Hip Hop Can Save America: Manny Faces Joins the Conversation
Episode 197 • 20th October 2025 • Queue Points • Queue Points LLC
00:00:00 00:52:12

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Sir Daniel:

greetings and welcome to another episode of Queue Points podcast.

Sir Daniel:

I'm DJ Sir Daniel.

Jay Ray:

My name is Jay Ray, sometimes known by my governments

Jay Ray:

as Johnnie Ray Kornegay III.

Jay Ray:

What's happening y'all, sir Daniel?

Jay Ray:

I am so as

Jay Ray:

usual,

Jay Ray:

but I'm really excited.

Sir Daniel:

Absolutely like, you know, there's plenty of people in.

Sir Daniel:

In the culture of the culture, you know, that are that claim to make

Sir Daniel:

moves and claim to, you know, people, they throw around the word legendary.

Sir Daniel:

They throw around the word iconic, you know?

Sir Daniel:

Um, but I think whatever this gentleman calls himself is true.

Sir Daniel:

Whatever he answers to is true.

Sir Daniel:

It's, and it's all respectfully.

Sir Daniel:

And there's people that you can tell are just respected in this

Sir Daniel:

community no matter where they go.

Sir Daniel:

And our guest this evening is just that, and I'm so happy that

Sir Daniel:

he's joining us and, um, you know.

Sir Daniel:

We're always in this con um, this conversation recently about

Sir Daniel:

where hip hop is going.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

Um, is it, is it on its last legs?

Sir Daniel:

You

Sir Daniel:

know, Nas said that hip hop is dead and it's not dead, and, and there's still

Sir Daniel:

that ongoing conversation, but it's just, I don't know, especially for a

Sir Daniel:

old head like me, I'm like, Hmm, what am I to make of this genre anymore?

Sir Daniel:

What am I to make of this, this, uh, community, this, or the music that is

Sir Daniel:

supposed to come from this community?

Sir Daniel:

When am I to make of it anymore?

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

And, you know, hopefully our next guest can shed

Sir Daniel:

some light on it, his perspective,

Sir Daniel:

and also draw a through line on how this music, this culture, directly affects

Sir Daniel:

us in all other facets of our lives.

Jay Ray:

Manny Faces is joining us.

Jay Ray:

Manny Faces is an award-winning journalist, podcast professional

Jay Ray:

and founding director of the Hip Hop Institute for Social Innovation.

Jay Ray:

He's a leading voice advocating for the ability of hip hop, music and culture to

Jay Ray:

help improve society and uplift community.

Jay Ray:

And he is the author of a new book, which we are gonna be talking about

Jay Ray:

tonight, "Hip Hop Can Save America: Inspiration for the Nation from a Culture

Jay Ray:

of Innovation." Queue Points family.

Jay Ray:

We are absolutely honored and

Jay Ray:

excited to welcome the Manny Faces to

Jay Ray:

Queue Points.

Jay Ray:

What's up man?

Manny Faces:

Oh, I'm, y'all gonna make me cry, man.

Manny Faces:

Thank you.

Manny Faces:

I appreciate

Jay Ray:

Listen, you for putting the culture on your back, man.

Jay Ray:

And um, so to that point that Sir Daniel mentioned, right?

Jay Ray:

Like.

Jay Ray:

One of the things that, uh, is kind of a ray of hope for me is I think

Jay Ray:

you helped to remind, an I statement, remind me of the possibilities

Jay Ray:

that still exist through hip hop

Manny Faces:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

over the years, it's been so easy to be jaded by

Jay Ray:

everything that has happened,

Sir Daniel:

Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray:

what you are doing with this book, and I mean all of your, your entire

Jay Ray:

platform, the podcast and everything is, um, a reminder of possibility.

Jay Ray:

So thanks a lot man, for doing that.

Manny Faces:

I appreciate that appreciation.

Manny Faces:

And, uh, just for the record, I appreciate y'all bringing me here to talk about it.

Manny Faces:

Yeah,

Jay Ray:

Nah, man, no problem at all.

Manny Faces:

yeah.

Sir Daniel:

Before, before we

Sir Daniel:

dive too deep into like the serious questions and whatnot, I cannot,

Sir Daniel:

can I share something really funny?

Sir Daniel:

Well, I think it's funny and, um, it, it, it involves Jay Ray and I want to

Sir Daniel:

add the question I have for you, Manny.

Sir Daniel:

How many,

Jay Ray:

I know where you're going.

Sir Daniel:

how many times have you inadvertently in, inadvertently

Sir Daniel:

been called Manny Fresh?

Sir Daniel:

Because once such, um, my co-host Jay Ray over here in our, in our weekly

Sir Daniel:

Meetings.

Jay Ray:

It's

Sir Daniel:

and leading up to this.

Sir Daniel:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

You know, um, yeah.

Sir Daniel:

Manny Fresh, um, confirmed he's gonna be Manny.

Sir Daniel:

Wait, Manny,

Manny Faces:

Yes,

Sir Daniel:

man.

Manny Faces:

You see it, you heard me say it when I, I knew.

Manny Faces:

I knew you were going.

Manny Faces:

Yeah.

Manny Faces:

It happens.

Sir Daniel:

Uh, yeah.

Sir Daniel:

So, so how many times tell us like, how often does it happen

Sir Daniel:

and people are just like, Hey, Manny Fresh, and you're like, no.

Jay Ray:

well, no.

Manny Faces:

It, it's definitely happened, uh, several times.

Manny Faces:

Probably, let's see, as many times as people say my name, probably like, maybe,

Manny Faces:

maybe two outta 10, two outta time times.

Manny Faces:

And then, and then one out of those two, they'll correct themselves

Jay Ray:

Right,

Sir Daniel:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

then the other one just keep going.

Manny Faces:

Like, that's my name.

Manny Faces:

So I just, uh, what

Manny Faces:

can I

Sir Daniel:

It's all good.

Sir Daniel:

It's all good.

Sir Daniel:

And how, and

Manny Faces:

know.

Sir Daniel:

just outta curiosity, where did Man Manny Faces come from?

Manny Faces:

Well,

Manny Faces:

you

Sir Daniel:

Am I getting a, he in

Sir Daniel:

reference.

Manny Faces:

No, it is my, just for the record, everyone know my, my

Manny Faces:

government name is Bobby Elbows.

Jay Ray:

right,

Manny Faces:

no.

Manny Faces:

I'm just playing.

Manny Faces:

Just stupid.

Manny Faces:

Stupid.

Manny Faces:

It is so stupid.

Manny Faces:

I do it tk, like I know

Jay Ray:

right, right.

Manny Faces:

Um.

Manny Faces:

So, years, years ago, I used to, you know, I, I was, you know, I, I was a

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

had rap names and such, and I went under several names.

Manny Faces:

One of 'em was schizophrenic, that was like my rap name for a while.

Manny Faces:

And that kind of got a little played out.

Manny Faces:

And then, you know, we started getting like, that's kind of a weird connotation.

Manny Faces:

So, um, a friend of my, my, my brother Rest in Peace, uh, my man Coleman,

Manny Faces:

um, we were going over like rap names and what should we call ourselves?

Manny Faces:

And I don't know where the conversation went or how, but it was between,

Manny Faces:

it was between Dick Dastardly.

Sir Daniel:

Oh wow.

Sir Daniel:

Okay.

Manny Faces:

Now if you remember you, you're right.

Manny Faces:

See, see, people think I'm just saying that, but there's a

Manny Faces:

reference, like there's a old cartoon

Manny Faces:

character then, um, or Manny Faces.

Manny Faces:

Um, and it was it.

Manny Faces:

I wasn't even he yet.

Manny Faces:

It's definitely built off of He-Man, I wasn't a big He-Man fan.

Manny Faces:

But the idea that Man E Faces, man E Faces had like these three

Manny Faces:

heads and he would switch between

Sir Daniel:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

man and robot.

Manny Faces:

And I was like, Ooh, that kind of fits my whole kind of vibe of schizophrenic.

Manny Faces:

Which the idea was it's sort of multiple personalities, which

Manny Faces:

isn't even what schizophrenic

Manny Faces:

means.

Manny Faces:

But at the time, in rap parlance, you know, it was fine.

Manny Faces:

Um, but I wanted to show like, you know, multiple styles, multiple,

Manny Faces:

just, you know, approaches.

Manny Faces:

And I was like, that kind of might work.

Manny Faces:

And so tried that out for a little while.

Manny Faces:

It stuck, it ended up, I ended up not really rapping very long after

Manny Faces:

that, but then I, I was doing remixes and, and producing and, and DJing a

Manny Faces:

little bit and that kind of, know,

Manny Faces:

after

Sir Daniel:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

that's where it came from, that, that conversation,

Manny Faces:

that kind of evolution.

