DJ Sir Daniel and Jay Ray sit down with music business professor, professional DJ, and USA Today bestselling author Amani Roberts to talk about what happened to R&B, and why it matters. Roberts, whose book, The Quiet Storm: A Historical and Cultural Analysis of the Power, Passion, and Pain of R&B Groups, traces the history of R&B groups through culture and business, connects the dots between corporate radio consolidation, advertising dollars, and the slow fade of the sound that used to fill every quiet night. This is a conversation about music, yes, but it's also about power, ownership, and what gets lost when the people who built a culture lose control of how it's shared.
Purchase The Quiet Storm: A Historical and Cultural Analysis of the Power, Passion, and Pain of R&B Groups: https://link.queuepoints.com/quietstormbook (This is a Queue Points Amazon affiliate link, and purchasing something may earn us a commission. Read our affiliates disclaimer)
Support Us
Become A Member: https://link.queuepoints.com/membership
Shop Our Store: https://store.queuepoints.com
Buy Us A Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/queuepointspod
Contribute: https://cash.app/$queuepointspod
Get More From Us
Pandora: https://qpnt.net/pandora
Read Our Magazine: https://plus.queuepoints.com
Follow Us On Social Media
Facebook: https://facebook.com/queuepointspod
Instagram: https://instagram.com/queuepointspod
Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/company/queuepointspod
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/queuepointspod.com
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@queuepointspod
#QueuePoints, #RnB, #RnBHistory, #BlackMusicHistory, #QuietStorm, #TelecommunicationsAct, #AmaniRoberts, #TheQuietStorm, #RadioHistory, #BlackMusic, #RnBCulture, #MusicBusiness, #SlowJams, #LocalRadio, #BlackCulture, #MusicHistory, #RnBPodcast, #DJCulture, #MusicEducation, #SoulMusic
Greetings and welcome to another episode of Queue Points podcast.
Sir Daniel:I am DJ Sir Daniel.
Jay Ray:And my name is Jay Ray, sometimes known by my government
Jay Ray:as Johnnie Ray Kornegay III.
Jay Ray:And um, sir Daniel, we are about to combine two things that we really love.
Jay Ray:We're about to combine books and we're about to combine R&B, and
Jay Ray:that is just magical with our guest.
Sir Daniel:what I love about our show, Jay Ray, is that for the
Sir Daniel:amount of years that we've been doing this show, we are slowly but surely
Sir Daniel:collecting our tribe and our guest.
Sir Daniel:This next gentleman is definitely a part of the Queue Points tribe
Sir Daniel:because not only is he a DJ.
Sir Daniel:He is also a professor of, um, of music, modern music, specifically
Sir Daniel:R&B music, and he's an author.
Sir Daniel:But I am so excited for our Queue Points listeners
Sir Daniel:to get to know Amani Roberts.
Jay Ray:Absolutely y'all, so.
Jay Ray:Listen, Amani Roberts is an award-winning music business professor,
Jay Ray:internationally renowned speaker, professional DJ and USA today
Jay Ray:bestselling author of The Quiet Storm.
Jay Ray:A historical and cultural analysis of the power, passion, and pain of R&B
Jay Ray:groups who educates music professionals on making better business decisions.
Jay Ray:As a professional speaker for thousands worldwide, Amani has left an indelible
Jay Ray:mark on audiences by combining music history, innovative technology.
Jay Ray:And business education to spread knowledge on the business of music.
Jay Ray:Throughout his illustrious career and hospitality in music, Amani has
Jay Ray:trust, has been trusted by industry giants, such as chart metric.
Jay Ray:Berklee College of Music and Yahoo Music.
Jay Ray:His collaborations with these organizations, along with his master's
Jay Ray:in music business education from Berklee College of Music, his education
Jay Ray:at Scratch Academy, Los Angeles, and Howard University, where he earned a
Jay Ray:Bachelor's of Business Administration and Hospitality Management underscore
Jay Ray:his credibility and expertise.
Jay Ray:Widely recognized as an authority in his field.
Jay Ray:Amani Roberts leverages his education, his extensive experience and
Jay Ray:education to provide the ability to see different solutions to problems
Jay Ray:that have been hidden in plain sight.
Jay Ray:His innovative approach combined with a deep understanding of the industry,
Jay Ray:positions him as the go-to expert for music education in the ever.
Jay Ray:Evolving music business landscape, and that has never been truer in
Jay Ray:this moment, but Queue Points family.
Jay Ray:Welcome, Amani Roberts to the show.
Jay Ray:What's up sir?
Amani Roberts:What's up?
Amani Roberts:What's up?
Amani Roberts:Thank you for having me.
