Hey, Hey, y'all this episode of Queue Points may
Jay Ray:contain explicit language.
Jay Ray:Listener discretion is advised.
Jay Ray:Hey, what's up good people.
Jay Ray:It's Jay Ray, the co host of Queue Points.
Jay Ray:And I wanted to come to you because there are two really important
Jay Ray:ways that you can support our show.
Jay Ray:One is by subscribing to it, wherever you listen to, or watch your podcast.
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Jay Ray:We're always appreciative of you supporting Queue Points.
Jay Ray:We thank you so much for all that you've done for us so far and enjoy the show.
Jay Ray:DJ Sir Daniel: Greetings and welcome to another episode of Queue Points podcast.
Jay Ray:I am DJ Sir Daniel.
Jay Ray:And my name is Jay Ray, sometimes known by my government
Jay Ray:as Johnny Ray Cornegay, the third, what's happening, people,
Jay Ray:DJ Sir Daniel: This is Queue Points podcast, dropping the
Jay Ray:needle on black music history.
Jay Ray:And guess what?
Jay Ray:J Ray?
Jay Ray:what?
Jay Ray:DJ Sir Daniel: We've survived the AT& T blackout of 2020.
Jay Ray:24.
Jay Ray:We survived.
Jay Ray:I'm still here.
Jay Ray:I don't know who was trying to get in contact with me earlier today.
Jay Ray:Listen, but I'm here.
Jay Ray:I'm still here in the words of Fantasia.
Jay Ray:So here's, what's interesting.
Jay Ray:I of course did not know that that happened today.
Jay Ray:There was apparently, uh, very recently to a T Mobile outage.
Jay Ray:It did not, it did not impact me.
Jay Ray:I did not know that it happened.
Jay Ray:Um, but apparently it did.
Jay Ray:So it leads me to wonder.
Jay Ray:What in the world is going on?
Jay Ray:Are the country people mad that Beyonce went to number one?
Jay Ray:I don't know.
Jay Ray:Are they getting in the internet and stopping people?
Jay Ray:I don't know.
Jay Ray:DJ Sir Daniel: I don't know.
Jay Ray:I obviously went straight to thinking about that Netflix movie with Mahershala
Jay Ray:Ali and Julia Roberts where all the phones went down and the next thing you
Jay Ray:know, nuclear bombs were being shot off.
Jay Ray:And so, We're not there.
Jay Ray:Thank God.
Jay Ray:So we're still here.
Jay Ray:We're, you know, no, we're not in black caves.
Jay Ray:We're not separated by city and state any like in the movie,
Jay Ray:but we're here for Queue Points.
Jay Ray:We're here to hear a lively discussion about black music and black music history
Jay Ray:and that's what Jayray and I do best
Jay Ray:a lot of there's a lot of overlapping in the conversation that we were
Jay Ray:having and the things that we want to talk about tonight and I can't
Jay Ray:think of anybody better to discuss that with than, um, tonight's guests.
Jay Ray:So Jerry, I'm going to let you do the honors and, um, I guess
Jay Ray:Yeah, this is so exciting that we get to have this guest on the show.
Jay Ray:Uh, both DJ Sir Daniel and I are fans of the work that they do.
Jay Ray:Um, and so I'm going to read, uh, read his bio and then we'll bring them on and
Jay Ray:they were going to have, uh, some chat.
Jay Ray:So our guest tonight is a Brian Patrick Davis.
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis is a full time digital artist and admitted nerd.
Jay Ray:With over 10 years experience working as a creative force in the music industry.
Jay Ray:I'm a just add true and true.
Jay Ray:What's up?
Jay Ray:Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia.
Jay Ray:Brian got an early leg up into the city's tight knit creative community.
Jay Ray:Brian has a large variety of interests ranging from film, photography,
Jay Ray:creative writing, and cooking.
Jay Ray:He loves Starbucks, Thai food, karaoke, and is a proud studio rat,
Jay Ray:frequently writing, writing, writing.
Jay Ray:Recording and vocal producing with several producers and some of the
Jay Ray:industry's brightest songwriters as a digital artist and creative director.
Jay Ray:He is heavily inspired by and moved by music, the compositions and
Jay Ray:lyrics vividly paint pictures that he communicates visually with vibrant
Jay Ray:colors and provocative imagery with digital artwork and prints.
Jay Ray:He expresses the clear.
Jay Ray:Correlation between aesthetic and sound.
Jay Ray:Davis lives in Atlanta, Georgia, where he continues to work and innovate with his
Jay Ray:team, the creative collective, et cetera, production group, though known for his
Jay Ray:infectious personality and fast talk.
Jay Ray:Brian has always been a little camera shy, but he here, right?
Jay Ray:So joining, joining the ranks of amazing co hosts at the crew love show,
Jay Ray:ace, ace and HD has been welcomed.
Jay Ray:New and it has been a welcome new and exciting challenge and we are so
Jay Ray:excited Queue Points family to welcome Brian Patrick Davis to Queue Points.
Jay Ray:What's up?
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis: So good to see you guys.
Jay Ray:Yes,
Jay Ray:DJ Sir Daniel: Brian, do you realize this almost been what, seven years since
Jay Ray:I made my first foray into podcasting with the shuffle and repeat podcast.
Jay Ray:And Brian was my very first guest, um, to talk about your book, your debut
Jay Ray:book at the time songs about boys.
Jay Ray:Can you believe that much time has gone by?
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis: as I said earlier, I cannot believe that much time has passed.
Jay Ray:It does not feel like it's been seven years, but if you say a seven, then
Jay Ray:that's what we're going to go with.
Jay Ray:Listen, um, I think one of the things that we talked about before
Jay Ray:coming on the air is how beautiful it is that seven years later we get to come
Jay Ray:back and just have some dialogue with you about this moment that you're in.