Manny Faces:

But it's still like a nod to like what I was trying to get across through

Manny Faces:

my artistry as it were at the time.

Sir Daniel:

And that's so funny because I don't think people

Sir Daniel:

understand when you are, how important.

Sir Daniel:

Coming up with a moniker is whether you are an mc, whether you are a dj,

Sir Daniel:

um, Uh, uh, even, um, the, the fam that tags and they do, um, graffiti art.

Sir Daniel:

It's so, important what you come up and what you name yourself because it's part,

Manny Faces:

percent.

Sir Daniel:

it's part of your legacy.

Sir Daniel:

So, of those things, you named quite a few that you've, you've been, the

Sir Daniel:

lives that you led as an mc, producer, remixer, dj, journalist, podcaster,

Sir Daniel:

educator, um, plumber, all of the things like which, which part of the

Sir Daniel:

hip hop culture of hip hop culture first drew you in, and why did it stick?

Manny Faces:

Uh, so, okay.

Manny Faces:

Um.

Manny Faces:

Rapping, you know, well, like rap music.

Manny Faces:

'cause so I grew up on Long Island, right outside of New York City, right.

Manny Faces:

So, and I'm about the same age as hip

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

a couple

Sir Daniel:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

I know I look so young, it's the Botox.

Manny Faces:

Um, um, so I'm about the same age as hip hop.

Manny Faces:

So we, you know, if you, growing up in the eighties, you

Sir Daniel:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

you're basically an eighties baby, you know, or seventies,

Manny Faces:

eighties baby in New York City, you're catching, you know, hip hop as it's

Manny Faces:

starting to, uh, really impact radio.

Manny Faces:

And, and back then, of course, new Yorkers know you can only listen to radio, uh,

Manny Faces:

hip hop on the radio, rap on the radio, uh, from, you know, thir, uh, Friday

Manny Faces:

and Saturday nights from like 10:00

Sir Daniel:

Yeah.

Manny Faces:

AM.

Sir Daniel:

yes。

Manny Faces:

Ks fm. That was the only options unless you had

Manny Faces:

like the college radio stations,

Manny Faces:

um, in the area.

Manny Faces:

So it became sort of, you know, religion to, you know, so every Friday

Manny Faces:

night I'd go to my friend Craig house and we'd be in a basement and we'd

Manny Faces:

play Coleco Vision and, you know, it was the homies from where I grew up.

Manny Faces:

And we'd all, and, and we'd be listening to probably Kiss fm red alerts, you know,

Manny Faces:

is, is sort of the foundational guy.

Manny Faces:

we just started, like, now we had heard music and we, you

Manny Faces:

know, hip hop was around by then.

Manny Faces:

Obviously, you know, we're talking like mid, mid eighties, late eighties.

Manny Faces:

that it really started becoming part of the zeitgeist.

Manny Faces:

It started, you know, influencing how we, you know, what we heard musically, uh, how

Manny Faces:

we dressed, how we talked, how we banged on the table at lunch, like all that.

Manny Faces:

Oh, you know, I did all the things.

Manny Faces:

Um, and so it was that, it was, uh, and people say like, moment you

Manny Faces:

felt, you know, what's, when did you

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Manny Faces:

with Hip?

Manny Faces:

What was the song?

Sir Daniel:

Yeah.

Manny Faces:

as so it was, it, it was my melody, Rakim.

Jay Ray:

Good choice.

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

But when, when that dropped, I don't know if it triggered

Manny Faces:

something, you know, 'cause as we know, Rakim is a very jazz

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

and

Manny Faces:

the music was so different and my melodies was so like funky and spacey and different

Manny Faces:

than the stuff we had been hearing.

Manny Faces:

I don't know.

Manny Faces:

So it was that moment we were all like, yo, what is, like,

Manny Faces:

it's really taken us over.

Manny Faces:

And so just like anyone else growing up in that time, instant gravitation, instant

Manny Faces:

absorption and instant immersion in it.

Manny Faces:

And we just wanted to do, be listen, hear, vibe, anything that

Manny Faces:

was, that was rapping, you know.

Manny Faces:

And then I guess a few years later, I, I, eh, maybe around the same time

Manny Faces:

actually, I, I did get into DJing early, so it was that I never did graph, I never

Jay Ray:

I was gonna ask you that.

Jay Ray:

Did you do any of the other elements?

Jay Ray:

'cause it seemed like you hit Yeah,

Sir Daniel:

Okay,

Manny Faces:

I'm signing books now, and my, I'm like, I tell people, I

Manny Faces:

say, look, graph was never my element,

Manny Faces:

so forgive me when I'm signing these books, it look like a prescription.

Sir Daniel:

look, did you do the dollar sign with the three, the six lines?

Sir Daniel:

At least that can.

Manny Faces:

I could the s

Jay Ray:

right?

Jay Ray:

yes。

Manny Faces:

I could.

Manny Faces:

Yeah.

Manny Faces:

Um, so yeah, but it was, it was definitely the music.

Manny Faces:

So I was very musically, uh, you know, I found out that I was

Manny Faces:

musically inclined through hip hop.

Manny Faces:

Like I'd done band in school and nothing really popped off to me.

Manny Faces:

But don't forget, I grew up listening to like, muddy Waters.

Manny Faces:

I

Jay Ray:

Right,

Manny Faces:

and was like, can I play harmonica?

Manny Faces:

They were like, no, we don't, we don't do that.

Manny Faces:

Like, what do

Jay Ray:

and they should have said yes.

Manny Faces:

they should have said yes, got a whole chapter in it.

Manny Faces:

But, but, so I was always musical and, but, but band, I played like trombone,

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Manny Faces:

is not the worst thing, but it was like, you

Manny Faces:

know, uh, like, old classic, like trombone, not like cool trombone.

Manny Faces:

So it didn't, it didn't grab me, man.

Manny Faces:

And so I, I didn't even think I was musical until hip

Manny Faces:

hop, until I started DJing.

Manny Faces:

And then I bought a beat machine trying to recreate the

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

on the, on the, so it was definitely the music side that got me in.

Manny Faces:

Um, and then, you know, like I said, I didn't touch those other elements.

Manny Faces:

And then as we'll talk probably like, sort of that knowledge

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Manny Faces:

we don't talk a lot about.

Manny Faces:

That's what really like, me in as well.

Manny Faces:

So, yeah.

Manny Faces:

That's where it kind of kicked off.

Jay Ray:

what's interesting about.

Jay Ray:

You sharing that story is, and this kind of goes back to when what I

Jay Ray:

said at the very beginning too.

Jay Ray:

There have been moments in time in hip hop culture where you'll

Jay Ray:

hear a thing or see a thing

Manny Faces:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

and be like, wow, what in the world, like what you

Jay Ray:

will see possibilities, right?

Jay Ray:

Hip hop, uh, has helped many of us imagine over time, right?

Jay Ray:

So, and we've watched it grow and become the culture and like take over

Jay Ray:

literally everything worldwide, right?

Jay Ray:

you get into, you decide to that point about the knowledge piece

Jay Ray:

to kind of take your experiences, your musical experiences, your

Jay Ray:

knowledge, your knowhow, and.

Jay Ray:

Finesse it in all these other different ways.

Jay Ray:

Right?

Jay Ray:

So podcasting, and now we have this book.

Jay Ray:

So I want you to talk about this a little bit.

Jay Ray:

Like how, what came first, the chicken or the egg?

Jay Ray:

Did the idea come, did the idea for the Hip Hop Can Save America?

Jay Ray:

The book come first and then the podcast came?

Jay Ray:

Or did the podcast come first and then the idea for the book came?

Jay Ray:

Like what was like, what was the spark?

Jay Ray:

How did that happen?

Manny Faces:

Yeah.

Manny Faces:

Um, so.

Manny Faces:

Just taking it back a step.

Manny Faces:

'cause it'll give context.

Manny Faces:

Um, I did music, I did remixes for a bunch of years.

Manny Faces:

You can still

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

you know, Google Man faces, remixes, they're out there.

Manny Faces:

I I'm, I I put out some stuff.

Manny Faces:

This was like MySpace

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

Shout

Manny Faces:

to the Bum Squad DJ

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Manny Faces:

that used to like, take, you know, I used to feed the DJs and,

Manny Faces:

you know, we had these like little DJ crews, so stuff would get around.

Manny Faces:

And I did pretty well.

Manny Faces:

There was a couple songs that got played and, and I, I had a couple brushes with

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

with like, you know, celebrity, like, you know,

Manny Faces:

acon, we almost had a thing.

Manny Faces:

Nothing really like really popped off.

Manny Faces:

And in the meantime, in between time I had to like, make, make money.

Manny Faces:

So I ended up working for a newspaper, um, on Long Island.