Sir Daniel:it's a pleasure to meet you Amani.
Sir Daniel:And no, seriously, I just wanna start off the bat because you are a DJ.
Sir Daniel:Um, you know, it feels like every single day I can't go a day.
Sir Daniel:On our, uh, social media and not see some real or some clip
Sir Daniel:from other DJ professionals.
Sir Daniel:Um, just discussing the certain things that are happening within
Sir Daniel:our industry, within our craft.
Sir Daniel:And it makes me wonder, you know, what do you feel like is the one of the most
Sir Daniel:pressing issues for DJs at this time?
Amani Roberts:I think because the bar to DJing is so low, anyone can buy
Amani Roberts:a controller, anyone can go on their computer and DJ, you know it, the noise.
Amani Roberts:There's a lot of noise.
Amani Roberts:And I think the ability to read a crowd is not something you can
Amani Roberts:learn by watching a YouTube video.
Amani Roberts:You can't learn that by DJing online, whether you'd be on, you know,
Amani Roberts:some of the streaming platforms.
Amani Roberts:And I think that that's the most pressing need, the ability to read a room.
Amani Roberts:And I would say number two is how to do a proper opening set.
Amani Roberts:What I learned being in hospitality is kind of the back of the house.
Amani Roberts:Like, you know, we show up to a bar, a convention, a venue we set up, we go.
Amani Roberts:But what I learned in hospitality is I work behind, I, I work behind the scenes.
Amani Roberts:So I've been rolling tables, I've been a bartender.
Amani Roberts:I've been a server.
Amani Roberts:So we understand everything that's involved.
Amani Roberts:So we have a certain amount of respect for the work that people have to do.
Amani Roberts:'cause they have to show up early, they gotta set up, they gotta serve
Amani Roberts:the people, they gotta stay late.
Amani Roberts:So that's not an easy job.
Amani Roberts:And whatever I can do to make it easy for them as a DJ, I'll try to do that.
Amani Roberts:Could be as simple as playing some music that they like during the
Amani Roberts:set so they can kind of vibe to it.
Amani Roberts:It can be keeping an eye out, so if there's certain guests that
Amani Roberts:are giving the staff a hard time.
Amani Roberts:You know, you kind of there as a, as a backup cycling during your set,
Amani Roberts:cycling the bar so that people who are on the dance floor can still show
Amani Roberts:the bartender love and get drinks.
Sir Daniel:Community is important and I met a lot of those people when
Sir Daniel:I took a course at Scratch Academy.
Sir Daniel:And I understand that you, um, did the same.
Sir Daniel:What was your experience like, um, going to the Scratch Academy and tell us
Sir Daniel:about your community, your DJ community.
Amani Roberts:Yeah, scratch Academy.
Amani Roberts:Um, you know, not to be cliche, but it was rather life changing,
Amani Roberts:you know, because it depends.
Amani Roberts:You need to have good people around you.
Amani Roberts:I
Amani Roberts:had a really close friend, Josh.
Amani Roberts:He, he, you know, one of my close friends in life, he went there first.
Amani Roberts:He came back and said, you know, Amani, I think you should go there.
Amani Roberts:'cause I was learning how to DJ at the time.
Amani Roberts:He said, I think it can help you become a better DJ.
Amani Roberts:And so if you have people around you that you trust, I said,
Amani Roberts:oh, if you recommend, I went.
Amani Roberts:So I went.
Amani Roberts:So Scratch was like the strong foundation.
Amani Roberts:Um, and then my community, like I'm talking with a lot of DJs
Amani Roberts:across the world, you know, the.
Amani Roberts:Only one of the few blessings of Twitch is I got to network and,
Amani Roberts:um, meet a lot of DJs during the pandemic through Twitch or whatever.
Amani Roberts:So I know people all over the world.
Amani Roberts:Currently in Vegas, we have a pretty tight community.
Amani Roberts:Actually, a bunch of us are working on this nonprofit now, camp Spinoff.
Amani Roberts:It's a DJ camp for kids music production camp for kids over the summer.
Amani Roberts:We used to have it before the pandemic, then we stopped and now our director,
Amani Roberts:Tina t DJ, Tina t, she's doing it again.
Amani Roberts:So I got a pretty tight community through that and just doing other gigs across
Amani Roberts:the world, like I can pretty much know a DJ in every city, every major city.
Amani Roberts:So that's my community.
Amani Roberts:Um, yeah.
Amani Roberts:Yeah.
Amani Roberts:And that's how we roll.
Jay Ray:I love hearing these stories.
Jay Ray:First of all, I love two, that two Js two DJs get the opportunity to like connect.
Jay Ray:that community building is so critical and.
