Anita Baker's Rapture: 40 Years of Auntie Music

Sir Daniel: 00:00:16

Greetings and welcome to another episode of Queue Points podcast.

Sir Daniel: 00:00:19

I am DJ Sir Daniel,

Jay Ray: 00:00:21

And, uh, my name is Jay Ray, sometimes known by my, I forgot,

Jay Ray: 00:00:26

sometimes known by my government as Johnnie Ray Kornegay III.

Jay Ray: 00:00:30

And you know, actually what, what gave me pause there is we're about

Jay Ray: 00:00:35

to have a conversation about an album that really is definitive when, um,

Jay Ray: 00:00:44

it comes to my childhood specifically.

Jay Ray: 00:00:46

I, I remember all the songs.

Jay Ray: 00:00:49

I remember the cover, I remember where I was when I first saw, uh,

Jay Ray: 00:00:53

Anita Baker appear on my TV screen.

Jay Ray: 00:00:56

Uh, so talking about rapture actually kind of gave me pause a little bit.

Sir Daniel: 00:01:01

So in the great conversation in, um, in Black culture, about

Sir Daniel: 00:01:07

how recipes are passed down and how they're being lost now, because

Sir Daniel: 00:01:12

one of the big things that people like to say is that nobody gets

Sir Daniel: 00:01:16

up and makes their kids clean up.

Jay Ray: 00:01:18

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel: 00:01:19

Around the house on Saturday mornings while playing set album.

Jay Ray: 00:01:24

Yeah.

Sir Daniel: 00:01:25

although that's kind of hyperbolic, it's kind of the truth

Jay Ray: 00:01:29

Yeah.

Sir Daniel: 00:01:30

if you're of a certain age, you know that it may not have been

Sir Daniel: 00:01:33

cleaning up the house on Saturday morning.

Sir Daniel: 00:01:35

It could have been going out and getting the car

Jay Ray: 00:01:38

Yep.

Sir Daniel: 00:01:38

It could have just been.

Sir Daniel: 00:01:40

It could have been riding the school bus in the morning and the bus driver

Sir Daniel: 00:01:45

is playing, um, your favorite local radio station on Blast, and they

Sir Daniel: 00:01:49

play a cut from Anita Baker's album.

Sir Daniel: 00:01:52

And so I just know that yes, as Jay Ray said specifically, especially

Sir Daniel: 00:01:57

for us Gen Xers, Anita Baker, and the music of the album Rapture is.

Sir Daniel: 00:02:05

Omnipotent.

Sir Daniel: 00:02:05

It

Jay Ray: 00:02:06

Yes.

Sir Daniel: 00:02:06

was everywhere.

Jay Ray: 00:02:08

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel: 00:02:08

know.

Sir Daniel: 00:02:09

get at me because I use the word omnipotent.

Sir Daniel: 00:02:11

I know it's used for Sky Daddy, but we gonna use it for

Jay Ray: 00:02:14

Yes, absolutely.

Jay Ray: 00:02:18

Um, coming into this conversation I think is, is interesting.

Jay Ray: 00:02:23

So, um, and, and folks who are tuning in might not know this, but, um, the career

Jay Ray: 00:02:29

of Anita Baker is a fascinating one.

Jay Ray: 00:02:31

So, uh, you know, she's from Detroit.

Jay Ray: 00:02:34

Shout out to Detroit and.

Jay Ray: 00:02:37

Yeah, and was part of a group.

Jay Ray: 00:02:40

Called Chapter eight who had a major hit, um, with that feature, Anita Baker.

Jay Ray: 00:02:47

Um, but there was a lot of controversy with Anita Baker being part of that group.

Jay Ray: 00:02:51

And there's a lot of stuff historically that have been written about what,

Jay Ray: 00:02:55

like the executives at the label felt like, how they felt about Anita Baker.

Jay Ray: 00:03:00

Um, but anyway, it led to Anita Baker going solo.

Jay Ray: 00:03:03

A Anita Baker of course releases Songstress, which includes.

Jay Ray: 00:03:08

One of the greatest.

Jay Ray: 00:03:10

Oh, angel is one of the greatest songs ever written and performed,

Jay Ray: 00:03:17

but, um, that record was released on a label called the Beverly Glen

Jay Ray: 00:03:23

Records, and so coming into Rapture.

Jay Ray: 00:03:27

And actually I think this, uh, telegraphs Anita Baker's career long term is there

Jay Ray: 00:03:34

was a lawsuit at the very beginning, like before Rapture even gets to be

Jay Ray: 00:03:41

put out, Anita Baker has to put on her boxing gloves and go to court

Jay Ray: 00:03:47

so that she can get out of her deal.