Jay Ray:And one of the first things that we want to do for is, is make sure that
Jay Ray:you get the opportunity to introduce yourself and your work to our folks.
Jay Ray:So tell us about your background in music.
Jay Ray:Tell us about, you know, et cetera productions.
Jay Ray:Fill us in on all the things.
Jay Ray:Brian
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis: Okay.
Jay Ray:Okay.
Jay Ray:So, um, I have been, I'm born and raised in Atlanta.
Jay Ray:I know that's like a rarity, but I am born and raised in Atlanta.
Jay Ray:And, um, I've been around the music community for a really, really long time.
Jay Ray:Um, growing up, um, I was next door neighbors with, uh, my next
Jay Ray:door neighbor was best friends with like Jermaine Dupri and Da Brat.
Jay Ray:So I knew them.
Jay Ray:When I was a kid, um, I used to, like, go over, um, Chris Smith's house
Jay Ray:from Criss Cross when I was younger.
Jay Ray:They lived around the corner from me, so I've just always
Jay Ray:been around the music community.
Jay Ray:Um, I started interning at LaFace Records when I was, like, maybe 14 years old.
Jay Ray:And, um, From there, I just, I was just always around music.
Jay Ray:I was always around musicians.
Jay Ray:I knew a lot of recording artists.
Jay Ray:I knew a lot of people that were trying.
Jay Ray:recording artists.
Jay Ray:Um, and yeah, I was just super immersed in that culture and
Jay Ray:that community from a young age.
Jay Ray:Um, I went to Clark Atlanta University.
Jay Ray:And, um, as you all know, like, there's just a, uh, a wealth of, uh, musicianship
Jay Ray:and camaraderie at Clark Atlanta.
Jay Ray:And, um, I met people that were also songwriters and vocal producers
Jay Ray:and producers and just trying to, like, you know, find their way in.
Jay Ray:And at the time, um, right for this pretty popular black entertainment.
Jay Ray:publication called Concrete Loop.
Jay Ray:Um, and I was able to foster a lot of relationships with, um, producers,
Jay Ray:songwriters, executives, artists, um, any, anybody that I could touch in the
Jay Ray:music industry, I was touching them.
Jay Ray:A& R, just everybody.
Jay Ray:And it kind of, um, I was able to, um, form and build a lot
Jay Ray:of relationships through that.
Jay Ray:And that was kind of a way that I, um, moved into the creative sector
Jay Ray:of like, um, being a behind the scenes, creative in the music business
Jay Ray:when it came to, um, consulting, um, songwriting, um, doing creative
Jay Ray:direction, helping with photo shoots.
Jay Ray:Um, anything that was behind the scenes, creative.
Jay Ray:I wanted to be a part of, I wanted to have my hands in it.
Jay Ray:And, um, 2008 ish, I guess, I kind of like fell in love with the process of
Jay Ray:songwriting and being in the studio and just like, um, that energy is
Jay Ray:something that I still love to this day.
Jay Ray:Like, I love being in the studio.
Jay Ray:And so, um, Me and some, um, some classmates of mine, we formed this
Jay Ray:creative collective called Etc.
Jay Ray:Production Group, um, and we kind of like have coined ourselves as
Jay Ray:like a full service, um, artist development and production house.
Jay Ray:Um, and, um, really just, we've worked with a lot of people.
Jay Ray:I mean, we've worked with, um, Kelly Rowland, JoJo, Janet Jackson,
Jay Ray:Cassie, um, Janelle Monae, uh, we've worked with tons of people.
Jay Ray:Um, but our favorite thing to do is kind of like build our own projects.
Jay Ray:And so, um, as of the year 2022, like We had started getting back to that, um,
Jay Ray:you know, building something from the ground up from conception to fruition.
Jay Ray:That's something that we really like.
Jay Ray:That's our, that's kind of like our motto.
Jay Ray:Like we want to see things from conception to fruition.
Jay Ray:And so we've been really getting back to that.
Jay Ray:DJ Sir Daniel: the reason why listeners, why Brian, we asked Brian to be a part
Jay Ray:of this particular episode is because, um, you brought up Cassie, right.
Jay Ray:And, um, so Tiffany read.
Jay Ray:Not familiar is a music industry vet as a songwriter.
Jay Ray:She recently dropped a, uh, a very, a video that went viral where she
Jay Ray:was talking about songwriting and the disparities in the industry regarding
Jay Ray:songwriters and how they get credited or not get credited, um, as songwriters.
Jay Ray:And so.
Jay Ray:With she said a lot and but I want to hear from you Brian like What do songwriters
Jay Ray:need to do to protect themselves because that seems to be an ongoing theme not
Jay Ray:just with Tiffany But it's it's been said so many times over and over again.
Jay Ray:A lot of our legends have experienced You know, where they don't get full
Jay Ray:credit for the, the work that they put into a project, but, and here it is
Jay Ray:coming up again as a songwriter, what do y'all, what do they need to do?
Jay Ray:Because there's some songwriters listening right now to this podcast.
Jay Ray:What do you need to do to protect yourself?
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis: I will say this.
Jay Ray:I think that as a songwriter, one, one thing that is very important to
Jay Ray:know is first who you're writing with.
Jay Ray:Um, I think a lot of times people think that they need to protect themselves
Jay Ray:just from artists and labels, but it is important that you protect yourself
Jay Ray:with other songwriters as well.
Jay Ray:Songwriting is one of those things.
Jay Ray:Okay, I like to, I like to describe it like this.
Jay Ray:And this is kind of like maybe an old, archaic way of looking at things,
Jay Ray:because, you know, like, contracts and the way that people negotiate
Jay Ray:their business and paperwork is a lot different than it was in the past.