Jay Ray:With the work that you've done over time, Amani, it's really interesting
Jay Ray:because you did go ahead and write this really important book,
Jay Ray:which does several things, right?
Jay Ray:Of course you talk about your passion around R&B and sharing that, but you
Jay Ray:also get into the business of the music,
Jay Ray:which are, which sometimes gets left behind.
Jay Ray:Like people either stick to one or the other.
Jay Ray:And what your book does is it blends the two.
Jay Ray:Um.
Jay Ray:I want, we wanna hop into the book for, for a bit because, um,
Jay Ray:there's so much here and I wanna read a quote actually from the
Amani Roberts:Okay.
Amani Roberts:Okay.
Jay Ray:So we have to talk more about the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
Jay Ray:So we're in the 30th anniversary of, of that right now.
Jay Ray:But in that chapter, you say this, towards the end, the popular songs will
Jay Ray:get the most ear traffic, and this drives up the value of an advertising spot.
Jay Ray:Therefore, the radio stations are playing for the advertisers,
Jay Ray:not for the listeners R&B group.
Jay Ray:Singing about love and heartbreak does not fit the typical ad spots outside
Jay Ray:of those for online dating companies.
Jay Ray:I wanna, I want you to expound because, no, I think it's so important to, to
Jay Ray:call out the thing because when we talk about R&B music, all three of us
Jay Ray:have stories about the songs we heard.
Jay Ray:How they were being played, et cetera.
Jay Ray:But so much of that before 1996 was locally handled, the DJs doing this.
Jay Ray:So I really do want you to talk about how this telecommunications
Jay Ray:act really did aid in a lot of ways with the decline of R&B over time.
Jay Ray:Um, yeah.
Jay Ray:If you could, you could
Jay Ray:wax poetic a little bit with us.
Amani Roberts:Yeah, the Telecommunications Act of 1996, it
Amani Roberts:was supposed to diversify radio.
Amani Roberts:It was supposed to make it make it easier for people to buy
Amani Roberts:radio stations, get on the air.
Amani Roberts:All the local radio stations, it had the exact opposite impact.
Amani Roberts:You had iHeart Media, town, square Media, and Cumulus Media buy up all
Amani Roberts:the radio stations domestically, and then they went to playlisting
Amani Roberts:And playlisting is the thing that really, really hurts local acts.
Amani Roberts:If we think about where you are, TLC got big locally in Atlanta first.
Amani Roberts:Boys, men got big locally in Philadelphia.
Amani Roberts:First, think about the group shy.
Amani Roberts:I heard them first on WPGC.
Amani Roberts:95.5 had a show called DC Home Jams.
Amani Roberts:They played them first, then they got to be astronomic and big.
Amani Roberts:Houston Destiny Child was big in Houston.
Amani Roberts:First we can list city by city and the groups and everything, but what that
Amani Roberts:act did is it took away local radio's, power audience, and when they go to
Amani Roberts:playlisting, you could be in Atlanta, you could be in Vegas, you could be
Amani Roberts:in Chicago, you could be in Seattle.
Amani Roberts:You're generally going to hear the same songs on popular radio that
Amani Roberts:you would, if we think back to like.
Amani Roberts:Early nineties, mid nineties, you would hear like R&B groups on main radio,
Amani Roberts:you would hear them on main radio, for example.
Amani Roberts:I remember I did this during my research, which was a lot.
Amani Roberts:There was a week in 1997 in July where 12 of the top 20 billboard, hot 100 hits.
Amani Roberts:This is the main charts that include all genres.
Amani Roberts:Were from R&B groups,
Amani Roberts:12, and that's RB groups over pop, rock, country, everything.
Amani Roberts:You fast forward 10 years later, 14 of the top 20 were hip hop.
Amani Roberts:But you could see how it shifted because then hip hop got to
Amani Roberts:be on popular radio and then.
Amani Roberts:What we really kind of ties with the point about advertisers don't really
Amani Roberts:wanna be advertising, talk about love and heartbreak is EDM Music.
Amani Roberts:EDM Music is kind of up tempo talking about partying and
Amani Roberts:life is good.
Amani Roberts:Bright things, bright things, you know, RB music can talk about some, you know, dark
Amani Roberts:things, heartbreak, you know, loss, pain.
Amani Roberts:So they chose to kind of flock to that for the advertising.
Amani Roberts:So that helped EDM music grow.
Amani Roberts:So it just was not appealing.
Amani Roberts:It is not appealing for some advertisers on popular radio
Amani Roberts:stations to really support.
Amani Roberts:So, you know, the advertisers go to where the money shifts.
