Transcripts
Greetings and welcome back to another episode of Queue Points podcast.
Sir Daniel:I'm DJ Sir Daniel.
Jay Ray:And my name is Jay Ray, sometimes known by my governments
Jay Ray:as Johnnie Ray Kornegay III.
Jay Ray:What's happening people?
Sir Daniel:Jay Ray, I, you know, I can honestly say that we might be
Sir Daniel:the two of the flyest podcasters out here because although we're similar,
Sir Daniel:we serve different looks at times.
Sir Daniel:And if you go back into our fashion history, uh, Queue Points, fashion
Sir Daniel:history, you could tell that whenever we show what we represent at.
Sir Daniel:And, uh, of course I say that it's a little tongue in
Sir Daniel:cheek, but it's true though.
Sir Daniel:We, I think we, we represent and we can definitely represent wherever
Sir Daniel:we go, but I must say Jay Ray, that when it comes to the, the catalogs of
Sir Daniel:superstars and rock stars throughout the history, I will say that rap music
Sir Daniel:has pro produced some of the flyest individuals on the planet Earth.
Sir Daniel:And so what we wanted to do in this particular episode of Queue
Sir Daniel:Points is Jay Ray and I wanted to go back and forth and discuss.
Sir Daniel:Who we believe.
Sir Daniel:Who's in our top five?
Sir Daniel:I know y'all like to have these Mount Rushmore conversations.
Sir Daniel:We're over there.
Sir Daniel:Jay, Ray and I are beyond that.
Sir Daniel:We've had those conversations.
Sir Daniel:You guys are late right now.
Sir Daniel:What we want to talk about is who isn't late and we're talking about fashions
Sir Daniel:fashion wise, who are our top five most fashionable hip hop rap artist?
Sir Daniel:So, Jay Ray, uh, I want, I'm, I'm.
Sir Daniel:Ooh, I'm, so, I'm itching to hear who's on your list, so please hit me with your,
Sir Daniel:one of your first, uh, hip hop rap stars.
Jay Ray:Yo.
Jay Ray:So, um, the first person I thought of when thinking of this topic was Slick Rick.
Jay Ray:Is he on your list too?
Sir Daniel:I told you there was gonna be some
Jay Ray:I didn't even thought.
Jay Ray:I was like, I don't know.
Jay Ray:I
Sir Daniel:But listen, we, what did I say at the top of this episode?
Sir Daniel:Jay Ray and I are on it.
Sir Daniel:We are very fashionable in our own way and style, recognizes style and
Sir Daniel:slick Rick absolutely embodies style.
Sir Daniel:Go ahead.
Sir Daniel:Tell us why you, why he's your, um, first pick.
Jay Ray:And, and, and I think that's it.
Jay Ray:So, um, Rick.
Jay Ray:Was able to ride the wave of all the different versions of kind of
Jay Ray:hip hop, which was really dope.
Jay Ray:So when we think of him in those early years, we think of him in the suit.
Jay Ray:We think of him with the dark sunglasses, of course, with the kgo, right?
Jay Ray:And then as he gets a little more, you know what I'm saying, a little
Jay Ray:more shine, you still get the soup.
Jay Ray:But then there's like these chains.
Jay Ray:Are everywhere.
Jay Ray:And then the rings like, he's like, he looks literally like the
Jay Ray:most grand minister from a black church that you would ever see.
Jay Ray:Right.
Jay Ray:You know what I mean?
Jay Ray:Absolutely.
Jay Ray:And so, and then still being able to flow with a sweatsuit flow with
Jay Ray:like Slick Rick to this day is just always like, you could tell that.
Jay Ray:Um, color.
Jay Ray:You could tell that fabric, you could tell that the way things
Jay Ray:fall on him like matters to him.
Jay Ray:So that tailoring is always together.
Jay Ray:So, absolutely.
Jay Ray:One of the first people I thought of was slick.
Jay Ray:Rick, what about for, from your standpoint,
Sir Daniel:So, uh, like we, like I said, slick Rick is one of the first people
Sir Daniel:I thought of as well, and he slick.
Sir Daniel:Rick resonates with me on several levels because he represents.
Sir Daniel:Um, fashion that was inspired by the wind rush generation.
Sir Daniel:And if you go back and listen to our episode, when we spoke about the, we spoke
Sir Daniel:about the, um, the black immigrants that moved to, that migrated to England in
Sir Daniel:the, in the early fifties, late sixties.