Manny Faces:

So I've always had it like.

Manny Faces:

Pension for writing, but I really got hired for like graphic design.

Manny Faces:

I had learned how to do graphic

Jay Ray:

Ah,

Manny Faces:

by making my own flyers because

Manny Faces:

I had a little home studio

Jay Ray:

yeah.

Manny Faces:

to be, get people to come to the studio.

Manny Faces:

So I knew how to do graphic design 'cause of hip hop, hip hop gave me everything,

Jay Ray:

Right?

Manny Faces:

Um, and then, then, so now I get a job at a newspaper and I'm

Manny Faces:

still like doing hip hoppy stuff at

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

I'm working for the newspaper during the day and

Manny Faces:

I start writing for them too.

Manny Faces:

And it was kind of cool then I, I realized this was, and you mentioned,

Manny Faces:

uh, either before or during the

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

is

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Manny Faces:

idea,

Manny Faces:

but what more specifically New York hip hop was,

Jay Ray:

Mm.

Manny Faces:

dead.

Jay Ray:

legs?

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Manny Faces:

right where it was like everything else was

Manny Faces:

poppin Houston was popping.

Manny Faces:

Of course,

Jay Ray:

Atlanta.

Sir Daniel:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

And, and they were like, well, New York hip hop is dead now.

Manny Faces:

I'm from New York.

Manny Faces:

I'm right outside.

Manny Faces:

I'm sixth borough, long Island, strong Island.

Manny Faces:

And I'm like, I don't know, man.

Manny Faces:

Like, that's kind of crazy.

Manny Faces:

And we, in New York, we're arrogant as f right?

Manny Faces:

So we're

Manny Faces:

like, hip hop this a mecca.

Jay Ray:

Right.

Manny Faces:

But I understand what's happening.

Manny Faces:

Like there's other parts of the country and, and I wanna let them cook.

Manny Faces:

But at the same time I'm looking in New York, like, wait a minute.

Manny Faces:

I know, like, we still doing some things.

Manny Faces:

So took kind of the idea of the journalism thing that I was

Manny Faces:

doing with these folks on the day

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

I started poking my nose around New York City and I was

Manny Faces:

like, well, who's doing hip hop?

Manny Faces:

Let's

Jay Ray:

Right.

Manny Faces:

I would go to like, not just to like the superstars.

Manny Faces:

'cause at the time it was, you know, we still had a few heads that

Manny Faces:

were doing things, but the, the criticism was they were sounding

Manny Faces:

like the rest of the country.

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

ASAP and French, Montana, whatever.

Sir Daniel:

Right.

Manny Faces:

I go around and I start finding all these underground, like

Manny Faces:

underground, independent like artists or foundational things, right?

Manny Faces:

That are happening.

Manny Faces:

And, uh, weekly showcases have been going on for 10, 15 years.

Manny Faces:

Right?

Manny Faces:

You know, just people cutting their teeth.

Manny Faces:

End of the week, uh, freestyle Mondays, you know, brown bag, all Stars, the

Manny Faces:

lineup, like all these things where you go in and it's like hip hop,

Manny Faces:

like it's the community, the culture, the music, the vibes, the love.

Manny Faces:

And I'm like, this is amazing.

Manny Faces:

What are you talking about?

Manny Faces:

Then I start seeing groups like Tanya Morgan

Jay Ray:

Yep.

Manny Faces:

Don

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

you know what I mean?

Manny Faces:

I cc my man homeboy, Sandman

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

I'm just like, yo, these York hiphop, what is, what,

Jay Ray:

Right.

Manny Faces:

talking about?

Manny Faces:

So I launched a, uh, an online publication called Birthplace

Jay Ray:

Yep.

Manny Faces:

to cover New York

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

years and long, long path short, covering all

Manny Faces:

these independent artists.

Manny Faces:

And I'm doing a, a companion podcast called The New York Hip Hop Report, which

Manny Faces:

is like sports talk radio for hip hop.

Manny Faces:

It was our blog talk radio for y'all,

Manny Faces:

y'all, if you know, you know.

Manny Faces:

Um, and so I'm just getting all these like wild experiences.

Manny Faces:

I start talking to people who are super, super smart, but also like

Manny Faces:

rapping on stage at Freestyle Mondays doing these freestyle competitions.

Manny Faces:

And you gotta be really smart to be

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Manny Faces:

to jump on stage.

Manny Faces:

Freestyle Mondays was wild.

Manny Faces:

I just gotta shout 'em out.

Manny Faces:

it'd be, so there's like contestants, right?

Manny Faces:

Four and four during the night, like eight contestants total.

Manny Faces:

My man, ill spoken.

Manny Faces:

Corey, James, uh, he's the host and Mariela is singing, they got a dj,

Manny Faces:

they're flipping a coin, and they spin a wheel, like a, like a game show.

Manny Faces:

And it's like all these categories, like, uh, like Jeopardy,

Jay Ray:

That's amazing.

Manny Faces:

you know, science, hip hop, um, food groups, uh, whatever, right?

Manny Faces:

And so they spin

Manny Faces:

the wheel and there's two contestants ready to go.

Manny Faces:

And the, the category would be like food group.

Manny Faces:

And so, you know, it'll be like, all right, you go first, you go second.

Manny Faces:

All right, you're a shark, you're plankton.

Manny Faces:

Go.

Manny Faces:

And you gotta off the top of your head, you, you gotta rap

Manny Faces:

like you a shark against the guy who's rapping his plankton.

Manny Faces:

And the guy and shark is like, listen, I'm the king of the ocean.

Manny Faces:

I, I'll be floating and I'll be

Manny Faces:

bragging and boasting.

Manny Faces:

And

Manny Faces:

you're like, all right.

Manny Faces:

Then the planktons like, yeah, but I feed the whales.

Manny Faces:

They'll smack you in the head with a tail.

Manny Faces:

Like whatever, I don't know.

Manny Faces:

I don't do it.

Manny Faces:

They did it and, Oh, live band,

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Manny Faces:

band behind.

Manny Faces:

I'm

Manny Faces:

killing it.

Manny Faces:

Some

Sir Daniel:

nice.

Manny Faces:

New York, I'm watching this and I'm like,

Manny Faces:

yo, what are you talking about?

Manny Faces:

Hip hop in New York is dead.

Manny Faces:

It's crazy.

Manny Faces:

So I start talking to some of the guys, you gotta be the guys and gals.

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

definitely whoever just jumped on stage.

Manny Faces:

It was, it was a mix of, of demographics.

Manny Faces:

It was, there'd be scientists in there with thugs from the street and they

Manny Faces:

all having the time of their life.

Manny Faces:

I'm like, this is the greatest thing ever.

Manny Faces:

And I start talking to some of the rappers and they're like, I'm

Manny Faces:

like, you're like really smart.

Manny Faces:

You gotta like know a lot to just

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Manny Faces:

and not make a fool of yourself when you don't

Manny Faces:

know what the topic's gonna be.

Manny Faces:

And it'll be like Ronald Reagan versus Bill Clinton.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Manny Faces:

like, you have to know things.

Sir Daniel:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

Yeah, I'm, and well, I'm a teacher

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

work in, you know, board of education.

Manny Faces:

I work in advertising, like they're smart people.

Manny Faces:

then I start realizing, so I started asking him,

Manny Faces:

do you bring that into the classroom?

Manny Faces:

Like, do you bring hip hop into the classroom?

Manny Faces:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Manny Faces:

My man, Macal am mean, like hired gun.

Manny Faces:

He was like, yeah, I bring in a class, I go to Rikers Island, we do, uh,

Manny Faces:

uh, poetry and rap workshops with the young men in Rikers Island to teach it.

Manny Faces:

And I'm like, yo, there's a lot going on here.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Manny Faces:

And so I start saying, Hmm, I love New York.

Manny Faces:

I love this, this like this lane that I had created.

Manny Faces:

And I was the only one, no one co I just said it on the record.

Manny Faces:

No one covered hip hop in New York City and the surrounding areas

Manny Faces:

more than me point blank period.

Manny Faces:

had moved on every,

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

single mainstream or you know, I was the number, I

Manny Faces:

had a New York hip hop calendar.

Manny Faces:

I was the only one that I had to, I look, this is a bigger thing.

Manny Faces:

You're bringing hip hop into the schools, you're helping these

Manny Faces:

kids get, you know, better grades.

Manny Faces:

Like, tell me about this.

Manny Faces:

And they start telling me about it.

Manny Faces:

I'm like, oh my God.

Manny Faces:

So I gotta figure out how to talk to these people.

Manny Faces:

So I kind of sunsetted the Birthplace Magazine

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

and I migrated over to hip hop, could Save America.

Manny Faces:

Started doing the podcast

Jay Ray:

Okay.

Manny Faces:

your

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

Okay.