Amani Roberts:What I couldn't include in the book due to editing and just some things is
Amani Roberts:if you look at the board of directors from all three of those companies.
Amani Roberts:You will see two people that look like us out of 36, I wanna say, I think
Amani Roberts:out of 36 on the board of directors.
Amani Roberts:And, you know, those are the people that de that dictate
Amani Roberts:the mission of the companies.
Amani Roberts:And if there are only two people that look like us, we, they,
Amani Roberts:people aren't gonna understand.
Amani Roberts:They're not gonna understand.
Amani Roberts:And so that's my long waxing poetic about that quote that you got.
Jay Ray:No, that is absolutely critical.
Jay Ray:And, um, I, I, uh, have told Sir Daniel this story, um, before I visited
Jay Ray:Atlanta for the first time in 1997.
Jay Ray:Right.
Jay Ray:And I remember coming to Atlanta and my mind being blown about, I
Jay Ray:was literally listening to radio and hearing no one that I knew.
Jay Ray:And I was literally asking, so it was my, my friend's sister
Jay Ray:who was driving us around.
Jay Ray:I'm like, who's this?
Jay Ray:And she was like, oh my god, that's witch doctor.
Jay Ray:Who's that?
Jay Ray:And then she was just like running off people.
Jay Ray:'cause everybody that came on the radio, number one, that quality was together.
Jay Ray:Those songs were unique to the area.
Jay Ray:And my mind got blown.
Jay Ray:And then of course I returned to Atlanta a a decade later.
Jay Ray:And I'm hearing what I'm hearing in Philly.
Jay Ray:In Atlanta and I'm like, when I first came here, that was not true.
Jay Ray:I didn't hear any of what I heard at home
Amani Roberts:Yeah.
Jay Ray:It really truly did make a difference.
Jay Ray:And, and, and I wanna, I wanna hop into radio for us for a second because.
Jay Ray:I listen to the radio every day.
Jay Ray:There's never a a, a, there's never a day when the radio doesn't play at some point.
Jay Ray:And I think people kind of minimize the power of radio, but I'm like, no.
Jay Ray:You hear radio throughout your day, no matter what happens.
Jay Ray:You describe in your book, right.
Jay Ray:Like waiting for a song.
Jay Ray:We know this, right?
Jay Ray:We've all done it.
Jay Ray:We're making a tape.
Jay Ray:Remember, in the eighties when we was
Jay Ray:young, we had to make a tape,
Jay Ray:and so we are waiting on pause.
Jay Ray:And I used to get mad because I hated when the word, like I didn't like that, so I
Jay Ray:needed to start it earlier than the song.
Jay Ray:So you had to anticipate things.
Jay Ray:Right.
Jay Ray:You described that, that anticipation that you experienced as a young
Jay Ray:person sitting near the radio, waiting for the DJ to play.
Jay Ray:You mentioned New Edition specifically.
Jay Ray:Yeah.
Jay Ray:Yeah, yeah.
Sir Daniel:Oh yeah.
Jay Ray:And, when we think about this moment that we're in.
Jay Ray:Sometimes the DJs aren't even from where you are, right?
Jay Ray:Because the show that's playing is it is.
Jay Ray:So it's not possible to build the same kinds of relationships
Jay Ray:with our music and with our DJs.
Jay Ray:From your perspective, what do you think we lose when we lost,
Jay Ray:when that kind of disappeared?
Amani Roberts:away.
Amani Roberts:Yeah.
Amani Roberts:Yeah, because now shows are syndicated, so you could be listening to someone
Amani Roberts:and they're playing in every city, which is good for the particularly DJ, but
Amani Roberts:unfortunately it's not good for the local.
Amani Roberts:So just we we're losing out local acts, you're losing the ability.
Amani Roberts:One of my dream jobs is I'm a slow jam radio DJ, like Melvin
Amani Roberts:Lindsay, the quiet storm,
Amani Roberts:WHUR.
Amani Roberts:You call up, you call up, you say, I wanna make a dedication to whomever
Amani Roberts:you're recording or whatever.
Amani Roberts:I want you to play this song.
Amani Roberts:And then they play the song.
Amani Roberts:And then maybe you call up three weeks later and say, and
Amani Roberts:so you have a relationship.
Amani Roberts:Works and that's, that's different now also.
Amani Roberts:It's just, you could be able to hear rare cuts more so when you're listening
Amani Roberts:to these shows and that's missing.
Amani Roberts:So for example, I discovered Phyllis Hyman by listening to the Quiet Storm,
Amani Roberts:WHUR.
Amani Roberts:And that song, old Friend,
Amani Roberts:they would never play that song on the radio.
Amani Roberts:But that's how I discovered it.