Sir Daniel:That slick Rick was part of that wind rush.
Sir Daniel:Generation.
Sir Daniel:And when you look back at pictures of them, west Indian people always
Sir Daniel:stepped out when it was time to party.
Sir Daniel:There was a lot of blue collar people that did blue collar work, service
Sir Daniel:work, but when they stepped out, they put on their finest and, and
Sir Daniel:which is universal to black people no matter where you come from.
Sir Daniel:Uhhuh, okay, is we're gonna step out and we're gonna put on our finest.
Sir Daniel:But there was also.
Sir Daniel:A uniform of a crisp shirt with a collar a, a popped up collar,
Sir Daniel:you know, a couple chains.
Sir Daniel:Um, the, the, the very well creased and fitted pants.
Sir Daniel:We love the sharp crease.
Sir Daniel:So, uh, and his, um, fashions, um, reflected that.
Sir Daniel:But what also slick Rick also means to, to me, is he resonated with me because he.
Sir Daniel:Started a trend amongst young men in the hood that would, if they got a
Sir Daniel:piece of money, they got a piece of coin to go look for something to wear.
Sir Daniel:You know, they would take cues from Rick because, oh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna
Sir Daniel:look fly if Rick can look fly in a suit.
Sir Daniel:And still be chill, but doesn't look like a stuffy businessman on Wall Street.
Sir Daniel:I can do that too.
Sir Daniel:So then you have people going down to the Lancey Street and other pla and you
Sir Daniel:know, getting your suit from Alexander's.
Sir Daniel:Like, I, I always tell the story of how my mother would take me to
Sir Daniel:Alexander's every spring for new suit.
Sir Daniel:And so that's put in our DNA.
Sir Daniel:So if you could take that suit.
Sir Daniel:And then, and go to the, and get you a kgo, a pair of Clarks or
Sir Daniel:some wallabies, uh, which the Wu-Tang brought back, um, 20 years.
Sir Daniel:Well, yeah, about 20 years later, they brought that back and
Sir Daniel:started rocking the Wallabies.
Sir Daniel:Um, you can feel fly.
Sir Daniel:Not have spent a lot of money.
Sir Daniel:And, but yes, the opulence also, oh my God, the gold chains, the,
Sir Daniel:the un the un, the reveal of the gold chains is, is so dramatic
Sir Daniel:from the gold chains to his wrist.
Sir Daniel:Um, the gold teeth, all of it worked.
Sir Daniel:All of it worked.
Sir Daniel:It was, yes, it was gaudy, but it was gaudy in a good way.
Sir Daniel:And, and yes, so that's, that's why he's like one of my very, the very first.
Sir Daniel:That just embodies fly.
Jay Ray:Yeah, no.
Jay Ray:Um, I wanna stop there 'cause we could literally spend an entire show talking
Jay Ray:about Rick's those that adornment.
Jay Ray:Right?
Jay Ray:Um,
Jay Ray:and it is still, I do wanna say this.
Jay Ray:That's important, right?
Jay Ray:So all the people that I picked, and I'm sure you have this too,
Jay Ray:um, they're all kind of different.
Jay Ray:They all had their own thing, you know what I mean?
Jay Ray:So my second person that I, I, I, uh, have on the list, and I'm surprised when
Jay Ray:I get to this you'll, you'll see it.
Jay Ray:But I have more women than I have men, which is interesting.
Jay Ray:But my second person on the list is Foxy Brown.
Sir Daniel:I see that I.
Jay Ray:so what's, what really appealed to me about Fox is of course
Jay Ray:she arrives in hip hop as the sea change of hip hop is happening, right?
Jay Ray:In particular.
Jay Ray:Um, the money that's in the game at that moment, the level of celebrity that's in
Jay Ray:the game in that moment, and how we've kind of moved away from, uh, kind of the
Jay Ray:black power, uh, conscious moment in hip hop into a more fashion forward moment.
Jay Ray:Um, yeah, so I see, uh, I see Kevin and Fox.
Jay Ray:Of course they're in the same lane, but they're doing very different things.
Sir Daniel:Hmm.
Sir Daniel:Mm-hmm.
Jay Ray:I felt Kim, and this is not a bad, this is not a dig at Kim.
Jay Ray:I felt like Kim was much more costume in the presentation.
Jay Ray:Much more.