Jay Ray: 00:03:50

And be able to release rapture on Electra records.

Jay Ray: 00:03:55

So even just the getting to the release of the record, she had to fight.

Jay Ray: 00:04:02

So you are also feeling that energy in these songs where this lady who's

Jay Ray: 00:04:07

recording this music is also literally fighting with her old label to get out.

Sir Daniel: 00:04:13

Uh hmm.

Sir Daniel: 00:04:15

You know, so, so Anita Baker's story is not singular.

Jay Ray: 00:04:19

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel: 00:04:20

and I do mean plenty of women, specifically Black women

Sir Daniel: 00:04:24

that have had to have that fight.

Sir Daniel: 00:04:27

Um.

Sir Daniel: 00:04:28

In and out of this industry, in and out of, um, presenting their art to the world.

Sir Daniel: 00:04:34

And sometimes, you know, you get the reputation,

Jay Ray: 00:04:37

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel: 00:04:38

you get the not so nicest reputation because of course a lot

Sir Daniel: 00:04:41

of women are expected to play nice.

Jay Ray: 00:04:43

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel: 00:04:43

And to, and to be lovely no matter what.

Sir Daniel: 00:04:47

But Anita, Anita Baker, I think when we, when we talk about her, does not have the

Sir Daniel: 00:04:52

luxury of niceness, she does not have the, she does not have the reputation all the

Jay Ray: 00:04:57

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel: 00:04:58

of being, um, playing, playing nice with the boys or

Sir Daniel: 00:05:02

even some of the other girls.

Sir Daniel: 00:05:04

And I think that adds.

Sir Daniel: 00:05:06

you said, a certain flavor to her mythology.

Sir Daniel: 00:05:10

I think it's important to say she is the people's auntie.

Jay Ray: 00:05:14

Yes.

Sir Daniel: 00:05:14

still the people's auntie.

Sir Daniel: 00:05:16

Uh, I'll never forget what was that?

Sir Daniel: 00:05:18

It has to be about what, 10, 10 years ago when she announced her her

Jay Ray: 00:05:24

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel: 00:05:25

tour, and what did we all do?

Jay Ray: 00:05:27

Baby put on her Sunday's best and went to see Anita.

Sir Daniel: 00:05:32

I took my, I took my mom, that was like a, A Mother's Day present

Sir Daniel: 00:05:36

for her down to the Fox Theater,

Jay Ray: 00:05:38

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel: 00:05:39

of course, maybe about a year later she was back on tour,

Sir Daniel: 00:05:41

which fine, we get it, Anita.

Sir Daniel: 00:05:44

Sure.

Sir Daniel: 00:05:45

But I go back to calling her the people's aunt because I just wanna.

Sir Daniel: 00:05:48

I want to present the image of Anita Baker in your minds that are listening

Sir Daniel: 00:05:53

and watching to watching us right now.

Sir Daniel: 00:05:56

Baker gave you that stacked short haircut.

Jay Ray: 00:06:01

baby.

Jay Ray: 00:06:01

Well, it was up here.

Sir Daniel: 00:06:03

was cut.

Sir Daniel: 00:06:03

It was short, and it was short in the back and on the sides, but it

Sir Daniel: 00:06:07

kind, but it was a almost a pomp.

Sir Daniel: 00:06:09

A pompadour in

Jay Ray: 00:06:10

Yeah.

Jay Ray: 00:06:10

Uhhuh.

Sir Daniel: 00:06:11

Which lent to this classic silhouette that when we think of

Sir Daniel: 00:06:16

classic Anita Baker, we all think of.

Sir Daniel: 00:06:20

Her arms kind of pull to the side.

Sir Daniel: 00:06:23

hands sticking out in claw light formation, stiff and

Sir Daniel: 00:06:30

her shaking from side to side,

Jay Ray: 00:06:32

Yes.

Sir Daniel: 00:06:33

um, in rhythm with the, or with the music and the heightened

Sir Daniel: 00:06:37

emotions that she's feeling as she's singing about this Sweet love we're gonna

Sir Daniel: 00:06:42

come to, that which took over radio.

Sir Daniel: 00:06:44

Crazy, crazy radio presence and the hair shaking back and forth before you

Sir Daniel: 00:06:51

heard the music you saw that you knew.

Sir Daniel: 00:06:53

That's Anita Baker

Jay Ray: 00:06:54

Yes.

Sir Daniel: 00:06:55

that to sing.

Sir Daniel: 00:06:56

You become iconic quickly, and we've talked about this in plenty

Sir Daniel: 00:07:00

of episodes of Queue Points.

Sir Daniel: 00:07:02

There's plenty for you to go back and listen to where we talk about,

Sir Daniel: 00:07:06

um, sometimes your presence, it could be something physical, it could be a

Sir Daniel: 00:07:11

garment, becomes a lot more iconic.