Jay Ray:when I started out, but I like to think of songwriting as a song, as a pie.
Jay Ray:And so a pie is a 100 Um, in, in, in the beginning, 50 of that pie
Jay Ray:automatically goes to the producer.
Jay Ray:A producer is going to take 50 of the pie off top.
Jay Ray:The other 50 is for the songwriters.
Jay Ray:So that is why it's important to, like I said, to know who you're writing with
Jay Ray:and to have split sheets and to have conversations before you guys start to
Jay Ray:work on something together, especially if you're working with somebody that
Jay Ray:you don't know, because a studio can be a very, it's a collaborative setting.
Jay Ray:There can be people coming in and out.
Jay Ray:You might write with somebody that you've never met before.
Jay Ray:You might be in there with somebody that you've known your entire life.
Jay Ray:It just depends on who you're working with and work and what you're working on.
Jay Ray:And so you have this 50% You have to make sure it's fairly distributed between
Jay Ray:the people that worked on the song.
Jay Ray:So obviously if it's just you, then you take the entire 50 percent of the song.
Jay Ray:If it's you and somebody else, Depending on what you wrote and what
Jay Ray:the other person wrote, you may have an agreement to split the 50 up 25, 25.
Jay Ray:But if that person feels like they wrote more than you, they have to agree.
Jay Ray:You guys have to agree upon the percentages in the split.
Jay Ray:So if you, one thing that people don't know is that when an album
Jay Ray:comes out or an EP comes out or something gets released and the
Jay Ray:split sheets are not Um, agreed upon.
Jay Ray:Nobody gets paid.
Jay Ray:No one gets paid.
Jay Ray:So it doesn't matter.
Jay Ray:It doesn't matter.
Jay Ray:You know, like how many streams a song had.
Jay Ray:It doesn't, it doesn't matter.
Jay Ray:If you guys don't agree upon the splits, no one gets paid.
Jay Ray:The producer's going to take their 50%.
Jay Ray:That's, that's already gone.
Jay Ray:But the songwriters are the people that suffer.
Jay Ray:I think, The most important things are to always have an attorney, um, know
Jay Ray:who you're writing with, and then, um, don't, don't, songwriters at one
Jay Ray:point were so obsessed with publishing agreements, but You don't need a
Jay Ray:publishing agreement until you have a hit and you have like a catalog of hit songs.
Jay Ray:It's okay to, um, to, to, to not have a publishing deal, um, and
Jay Ray:still be successful and still eat and still be able to shop your songs
Jay Ray:to, um, the appropriate parties.
Jay Ray:Um, so I think those are the kind of like most important things as it pertains to
Jay Ray:protecting yourself um, as a songwriter,
Jay Ray:Um, you know, you bring up something really important and thank
Jay Ray:you so much for kind of laying out the way that process often looks for folks.
Jay Ray:You know, I think one of the And I would love to have you speak to
Jay Ray:this because I think one of the things that, um, may, people may
Jay Ray:not be prepared for is, of course, being in that studio setting, right?
Jay Ray:And not being familiar with how to have these conversations or just be one of
Jay Ray:those people like, I'm generally nervous about having these conversations.
Jay Ray:Um, I would like to ask this in two ways from your perspective.
Jay Ray:How did you learn how to do that?
Jay Ray:Right.
Jay Ray:And two, how can other people learn how to do it?
Jay Ray:Because I imagine there are folks that are like, Oh, that makes me nervous.
Jay Ray:Right.
Jay Ray:I don't know, even though I wrote most of that song, I don't know how
Jay Ray:to say I wrote most of that song.
Jay Ray:Right.
Jay Ray:So I'm curious, how did you learn how to do it and how can
Jay Ray:other people practice that?
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis: So for me, um, I learned how to do it.
Jay Ray:I kind of had the luxury of being able to write with people I knew,
Jay Ray:um, and, and writing with people I knew was important because, um, we.
Jay Ray:always had an agreement amongst each other.
Jay Ray:Like, it doesn't matter who wrote what.
Jay Ray:If four of us are in the room, we're going to split it.
Jay Ray:equally.
Jay Ray:If three of us are in the room, we're going to split it equally.
Jay Ray:And that was kind of like the luxury that I had.
Jay Ray:Um, nowadays, I think one of the easiest ways to have the conversation
Jay Ray:is to have a split sheet with you.
Jay Ray:Um, the studio that I record at primarily now, he, the engineer, he
Jay Ray:has split sheets inside the studio.
Jay Ray:to say, Hey, look, this is what we did.
Jay Ray:This is what we, so that it's so that it's not a point of contention.
Jay Ray:When you walk in there, when you walk in there, you know that it's business.
Jay Ray:Everybody can sit down and say, I know what it is that I worked
Jay Ray:on, and we can be honest about what we worked on on this paper.
Jay Ray:Um, we talked, we kind of spoke about this in the pre show, um,
Jay Ray:when, before we got on camera and, um, you guys were talking about how
Jay Ray:people use smartphones in the booth.
Jay Ray:DJ Sir Daniel: Yes.
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis: I write everything down.
Jay Ray:I'm a very visual person.
Jay Ray:I like to keep pen on pad.
Jay Ray:And so that's also your proof.
Jay Ray:is to show like, hey, look, this is, this is what I contributed.
Jay Ray:And, you know, I have proof that this is what I contributed.
Jay Ray:All of us should be writing in our notebooks.
Jay Ray:All of us should be, you know what I'm saying?
Jay Ray:Like there should be revised copies of what we've written.
Jay Ray:And so I would say, honestly, if, if you're afraid to have those conversations,
Jay Ray:just carry the split sheets on you when you go to the studio and, and let
Jay Ray:people know like, Hey, this is business.