Jay Ray:Hmm.
Jay Ray:Different word, much more, um, artful in the presentation of her, the way she
Jay Ray:showed up, you know, with the, the, the colorful hair and the, the, the, the,
Jay Ray:the shiny whatever, bling, blings, right?
Jay Ray:You could tell that people were making, making custom pieces for her, whereas
Jay Ray:Fox, there was like off the rack fashion, but elevated, you know what I mean?
Jay Ray:So I felt like as a dark skin.
Jay Ray:As a dark-skinned woman rocking these, you know, rocking the Calvin Kline's later,
Jay Ray:of course the Christian Diors of course.
Jay Ray:You know what I'm saying?
Jay Ray:And yeah.
Jay Ray:And you know, furs and, you know, kind of all of that really kind of showed
Jay Ray:women that, you know, black women.
Jay Ray:Could be black women in hip hop.
Jay Ray:Could be high fashion too.
Jay Ray:You know what I mean?
Jay Ray:It doesn't have to be your Kate Moss and just your Tyra Banks.
Jay Ray:These like model model girls, like hip hop girls could rock these clothes and
Jay Ray:bring these clothes up too, because.
Jay Ray:Sisters saw Fox rocking these, uh, rocking these brands and were like,
Jay Ray:oh, I want a piece of this too.
Jay Ray:And then these brands start coming to her and started being like, oh,
Jay Ray:you're gonna be the muse for this line.
Jay Ray:So, um.
Jay Ray:I think Foxy Brown really did, especially in her heyday, we're talking about
Jay Ray:the mid, particularly in the late nineties, really, when that second album
Jay Ray:hit through the early two thousands.
Jay Ray:Foxy Brown was one to watch from a fashion perspective as a woman.
Sir Daniel:Oh, 100%.
Sir Daniel:I totally agree.
Sir Daniel:And it's so, again, our choices mirror each other because my pick.
Sir Daniel:Is Lil Kim.
Sir Daniel:And so, and it's so funny in, in, in all of our Queue Points history, whenever
Sir Daniel:we've discussed one, we typically end up discussing the other, which is, but
Sir Daniel:what we do, what I'm very proud of us for doing is that when we speak of them, we
Sir Daniel:speak of them not just in glowing terms, but we speak of them in their strengths.
Sir Daniel:What they bring to the game and how they change the game.
Sir Daniel:Now, Lil Kim, of course, is a standout to me because she, so when I say,
Sir Daniel:when we talk about who's the flyest, um, Kim and is well documented, Kim
Sir Daniel:is the, that girl in the hood who.
Sir Daniel:You, you saw her, whether she was wearing some acid wash jeans that were ripped
Sir Daniel:with a Coca-Cola shirt and the 54 elevens.
Sir Daniel:If you know, you know what 54 elevens are, if she's rocking
Sir Daniel:the 54 elevens, she's got.
Sir Daniel:She had now, she had, she had, uh, and those are, those are inexpensive,
Sir Daniel:but she had a, a Gucci purse.
Sir Daniel:Now the purse was a, was more expensive than the whole outfit.
Sir Daniel:And so what I'm saying is those girls always had an eye of flare for fashion.
Sir Daniel:They may not have necessarily been able to afford it that the time until,
Sir Daniel:you know, you met the neighborhood booster, you got your pieces
Sir Daniel:that way, but they were able to.
Sir Daniel:To carry on that tradition.
Sir Daniel:And I must say Kim carried on a tradition that, that Roxanne Shante started, like
Sir Daniel:if we look back at, at pictures of Shawnee when she was on the, come up, when she
Sir Daniel:was a young girl, Shante was rocking furs, she was rocking, uh, golden leathers
Sir Daniel:and you know, had custom pieces as well.
Sir Daniel:Um, but to your point about Little Kim, when the.
Sir Daniel:When her star was on the uptick in, you know, the fashion houses started
Sir Daniel:noticing her and her wide appeal.
Sir Daniel:This, of course, they came looking to her and for, and gave her
Sir Daniel:statement pieces, but I think.
Sir Daniel:Along with what she wore, Kim gave Kim would have fashion moments
Sir Daniel:with wearing next to nothing.
Sir Daniel:And that says a lot, like a lot of her fashion, huge fashion moments.
Sir Daniel:I think of specifically that.