Manny Faces:

that, that chicken came first.

Manny Faces:

Um, then years later, you know, I've been doing it since like 2018 and I,

Manny Faces:

you know, I had like 60, 70 episodes down and I wanted to, I've been trying

Manny Faces:

to write a book the same title, but like a much more fleshed out book.

Manny Faces:

Like a much more, I don't know, I dunno.

Manny Faces:

Just, just a more written

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel:

Hmm.

Manny Faces:

uh, shout to my, one of my homies, great, great person,

Manny Faces:

great mentor, great friend Dr. Lauren Kelly works at a Rutgers University.

Manny Faces:

We were talking and, and I started realizing that other books were being

Manny Faces:

made where you could take interviews.

Manny Faces:

And then like, put 'em in a book.

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel:

Yeah.

Manny Faces:

like, I really wanna kind of immortalize these folks.

Manny Faces:

'cause if you look at who's in the book and who I talk to, they're brilliant.

Manny Faces:

doing amazing work through hip hop.

Manny Faces:

Literally saving lives, particularly young people, particularly young

Manny Faces:

people from communities that have been traditionally overlooked under

Manny Faces:

loved and you know, under-resourced.

Manny Faces:

like, yeah, the podcast exists, but if I stop paying the hosting,

Manny Faces:

they, it's gonna go away.

Sir Daniel:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

Can we, can we immortalize this somehow?

Manny Faces:

And I talked to the publisher and they were like, yeah, we like

Manny Faces:

this idea turned into like a, a thing for colleges and textbooks.

Manny Faces:

And so then I said, wow, I can make this into a, a book.

Manny Faces:

So I took all the, like some foundational podcasts and episodes and, and then added

Manny Faces:

my own, I guess, like sort of overarching

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Manny Faces:

holistic, you know, expertise.

Manny Faces:

And, and then it's a book.

Manny Faces:

So there, that's

Manny Faces:

how it

Manny Faces:

happened.

Sir Daniel:

You know

Manny Faces:

You know

Sir Daniel:

Ray, what I'm, what I'm hearing

Sir Daniel:

and what resonates with me, and it might resonate with you as well,

Sir Daniel:

is,

Manny Faces:

is,

Sir Daniel:

especially I'll say at my big age like this, just speaks to

Sir Daniel:

how we personally evolve and, and and our ev our evolution brought on by

Sir Daniel:

the travels, uh, school education.

Sir Daniel:

Um, the people that we

Sir Daniel:

meet, the different experiences that we have, really speak to and

Sir Daniel:

inform how we relate to hip hop and.

Manny Faces:

and

Sir Daniel:

And how it shows up in our daily lives.

Sir Daniel:

Especially, you know, the Gen Xers, man, we, I don't know.

Sir Daniel:

It, it is so funny to us when, when, you know, the young heads kind of

Sir Daniel:

like act I don't, I'm not beating up on young people, but when they kind,

Sir Daniel:

they act like everything is new.

Sir Daniel:

And we're like, no,

Jay Ray:

No,

Sir Daniel:

this not new.

Sir Daniel:

That's not new.

Sir Daniel:

It's a different BPM, but it's not new.

Sir Daniel:

And so I, it just makes me, you know, that's what's just

Sir Daniel:

sticking out to me here.

Sir Daniel:

And as somebody who has lived many lives, worked different, um, worked in different

Sir Daniel:

arenas, you know, social worker, uh, in juvenile justice and broadcasting,

Sir Daniel:

you know, I, I can I that, that I can relate to that and how it does inform

Sir Daniel:

the way I think, the way I approach.

Sir Daniel:

Um.

Sir Daniel:

Anything.

Sir Daniel:

Right?

Manny Faces:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

so with the title, um, Hip Hop Can Save America, I, this question like

Sir Daniel:

had popped in my head and I was like, well, Manny, what does America

Sir Daniel:

need saving from the most right now?

Manny Faces:

Mm,

Sir Daniel:

I,

Manny Faces:

Um, that is dope.

Manny Faces:

And, and is dope.

Manny Faces:

And, and, and, and I. And just to touch on like the, the many lives you've

Manny Faces:

lived, I think what I, maybe this is the thing I should say at the end, but I'll

Manny Faces:

say it now in case we don't get to it,

Sir Daniel:

yeah,

Manny Faces:

we should all be at, anyone at our age now should be thinking

Manny Faces:

about, well, how can I take my hip hop sensibilities into the thing that I do

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Manny Faces:

know, for a living?

Manny Faces:

That's the key, And I think that's what permeates this in,

Manny Faces:

in this entire, this entire book.

Manny Faces:

Um, the idea Hip Hop Could Save America was because I was

Manny Faces:

talking to these folks, right?

Manny Faces:

And, and, and they're like, well, all right, so I'll give you one example.

Manny Faces:

It doesn't exist anymore, but it was a great foundational

Manny Faces:

program called Fresh Prep.

Manny Faces:

And it was out in New York City.

Manny Faces:

And if you know New York, you gotta, uh, high schoolers, you gotta

Manny Faces:

graduate these, uh, Regents exams.

Manny Faces:

You gotta take these

Manny Faces:

Regents exams.

Manny Faces:

It's like state, you know, certified re uh, tests.

Manny Faces:

And every state has their own version.

Sir Daniel:

Yeah.

Manny Faces:

And I found out that there was this program where kids

Manny Faces:

who were failing, you know, uh, you know, rough and tumble schools, inner

Manny Faces:

city, all the terminology, right?

Sir Daniel:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

these tests and I get it.

Manny Faces:

Um, shoot, I failed my regents

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

understand right away I recognize what it's like to fail 'em.

Manny Faces:

Um, but they were failing some of 'em repeatedly, right?

Manny Faces:

'cause these are, like I said, underserved, under-resourced,

Manny Faces:

under love school districts.

Manny Faces:

And so they're not getting all the right, um, education.

Manny Faces:

Uh, but they have to pass these tests.

Manny Faces:

they introduced this program called Fresh Prep.

Manny Faces:

And at the time, fresh Prep would bring in, so, uh, uh, it

Manny Faces:

was pilot program, whatever.

Manny Faces:

And they would bring in artists.

Manny Faces:

Uh, I know my man, rabbi Darkside, now known as Sam Sellers, John Robinson.

Manny Faces:

Y'all, I think y'all know John Robinson Jr.

Manny Faces:

From

Jay Ray:

Oh,

Manny Faces:

of Life.

Manny Faces:

He was part of this program.

Manny Faces:

And what they would do is they would bring in that

Manny Faces:

either had some kind of educational acumen or some teaching chops, or just were

Manny Faces:

like, smart mother, you know what I mean?

Manny Faces:

And say, okay, work with the teachers so that we could develop.

Manny Faces:

Songs about like what the curriculum is teach these songs.

Manny Faces:

These kids are gonna learn a song.

Manny Faces:

They going, because, you know, we could remember songs we heard when we were,

Manny Faces:

you

Sir Daniel:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

years

Jay Ray:

Right.

Manny Faces:

Um, and, and that that triggers that part of the brain.

Manny Faces:

And I, and then, so the program was written up in the New York Times

Manny Faces:

at the time, and like 80% of the kids that failed previously then

Manny Faces:

went on to pass this test, 80%.

Manny Faces:

And they're like, nothing else gives you that kind of turnaround,

Manny Faces:

that kind of return on investment.

Manny Faces:

And I'm like, Ooh, amazing.

Manny Faces:

so, so if.

Manny Faces:

So if now the program didn't, didn't for whatever reason, funding or, you

Manny Faces:

know, is an organization and sometimes it's organiza organizational stuff.

Manny Faces:

But then I started talking to some people who work with, they're like, yeah,

Manny Faces:

but hip hop could do more than that.

Manny Faces:

'cause that's just rote memorization.

Manny Faces:

And that's cool.

Manny Faces:

Hip hop can teach you critical thinking.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Manny Faces:

what?

Sir Daniel:

Sure.

Manny Faces:

Hip hop can teach you social emotional learning.

Manny Faces:

What?

Manny Faces:

Tell me more.

Manny Faces:

And so I'm learning and Betina love, Dr.

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

who's the first, um, uh, interviewee

Jay Ray:

the book.

Jay Ray:

Yep.

Manny Faces:

series.

Manny Faces:

And in the

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

the foundation.

Manny Faces:

If you don't know Dr. Betina Love, I watched a Ted Talk and she broke down

Manny Faces:

all of the things that, like we know as hip hop heads, we know as people

Manny Faces:

coming up in and around the culture, I know from seeing like, you know,

Manny Faces:

growing up in black neighborhoods, the brilliance, the, the black

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

us.

Manny Faces:

But you can't like necessarily put a, a, a, a title to it.

Manny Faces:

You can't put it into words sometimes.