Jay Ray:So we can need to make an agreement before we, before we start, before
Jay Ray:the vibe starts, before the, before we get into, you know, like, you know.
Jay Ray:Before y'all start drinking and smoking, I don't drink or smoke, so I don't know.
Jay Ray:Before y'all start doing all of those things, y'all need to sit down and first
Jay Ray:just break the ice and say like, no, look, this is, this is, although this is
Jay Ray:a vibe, it's also a business, and let's make sure our business is handled before
Jay Ray:we move forward with anything else.
Jay Ray:DJ Sir Daniel: And see, you read my mind because I was going to go there.
Jay Ray:I was like the studio, this is a creative environment, you know,
Jay Ray:and, and writers and musicians are, are, are creative people.
Jay Ray:And we like the vibe and when, and when that beat kicks in people, Oh, I got an
Jay Ray:idea and then automatically everybody just starts getting into this groove.
Jay Ray:But it's like, how do you, that switching.
Jay Ray:That code switching, if you will, of going from artist to
Jay Ray:business person is what you're
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis: Also, also, Sir Daniel, another thing is like sometimes,
Jay Ray:um, I like to like, when I'm working with people, I like for us to separate.
Jay Ray:Even if it's, even if it's in the corner, like I will kind of like go off in the
Jay Ray:corner and I'll just kind of be like, you know, and then we come together and
Jay Ray:see what, and see what ideas work, what ideas don't work, what can be tweaked.
Jay Ray:I think that because the best songwriting to me is collaborative.
Jay Ray:I can't say, well, I'm not going to say I can't stand, but I hate, uh, I
Jay Ray:wrote, I wrote recorded produced engine.
Jay Ray:I, I, that's like, that's not fun to me.
Jay Ray:I understand how I understand that it's impressive, but it's
Jay Ray:also like, okay, it's very, it's a very Tyler Perry way to do things.
Jay Ray:And I just think, I just think that it, that the best music comes out
Jay Ray:of when it, when it's, uh, when it literally is like you bout you're
Jay Ray:able to bounce off of people.
Jay Ray:I think that that's the best.
Jay Ray:DJ Sir Daniel: There is a lot to be said for that, for, for those
Jay Ray:different energies to get together.
Jay Ray:And, um, and, and well, we, it's okay.
Jay Ray:So some questions have come up in the chat.
Jay Ray:Um, Is it like, do you hear, and this is, I guess like a, uh, what's in the sausage
Jay Ray:question when you're in the studio and you all get together, does it start with the
Jay Ray:instrumental before you go off writing?
Jay Ray:Or is it a, um, is it a premise that somebody says, Hey, there needs to,
Jay Ray:we need to do a song about this.
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis: So,
Jay Ray:DJ Sir Daniel: Jump off.
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis: so I think, I think everybody is different for me.
Jay Ray:Um,
Jay Ray:like I said, I carry a notebook with me everywhere I go.
Jay Ray:So sometimes if a line or a subject matter or a word comes
Jay Ray:to my mind, I will write it down.
Jay Ray:But those things are never finite.
Jay Ray:And a lot of those ideas I never even revisit.
Jay Ray:Um, I think for me, um, I, um, I like to hear something first.
Jay Ray:And this is the same way that I am with music in general.
Jay Ray:If, if I'm just listening for pleasure, or if I'm writing, I
Jay Ray:like to hear the sound first.
Jay Ray:And then, if the sound makes me feel something, then I
Jay Ray:can move forward with it.
Jay Ray:And I can come up with ideas.
Jay Ray:If the song makes me feel like this, then that's what I'm going to write about.
Jay Ray:Um, and I, and again, um, thankfully, the guys that I work with
Jay Ray:primarily, they work like that too.
Jay Ray:Um, a song will make them feel a way or invoke a certain type of emotion.
Jay Ray:And then, um, And then the concept will come.
Jay Ray:Um, and a lot of times what we like to do is I could, if I showed you my
Jay Ray:voice notes on my phone, like when I'm in the studio, um, I'll hear
Jay Ray:the beat and then I'll just like ask the engineer to play the whole beat.
Jay Ray:And then I'll just start mumbling or like humming, um, humming melodies.
Jay Ray:And then we pick the melodies that we like the best or that are the most interesting.
Jay Ray:And then we write to those melodies.
Jay Ray:And then we figure out like, you know, is this, will this sound good as a hook?
Jay Ray:Is this, you know what I'm saying?
Jay Ray:It just, it's, It's like putting together the pieces of a puzzle.
Jay Ray:DJ Sir Daniel: Jerry, you know what this, and I love this because now we get
Jay Ray:to pick Brian's mind as a songwriter.
Jay Ray:And what bringing up for me is so Luther Vandross has been in the
Jay Ray:zeitgeist a lot because those first two debut albums are back, like they're.
Jay Ray:circulation and they're about to be reprinted and all of that.
Jay Ray:And, and, um, a few minutes ago, you mentioned those types of songwriters
Jay Ray:who can, you know, they can do it all.
Jay Ray:And of course, Luther is Luther is one of one, right?
Jay Ray:But so I'm so interested, I'm so curious to know, like, as far as
Jay Ray:songwriters are concerned, and it doesn't matter the genre, like who's
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis look up to?
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis: Um, I love Candice Nelson.
Jay Ray:Um, she is one of my favorite songwriters just from a, like
Jay Ray:a contemporary standpoint.
Jay Ray:She knows how to do a lot of different things.
Jay Ray:She has a lot, she has a lot of different bags.
Jay Ray:She can do like super R and B shit.
Jay Ray:She can do super duper pop shit.
Jay Ray:And for anybody that's not familiar with Candace, um, she
Jay Ray:had a long heyday with Timbaland.
Jay Ray:She was a member of the clutch.
Jay Ray:Um, she wrote the way I are.