Sir Daniel:Um, I think it's a Louis Vuitton moment in the backseat of a, of a,
Sir Daniel:a Bentley where she's got her hands covering her, um, her breasts, but
Sir Daniel:she has nothing on, but this one.
Sir Daniel:Wide fedora style hat with a, a plume with a feather in it.
Sir Daniel:And, but, and a, a pair of nasty, um, what ankle boots, I think they
Sir Daniel:were, but she's completely naked.
Sir Daniel:But that was a whole fashion moment, you know, I mean, and so to me.
Sir Daniel:Anyone that can come along and completely upset the game.
Sir Daniel:Turn people turn the turn, um, every function upside down when they arrive.
Sir Daniel:Uh, have the, uh, paparazzi looking to see what you're wearing, um,
Sir Daniel:on constantly on magazine covers.
Sir Daniel:You're not just, I. Uh, um, you're not just a, a, hmm, how am I gonna say this?
Sir Daniel:You're not just a, a rapper who just happens to be fly.
Sir Daniel:You literally are a fashion moment.
Sir Daniel:You are a fashion moment.
Sir Daniel:You are, you, she, I know it's been said a million times before, but she
Sir Daniel:really completely changed the game and, um, especially the commerce aspect of.
Sir Daniel:Hip hop.
Sir Daniel:And so to, to me, all of that combined is what makes her one of my top five flys.
Sir Daniel:I mean, it kind of goes without saying, but there's, there's some real meat and
Sir Daniel:potatoes behind that, behind that pick.
Sir Daniel:And I think everybody out there would agree.
Sir Daniel:But, um.
Sir Daniel:So, so, okay.
Sir Daniel:So since we're still talking about women in rap, there's somebody else
Sir Daniel:who, and this, I have to say, seeing her at the Met Gala this past Met
Sir Daniel:gala really, really reminded me of how much of a fashion plate this woman is.
Sir Daniel:I'm gonna, I'm giving it up to Laury Hill.
Jay Ray:Sh fashion icon.
Sir Daniel:on the lowest of keys has been eating, as the kids say,
Sir Daniel:has been eating the girls up left and right on the lowest of keys.
Sir Daniel:Like she doesn't like, she doesn't do, you know, she's not splashy like
Sir Daniel:Cameron Fox, but when you see Lauren.
Sir Daniel:Lauren has on, might have on some vintage pieces, some custom, and
Sir Daniel:to her, to her, um, to her credit, she's always remained covered.
Sir Daniel:I noticed She's always remained covered now.
Sir Daniel:And that's in her later years now when, you know, now when she was you,
Sir Daniel:you know, el buggy, you know, uh, cop.
Sir Daniel:What, what she used to call herself pop diesel or something like that.
Sir Daniel:Back in the day, one of her nicknames, you know, she was also quite fashionable.
Sir Daniel:You know, they, they were gap kids.
Sir Daniel:Uh, I remember she made squirts look fly, and if you, if you know, you know, she,
Sir Daniel:um, from the hair with the, you know, the, the twists and the, the, the knots.
Sir Daniel:And then she finally just, um, went.
Sir Daniel:Full, um, dreads, well, excuse me, went full locks.
Sir Daniel:And Lauren has low key been a fashion movement in her own right for years.
Sir Daniel:I have never seen her perform post, post miseducation.
Sir Daniel:I've never seen her perform on stage without a pair of heels.
Sir Daniel:And that's, and that's saying something.
Sir Daniel:And, you know, you would think that she would not be.
Sir Daniel:But mama has never stepped on stage without a nasty heel.
Jay Ray:Nah, Lauren is, you are absolutely right.
Jay Ray:I will never, um, forget, uh, there was the roots picnic, so this is like.
Jay Ray:2012, then you could watch this video
Sir Daniel:Yes.
Jay Ray:Shoot, she came out in the white little dress and I was like, we
Jay Ray:be forgetting that that girl Lauren is going to give you fresh style.
Jay Ray:Okay.
Jay Ray:At all times.
Jay Ray:Nope.
Jay Ray:Highly agree.
Jay Ray:And we gonna stay in Jersey since we here, um, because Queen Latifah is on my list.
Sir Daniel:she is.
Jay Ray:And my this, um, Dana Owens has always from dance for
Jay Ray:me on down, um, has always stuck to a signature style, but as her.
Jay Ray:Star has risen, like everything about her style has also risen with it.