Manny Faces:

And Dr. Love, she, she broke it down and was like, you don't understand

Manny Faces:

everything you want kids to have.

Manny Faces:

Resiliency, grit, social, emotional intelligence, uh, you know, um,

Manny Faces:

like, uh, uh, improvisational skills.

Manny Faces:

Like we learned that in the cipher.

Manny Faces:

We learned that rocking in the lunchroom.

Manny Faces:

We learned that all of these things from hip hop.

Manny Faces:

And then you go even farther, you say like, well, what the school wasn't

Manny Faces:

teaching us, I said, I grew up in a black neighborhood, went to black schools.

Manny Faces:

All my family,

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

families are black, you know, middle class, like

Manny Faces:

everyone's educated and all that.

Manny Faces:

And then I remember learning about, uh, black inventors throughout history, you

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Manny Faces:

Banneker and, and and uh, you know, uh, Garrett Morgan

Manny Faces:

and, uh, you know, Dr. Charles

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

CJ Walker and all these like brilliant, uh, inventors

Manny Faces:

and architects of innovation from, you know, from black history.

Manny Faces:

But I didn't learn about it in school.

Manny Faces:

I learned about, 'cause KRS one put out a song in 1989, quote, you must learn.

Jay Ray:

Right.

Manny Faces:

And so I'm like.

Manny Faces:

And I'm like, and again, I, I like my black friends don't know this

Jay Ray:

Right,

Manny Faces:

look at each other like you.

Manny Faces:

And my dad was a sociologist.

Manny Faces:

He was studies, urban studies, sociology or minorities.

Manny Faces:

I knew what gentrification meant when I was eight.

Manny Faces:

You know what I mean?

Manny Faces:

Like he was all into that and none of us was learning this stuff.

Manny Faces:

So if you take all of that holistically, and I say, well, damn,

Manny Faces:

if America has educational disparities between race and class, right?

Manny Faces:

I'm looking at ways to solve that problem.

Manny Faces:

These, these folks are ways to counter those disparities we're

Manny Faces:

looking at economic disparities.

Manny Faces:

Well, I have a guy in the book named Richard.

Manny Faces:

He works at Google.

Manny Faces:

He's telling me that he started a program where they teach young people 14 to

Manny Faces:

18 years old in an afternoon workshop.

Manny Faces:

The basics of computer programming.

Manny Faces:

By learning, by, by making beats.

Manny Faces:

So there's a repository of music.

Manny Faces:

You gotta like pull from it and drag and drop.

Manny Faces:

My DJs and producers know you can just drag and drop these things.

Manny Faces:

Now, oh, let me get this, this loop of, you know, baseline, this loop of

Manny Faces:

guitar, this drums part put, start 'em at at bar one, go four bars, start,

Manny Faces:

bring this one in at bar four, go eight bars, but not drag and drop.

Manny Faces:

You have to do it by programming.

Manny Faces:

So you first

Manny Faces:

have to learn the programming if then statements.

Manny Faces:

You have to learn the, you know, all the little basics.

Manny Faces:

And I've seen 14 and 15 year olds who had never touched the computer

Manny Faces:

in their lives in this way.

Manny Faces:

Like they play video games, whatever.

Manny Faces:

They didn't even know they could like use a computer in this way.

Manny Faces:

In four hours.

Manny Faces:

They're making beats by programming.

Manny Faces:

They have a basic

Jay Ray:

Wow.

Manny Faces:

of computer programming hours.

Manny Faces:

And I'm like, who else?

Manny Faces:

But hip hop is doing this.

Manny Faces:

Like, what?

Manny Faces:

And, and so.

Manny Faces:

You know, a thousand e uh, examples later, you know what I mean?

Manny Faces:

I'm like, dang, we're talking about educational disparity,

Manny Faces:

hip hop could fix that.

Manny Faces:

If we're talking about, uh, you know, technolo, you know,

Manny Faces:

technological, um, barriers, right?

Manny Faces:

'cause you know, the communities, you don't get that in the schools.

Manny Faces:

Especially in, in the, you know, in, in, in communities of color.

Manny Faces:

You don't get that opportunity.

Manny Faces:

So we could fix that.

Manny Faces:

Love also had a program called Hip Hop Civics ed, which was teaching,

Manny Faces:

uh, an outta school program to teach people how the government works.

Manny Faces:

'cause

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Manny Faces:

they don't teach that no more.

Manny Faces:

And

Manny Faces:

nobody knows nothing about nothing anymore.

Manny Faces:

using hip hop to do that.

Manny Faces:

And I'm like, dang.

Manny Faces:

Like, You mentioned plumber before.

Manny Faces:

I'm

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Manny Faces:

how could I be a better plumber?

Manny Faces:

How

Manny Faces:

could hip hop make me a better

Jay Ray:

Right?

Manny Faces:

Hip Hop Man?

Manny Faces:

I'm like, well, have you heard of like Gorilla Marketing?

Manny Faces:

Because when Adidas and run DM C, like there's, there's ways to like apply all

Manny Faces:

the lessons learned through hip hop.

Manny Faces:

If, if we do it authentically.

Manny Faces:

We do it not in an an extractor

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

if extractor is a word, but I I'm a writer.

Manny Faces:

Yes, it is.

Manny Faces:

Um, not a way that extracts, but a way that works with, in conjunction with,

Manny Faces:

there's so much genius and ingenuity that, I mean, what problem couldn't

Manny Faces:

we fix for the fact that there's a lot of powers that be want to keep us, uh,

Manny Faces:

from that realization, let's just say.

Manny Faces:

Um, so, that's the things I think like hip hop can fix and, and I'm, I

Manny Faces:

am like kind of getting to the point where like, uh, the more people I talk

Manny Faces:

to and the more niches that we get into like urban planning and, and, and

Manny Faces:

uh, uh, architecture and then Michael Ford has a hip hop architecture camp,

Manny Faces:

like, uh, financial, oh, our kids don't know how to, nothing about money.

Manny Faces:

Well, pockets change does financial literacy through hip hop.

Manny Faces:

Like there's a, there's a hip hop way to fix all this.

Manny Faces:

And so, you know.

Manny Faces:

And ask people, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll land my long plane like this.

Manny Faces:

I ask people at the end of the podcast like, what do you think?

Manny Faces:

Like hip.

Manny Faces:

And some people have pushed back and said, well, maybe America can't be

Manny Faces:

saved, or maybe we don't wanna save it.

Manny Faces:

You know what I mean?

Manny Faces:

Maybe we want something different.

Manny Faces:

Maybe it's not like this structure.

Manny Faces:

And I guess I'm one of, I'm of the, the, the, the I'm of that group that

Manny Faces:

believes that America, if like it ever lived up to its, you know, ideals and

Manny Faces:

we could like, break away from like the crooked, like, you know, what

Manny Faces:

do you say, plant a crooked seed.

Manny Faces:

You get a crooked

Jay Ray:

Right.

Manny Faces:

But

Sir Daniel:

Hmm.

Manny Faces:

can kind of, you know, I, and it on paper pretty decent concept

Manny Faces:

that everyone's equal and, you know, it's, it can all be like this real, um,

Manny Faces:

uh, you know, idyllic kind of place.

Manny Faces:

Now it's never been close to that, but I, and I don't think that anyone, I'll

Manny Faces:

caveat by saying I don't think that hip hop necessarily has all the answers.

Manny Faces:

This book is not titled Solutions.

Manny Faces:

Uh, for the nation, it's inspiration for the nation because I will say

Manny Faces:

that if anyone's qualified to help solve any of these problems, from

Manny Faces:

political to racial divides, to economic issues, to educational

Manny Faces:

disparities, if anyone's equipped to do it, I think the people who are most

Manny Faces:

equipped come from a hip hop mindset.

Manny Faces:

They come from a hip hop background, and so I wanna see more people like us

Manny Faces:

able to, to be in those positions and also to bring up folks under us so that

Manny Faces:

that's amplified instead of squelched.

Jay Ray:

Wow.

Manny Faces:

sense?

Manny Faces:

Did I

Jay Ray:

You, you,

Jay Ray:

you, you answered it times

Jay Ray:

10.

Manny Faces:

all right.

Manny Faces:

So that's

Manny Faces:

what I'm trying to say.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

And, and you hit on a couple of things.

Jay Ray:

So one of the caveats I want to want to add, um, real quick is, and

Jay Ray:

I, it was in getting ready for the show and getting into your book,

Jay Ray:

Manny, that this, um, landed for me.

Jay Ray:

I remember in.

Jay Ray:

It was the early nineties where hip hop is, it's it hitting it to Scent.

Jay Ray:

Ice Cube is about to have the number two death certificate is about to be

Jay Ray:

number two on the billboard charts.