Jay Ray:Um, for Timbaland and Carrie.
Jay Ray:Um, she wrote Resentment for Beyoncé.
Jay Ray:Um, she's, she's just one of those people that can do so many different things.
Jay Ray:And I've heard so many different types of like, sounds and vocal things from her.
Jay Ray:Like, she's one of my favorites.
Jay Ray:Um, Andre 3000 is one of my favorite songwriters.
Jay Ray:His storytelling is just, um, Is A1 to me.
Jay Ray:Um,
Jay Ray:um, I love Pharrell Williams.
Jay Ray:Um, like early-2000s Pharrell is like, I mean, I love a bridge.
Jay Ray:So anytime you get to like a chord change and a chord progression
Jay Ray:and you start doing some mo s**t like, that's like, I love that.
Jay Ray:Um,
Jay Ray:miss that?
Jay Ray:Oh my.
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis: yes.
Jay Ray:Yes.
Jay Ray:Um, as far as like current people, like people that are, that are like right now.
Jay Ray:Um, I love Victoria Monet's perspective.
Jay Ray:Um, I think that she has a very, um, unique, uh, niche sound that is kind
Jay Ray:of like, I don't know where it came from or why she decided to, to do that.
Jay Ray:But what she's doing is Super effective and I just love it so much.
Jay Ray:Um, I love, oh gosh, there's so many people.
Jay Ray:Um, Teedra Moses is one of my favorite songwriters.
Jay Ray:Um, she just be, she just be talking that s**t Like I, I love when a
Jay Ray:woman can just talk and they talk like a n***a and they be like, you
Jay Ray:like, that's, that's my s**t I love that s**t When I can see women just.
Jay Ray:Asserting themselves and being, I love that.
Jay Ray:Um, gosh, there's so many people I love.
Jay Ray:Um, there's this writer, his name is Attitude.
Jay Ray:Um, he used to be a rapper, but, um, he wrote a lot of like
Jay Ray:pop shit in the early 2000s.
Jay Ray:Like he was, um, instrumental on, um, Nelly Furtado's Loose album.
Jay Ray:He's like super dope to me.
Jay Ray:Um, uh, Sean Garrett, um, not Sean, not to be.
Jay Ray:confused with Sean Garrett, the pen, although I do respect him.
Jay Ray:But I'm Sean Garrett.
Jay Ray:Uh, static
Jay Ray:Static major.
Jay Ray:Yeah.
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis: in peace.
Jay Ray:Static major.
Jay Ray:Um, Shay Taylor.
Jay Ray:Um, Chanel from young money.
Jay Ray:I mean, there's just so many, there's so many people that I just
Jay Ray:love that I, that I think are, um, Candace Pele is another one.
Jay Ray:Um, It's so many songwriters and I love.
Jay Ray:Um, you know what this is bringing up?
Jay Ray:I want to go back because you mentioned something really important.
Jay Ray:And Sir Daniel and I talk about this a lot as well.
Jay Ray:Of that, there's a magic in Just like a traditional song structure where you
Jay Ray:got like, like when that bridge come and that stuff switch up and you like, yes,
Jay Ray:ma'am, take us to where we need to go.
Jay Ray:What will it take, Brian?
Jay Ray:I get, I I'm fine with the short intros now.
Jay Ray:I don't need 16 bars at the top.
Jay Ray:I'm fine with that.
Jay Ray:Get me into the song immediately, but don't, erase that bridge.
Jay Ray:I need it.
Jay Ray:You know what I'm saying?
Jay Ray:How do we get back to that in production, especially when we think
Jay Ray:of like contemporary R& B music?
Jay Ray:What are your thoughts?
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis: what I'm, what I've noticed is a lot of time when artists
Jay Ray:go to the studio, what the, what the producers are playing for them are loops.
Jay Ray:They're not full.
Jay Ray:They're not full songs.
Jay Ray:They're not composed.
Jay Ray:And I think a lot of artists especially, and I don't think that's
Jay Ray:necessarily the producer's fault.
Jay Ray:I think a lot of times artists are listening to producer's ideas and the
Jay Ray:pro and the artist says, I like that.
Jay Ray:Give me that.
Jay Ray:I, I want that.
Jay Ray:And so they end up a lot of times writing to a composition that's
Jay Ray:not completely built out yet.
Jay Ray:I think that's the first, I think that's the first problem.
Jay Ray:The second problem is is that listeners attention spans are so
Jay Ray:short now and people are people.
Jay Ray:are listening to songs,
Jay Ray:and I think this is a double edged sword too.
Jay Ray:I think that it's part listener, sorry for that, it's part listener,
Jay Ray:and it's part, um, it's part artist's fault too because artists have gotten
Jay Ray:into their mind that they want to get their streaming numbers up.
Jay Ray:And so they keep songs short so that when you hear it, you want to hear it again
Jay Ray:because you're not finished with it.
Jay Ray:And so you just play it over and over again.
Jay Ray:DJ Sir Daniel: And so that's okay.
Jay Ray:So then that's building up streaming numbers, which everybody is obsessed
Jay Ray:with now, because that equates to dollars and which goes back to an off
Jay Ray:camera conversation, another off camera conversation we were having about.
Jay Ray:The musicianship of it all, or the lack of musicianship with, you know, the, a
Jay Ray:lot of producers are beat makers where there are some that are actual musicians.
Jay Ray:And you mentioned something very important, Brian, about the fact that you,
Jay Ray:it's, yes, that's cool that you know how to program as cool that you know how to
Jay Ray:play, uh, you know, a chord on a keyboard and loop it, but don't you want to, at
Jay Ray:some point, Learn about core progressions.
Jay Ray:Learn about theory is the exact word that you, that we, that you
Jay Ray:mentioned off camera about theory and, and being able to, as a producer,
Jay Ray:musician, partner with an artist.