Amani Roberts:You know, I think I discovered Shy Light's, old Girl from that show.
Amani Roberts:So it just, it, it, I wanna say the proper word is like ho harmonized.
Amani Roberts:I hope I'm saying it right,
Amani Roberts:but it just waters.
Amani Roberts:You know, it waters down the music that you're exposed to.
Amani Roberts:So then you lose out on finding the rare cuts.
Amani Roberts:Like you would hear Jodeci come and talk to me, but you might hear Jodeci,
Amani Roberts:you and I, that's my favorite song.
Amani Roberts:So, you know, they would play that on the quiet storm, but on the main race
Amani Roberts:they'd play just come and talk to you.
Amani Roberts:So you lose out on some of the rare cuts.
Amani Roberts:Think about all the rare cuts that you would hear.
Amani Roberts:So it really dumbs down the listener base 'cause they're only
Amani Roberts:exposed to a same set of songs.
Amani Roberts:That's what's missing.
Amani Roberts:And, and also including like the personalization and just the relationship,
Amani Roberts:like you knew, okay, 7:00 PM you're gonna hear Smokey Robinson, quiet
Amani Roberts:storm and you're gonna hear you.
Amani Roberts:You could, you could hang on that till midnight.
Amani Roberts:It's coming.
Amani Roberts:If you wanna call in, you could call in.
Amani Roberts:And I just think that that's missing and it's just unfortunate.
Sir Daniel:so I, I've, I still work in terrestrial radio, so everything, so
Sir Daniel:right now you preaching to the choir, I, this has been, this has been part of my
Sir Daniel:life for years as somebody that grew up listening to radio and now working in it.
Sir Daniel:And I will tell you there was a sweet spot where.
Sir Daniel:Uh, we still had that magic of the connection between the listeners
Sir Daniel:and the, the on air personalities.
Sir Daniel:And it's, you know, this, the, the, the, the, the cluster that I work
Sir Daniel:at now, because there's like four.
Sir Daniel:Four radio stations underneath our CL cluster.
Sir Daniel:Um, still kind of maintains that here in Atlanta because it is just one of those
Sir Daniel:stations that's just been around long enough to where you can still do that.
Sir Daniel:But I Amani, I'm feeling like one.
Sir Daniel:The, the culture and the soul has been gutted out of, of our music and radio.
Sir Daniel:I think it's, I think it was, it's been gutted and I think
Sir Daniel:it's been gutted on purpose.
Jay Ray:Hmm.
Sir Daniel:Um, I feel like, to your point earlier, for monetary reasons,
Sir Daniel:of course, and people trying to sell ads and whatnot, but I also can't
Sir Daniel:help but feel like there is a parallel between what's happening with the
Sir Daniel:music and radio in general and what's happening now with our voting rights.
Sir Daniel:everything, like I really do feel like there is.
Sir Daniel:A, a, a concerted effort to erase everything.
Sir Daniel:Um, do, do you feel that, do you p, have you peeped that?
Sir Daniel:Is that something that's come up on your radar?
Amani Roberts:Well, what do, what do I say?
Amani Roberts:They may hate us, but they sure love the culture, you know,
Sir Daniel:I love.
Amani Roberts:and so and so.
Amani Roberts:So I say that I think, you know.
Amani Roberts:Songs are much shorter, songs are
Amani Roberts:less complex.
Amani Roberts:So they're kinda like dumbing, dumbing things down.
Amani Roberts:You know, try, try, they, they can try to erase things.
Amani Roberts:But the way the world is now, we definitely will.
Amani Roberts:I mean for we had like the underground railroad way back in the day, we
Amani Roberts:can definitely be creative and keep things alive, you know, it's just
Amani Roberts:that in the public it looks like they're era things, but there are
Amani Roberts:ways, there are people working.
Amani Roberts:I'm confident I have faith, but I will say like.
Amani Roberts:If you look at like, some of the songs, and I don't, I'm not like, you know,
Amani Roberts:angry old man, get off my lawn, but, but you know, if you just look at some
Amani Roberts:of the songs nowadays that are really, really popular, they're pretty basic.
Amani Roberts:They're, I interpolating a past hit.
Amani Roberts:So it's like we've just lost the courage to really do something different.
Amani Roberts:However, there are some artists.
Amani Roberts:That will release music that's different and I found that
Amani Roberts:radio is late to catch onto it.
Amani Roberts:I take, so one time I was DJing a wedding and they requested "Booed Up" by Ella Mae.
Amani Roberts:And this was the one time I put a song on and the entire wedding
Amani Roberts:was singing along and dancing.
Amani Roberts:Now that's a hit.