Jay Ray:

Hip hop is huge now.

Jay Ray:

Right.

Jay Ray:

All of a sudden, and the realization was, I was at, I was going to a summer

Jay Ray:

camp we had, uh, these, these rich, uh, white, uh, students that were the,

Jay Ray:

the counselors for at the summer camp.

Jay Ray:

They were all into hip hop.

Jay Ray:

And that to my young mind was like wild.

Jay Ray:

Like, because.

Jay Ray:

of what I, I, I knew hip hop to be.

Jay Ray:

But what I sat with when I was, when I was reflecting on your book is hip

Jay Ray:

hop in so many ways has been like a unifier for like an entire generation

Jay Ray:

of folks where throughout the world it's crazy where you could travel.

Jay Ray:

I remember being in Italy, uh, and so you, I think I told you this

Jay Ray:

story one time and people were in Italy, they don't know any English.

Jay Ray:

'cause I was in a small, uh, town in, in Italy, but they knew hip hop there,

Jay Ray:

you know what I mean?

Jay Ray:

And,

Manny Faces:

right.

Sir Daniel:

Okay.

Manny Faces:

percent.

Jay Ray:

but I didn't think about it kind of as this, knowing it's

Jay Ray:

a global phenomenon, but truly is a u uh, the possibility of

Jay Ray:

being able to unify us in so many

Jay Ray:

ways if we harness the power of it

Jay Ray:

and

Manny Faces:

Correctly

Jay Ray:

correctly.

Sir Daniel:

Right.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Manny Faces:

And 'cause people, as we know, even in America,

Manny Faces:

white people love the music and,

Jay Ray:

Don't love the people.

Manny Faces:

I get that.

Manny Faces:

Understood.

Manny Faces:

And it's like, I'm not so naive to think that, you know, bring a

Manny Faces:

bunch of races, white people into

Jay Ray:

No,

Manny Faces:

and they're gonna be like, these

Manny Faces:

guys are

Jay Ray:

no,

Manny Faces:

What else's wrong all these years?

Manny Faces:

No.

Jay Ray:

no.

Manny Faces:

Although, I tell an interesting story in the book,

Manny Faces:

my, my People's Gangster Grass who are a bluegrass hip hop band,

Sir Daniel:

Oh, that's, yeah.

Manny Faces:

could go either way.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Manny Faces:

You know, we, we've seen, we've seen this work badly

Manny Faces:

in the past, Cool j Brad Paceon.

Jay Ray:

Dang.

Manny Faces:

um,

Jay Ray:

We had to remind the people of that Manny.

Manny Faces:

hold on, because, because I wanna show now,

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Manny Faces:

can work.

Manny Faces:

And again, so my, the guys from Gangstagrass, they actually, and

Manny Faces:

it's wild because True, true, true.

Manny Faces:

Bluegrass like musicians, fantastic bluegrass.

Manny Faces:

S top of the line.

Manny Faces:

then my man, our son, the voice dole, the sleuth from Philly.

Manny Faces:

Philly rappers, spitters together authentically because they,

Manny Faces:

they, it's, we're not slapping us together as a gimmick.

Manny Faces:

We are like, we want the best of the best and we want the best of the best

Manny Faces:

on either side, and we're gonna actually spit these lyrics about racism to

Manny Faces:

all these rednecks in the middle of Kentucky when we go and do these shows.

Jay Ray:

Mm.

Manny Faces:

Fascinating case study.

Manny Faces:

And they're like, no, we go in, we are not gonna sugarcoat it.

Manny Faces:

And a lot of times they're like, well, I don't know about

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

my cup of tea.

Manny Faces:

Right?

Manny Faces:

And then, but by the end, I'm not saying they're instantly

Jay Ray:

Right.

Manny Faces:

falling in love, where else would they get,

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

where else would they get this example?

Manny Faces:

This, that, that, that unifying force exists in?

Manny Faces:

No, because it doesn't exist anywhere else.

Manny Faces:

You can't find it.

Manny Faces:

They're not gonna, they're not gonna stumble across that

Manny Faces:

anywhere else but in hip hop.

Manny Faces:

So yes.

Manny Faces:

The music, yes.

Manny Faces:

The culture.

Manny Faces:

Yes.

Manny Faces:

The, the, the, the, the remix

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

these two things don't go together, but hip hop makes

Manny Faces:

'em go together in a way that,

Manny Faces:

that makes you say, like you said in the beginning, like, I've never seen this

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

Hmm.

Manny Faces:

There's spark in that, and there's something that, that could

Manny Faces:

be, you know, extracted from that.

Manny Faces:

So, no, it's not automatic, but yes, it's in the DNA and if we to be

Manny Faces:

alchemists a little bit, like, I think the answers are there even to Yeah.

Manny Faces:

Yeah.

Manny Faces:

Like racial division, like racism, like I, mm.

Jay Ray:

S sir. So, Daniel, real quick, I just, I'm,

Sir Daniel:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

Go.

Jay Ray:

Manny, because I, uh, one of the things, and I'm glad you talked about

Jay Ray:

this early on, like, um, because this book is definitely, uh, uh, academic

Jay Ray:

text, like, but accessible in the same way because of the way you structure

Jay Ray:

the, the, the, the, the arguments that you're making as well as the conversations

Jay Ray:

and those interviews made it like, and it's an accessible read, and that's

Jay Ray:

what I really, I like about it as well.

Jay Ray:

So anybody can pick up this book.

Manny Faces:

listed as a textbook, but it's only because

Manny Faces:

it's on the academic press.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Manny Faces:

it's a bunch of interviews, but it's also, like you said, my

Manny Faces:

writing, and so it, it, I, I, I, I meant it to be that way, and I, I I kind

Manny Faces:

of like moan and groan a little bit.

Manny Faces:

That it, it's listed as a textbook.

Manny Faces:

It is, because people were actually using some of my, my, my

Manny Faces:

episodes in co in college classes.

Manny Faces:

So I'm just,

Jay Ray:

No, no, no, and no.

Jay Ray:

And what I was gonna, and that's why I love, 'cause I think it, it, never

Jay Ray:

thought of this until now, but that also kind of demystifies the possibility.

Jay Ray:

'cause people will hear the word, like textbook or academic text and

Jay Ray:

feel like, oh, that's not something that I would be interested in.

Jay Ray:

And I'm here to tell you, like, actually no, you would,

Jay Ray:

you would like be into this.

Jay Ray:

So, um,

Manny Faces:

that.

Jay Ray:

you no problem man.

Jay Ray:

And so the thing that you, um.

Jay Ray:

The thing that comes across very clear is there is the

Jay Ray:

possibilities that exist for hip hop.

Jay Ray:

And you've talked about it several times to be able to, um, help us

Jay Ray:

with a lot of different things.

Jay Ray:

But you've also used the word authenticity and authentically.

Jay Ray:

You use that here and you use it in the book.

Jay Ray:

I, and we have seen it in the past where hop integration

Jay Ray:

is a gimmick all of a sudden.

Jay Ray:

And we can see the

Jay Ray:

gimmick a mile away.

Jay Ray:

Like,

Manny Faces:

Right,

Jay Ray:

is this here?

Jay Ray:

Like, it doesn't, uh, I'm looking at you, Wendy's training from the, from

Jay Ray:

the nineties, which is hilarious to me.

Manny Faces:

I know what you're talking about.

Sir Daniel:

That's a

Manny Faces:

what you talking about.

Jay Ray:

males are memories.

Jay Ray:

Yo, but so

Sir Daniel:

hip hop.

Sir Daniel:

Is this.

Jay Ray:

little right?

Jay Ray:

Wax poetic a little bit.

Manny Faces:

right.

Jay Ray:

If you could wax poetic about how.

Jay Ray:

Integrate hip hop from your perspective and then not be gimmicky.

Jay Ray:

know what I mean?

Jay Ray:

Like how?

Manny Faces:

Yeah.

Manny Faces:

Um, I'm gonna do this a lot 'cause this is all I do is I, I, I'm trying

Manny Faces:

to amplify everyone else, but, um, I, Dr. Gloria Latson Billings is

Manny Faces:

in my book, and she's a, uh, she, she's the one who coined the phrase,

Manny Faces:

culturally relevant pedagogy, right?

Manny Faces:

And so we, again, we're not trying to be academic here.

Manny Faces:

What it means is teaching

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

like through their culture, right?

Manny Faces:

But, but she was a, an academic and she, you know, and this is back in the, in

Manny Faces:

the nineties, and, and it, it means like, here's a way to connect to people by not,

Manny Faces:

uh, lumping everybody into Eurocentric outdated ways of teaching in the school.

Manny Faces:

know, these young black kids or these young Hispanic kids, or even

Manny Faces:

these like white kids, they're not teaching, they're not learning the

Manny Faces:

way we learned or, you know, our generation or 30 generations before us.