Jay Ray:and getting that out of them.
Jay Ray:And so, yeah, and, but we're not getting that anymore.
Jay Ray:One, because of what you just said about the, the mindset now of we've
Jay Ray:got to get these listeners to, to, to keep these songs on repeat.
Jay Ray:So we got to make them as short as possible.
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis: Yes.
Jay Ray:You know what that brings up?
Jay Ray:And this is interesting and interesting aside.
Jay Ray:Um, I will never forget DJ premier talking about when he
Jay Ray:worked with Christina Aguilera.
Jay Ray:So he was like, Christina was interested in working with me.
Jay Ray:He told the story.
Jay Ray:He was like, she was interested in working with me.
Jay Ray:So it was ain't no other man.
Jay Ray:She was like, so I presented the song and she's she heard the song.
Jay Ray:She was like, yes.
Jay Ray:This, but I need a chord progression.
Jay Ray:Like you can't, he just gave her the beat because he's a hip hop producer.
Jay Ray:Right.
Jay Ray:He gave her to be, he was like, no, I need a transition.
Jay Ray:I need a chord progression here so that I can move the song.
Jay Ray:And that was the first time, right.
Jay Ray:For him that he's like, Oh, I'm now learning how to do this thing that
Jay Ray:I never had to do in hip hop before.
Jay Ray:But he had an artist that said.
Jay Ray:Love that.
Jay Ray:Great.
Jay Ray:You got to take it further though.
Jay Ray:And here's what I need you to do.
Jay Ray:So that collaboration piece is so important.
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Jay Ray:Building but becoming.
Jay Ray:To the top.
Jay Ray:DJ Sir Daniel: So this conversation came up because it was sparked because
Jay Ray:of the video of, um, one Tiffany red, who is a, uh, a legendary songwriter in
Jay Ray:the industry and had brought up some.
Jay Ray:Some issues or some things that she has faced
Jay Ray:hmm.
Jay Ray:DJ Sir Daniel: The industry lately regarding working with big names.
Jay Ray:And Jerry, this is not the first time I've heard this.
Jay Ray:Like we heard, we've seen it on the, on the liner notes.
Jay Ray:Yeah.
Jay Ray:DJ Sir Daniel: And so I think that's where a lot of questions are
Jay Ray:coming up and I'm hoping Brian, you can help shed some light on that.
Jay Ray:But what is the real deal behind working with A big name artists like your
Jay Ray:Beyonce's because her name was brought up.
Jay Ray:Not his name was brought up and those artists taking writer's credits if,
Jay Ray:and they may or may not have like.
Jay Ray:You know, put in as the kids, like, like, you know, it's like we, you ain't put
Jay Ray:in on this, but they get credit for it.
Jay Ray:So shed some light on that for us, because I believe a lot of people,
Jay Ray:that's a conversation that has been blowing up on social media about whether
Jay Ray:or not these artists that are on the forefront deserve this writer's credit.
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis: I watched Tiffany's whole video and, um, There are a
Jay Ray:lot of, she said a lot of important things that, that should be looked at.
Jay Ray:Um, I think the problem comes when people try to make it seem like,
Jay Ray:yes, an artist may not have written a word, or they might not have,
Jay Ray:let's just, let's just say writing.
Jay Ray:An artist may not have written a word.
Jay Ray:Um, but I'll use Beyonce as an example because that's, you know,
Jay Ray:that's who people want to talk about.
Jay Ray:Most people don't know.
Jay Ray:As I told you, Candace Nelson, she's a friend, a mentor to me.
Jay Ray:She wrote Resentment for Beyonce.
Jay Ray:A lot of people don't know.
Jay Ray:There are two recorded versions of Resentment that are out that you can find.
Jay Ray:Um, recorded by other artists, two, two other artists that are well
Jay Ray:known, one being Jasmine Sullivan and one being Victoria Beckham.
Jay Ray:Mm hmm.
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis: Um, the song appeared on Victoria Beckham's album in
Jay Ray:the UK and it, um, was in, in Jasmine.
Jay Ray:It didn't appear on a song.
Jay Ray:I'm assuming that it was a part of the sessions from when she
Jay Ray:was working on her first album.
Jay Ray:But if you listen to, um, the version of Resentment that Jasmine
Jay Ray:and Victoria Beckham recorded, they sound exactly the same.
Jay Ray:Not as far as vocals go, but just structurally, um,
Jay Ray:the lyrics are all the same.
Jay Ray:It ends all at the same place.
Jay Ray:Um, the last line of, of that song I think is, This sounds like a 50's
Jay Ray:record, but that's alright with me.
Jay Ray:Whatever it is.
Jay Ray:It ends that way.
Jay Ray:Beyoncé's version of that song is significantly longer than what the
Jay Ray:original version of Resentment is.
Jay Ray:And I've heard Candice's demo of Resentment, and it's what Victoria
Jay Ray:Beckham and Jasmine's Sullivan's version sounds like when I talked to Candace
Jay Ray:about the session of resentment that happened with Beyonce She said that she
Jay Ray:was not there The producer was there but when she got the song back it was
Jay Ray:a completely different song background The arrangements, the writing at the
Jay Ray:end, um, I know she was attractive, but I was here first, all of that
Jay Ray:stuff, Beyonce added those things.
Jay Ray:And so therefore she took, uh, she took some of the publishing on the song
Jay Ray:That's how it works.
Jay Ray:So if you leave space open on a record for somebody to put, to give
Jay Ray:their input and they do that and they send the song back to you and
Jay Ray:that's what it has on it and you agree to it, then they're going to get.
Jay Ray:get credit.