Jay Ray:And so there's always been the, um, consistency around, uh, the
Jay Ray:celebration of her blackness, especially her black womanhood.
Jay Ray:Right.
Jay Ray:Dana has always shown up, uh, royally.
Jay Ray:On camera, even on tv, even when you would watch Living Single, right?
Jay Ray:It was like, you could tell that whoever was styling her also was like, okay,
Jay Ray:this is like Queen Latifah style.
Jay Ray:You know what I mean?
Jay Ray:On television.
Jay Ray:But I think, um, speaking of the Met Gala, I remember when her and, uh,
Jay Ray:her partner showed up on that red carpet at the, the Met Gala last year.
Jay Ray:And it was just like, yo, this woman.
Jay Ray:Knows how to turn heads, you know what I mean?
Jay Ray:So, and what I love about, uh, what I love about Queen Latifah's style,
Jay Ray:even when I watch the equalizer, it is one, we talked about this a lot.
Jay Ray:Hair is never outta place.
Sir Daniel:The, the hair needs a moment by itself.
Sir Daniel:Jay Ray, the hair is a moment by itself.
Sir Daniel:I don't understand why she, I know she's done covergirl for makeup and you know,
Sir Daniel:faces face card is always on 10, but I am so surprised she never had some
Sir Daniel:type of, um, relaxer deal or something was not on the cover of somebody's box
Sir Daniel:because like to your point, that hair was.
Sir Daniel:Always, always laid to this day.
Sir Daniel:It's always laid.
Sir Daniel:Even when she, even when she first came out and she had it cut short,
Sir Daniel:you know, like a typical basketball, um, female basketball player, cut
Sir Daniel:short, curly on top and cut on the sides with the lines and everything.
Sir Daniel:That was still fly.
Sir Daniel:She was the all fly flying the fly girls.
Jay Ray:You know what I mean?
Jay Ray:So she absolutely, uh, sits on my list.
Jay Ray:I think she's an an important style.
Jay Ray:I kind of taught black women that there are different ways that you could
Jay Ray:kind of show up, um, and still be fly.
Jay Ray:So, uh, queen Latifah.
Jay Ray:Absolutely.
Jay Ray:So that was three.
Jay Ray:So we both did three.
Jay Ray:I, yes, we did both.
Jay Ray:Did three.
Jay Ray:Right.
Jay Ray:So who's your, who's a fourth for you?
Sir Daniel:Okay, so before we get into that, I do have a question.
Sir Daniel:Um, do you remember your first, your first clothing purchase
Sir Daniel:and who was it inspired by?
Sir Daniel:Like you took your own money and you were old enough to say, okay,
Sir Daniel:um, I want this piece, this.
Jay Ray:Yep.
Sir Daniel:Piece of iconography on my back, um, because it's fly
Sir Daniel:and it represents that I'm part of the culture and I'm cool.
Jay Ray:Yeah.
Jay Ray:So, um, I do remember this, but, um, it was actually a, a, a, um, an accessory.
Jay Ray:So the first, um, accessory that I purchased, and it was inspired by Flavor
Jay Ray:Flav, was the rope, the rope, stopwatch.
Jay Ray:Clock thing.
Jay Ray:'cause I definitely wanted that.
Jay Ray:I couldn't get the big joint.
Jay Ray:'cause my mom was like, no, you can't do that.
Jay Ray:But you couldn't do this swatch, they were selling those.
Jay Ray:So shout out to, to the folks, y'all may not remember this, but back
Jay Ray:in the day in the hood, you could buy color coded stop watches that
Jay Ray:you could wear around your neck.
Jay Ray:And so they were your watch and your stopwatch.
Jay Ray:When I first got, when I would get money and I could go out and buy stuff, I can't
Jay Ray:remember how much these things were, but I remember buying it from the flea
Jay Ray:market and um, I got me one of those.
Jay Ray:Yeah.
Sir Daniel:okay,
Sir Daniel:so another pick.
Sir Daniel:This is coming from a little left field, but one of my picks was Diggable planets.
Jay Ray:Oh, interesting.
Jay Ray:Okay.
Sir Daniel:Yeah.
Sir Daniel:Digable Planets to me, I, so of course we're talking about 92
Jay Ray:Mm-hmm.
Sir Daniel:when they drop, so they are, they're squarely in the
Sir Daniel:vein of, uh, tribe Called Quest and that whole Native Tongues.
Sir Daniel:But they, it's like they took the, the Bohemian style and kind of.
