Mr. Magic.
Jay Ray (09:03):
Mm-hmm.
Sir Daniel (09:04):
Uh, got the whole BLS thing going so.
There is a lot to be said about MarleyMarl, but of course the story that
you love to hear over and over again,the story that you love to tell.
I mean,
Jay Ray (09:14):
it's a great story.
Sir Daniel (09:15):
It's a great story.
We've got the juice crew.
Jay Ray (09:20):
Yes,
Sir Daniel (09:20):
the juice crew is probably, I mean, what.
Enough can't be said about the juice crew.
Jay Ray (09:28):
Yeah.
Tentacles throughout the entire historyof hip hop and the juice crew encompassed,
of course, folks, a bunch of folks fromQueens, so Craig g and, and, uh, MC Shan
and Roxane Chante, but also Brooklyn.
So you got, uh, uh, uh, bigDaddy, big Daddy Kane, I think
that's the A was from Brooklyn.
Bis.
Marque, yes.
Yeah.
So you have these, but once again.
(09:51):
To your point, and I love that youput it that way, like Marley, Morrow,
kind of bridging this gap becauseI've always wondered this bridge.
Bridge, I see what you did.
Yeah.
Bridge.
Right.
I've always wondered, and we couldtalk about this later, um, how
important where you were from, likefrom your experience when you were
kid, how important your borough was.
(10:13):
To how you walked through the world.
Sir Daniel (10:16):
Oh, that's easy.
It was super important.
Okay.
And I think as, and I know we'rekind of skipping around here, but
of course we know that the bridgewars as they were coined Yes.
Um, was a, was an, um, was.
Due to the static between thatstarted growing between Mc, Shan
(10:37):
Boogie Productions, uh, boogieProductions, who was from the Bronx.
Right?
And speaking of Boogie Productions,and the song, the Bridge is Over,
I think Caris One literally put it.
Perspective about the differentburrows because he says it in
the, um, he does in, in the rhyme,he says The Bronx cre cre in it.
(10:59):
Mm-hmm.
Brooklyn keeps on taking it.
Taking it.
And what that means is Brooklynis a burrow full of feed.
Brooklyn.
Lemme tell you something.
Brooklyn had a reputation of.
If you like all of this, like if yougot on a chain, keep it tucked when you
walk out walking, because you can getsnatched, you can get jook at any moment.
(11:22):
Biggie told you in his rhymes,it was always robbing season
in the borough of Brooklyn.
So I said all that to say thatbecause of that, um, war mm-hmm.
That, um, that Ron warbetween Mc Shannon krs won.
The KRS one helped to establishthe importance and the status
(11:43):
of, um, of the boroughs.
The borough.
Yeah.
Okay.
Within New York, because all ofthem, and he put that on forefront
for the rest of the world to knowthat, hey, when you come here to
New York, this is what's happening.
That borough right there.
Thieves.
They got sticky fingers.
This one right here, we created hip hop.
Mm-hmm.
But this one right here, they thinkthey're running things, but they all kind.
(12:06):
But they, but they're biters, you know?
So that was the kind of reputationthat he, he wanted to establish.
Which is debatable.
Jay Ray (12:15):
Yeah.
Sir Daniel (12:15):
Which is how debatable.
Jay Ray (12:16):
Yeah, yeah,
Sir Daniel (12:17):
yeah.
But I will say that when it comes toresults, when it came to, um, just.
Numbers.
Jay Ray (12:27):
Mm-hmm.
Sir Daniel (12:27):
Queens.
Listen, Queens is the thing, like I,we mentioned earlier you had your run
DMC, and you had your LL Cool J, whichif you talk, if you want to talk about
the beginnings of hip hop, superstardom.
Jay Ray (12:42):
Yeah.
Sir Daniel (12:43):
Those two.
Two establishments.
Oh yeah.
Run.
DMC and LL Cool J are at the top.
Yeah.
The apex of what itmeans to be a rap star.