Manny Faces:

The, the, the lining the schools up in rows, like it's a factory.

Manny Faces:

Like we

Manny Faces:

know all the, all the things.

Manny Faces:

she, she breaks down a lot of, um, what it means to be authentic

Manny Faces:

when you're trying to incorporate hip hop into some of these realms.

Manny Faces:

And some people do it with, you know, good intentions, you know, but they, they don't

Manny Faces:

understand what they're working with.

Manny Faces:

Right.

Manny Faces:

And she has one quote in there where she says, we don't want

Manny Faces:

teachers, for example, just

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

tip.

Manny Faces:

We don't want teachers to use hip hop.

Manny Faces:

We want teachers to

Jay Ray:

Be hip hop.

Sir Daniel:

Hmm.

Manny Faces:

That's where the magic happens.

Manny Faces:

But she also talks about, and this is important 'cause I know a lot of

Manny Faces:

white folk that you know, that actually like a couple of 'em in the book, Dr.

Manny Faces:

Andrea

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

hip hop, the sociology of hip hop at the University of North Alabama.

Manny Faces:

said it like that 'cause that's exactly where it is and what it's

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Manny Faces:

the new, so you already know.

Manny Faces:

But she's teaching this to a, you know, sort of majority white

Manny Faces:

students in a red district.

Manny Faces:

And she's teaching the sociology of hip hop.

Manny Faces:

And through that course she's able to like ex, like the black experience

Manny Faces:

comes out in a way that these kids would never have access to.

Manny Faces:

I'm not saying that they shouldn't have or that, you know, this is

Manny Faces:

okay, but it's where it happens.

Manny Faces:

And then they're like, oh, that little light bulbs go on.

Manny Faces:

Like, I really never got exposed to this.

Manny Faces:

And through hip hop, which we can all kind of get down with, even though,

Manny Faces:

like I said, they like the music, they don't always like the people.

Manny Faces:

Well now they start to at least understand the people a little bit.

Jay Ray:

Mm.

Manny Faces:

And Gloria

Manny Faces:

Latson Bil says.

Manny Faces:

Even like these white teachers can do it.

Manny Faces:

They can come in.

Manny Faces:

There's one teacher, she, she, uh, mentions, who, like, he started a

Manny Faces:

curriculum that didn't exist before and she's like, well, that's kind of hip hop.

Manny Faces:

He's like, I've never listened.

Manny Faces:

He's a white guy.

Manny Faces:

I've never listened to hip hop a day in my life.

Manny Faces:

She's like, no, what you're doing is how we say you

Manny Faces:

creating something from nothing.

Manny Faces:

You remixing curriculum.

Manny Faces:

Like that's a hip hop way of thinking.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Manny Faces:

And so it's not just the music.

Manny Faces:

That's the, the biggest thing I wanna take away from all this is that when we

Manny Faces:

say hip hop, everyone defaults to the

Jay Ray:

Right?

Manny Faces:

the

Manny Faces:

biggest mistake we make.

Manny Faces:

That's the biggest mistake we make.

Manny Faces:

So the authenticity is if you come with the understanding, or at least

Manny Faces:

the respect to learn more, that hip hop is this grand culture that

Manny Faces:

is worldwide, but also American.

Manny Faces:

That's universal, but also black.

Manny Faces:

You know?

Manny Faces:

And if you can understand all that nuance and say, well, how can I work

Manny Faces:

that into what I'm doing, whether I'm white or not, you have an authentic

Manny Faces:

approach to really trying to save.

Manny Faces:

Um.

Manny Faces:

I say save, that word comes up a lot.

Manny Faces:

It's a little hyperbolic.

Manny Faces:

Hip hop is save

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

Um, but you're trying to improve the thing that you do in a

Manny Faces:

way that's culturally, uh, respectful.

Manny Faces:

And you could be anybody and do

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Manny Faces:

also why hip hop has always been this inviting culture

Manny Faces:

that really does welcome you.

Manny Faces:

KRS once said this in a, in a, in a interview, uh, a lecture he did, it's

Manny Faces:

on YouTube, it's in the Netherlands.

Manny Faces:

I quoted in a book where he says, you know, in America we got this

Manny Faces:

thing where Dr. King's, you know, dream of the color of our skin.

Manny Faces:

You know, we get judged by the content of our character, not by the, the,

Manny Faces:

the, uh, the color of our skin.

Manny Faces:

He goes, and that's like the ideal for Americans and for everyone.

Manny Faces:

Like, everyone quotes that and they're like, yeah, that's what we want.

Manny Faces:

And he says, you know, no one in nowhere in the world does that happen.

Manny Faces:

He goes, that doesn't actually happen

Jay Ray:

Right,

Manny Faces:

doesn't happen in America.

Manny Faces:

Nowhere does, does the content of your character take precedence over

Manny Faces:

either the color of your skin or let's just say like your divisions.

Manny Faces:

Right, because you could be Israel Palestine, y'all basically the same,

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

people or you know, whatever the case, or that's not a bad example.

Manny Faces:

They're not basically the same people, but you know what I mean?

Manny Faces:

You could be in two very, uh, uh, uh, biologically close,

Manny Faces:

um, you know, relations.

Manny Faces:

But because you have other divides, nationalistic, religious

Sir Daniel:

national, all of that.

Manny Faces:

you never right.

Manny Faces:

You're literally judging that we are the same color of skin, but

Manny Faces:

we are judging you on the con.

Manny Faces:

We're not judging you on the content of our character.

Manny Faces:

We're judging you on some other divisions.

Manny Faces:

He says, nowhere in the world does that happen, except in hip hop.

Jay Ray:

Mm

Manny Faces:

You come in the cipher, respect what the cipher is.

Manny Faces:

You don't even have to participate in a cipher.

Manny Faces:

You can just stand in a cipher and admire it and, and, and, and, and,

Manny Faces:

and, and watch it and clap it up or, or, you know, hype somebody up.

Manny Faces:

you're understanding what this thing is.

Manny Faces:

Doesn't matter if you, what color, what race, what creed.

Jay Ray:

mm

Manny Faces:

even your ideology.

Manny Faces:

'cause that's not gonna come out in that moment.

Manny Faces:

You are welcome here.

Manny Faces:

You respect what we're doing, we respect you back.

Manny Faces:

I don't know, man, like you said, religion, no sports, no.

Manny Faces:

Like where do you see that?

Jay Ray:

Hip hop.

Manny Faces:

does that exist?

Manny Faces:

That's the only, it's the only place I know.

Manny Faces:

So until, until somebody tells me otherwise, I'm really like it,

Manny Faces:

like into this idea that somewhere in that, that existence, because

Manny Faces:

we're talking tonight right now

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Manny Faces:

with our backgrounds, with our identities and we

Jay Ray:

Yep.

Manny Faces:

in different

Jay Ray:

Yep,

Manny Faces:

and have a plethora and a

Jay Ray:

yep,

Manny Faces:

of who we identify as and we cool as a

Jay Ray:

yep.

Manny Faces:

people watching are, are dope and they rocking with

Jay Ray:

Yep.

Manny Faces:

where else is this happening?

Sir Daniel:

Hmm.

Manny Faces:

So, I dunno.

Manny Faces:

So, so yeah, the unifying force, it exists and I just, I, you know, if we

Manny Faces:

spend a little less time, not saying we shouldn't get, you know, 'cause I know

Manny Faces:

we gonna have a pop culture segment.

Manny Faces:

Like it's okay to, you know what I mean?

Manny Faces:

Like, but if we spend a little more time saying.

Manny Faces:

Like the power of this thing of ours, like is, is underestimated, untapped.

Manny Faces:

if you approach it authentically as all the people in my book and the hundreds

Manny Faces:

of people that I've talked to and y'all and people watching, Ooh, we could do

Manny Faces:

some things that are unexpected and very necessary, perhaps now more than

Jay Ray:

Mm.

Manny Faces:

But you gotta come authentic.

Manny Faces:

You gotta come with it.

Manny Faces:

You gotta come right with it.

Sir Daniel:

Well listen, Queue Points, audience, we've had

Sir Daniel:

a very robust conversation.

Sir Daniel:

Um, you absolutely have to get this book

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Sir Daniel:

you do care about not just like we were saying, not

Sir Daniel:

just about hip hop music, but if you care about your community,

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel:

if you care about community, if you really, really do want to

Sir Daniel:

see an effect, some type of change.

Sir Daniel:

'cause we're always talking ab at the problem and not speaking to the problem.

Sir Daniel:

Like if you really want to do effect that there are some nuggets.

Sir Daniel:

That you can get, that you can get, that a Manny Faces is given to you.