Sir Daniel:I don't know.
Sir Daniel:It wasn't exaggerated.
Sir Daniel:It was very, it was almost kind of, it was understated and clean cut,
Sir Daniel:but there was also something very militarized about it without looking
Sir Daniel:military, if you catch what I'm saying.
Sir Daniel:Because if between rebirth and um.
Sir Daniel:Uh, the, the blowout, the blowout between re, between blue blue balls, between
Sir Daniel:between rebirth and the blowout comb.
Sir Daniel:They had experienced some radicalization of their own.
Sir Daniel:I'm pretty certain, brought on by the music industry.
Sir Daniel:And so while they were.
Sir Daniel:Kind.
Sir Daniel:They were kind of backpackers, but they were still smooth with it.
Sir Daniel:That kind of re, that stuck out to me.
Sir Daniel:It's like, okay, I see you got that from, that looks like a gap piece.
Sir Daniel:But I know that that's, you know, some camouflage that you cop from the
Sir Daniel:corner store and, you know, camouflage pieces look, just, looks so dope to me
Sir Daniel:back then, back in the early nineties.
Sir Daniel:And it just, it felt strong.
Sir Daniel:It definitely reflected a different movement.
Sir Daniel:Within hip hop, you know, we're, we're backpackers now, we're, you know,
Sir Daniel:we're kind of grimy and, you know, and earthy, you know, you got your, you
Sir Daniel:got a Kofi on sometimes, or you get one of those military style hats to pull.
Sir Daniel:'cause to feel like, because this is, we've taken the
Sir Daniel:culture back to the underground.
Sir Daniel:And so to do that you kind of had to look the part.
Sir Daniel:And so Diggable planets to me.
Sir Daniel:Did that, but now, but fast forward to now, the three of them.
Jay Ray:Yeah.
Sir Daniel:Man, those three are, so that is a good looking group of, um, people.
Sir Daniel:They, their, their style has evolved.
Sir Daniel:I love how Mecca being the only, the only woman in the group ladybug, the only woman
Sir Daniel:in the group, she's able to shine and to, and to embrace all her femininity.
Sir Daniel:'cause of course back then she was rocking, you know, shirts and, and,
Sir Daniel:and pants, like the boys and whatnot.
Sir Daniel:But now she's completely bloomed and, and has her pieces as well.
Sir Daniel:It's like these women are getting their, you know, getting their tens from their
Sir Daniel:stylists or if they do it on their own.
Sir Daniel:And then the fellows, they, they're bohemian, um, ish in particular, I
Sir Daniel:love Isha style from, from rocking Guber to the, to the tunics with the.
Sir Daniel:Embroidered, um, the embroidering and, and something just looks very lush and lux.
Sir Daniel:And so I liked the fact that I was inspired by them as a teenager and
Sir Daniel:as an almost 50-year-old can still be inspired by them to still be
Sir Daniel:fly and hip hop at the same time.
Jay Ray:Yeah.
Jay Ray:It's, I love that you picked, uh, Digable planets.
Jay Ray:'cause that's an interesting pick.
Jay Ray:But it, it mirrors 'cause this person who is on my list got some stuff from Diggable
Jay Ray:planets and that person is most deaf.
Jay Ray:Most deaf or Yasin Bay.
Sir Daniel:Mm-hmm.
Jay Ray:Sorry.
Jay Ray:Ya seen ya bay.
Jay Ray:Um, what I love about his evolving style is it absolutely veered from kind of the
Jay Ray:grimy backpack underground, late nineties, early two thousands, New York into uh uh.
Jay Ray:Vintage pieces.
Jay Ray:So he started wearing the fedoras, uh, started wearing the jackets,
Jay Ray:started wearing, you know, like, uh, you know, custom pants, like
Jay Ray:fitted pants and all of that.
Jay Ray:So I distinctly remember.
Jay Ray:When the new danger was coming out and just watching how, uh, his style
Jay Ray:had evolved leaps and bounds since like the black on both sides record.
Jay Ray:Um, and seeing the way that he was able to kind of bring suits into this.
Jay Ray:But they weren't like, at least to my knowledge, like brand
Jay Ray:new designer suits, right?
Jay Ray:They definitely looked vintage.
Jay Ray:They may not have been vintage, but they looked vintage and.
Jay Ray:He absolutely expanded, uh, especially in the early two thousands.