And they held from Queens.
Jay Ray (12:54):
Yeah.
So I wanna go back to the story.
So I, we are, we're gonna mentionsome of the famous people that have
come from Queensbridge in a second.
Um, but the story.
That really puts Queensbridge on the map.
Mm-hmm.
I think this is a good time totell, here's how the story goes.
Sir Daniel (13:14):
Yes.
Jay Ray (13:16):
Do you wanna tell it?
Sir Daniel (13:18):
Sure.
Are we
Jay Ray (13:19):
talking
Sir Daniel (13:19):
about
Jay Ray (13:19):
the Roxane the obvious, talking about the Roxanne and Shante story?
Sir Daniel (13:22):
Sure.
We, we talking about, and it started allwith a pair of Jordan ass jeans, you know?
Yes.
Um, it's been told so many times before,but you know, Shante, Roxanne, Shante
had a reputation of just battling.
Rappers in the neighborhood.
In her neighborhood.
And as we've plainly stated,Marley Marl is the man about town
(13:43):
as far as music is concerned.
Production and, and being on the radio.
Jay Ray (13:49):
Yes.
Sir Daniel (13:49):
And so, um, at the round this time, UTFO, and I've heard ver
different versions of the story,but around this time, UTFO, um, was
really popping U CFOs from Brooklyn.
And they're popping becauseof their hit record.
Roxanne Roxanne Roxane, from what Iunderstand exactly, there was supposed
(14:11):
to be, um, Marley Marl and some otherpromoters had booked UTFO for a party
allegedly and booked UTFO for a party, andthey flaked, UTFO did not show up for this
Jay Ray (14:26):
party.
Oh, now that is interest, okay?
Mm-hmm.
Sir Daniel (14:28):
Right.
So.
As a means of get back.
You know, Marley was like, well,hmm, let's do a answer record.
Jay Ray (14:39):
Why not?
Sir Daniel (14:39):
And so, why not?
Because answer records at that time.
I'm trying to think if evenbefore that, I don't even think
this was, think of that many
Jay Ray (14:48):
the first time that
Sir Daniel (14:49):
answer records.
Yeah.
Jay Ray (14:50):
Yeah.
This was really the first time inhip hop history that we really had
like a true, like a answer record.
Sir Daniel (14:56):
Right.
And so as history as, as the peoplethat lived at Tellit, Shante was on, on
her way, and if you, if any of you havelived in a neighborhood where you have
to go outside of the home to do laundry.
Do laundry,
Jay Ray (15:10):
yes.
Sir Daniel (15:10):
Doing laundry is a. Very important chore.
And if you grew up with a singlemother, you know that if you did
not do what she asked you to do,it was gonna be curtains for you,
Jay Ray (15:20):
right?
Sir Daniel (15:20):
So as the story tell, as she, as it's told, Shante was
doing her mother's laundry, doingthe laundry for the household, and.
You know, I guess in, in the projectsthey have a laundry facility.
Jay Ray (15:33):
Yeah.
Sir Daniel (15:33):
And you can go put the clothes to wash, leave it, and then come back.
And so Marley of a legendarily,um, yelled out the window as
Shante Hey, you, you, you rap.
I know you, you're theneighborhood legend, right?
I need, I want you to come up here andspit something on this beat for me.
And he told her, he was like, haveyou heard this Roxanne Roxanne record?
(15:56):
She was like, duh, whohasn't heard the record?
And he's like, I need you tomake, I need you to dis them.
I need you to answer them.
You know, pretend you'reRoxanne and Roxanne, Roxanne.
Mm-hmm.
And answer them and dis them.
And she was like, but.
But why, you know?
Right.
Not, but he was like,she was like, Hmm, okay.
(16:17):
Whatever.
Right.
Nothing written.
Nope.
And when you listen to the, whenyou listen to the OG recording,
it was straight mic to tape.
Jay Ray (16:26):
Yes.
Sir Daniel (16:26):
It was nothing.