Jay Ray:Um, anything in the arrangement, the, um, the way that the vocals are
Jay Ray:arranged, the way that the, um, the, the backgrounds come in, the stacks, if you,
Jay Ray:if you didn't have anything to do with that, that is a part of the production.
Jay Ray:That's a part of whether or not they get credit on, as a part of
Jay Ray:the, as a part of the production.
Jay Ray:So those things are all a part of publishing.
Jay Ray:Now I'm not here to, to.
Jay Ray:To be the person to decide how much publishing there is such a thing
Jay Ray:as like throwing your weight around and taking too much publishing.
Jay Ray:But, you know, what you agree, what you agree upon is what you agree upon.
Jay Ray:And while I agree with what Tiffany was saying about, you know, like
Jay Ray:people feeling like they're going to miss out on opportunities
Jay Ray:by not agreeing to song splits.
Jay Ray:Those are all real true concerns.
Jay Ray:Those are all real true things.
Jay Ray:But, um, I also think that a lot of the things that Tiffany was saying, too,
Jay Ray:were things that were good soundbites, and they don't necessarily give a
Jay Ray:holistic explanation of what publishing is, why a person would get publishing,
Jay Ray:and why people get the percentages of publishing that they might get.
Jay Ray:And Jontay Austin did Who I Love as well, by the way.
Jay Ray:Recently, he, he made a, a, a comment, um, in regards to Tiffany's video
Jay Ray:basically saying, like, think about Publishing that you would get on a song
Jay Ray:that done by a colossal artist, even if you taking a smaller percentage of
Jay Ray:that publish, that publishing and the stage and the access that that song
Jay Ray:has and think about it in comparison to you getting a hundred hundred.
Jay Ray:Yeah.
Jay Ray:Yeah.
Jay Ray:80, 75 percent of a publishing from an artist that is much
Jay Ray:smaller that doesn't have the access as the larger brand artist.
Jay Ray:You still are going to probably make a little bit more residual income off of
Jay Ray:the person that's on the larger sound screen than you would getting a big
Jay Ray:percentage, a portion of the percentage of publishing of a smaller record.
Jay Ray:Brian, thank you so much for that really important perspective because, um,
Jay Ray:I love, what I love about this dialogue, and I'm so glad you agreed to even be here
Jay Ray:with us to kind of broach the subject, is there are so many layers that go into.
Jay Ray:How this process works, right?
Jay Ray:There is, it's not, it's not so easy to, it's not just one thing, right?
Jay Ray:One of the things that, um, Kipper Jones did in his video as well.
Jay Ray:We'll make sure that we put that in the description too, is talked
Jay Ray:about kind of the structural issues.
Jay Ray:Issues in place that also make this problem or this particular
Jay Ray:thing show up too, right?
Jay Ray:So there's like structural things that show up as well.
Jay Ray:So there are so many layers to it.
Jay Ray:And thank you for, um, your bravery and talking honestly about how this works.
Jay Ray:So we appreciate that too.
Jay Ray:Um, so you just dropped gems, right?
Jay Ray:If you held a Songwriters 101, Brian, what would be some jewels,
Jay Ray:one or two jewels, that you would want to make sure you drop on those
Jay Ray:songwriters at your Songwriters 101?
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis: um, 1 I would say put your phone down and write down everything.
Jay Ray:Not put your phone down because I understand you might need it to record
Jay Ray:some, a voice memo or an idea, but I would just say to write things down.
Jay Ray:I like to look at what the process was.
Jay Ray:I like to see things scratched out.
Jay Ray:I like to see where words were added.
Jay Ray:I like to see the progression of what that looked like on paper.
Jay Ray:I I think that's really important.
Jay Ray:Um, 2 find people that you trust to collaborate with.
Jay Ray:3 have a good face card.
Jay Ray:Um, I think that that's one of the most important things people don't
Jay Ray:realize that like people remember their first impressions of you.
Jay Ray:Um, and, um, you know, like credit and, you know, And all and clout and
Jay Ray:all of that stuff is, is one thing, but for people behind closed doors to
Jay Ray:say to each other, like, Oh, I really fuck with her or I really fuck with
Jay Ray:him is that that means so much more, especially when it's with your peers.
Jay Ray:Um, 4 have a good attorney 5 and just be, honestly, like, really y'all,
Jay Ray:like, just be open to like the process.
Jay Ray:I think so many people are like, um, they like to pigeonhole
Jay Ray:themselves because they're always like, Oh, I want to write a hit.
Jay Ray:I want to get a hit.
Jay Ray:I'm trying to get placements.
Jay Ray:I'm trying to get placements.
Jay Ray:But the thing about it is like, if you're just, if you just submit to the
Jay Ray:process and and lay the groundwork by just doing stuff that you love and that
Jay Ray:you trust something and that's honest to you, something is going to, to hit.
Jay Ray:Hmm.
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis: If you're not being honest with yourself, if you're not being
Jay Ray:true to, you know, like, because like songwriting is all about connecting.
Jay Ray:If, if you're, if you're not connected to it, if you're not
Jay Ray:connected to it, what makes you think that anybody else is going to be
Jay Ray:Mm.
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis: if it's being honest with like yourself or listening
Jay Ray:to what somebody else is going through and being able to like process that
Jay Ray:through yourself, how you react to it and how it connects to you, then what's
Jay Ray:the, what is the purpose in doing it?
Jay Ray:If it's not true, if it's not true to you, then why would it be true to anybody else?
Jay Ray:DJ Sir Daniel: And that that is the mark of a, a classic song is how
Jay Ray:many people can actually relate to it and actually sing it like it was.
Jay Ray:People want, people feel like you've written their life if
Jay Ray:you've written a really good song.
Jay Ray:So that's, that's a major, that's a major key.
Jay Ray:Um, Brian, and Wow, you really, thank you for that.
Jay Ray:That was a serious gem that you dropped.