Jay Ray:Like what it was okay for a rapper to look like, right?
Jay Ray:Because we were squarely entering a movement where everything was
Jay Ray:like, um, names and high fashion.
Jay Ray:So you were hearing all of the names, the Gucci and the Versaces and all of that.
Jay Ray:Whereas even though that was in his, his wheelhouse, he looked.
Jay Ray:Classic.
Jay Ray:So when I even think of, and I know that we're gonna, we're gonna do a
Jay Ray:show on this, when I think of like the idea of the Dandy Yasim Bay
Jay Ray:represents that in so many ways.
Jay Ray:And even today you see it showing up in his style.
Jay Ray:So, um, I think that brother is dope and um, absolutely has inspired the
Jay Ray:way I see myself as a black man.
Jay Ray:And I think other rappers, the way they can see themselves.
Sir Daniel:Absolutely.
Sir Daniel:And I, and to add to that really quickly, I just distinctly feel like ya also
Sir Daniel:brought a global appeal like you could.
Sir Daniel:Like some of the things that he would wear, you would see in South
Sir Daniel:African art pieces from the sixties.
Sir Daniel:Like, okay.
Sir Daniel:It's like, oh, so this brother is doing references back to, to the
Sir Daniel:sixties, the seventies, but not just here in the states, um, across the
Sir Daniel:globe and not just Africa, but um, places outside of Africa because I'm
Sir Daniel:sure be, uh, uh, he is Muslim, right?
Jay Ray:He is.
Jay Ray:He absolutely
Sir Daniel:he's so that has, that had a, um, uh, an effect
Sir Daniel:on the way he dressed as well.
Sir Daniel:But a lot of our Muslim brothers and sisters be rocking it.
Sir Daniel:Like a lot of that stuff is custom and is fly as, I don't know what, so hats off to
Sir Daniel:you on that pick, and you said something very important about seeing yourself.
Sir Daniel:And reflected in these, um, these artists, and we've said it many, many,
Sir Daniel:many, many, many times on this show.
Sir Daniel:That Heavy D was one of the influences for us because you and
Sir Daniel:I, we had, we have a different, um.
Sir Daniel:Way of presenting in this world because both of us, we we're, we're
Sir Daniel:big guys, we're men of stature.
Sir Daniel:Um, myself, I was Jay Ray.
Sir Daniel:I was, um, 13 years old and already almost six feet tall.
Jay Ray:Yeah.
Jay Ray:Yeah.
Sir Daniel:And ha and wearing a size 13.
Jay Ray:hard, man.
Sir Daniel:That's hard.
Sir Daniel:That's hard when you're 13 and you want to look like everybody else, but
Sir Daniel:your body is doing something completely different than everybody else, but
Sir Daniel:you want to be fly at the same time.
Sir Daniel:And heavy D came at a time when I was going through that
Sir Daniel:and I was like, oh, okay.
Sir Daniel:You know, at that moment when he steps out of the big and tall store in Mount
Sir Daniel:Vernon, I was like, oh, that's me.
Jay Ray:Yeah.
Sir Daniel:That's me going to the big and tall store and, but then
Sir Daniel:being more intentional about what I pick out and making sure that I
Sir Daniel:feel good about what I'm wearing.
Sir Daniel:And so, you know, everything from the, from the uniformity of what
Sir Daniel:he had on with the, with the boys.
Jay Ray:Mm-hmm.
Sir Daniel:Who were much smaller than him, but there was
Sir Daniel:a uniformity in what they wore.
Sir Daniel:And then when we got to big time and the albums after that, you talk about
Sir Daniel:classy, but still, but still representing Hip hop, clean it, it lent him to not
Sir Daniel:just us in the hip hop community, but it gave him crossover appeal and allowed
Sir Daniel:him to kick down some more doors.
Sir Daniel:In order for us to come through as well.
Sir Daniel:So Heavy D will forever be one of my hip hop style icons forever.
Sir Daniel:And um, before we wrap this up, Jay, okay.
Sir Daniel:You not, I know you're not gonna expect this, but I have to give honorable
Sir Daniel:mention, I have to give honorable mention.
Jay Ray:have one too.
Sir Daniel:Oh, perfect.
Sir Daniel:So I have honorable mention to Mr.
Sir Daniel:Cool Modi.
Jay Ray:Oh, good one.
Jay Ray:Okay.