And it was him, him actually, um, uh,catching the record back and forth over
the specific drum pattern and historywas made, like it, and it went from tape.
So on air, but then therecord label recorded it from
on air and put that on wax.
(16:48):
So when you have a 12 inch of uh,Roxanne's revenge, you're actually
listening to a radio recording ofRoxanne Shante going off the dome.
Dissing UCFO and that record, of course,um, it starts, it's, it's historical.
The, the Roxanne, the RoxanneWars, it starts the Roxanne Wars.
(17:10):
It starts the, the, the, the, um, the,I guess the industry of answer records
and within hip hop because, and it'salso listed in the Guinness World Book
of Records as the had the record that hasstarted the most amount of answer records.
Ever.
And so at this, so nowQueensbridge is on the map.
(17:32):
The map Queensbridge is with the
Jay Ray (17:35):
place a woman.
With a woman.
With a woman as the, the mc du jourthat I think is so important to,
and when you think about this idea,and you, you, you, you talked about
this a second ago, the Queensbridge,there are families of course,
living there, but there are mm-hmm.
(17:55):
Women who are heading households there.
Absolutely.
So when you think about the ideaof black women and what they
represented within community.
It's kind of only right thatthis like gruff of rough, of an
mc would be this little girl.
'cause she's gotta, she's gottahold it down in her community.
(18:19):
Mm-hmm.
It just is what it is.
Sir Daniel (18:21):
And I love the fact that she was like, she did it.
And she was like, okay.
Oh, and she did it for a pair of jeans,
Jay Ray (18:30):
right?
Sir Daniel (18:30):
She, because Marley worked at, Marley, worked at a
Jordache, um, factory, and she waslike, okay, you want me to do this?
I need a pair of Jordachejeans, so what's up?
And then she did it.
She was like, okay, I need my jeans.
I'm about to go get this laundry.
See you later.
The next thing you know, hervoice is all over the radio.
Jay Ray (18:48):
She is
Sir Daniel (18:49):
a
Jay Ray (18:49):
legend.
Sir Daniel (18:50):
She's a legend.
And you know, earlierI had mentioned that.
Housing projects all over the,all over this country mm-hmm.
Tend to have a, a bad,um, connotation to them.
Have a negative connotation to them.
And, but the thing is, like we saidearlier, these projects were established
for working class white people.
Jay Ray (19:11):
Yep.
Sir Daniel (19:12):
Queensbridge left rack.
Red Hook, all of these differenthousing projects did not start getting
their reputation until the crack era.
Jay Ray (19:23):
Yeah.
Oh, that's really interesting.
Um, because that is the thing.
So in the 1980s.
Lemme take a step back.
I heard, I knew about, uh, Queensbridgejust from the, uh, the dis war
between Boogie Down Productions andMc Shan because, uh, you know, when
I was a kid I didn't have a conceptof neighborhoods in other places.
(19:45):
I only knew my neighborhood.
So there's two points thatI think are interesting.
One, uh, the, the rise of Queensbridgealso underscores the fact that
rap used to be really local.
You know what I'm saying?
So that's like one thing I wannaunderscore, and then two to your
point, um, housing, uh, projects,housing developments in, uh, in, in
(20:10):
black and brown communities becamelightning rods for the political.
Administration of the time Yes.
To, you know, begin locking folks up.
It, it, it got real crazy and therewas a lot of things happening.
You,
Sir Daniel (20:25):
the term welfare queen
Jay Ray (20:27):
come around, welfare queen come around, crack babies, which never existed.
But that was a term that peoplewas using and you did have
this, uh, influx of money.
To, to some of the folks thatwere in communities, right?
Because they were doing nefarious things.
So that was a thing.
Um, guns did become moreprevalent all of a sudden.
And so all of these places becamefamous on the news for that.
(20:54):
Mm-hmm.
Also producing these brilliant artists,
Sir Daniel (21:00):
and we cannot talk about Queensbridge and not speak
on one of the most prolific.