Amani Roberts:Now radio was very, very, very
Amani Roberts:late in picking up that song to play it on popular
Amani Roberts:radio.
Amani Roberts:It was more popular online, and this is pre pandemic, and so I just think
Amani Roberts:that radio is late and that song.
Amani Roberts:Not that complex, but still a good song.
Amani Roberts:Now, every once in a while we'll get a song that comes out that's
Amani Roberts:R&B that is kind of complex.
Amani Roberts:Like if you look at Kalani's Hit Folded.
Amani Roberts:Now that's a deep, that's a heavy song right there.
Jay Ray:There's a lot going on in
Amani Roberts:true, that's a true R&B song.
Amani Roberts:You know?
Amani Roberts:So you have like that.
Amani Roberts:Um, if you think back to the early two thousands, I love
Amani Roberts:tanks, so maybe I deserve.
Amani Roberts:They don't really make those kind of songs that have subtle message.
Amani Roberts:Like a lot of times nowadays we just overt, we just
Amani Roberts:tell you we, we wanna have happen in a song.
Amani Roberts:You know,
Amani Roberts:think about back in the day they thought, they thought Prince was
Amani Roberts:crazy and he was being a little calm.
Amani Roberts:They thought Rick James, they thought Rick James was off the chain and
Amani Roberts:he was talking about Mary Jane.
Amani Roberts:Nowadays they just talk, they say whatever they wanna say.
Amani Roberts:So, but I think that goes to.
Amani Roberts:It's just being dumbed down, like what happened to the subtlety, what
Amani Roberts:happened to, you know, metaphors and, and hinting, but not saying
Amani Roberts:it that adds to the complexity.
Amani Roberts:So that's my, my long story, but I don't think, like, I understand, we, we have
Amani Roberts:serious issues with the voting rights.
Amani Roberts:They, they hate the people, they love the culture.
Amani Roberts:I still think there'll be ways.
Amani Roberts:For us to kind of get around or work through that.
Amani Roberts:We just don't see it yet.
Amani Roberts:Because if we compare today to what people went through in the
Amani Roberts:sixties, it's not night and day.
Amani Roberts:So
Amani Roberts:we just have to recapture some of that, uh, cleverness and courage and just
Amani Roberts:strength that was happening in the fifties and sixties to apply to today's era.
Amani Roberts:So that, that's kinda what I'm saying.
Amani Roberts:But really with the songs now, like.
Amani Roberts:Sexual healing.
Amani Roberts:Marvin Gaye, like, they'll certainly do a song that that interpols it,
Amani Roberts:but to have the lyrics that were in that song, it's just different now.
Amani Roberts:It's just different.
Sir Daniel:Yeah, everything is sped up, um, chopped up.
Sir Daniel:They'll take a phrase and chop it up and repeat it over and over and give it
Sir Daniel:a bouncier beat and you know, I get it.
Sir Daniel:That's cute.
Sir Daniel:Especially now for TikTok and things like that, I think.
Sir Daniel:Jay Ray, I think there's a lot of bravery that's missing.
Sir Daniel:I, you know, program, program directors, program directors were like, and
Sir Daniel:music directors were revered, you
Sir Daniel:know, at a point they were revered.
Sir Daniel:P, there was music days at the radio station.
Sir Daniel:Tuesdays was was our music day and you saw all the a andrs coming through the
Sir Daniel:street rep. Everybody would come through handful of CDs wanting everybody to get
Sir Daniel:a CD so they can hear what's new, what the new artists has been working on.
Sir Daniel:And the program directors were a lot, to your point earlier,
Sir Daniel:Amani Amani about pulling.
Sir Daniel:Album cuts and putting that into rotation.
Sir Daniel:There's just not, there's no break.
Sir Daniel:Sometimes there's just no bravery or their hands are tied now they
Sir Daniel:really can't.
Sir Daniel:Like you said that that corporate umbrella that you work under
Amani Roberts:Yeah.
Sir Daniel:really has you, you know, like tied up and can't make
Sir Daniel:a whole lot of decisions or, or break records like they used to.
Sir Daniel:So
Sir Daniel:it's, and I think that's why people are relying heavily now on.
Sir Daniel:You know, internet, radio.
Sir Daniel:That's why we, DJs are important when we do our live streams.
Sir Daniel:Shout out to new content to lj, you know, putting on his, that mix show
Sir Daniel:that he does, and we can get on there and we play any and everything
Sir Daniel:and people absolutely love it.
Sir Daniel:I have the pleasure.
Sir Daniel:I still work with, um, Joyce Littel, who is our,
Sir Daniel:our quiet storm maven here in Atlanta.