Jay Ray:Okay.
Jay Ray:Good one.
Jay Ray:I thought we were gonna pick the same person.
Jay Ray:Okay.
Jay Ray:Cool, cool, cool.
Sir Daniel:That would, that wouldn't surprise me.
Sir Daniel:But Ku OD on the lowest of keys was killing you all.
Sir Daniel:It was killing y'all.
Sir Daniel:He was eating the game up in the, in the mid eighties.
Sir Daniel:Now, he came from, he did come from the era where, uh, it was pumas,
Sir Daniel:puma sweatsuits and whatnot, but.
Sir Daniel:He also did come from the era where they were integrating a lot of leather.
Sir Daniel:The look was very downtown, very soho very, you know, punk inspired and they,
Sir Daniel:he was integrating a lot of leather.
Sir Daniel:And then when the late eighties came along, Kumo DI don't know who, if I
Sir Daniel:don't, where are those Dapper dance.
Sir Daniel:But Kumo D always had a fresh leather outfit.
Jay Ray:Always.
Sir Daniel:With the pill box hat to to, to top it, all off
Jay Ray:coats and boots.
Sir Daniel:I mean, the, if, if Peter had known about Kuo D they would've been at
Sir Daniel:every video shoot waiting to throw blood on that brother because he was sharp.
Jay Ray:Always.
Sir Daniel:sharp.
Sir Daniel:And let, and let's not talk about the eyewear, the eye, the signature eyewear.
Sir Daniel:Uh, it went from just regular shades to those, um, to those big blockers.
Sir Daniel:I don't know
Jay Ray:I don't know what they're called, but
Sir Daniel:what that brand was, but eyewear.
Sir Daniel:Custom gear.
Sir Daniel:You are.
Sir Daniel:He's a style icon.
Sir Daniel:He's a style icon that we, we like to not talk about Kumo d on purpose because,
Sir Daniel:because I think of the way, because of the way he raps and people nowadays make fun
Sir Daniel:of the way, the cadence that he deliver.
Sir Daniel:But the brother gave a lot to the game and he, um, whether it was
Sir Daniel:with his music and his rhymes.
Sir Daniel:But also he was a style maven.
Sir Daniel:He was a fashion maven for sure.
Sir Daniel:So my honorable mention goes to Kumo D
Jay Ray:Oh, that is a really good honorable mention.
Jay Ray:So Missy is my, my honorable mention because I feel like even to this
Jay Ray:day, whenever you see Missy on camera, she's ready to be on camera.
Jay Ray:You know, I mean, like it's, you know,
Sir Daniel:The same way we feel about Latifah and Hair.
Sir Daniel:Missy is also a hair,
Jay Ray:Hair and makeup.
Jay Ray:I remember.
Jay Ray:And uh, Missy used to say when during, especially during them early years, when
Jay Ray:she was like super duper busy, her makeup artists would literally do her makeup
Jay Ray:while she, while Missy was sleeping.
Jay Ray:Because it was like, no, 'cause she had to like be ready to do a thing was Yeah,
Jay Ray:apparently the makeup artist would just be like in there, like getting the face
Jay Ray:done and the eyes and all of miss, you would wake up misdemeanor, but, um, yo.
Jay Ray:This right here was such a dope conversation.
Jay Ray:I, um, who are your, let us know.
Jay Ray:Let us know, um, as a, as, as a comment, who's your flyest rapper?
Jay Ray:Who are some of your flyest rappers?
Jay Ray:We would love to hear from y'all, but please stay connected to Queue Points.
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Jay Ray:are they will enjoy Queue Points as well.
Jay Ray:Visit our website@Queue Points.com.
Jay Ray:You can watch all of our archive for our entire show.
Jay Ray:Uh, shop our store@store.Queue Points.com and check out additional content on Queue
Jay Ray:Points mag@magazine.Queue Points.com.
Sir Daniel:Thank you Jay Ray, and what do I always say in this life?
Sir Daniel:You have a choice.
Sir Daniel:You can either pick up the needle or let the record play.
Sir Daniel:I'm DJ Sir Daniel.
Jay Ray:My name is Jay Ray, y'all.
Sir Daniel:And this is Queue Points podcast, dropping the
Sir Daniel:needle on black music history.
Sir Daniel:We will see you on the next go round, looking fresh dress, ready to impress
Jay Ray:Peace y'all.
Sir Daniel:peace.