Rappers to come out of Queensbridge,because when you talk about, it's,
it's such a dichotomy when youhave that environment where it's,
it's full, it's full of killers.
Mm-hmm.
Um, there could be static at any moment.
(21:21):
Um, people are doing what they,whatever they need to do to make
money to survive because Reaganomics,
Jay Ray (21:28):
yes.
Sir Daniel (21:28):
And so, but out of this.
Confusion conflict out of thatgrows a very prolific yes.
Young man.
Um, and I don't know if, if being ableto, to look through your apartment window
and see the bridge Queensbridge and seethe water and then see the skyline of
(21:51):
Manhattan right outside your window,I, because Manhattan, of course, is
the promised land because Manhattan.
Represents money.
Jay Ray (22:01):
Mm-hmm.
Sir Daniel (22:02):
And so I guess from, I don't know if seeing that right outside
your window kind of gets those wheelsturning, but clearly like, how can I get
Jay Ray (22:10):
over there?
Sir Daniel (22:11):
Right.
And so, but clearly, Nasir Jones,who we all know is Nas, um,
was clearly born with a gift.
Jay Ray (22:19):
Oh yeah.
Sir Daniel (22:19):
And, but he was not, um, immune.
To the stuff that happens to,to especially young black men
growing up in this environment.
Jay Ray (22:30):
Mm-hmm.
Sir Daniel (22:30):
And so before we go any further, I think we do need to, to name
some people who don't get a lot of shine,who don't necessarily, aren't necessarily
shouted out, but you got, um, big no.
Mm-hmm.
Black poet.
The brave hearts for UI Wally fans, Uhhuh.
Uh, Capone of Capone Noriega.
(22:51):
Yes, Uhhuh.
Noriega is from Left Rack, so that'swhy he's not in in this conversation.
Um, Craig g. . Um, Mo Deep.
Jay Ray (22:59):
Yes.
Sir Daniel (22:59):
Bernard Fowler for the Rolling Stones background
singer for the Rolling Stones.
Yeah.
Jay Ray (23:03):
Yeah.
Prince
Sir Daniel (23:04):
Bridge, Verne Fleming, NBA Player Sean Green, NBA Player.
Um.
Uh, the list goes on.
Mel Johnson, actor and film producer.
Uh, we said Jungle Nature.
Andy Walker, another, um,uh, another NBA player.
So Queensbridge, youknow, can really boast.
(23:26):
A lot of star power, a lot ofchildren that have grown up in tho
in that environment and you know,really made something of themselves.
And so, but I think.
When we talk about, as I stated in thebeginning of this, um, episode, that
(23:46):
Queensbridge is the most influentialand consequential because on the, in
the golden era, you have, like yousaid, this little 14-year-old girl
Jay Ray (23:57):
mm-hmm.
Sir Daniel (23:57):
Who literally.
Starts sparks a whole movement.
Jay Ray (24:04):
Yes.
Sir Daniel (24:04):
A dis war movement, A answer record movement, a crew, a move, a whole
crew, a movement for, for women MCs.
Mm-hmm.
Because, um, you know, to coin her phrase,I gave birth to most of them MCs, you
know, and she wasn't really, she wasn'tonly talking about female rappers.
No.
She was literally talking about her crew.
(24:24):
The juice crew.
Yes.
And so all of that.
Got them all record dealsbecause without her.
Pop art, and then later on, yes, WarnerBrothers would've not been interested
and created a whole label for them.
The cold chilling label.
The cold
Jay Ray (24:40):
chilling label,
Sir Daniel (24:41):
and so that showed other record labels that this music is
viable, this music is marketable.
Then you have, and then because MarleyMorrow is a radio personality and dj,
he's getting tapes from different people.
He's getting a tape from a. Aproducer named Herbie Lovebug, a
(25:03):
group called Super Nature, who'sanswering another hot record.
Yep.
Called The Showstopper.