Sir Daniel:She is the queen of the quiet storm.
Sir Daniel:Just recently, she was asked to host the, um, a brand, a party.
Sir Daniel:It's not, brand new been around for a minute called slow drag,
Sir Daniel:and they play nothing.
Sir Daniel:They started out playing nothing but, um, seventies slow jams.
Sir Daniel:But when, um, they asked Joyce for.
Sir Daniel:Atlanta 4 0 4 day, um, festivity.
Sir Daniel:They, they expanded it to eighties and nineties.
Sir Daniel:And let me tell you something, there is still power to the slow jam.
Sir Daniel:There is still power to the slow jam.
Sir Daniel:And this is why I know where Ken.
Sir Daniel:Queue Points we have.
Sir Daniel:We've had a campaign called Slow Jams Can Heal us for a couple
Sir Daniel:years now because we still believe in the power of the Slow Jam.
Sir Daniel:And your book is called The Quiet Storm and just like.
Sir Daniel:Tell us where people can get the book, but I kind of, I want to
Sir Daniel:know like just off the top of your head, your five favorite slow jams.
Sir Daniel:Because Jay, we, we did a show where we, we, our listeners know
Sir Daniel:there's a difference between a ballad
Sir Daniel:and a
Jay Ray:slow Jane.
Jay Ray:Yes.
Sir Daniel:so they know.
Sir Daniel:So are we want to hear your slow jam favorites your picks.
Amani Roberts:Okay.
Amani Roberts:You can get the book at Amazon, any platform you order books, or you can go to
Amani Roberts:the quiet storm book.com and order a copy.
Amani Roberts:I sign it, send it to you.
Amani Roberts:Top five.
Amani Roberts:Slow jams.
Amani Roberts:Ooh.
Amani Roberts:Okay.
Amani Roberts:Because I have such respect and I feel this group doesn't get the
Amani Roberts:amount of credit they deserve.
Amani Roberts:I'm gonna say Slow Jam.
Amani Roberts:Number one is gonna be between the sheets.
Amani Roberts:The Isley Brothers.
Amani Roberts:The Isley Brothers, only group in history to have hits in six straight decades from
Amani Roberts:the fifties, sixties, seventies, eight.
Amani Roberts:That is amazing.
Amani Roberts:And it doesn't get talked about enough.
Amani Roberts:Okay?
Amani Roberts:So that slow jam number one.
Amani Roberts:Um, slow jam number two.
Amani Roberts:Can you stand the Rain New Edition?
Amani Roberts:I mean, you know, just like, woo.
Amani Roberts:On a perfect day.
Amani Roberts:But don't let me try to ing here, except that's one, two,
Amani Roberts:the, that's slow jam number two.
Amani Roberts:Um.
Amani Roberts:You know, I'm a big Tina Marie fan.
Amani Roberts:I'm a big Tina Marie fan.
Amani Roberts:Dear lover, dear lover.
Amani Roberts:Woo.
Amani Roberts:Imagine if someone were to write a song like that nowadays.
Amani Roberts:Did you?
Amani Roberts:She said, dear, just, oh my
Amani Roberts:goodness.
Amani Roberts:Like that song right
Jay Ray:I hope this letter find you did baby listen.
Amani Roberts:come on now.
Amani Roberts:I mean, it's hard to do top five.
Amani Roberts:Okay.
Amani Roberts:I'm thinking, I'm thinking let's get to like the nineties.
Amani Roberts:Whoa.
Amani Roberts:Okay.
Amani Roberts:I do think I'll give Usher credit.
Amani Roberts:You got it bad.
Amani Roberts:Like that one right there.
Amani Roberts:That one right there.
Amani Roberts:You got it bad.
Amani Roberts:That's good.
Amani Roberts:I'm, I can go, I can't date five, but I'm gonna stop at five.
Amani Roberts:But like, SWV, like, ooh.
Amani Roberts:Oh my goodness.
Amani Roberts:which one?
Amani Roberts:I'm like, ooh.
Amani Roberts:Woo.
Amani Roberts:Weak.
Jay Ray:This is the power.
Jay Ray:This is why we be telling people this is the power of these songs.
Jay Ray:We talk about this, uh, we've talked about this on the show where,
Jay Ray:uh, these songs I was using, I statement gave me language, right?
Jay Ray:So it taught you.
Jay Ray:How this emotion felt, and then you start to realize like, oh, that's
Jay Ray:what they were singing about.
Jay Ray:That's what that song really means,
Amani Roberts:And it's okay.
Amani Roberts:Like it's okay.
Amani Roberts:to sing about love and heartbreak nowadays.
Amani Roberts:People are scared.