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis: And, and, and print out those split sheets.
Jay Ray:Yes!
Jay Ray:DJ Sir Daniel: Not those switch seats.
Jay Ray:It's business.
Jay Ray:It is a business, folk.
Jay Ray:And I think that, you know, a lot of what is going on and being said
Jay Ray:is that people are tired of being manipulated by this industry.
Jay Ray:There are a lot of people who are super talented, but they, they are
Jay Ray:make, trying to make sure that they can eat, that they have a place to
Jay Ray:sleep, you know, roof over their head.
Jay Ray:And sometimes that does mean.
Jay Ray:Keeping a nine to five so that you can, you know, in order for you
Jay Ray:to make those dreams come true.
Jay Ray:But while you're doing that, this is also a business as Brian stated.
Jay Ray:And that has to be at the forefront, probably rule number one.
Jay Ray:And it's, it's been stated over and over again, kids like Q tip said
Jay Ray:it and the rules, like you've got to, to put your business first,
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis: It's literally, it's literally called the music
Jay Ray:business and the music industry.
Jay Ray:DJ Sir Daniel: curious
Jay Ray:What is your hope for the industry and like a fair practice act for creatives
Jay Ray:when it comes to music and musicians?
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis: I think that it is important that songwriters and producers
Jay Ray:too, and vocal producers, engineers, I think that there needs to be, um, a union,
Jay Ray:Mm
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis: um, that we need to unionize.
Jay Ray:And I think that we would be able to, I mean, because the thing is
Jay Ray:like the film industry and the music industry have so many parallels.
Jay Ray:Streaming is king now in the film industry, which is something that
Jay Ray:I never thought would happen.
Jay Ray:But they've managed to come to an agreement about making sure people
Jay Ray:get residual pay from, from, from writing scripted series, films, you
Jay Ray:know, like, I think that that's, I think that that's important.
Jay Ray:And I think that, um, I think that also too, um, as creatives, not, not
Jay Ray:just, I mean, on the backend, you know, like producers, songwriters, we have
Jay Ray:to stop undercutting each other too.
Jay Ray:Um, I think that that's, um, I was really being serious when I said
Jay Ray:that like, you know, songwriters, you gotta like know who's around you.
Jay Ray:You have to know, because, um, there are people that are trying to get
Jay Ray:to where you are, and you might not even feel like where you're at,
Jay Ray:where you're supposed to be yet.
Jay Ray:And so I think if we, um, kind of like, if we, if we can form a union, um, It
Jay Ray:will help with us not having such a crab in a bucket mentality as well,
Jay Ray:like vying for the same things and feeling we like we have to do undercut
Jay Ray:Like underhanded things to get the same opportunities um I would like to see that.
Jay Ray:And, um, sir, Daniel, I really loved what you said about like, um, you know,
Jay Ray:the industry kind of healing itself.
Jay Ray:And I think that that it's getting to that point.
Jay Ray:I think that, um, I think that, um, there are just a lot of things, positive things
Jay Ray:that I'm seeing change, at least from a face, a front facing, um, way, like, um,
Jay Ray:there's this resurgence of vinyl now, um, And I think there's kind of like a purist
Jay Ray:kind of movement happening where people are wanting music to be tangible again.
Jay Ray:And I think that, um, I think that that's what's going to start changing the
Jay Ray:quality of, um, the business practices that happen behind the scenes as well.
Jay Ray:Mm hmm.
Jay Ray:Wow.
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis.
Jay Ray:Oracle, songwriter, creative director, all of the above, podcaster.
Jay Ray:Um, thank you so much Fashion icon.
Jay Ray:Um, you know, we are so honored and grateful.
Jay Ray:You decided to spend your evening chatting with us here at Queue Points, lighten up
Jay Ray:the chat, um, and really sharing, um, your gift and your knowledge with our folks.
Jay Ray:So thank you.
Jay Ray:Um, thank you.
Jay Ray:Thank you so much.
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis: thank you guys.
Jay Ray:And I apologize for my voice.
Jay Ray:I'm suffering from an upper respiratory infection.
Jay Ray:So I'm trying to get a wrangle on that.
Jay Ray:I've got my good drugs right here.
Jay Ray:Um, so I apologize.
Jay Ray:But thank you guys so much for having me.
Jay Ray:I appreciate it.
Jay Ray:Um, conversations like this are always so much.
Jay Ray:Not only are they fun, but they're just so important to have.
Jay Ray:Um, and I just appreciate you guys and everything that you all do.
Jay Ray:Thank you.
Jay Ray:And for all of you that are watching, um, as we always say,
Jay Ray:stay connected to Queue Points.
Jay Ray:If you can hear our voices, if you can see our faces, subscribe, wherever you are.
Jay Ray:You can sign up for our newsletter at magazine.
Jay Ray:Queue Points.
Jay Ray:com.
Jay Ray:Um, and you can also shop our store, store.
Jay Ray:Queue Points.
Jay Ray:com, where we have some new merch and things out there for you.
Jay Ray:Brian Patrick Davis: We love merch.
Jay Ray:DJ Sir Daniel: absolutely.
Jay Ray:Well, listen, everything that needed to be said has been said tonight.
Jay Ray:This episode, this is one of them ones.
Jay Ray:Jay Ray.
Jay Ray:This is one of them ones.
Jay Ray:So, as I always say in this life, you have a choice.
Jay Ray:You can always, you can either pick up the needle or you can let the record play.
Jay Ray:I am DJ Sir Daniel,
Jay Ray:I am J Ray and
Jay Ray:DJ Sir Daniel: special guest, Brian Patrick Davis.
Jay Ray:And this has been Queue Points, dropping the needle on black music history.
Jay Ray:We will see you on the next go round.
Jay Ray:Thank you so much.