Sir Daniel:

A blueprint someplace to start, you know, in your community like

Sir Daniel:

they did in the rec rooms back in the day to affect some change.

Sir Daniel:

So if you hear the sound of our voice, sorry to take your line

Sir Daniel:

Jay Ray, if you hear the sound of my voice, find this book.

Sir Daniel:

As a matter of fact, Manny Faces, please tell our audience

Sir Daniel:

how they can find the book.

Sir Daniel:

Hip Hop Can Save America and please, um, give them your socials and

Sir Daniel:

how they can, um, maintain contact with you and follow your moves.

Sir Daniel:

Your funky dope moves across this platform, uh, this

Sir Daniel:

worldwide platform that we have.

Manny Faces:

I appreciate that.

Manny Faces:

Um, and, you know, uh, I will, but I just wanna say like,

Manny Faces:

thank you for this time with

Manny Faces:

y'all.

Manny Faces:

As you know, like I was messing with y'all before, you

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Manny Faces:

a book and, uh, just, you know, I love, I love what y'all do and

Manny Faces:

I love that people love what you do.

Manny Faces:

So, um, I'm, I'm a fan before, I'm a guest, so

Jay Ray:

Thank you, brother.

Manny Faces:

Um, so two ways, it's real easy.

Manny Faces:

hiphopcansaveamerica.com or Manny Faces.com.

Manny Faces:

of those places pretty much got the same stuff.

Manny Faces:

hop Save america.com is sort of the hub of the, what I like to call

Manny Faces:

the world's most enlightening hip hop media ecosystem, just humbly.

Manny Faces:

Um, but from there we have the podcast, we have the link to the

Manny Faces:

live stream, my YouTube channel.

Manny Faces:

We have the Discord server, we have the newsletter that I put out on Substack.

Manny Faces:

Some

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Manny Faces:

Substack, please, you know, follow and do all the things.

Manny Faces:

Um, and, and the book is linked there.

Manny Faces:

Uh, Manny Faces.com is more like me as a, you know, speaker,

Manny Faces:

consultant, you know, journalist.

Manny Faces:

But the book is there.

Manny Faces:

Um, so either of those two places you could find the book, um, it'll take,

Manny Faces:

the link will take it to the same place.

Manny Faces:

You can do one or two things.

Manny Faces:

You could buy a regular old copy from the publisher.

Manny Faces:

That's cool.

Manny Faces:

You can actually find out Amazon, but we are not supporting that.

Manny Faces:

Uh, but then the option on the website when you click it is you can get a

Manny Faces:

signed copy from me for about the same price that you get the regular copy.

Manny Faces:

Um, and then you get a special, um, you get a special gift that's, uh, handcrafted

Manny Faces:

by the world famous baby girl faces.

Manny Faces:

So a little bonus, a little author package for

Jay Ray:

Nice.

Manny Faces:

So there you

Jay Ray:

I love that.

Manny Faces:

Yeah, so Manny Faces.com, hip hop can save america.com.

Manny Faces:

Um, and again, it's not me, like I'm just the face of this, you know, thing,

Manny Faces:

but, uh, just, you know, come, come for the handsomeness, but stay for the

Jay Ray:

Yes,

Sir Daniel:

yes.

Jay Ray:

You gotta hook.

Sir Daniel:

That's You gotta

Jay Ray:

Manny.

Jay Ray:

It's all good.

Manny Faces:

So stupid.

Manny Faces:

Yeah.

Manny Faces:

But yo,

Manny Faces:

this, I got a hundred episode, I got a hundred episodes.

Manny Faces:

I got a hundred episodes with people.

Manny Faces:

That is brilliant.

Manny Faces:

And doing amazing work and yeah, it's definitely for the culture,

Manny Faces:

for the community of the culture.

Manny Faces:

By the culture, for the culture.

Manny Faces:

Like, I don't, and I really mean it, like, you know, sometimes I'm gonna

Manny Faces:

put out a song and be like, yeah, check out my song for the culture.

Manny Faces:

I'm like, it's just a song.

Sir Daniel:

that's all.

Manny Faces:

not doing anything really for any culture.

Manny Faces:

It's

Sir Daniel:

Yeah.

Manny Faces:

out a song and it's nice, whatever.

Manny Faces:

Like if you, you know, find me someone that's not in this like, you

Manny Faces:

know, plethora of folks that I've talked to that aren't like doing

Manny Faces:

life-changing, groundbreaking work.

Manny Faces:

Um, they're out there and we're doing them and, and my job is just to

Manny Faces:

amplify them and signal boost them.

Manny Faces:

So thanks for checking me out.

Manny Faces:

You're

Jay Ray:

Man.

Jay Ray:

Oh man.

Jay Ray:

Manny Faces, thank you so much for coming through and hanging

Jay Ray:

out with us at Queue Points and thank y'all so much for tuning in.

Jay Ray:

If you can see our faces and hear our voices, go ahead and

Jay Ray:

make sure that you subscribe.

Jay Ray:

Share the show with your friends, family, colleagues.

Jay Ray:

If you like the show, chances are, they will like the show too.

Jay Ray:

Make sure that y'all are following Manny Faces.

Jay Ray:

Make wherever all of the platforms 'cause Manny Faces has a lot, a YouTube

Jay Ray:

channel and all of that stuff, so

Manny Faces:

I'm

Jay Ray:

you could be tuning into Manny Faces.

Manny Faces:

Manny Faces and the thing you wanna find

Jay Ray:

Boom.

Manny Faces:

Manny Faces Instagram, Manny Faces OnlyFans may.

Jay Ray:

Wait a minute.

Manny Faces:

Um, no, I'm

Jay Ray:

I didn't know about that one,

Manny Faces:

back.

Sir Daniel:

Listen,

Manny Faces:

yo.

Sir Daniel:

if you

Jay Ray:

it's

Sir Daniel:

outreach is real, outreach is real.

Manny Faces:

mul,

Jay Ray:

you

Manny Faces:

multiple revenue streams

Jay Ray:

right.

Manny Faces:

key.

Manny Faces:

No, go ahead.

Jay Ray:

So two more things.

Jay Ray:

Visit our website Queue Points.com.

Jay Ray:

Um, make sure that you check out Queue Points magazine, um, over on Substack.

Jay Ray:

So y'all, some of y'all are joining us from the Queue Points.

Jay Ray:

Mac, thank you so much.

Jay Ray:

And last but not least, go ahead and shop our store@store.Queue Points.com.

Jay Ray:

We appreciate y'all folks.

Jay Ray:

We love

Sir Daniel:

Sure do,

Jay Ray:

you.

Sir Daniel:

sure do.

Sir Daniel:

Buy us.

Sir Daniel:

a coffee.

Jay Ray:

Buy

Sir Daniel:

You know, listen, many coffees,

Manny Faces:

Coffees.

Jay Ray:

Many

Manny Faces:

Man,

Manny Faces:

I'll tell you that my, my puns, my puns make you say this.

Manny Faces:

This is perhaps the highlight of this long and painful and torturous night.

Manny Faces:

So anyway,

Jay Ray:

Listen,

Jay Ray:

Manny Faces is a true professional.

Jay Ray:

You see how quickly he had that

Jay Ray:

soundbite?

Sir Daniel:

had it queued up and ready to go up and ready.

Manny Faces:

Queue Points.

Manny Faces:

I gotta cue it up.

Manny Faces:

Listen,

Manny Faces:

y'all are so dope, and, uh, I appreciate y'all so much, man.

Manny Faces:

Yeah, I, I, everyone support what y'all doing.

Manny Faces:

It's, uh, you know, brilliant work and I appreciate you and your

Manny Faces:

whole backend, like, you know, doing all the things we gotta

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Manny Faces:

of time.

Manny Faces:

So

Jay Ray:

Thank you.

Manny Faces:

easy,

Sir Daniel:

Thank you.

Manny Faces:

Listen, we should do this more

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Sir Daniel:

Absolutely.

Sir Daniel:

But what?

Sir Daniel:

you know?

Sir Daniel:

what guys?

Sir Daniel:

So what do I say at the end of every night?

Sir Daniel:

What do we do in this life?

Sir Daniel:

You have a choice.

Sir Daniel:

You can either pick up the needle or you could let the record play.

Sir Daniel:

I'm DJ Sir Daniel,

Jay Ray:

I am Jay Ray,

Jay Ray:

that's

Sir Daniel:

this is,

Jay Ray:

faces.

Manny Faces:

faces

Sir Daniel:

and this has been Queue Points podcast, dropping

Sir Daniel:

the needle on black music history.

Sir Daniel:

We will see you on the next go round.

Sir Daniel:

All right, y'all.

Sir Daniel:

Peace.

Sir Daniel:

We out.

Jay Ray:

your.

Manny Faces:

appreciate y'all.

Manny Faces:

Peace.

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