Amani Roberts:They don't wanna talk about it 'cause you know, we too stoic or whatever.
Amani Roberts:It's okay to put yourself out there and be like, you know what?
Amani Roberts:I love you and I'm sad that you're not here.
Amani Roberts:I miss you climax.
Amani Roberts:I miss you.
Amani Roberts:Like all these, these, all these emotions.
Amani Roberts:It's okay.
Amani Roberts:Like, um, people are more, as you said, you said this early on, people were
Amani Roberts:more courageous in the art that they shared and sing about back in the day.
Amani Roberts:Nowadays we're too cool, most of us to take.
Amani Roberts:Think about it or whatever.
Amani Roberts:So when we hear a song like Folded, we're
Amani Roberts:like, oh, oh.
Amani Roberts:She's like, oh, I got your clothes folded.
Jay Ray:baby.
Jay Ray:I Got Your Clothes.
Jay Ray:Fold It and it's, it's not too cold.
Jay Ray:I'm like, oh, that's, it's not too cold.
Jay Ray:I'm like, okay, I like this.
Jay Ray:Carrying on.
Amani Roberts:yes.
Sir Daniel:wrote
Amani Roberts:just wish it was longer.
Amani Roberts:So think about like, think about like, I wish it was longer.
Amani Roberts:So one of my favorite favorite musicians in life, Babyface.
Amani Roberts:So if you look at like, where will you go?
Amani Roberts:You have the prelude, you have, where will you go?
Amani Roberts:Who's gonna love you?
Amani Roberts:Like I do.
Amani Roberts:You have the whole song, good, four or five minutes, and
Amani Roberts:then you have the Postlude.
Amani Roberts:What happened to those?
Amani Roberts:You know, we could
Amani Roberts:use that on the answer machines and.
Amani Roberts:you think back, it just, it just shows you the power.
Amani Roberts:It just shows you the power of this.
Amani Roberts:We would make tapes.
Amani Roberts:Of 90 minutes of songs front and back, we would meticulously make
Amani Roberts:nowadays you could just do a playlist.
Amani Roberts:No,
Amani Roberts:no, no, no, no.
Amani Roberts:We're gonna make a tape, we're gonna blend it in, we're
Amani Roberts:gonna add special things, and then we're gonna give it to someone.
Jay Ray:Man, Amani, this is, you are an absolute joy.
Jay Ray:Congratulations and thank you for
Jay Ray:writing this book.
Jay Ray:So for everybody who is tuning in, make sure that you head to any of the
Jay Ray:platforms and order the quiet storm, a historical and cultural analysis of
Jay Ray:power, passion, and pain of R&B groups.
Jay Ray:This music is so important and, and the, the, the stories and the history.
Jay Ray:Of how this music has moved through.
Jay Ray:Time is important, and Amani does all of that in the book Amani.
Jay Ray:Where can folks connect with you on social media?
Jay Ray:Where can they find
Amani Roberts:Yes, so I always love to direct people to my
Amani Roberts:website, amani experience.com.
Amani Roberts:If you're in the music business and you need some advice, you wanna have
Amani Roberts:a call, amani experience.com/call, and then my socials are at Amani
Amani Roberts:experience on like the platforms.
Amani Roberts:So just reach out to me, tell me where you found you or met me
Amani Roberts:and let's have a conversation.
Jay Ray:Absolutely love it.
Jay Ray:Y'all.
Jay Ray:Queue Points family.
Jay Ray:Thank you so much for, uh, tuning in.
Jay Ray:If you can see our faces or hear our voices, hit the subscribe button.
Jay Ray:Make sure that you subscribe to Amani.
Jay Ray:So go and follow Amani on social media, and most importantly, go and by the book.
Jay Ray:Thank you.
Jay Ray:All the information about that'll be in the description.
Jay Ray:Check out our website@qpoints.com where you can watch our
Jay Ray:entire archive of episodes.
Jay Ray:There are a ton of episodes and topics for you to dive into.
Jay Ray:Check us out on Substack where we have some additional content.
Jay Ray:Become a member on our website as well.
Jay Ray:It keeps the light on lights on over here at Queue Points.
Jay Ray:And shop our store@store.qpoints.com.
Jay Ray:We appreciate y'all.
Jay Ray:We love y'all.
Sir Daniel:We absolutely do, and like I say, in every episode
Sir Daniel:in this life, you have a choice.
Sir Daniel:You can either pick up the needle or you could let the record play.
Sir Daniel:I am DJ Sir Daniel.
Jay Ray:And my name is Jay Ray, and that is Amani Roberts.
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.
Sir Daniel:Peace y'all.
Jay Ray:Peace, y'all.