Jay Ray (25:09):
Yep.
Sir Daniel (25:09):
40 years later, we have salt and pepper being inducted into
the Hall of Fame, hall of Fame.
You have, uh, up a lot of uptown MCA,um, artists are actually being produced
by Marley, Marle Mar, and so uptownMCA, of course, becomes this mega.
Label, um, that houses That Bringgives us Mary j Blige and Jodeci.
(25:34):
Come on.
So all of that stems from QueenBridge, Queens Bridge, and back
to your point, Jay Ray, it prettymuch starts with Marley Marl.
Jay Ray (25:45):
Ha.
Um, this is so amazing.
I'm so glad we decided tohave this conversation.
I want to.
I wanna, I'm curious toknow what this is for you.
Um, when is the first time, or what doyou think kind of is the most iconic.
(26:08):
Visual of Queensbridge.
Sir Daniel (26:11):
To me it's the, i the most iconic.
Then if we're gonna talk aboutthat, is the cover of Mc Shans.
Um, I think it's the cover forthe 12 inch of the Bridge Bridge.
So on this cover.
A lot of the publicity shots is himwearing his Fila, um, tracksuit, his
gold chain, and his, uh, cango literallyposed in front of Queensbridge.
(26:36):
The monument is right in your face.
Jay Ray (26:39):
I remember.
Of course Nas' Illmatic cover, justseeing like a young, this young kid's face
with this sprawling complex behind it.
Mm-hmm.
Um, spoke volumes, um, one aboutthe scale, but also about the
weight that that place carried.
(27:01):
Yeah.
Um, and.
Yeah, this is, um, and this is a neighbor.
This is a very, this is a neighborhood,this is not even all of Queens.
Y'all.
We are talking about a place in Queens.
Sir Daniel (27:16):
In Queens, absolutely.
We are talking about a, here's thething about, um, public housing.
Especially way back in like the seventiesand eighties, they were insular.
Yeah.
Like a lot of public housing had, theyhad their schools on, on location.
You had grocery stores on location,um, recreational centers, the
(27:40):
playgrounds, everything was rightthere because it was done on purpose.
So that, for that, so that peopledidn't have to go far, they literally
had a neighbor, a community.
That they had everythingright there, um, for them.
And so that caught, again, thatcreates a sense of community
(28:01):
and a sense of belonging.
And when you enter into the hip hopera, you know, that creates a sense of.
This.
If we don't know anybody out, we don'tknow anybody outside of this village.
Jay Ray (28:14):
Yeah,
Sir Daniel (28:15):
if you not from this village, you, you know, we'll
be looking at you sideways.
Unless you know somebody that knows.
Somebody that knows somebody.
Jay Ray (28:22):
Man.
Oh man.
Queensbridge, y'all.
Thank you so much for y'all hanging out.
Queue Points as we hangout on the MPN network.
So once again, you can subscribeto the MPN Network on YouTube.
They are at MPN management onYouTube, and you should definitely
(28:44):
go and visit the website.
It is mpn llc.com.
Thanks to the MPN network for welcomingQueue Points onto the platform.
Um, so.
Here's what y'all need to do.
If you can see our faces andhear our voices, make sure that
you subscribe wherever you are.
Make sure you visit ourwebsite@Queue Points.com.
You can see the entire archive ofQueue Points episodes and there
(29:07):
are a lot of them to check outwith conversations just like this.
Shop our store@store.Queue Points.comand also check us out on Substack
where we have some additional content.
We appreciate y'all.
We love y'all.
Sir Daniel (29:20):
We absolutely do, and like we always say in
this life, you have a choice.
You can either pick up the needleor you could let the record play.
I'm DJ Sir Daniel.
Jay Ray (29:28):
My name is Jay Ray
Sir Daniel (29:30):
and this has been Queue Points podcast, dropping
the needle on black music history.
We will see you on the next go round.
Peace.
Jay Ray (29:37):
Peace y'all.
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