Sir Daniel: 00:07:15

Even more so than the music.

Jay Ray: 00:07:17

Yeah.

Sir Daniel: 00:07:17

tie, I wanted to tie that in because she is, like I said, the

Sir Daniel: 00:07:21

people's auntie and for all that, all the, the, the, the fodder about her not

Sir Daniel: 00:07:26

being the nicest and not being the most pleasant throughout her career, we still.

Sir Daniel: 00:07:33

still pay homage to that haircut.

Sir Daniel: 00:07:35

We pay homage to the, to the, to the physicality of her performance on stage.

Sir Daniel: 00:07:40

And we pay homage of course, now to this music, because J Did any of, did your mom

Sir Daniel: 00:07:45

or any of your aunts have that haircut?

Sir Daniel: 00:07:47

I know I had

Jay Ray: 00:07:48

Um, yeah, so, uh, definitely, uh, aunts had their haircut.

Jay Ray: 00:07:55

So my Aunt Poppy definitely had that look going on in the, in the eighties.

Jay Ray: 00:08:00

There's actually a picture I'm gonna find it of, uh, my aunt in

Jay Ray: 00:08:04

the eighties and she's kind of, she's rocking a version of that.

Jay Ray: 00:08:07

Style.

Jay Ray: 00:08:08

I wanna find that and put it up.

Jay Ray: 00:08:09

It's on my Facebook, but I'm glad you mentioned this,

Jay Ray: 00:08:12

sir Daniel, because I think.

Jay Ray: 00:08:14

It is important to contextualize Anita Baker in, uh, this album in the time

Jay Ray: 00:08:19

period that, that it's released too, because there's a lot of stuff going

Jay Ray: 00:08:23

on when, when Rapture comes out.

Jay Ray: 00:08:25

So hip hop is starting to bubble.

Jay Ray: 00:08:27

Um, um.

Jay Ray: 00:08:28

Uh, the r and b girlies are becoming pop girlies now.

Jay Ray: 00:08:32

So you got like Janet Jackson and Patti LaBelle and like Diana Ross and like all

Jay Ray: 00:08:37

of these girls are like now pop stars now.

Jay Ray: 00:08:39

And then Anita Baker is showing up with this, this jazzy r and

Jay Ray: 00:08:43

b album with this pop thing that Nelson George at the time called

Jay Ray: 00:08:48

"retro-nuevo" is how he described it.

Jay Ray: 00:08:52

I loved it because, and I think it encompassed like, 'cause we, we

Jay Ray: 00:08:56

also have Shaday in here, right?

Jay Ray: 00:08:58

That's that this other group that's kind of like doing what we would call

Jay Ray: 00:09:04

throwback music but in an updated way.

Jay Ray: 00:09:08

And so you mentioned sweet love, sir Daniel, and I want to just sit with

Jay Ray: 00:09:12

the fact that I'm gonna read it.

Jay Ray: 00:09:17

I'm gonna just read the track list for Rapture because when you

Jay Ray: 00:09:21

hear it, it goes crazy, right?

Jay Ray: 00:09:24

So Rapture opens with "Sweet Love".

Jay Ray: 00:09:27

So that huge piano intro, everything you know about that song, that's the.

Jay Ray: 00:09:32

Opening of the record goes to "You Bring Me Joy".

Jay Ray: 00:09:36

Goes to "Caught Up in the Rapture", goes to "Been So Long", goes to "Mystery",

Jay Ray: 00:09:43

goes to "No One in the World", goes to "Same Ole Love" goes to "Watch Your Step".

Jay Ray: 00:09:48

You have Vesta Williams as one of the background vocalists on this album

Jay Ray: 00:09:52

you have, so you have folks that are on this, but just that idea of.

Jay Ray: 00:09:59

The first song that we get from the record, and I vividly remember Video

Jay Ray: 00:10:04

Soul and this Anita Baker song coming on.

Jay Ray: 00:10:08

And yes, it was a slow jam or a mid tempo 'cause it's kind of mid tempo E two.

Jay Ray: 00:10:16

Uh, but even as a kid, I was like, yes, yes to this because of the,

Jay Ray: 00:10:24

the, the, the clean production.

Jay Ray: 00:10:26

You wanna talk about a pristine.

Jay Ray: 00:10:29

Sounding song.

Sir Daniel: 00:10:31

But Jay Ray, before you go any

Jay Ray: 00:10:33

Yeah.

Sir Daniel: 00:10:34

as you were talking about her coming onto the scene and

Sir Daniel: 00:10:38

George Nelson and giving her that,

Jay Ray: 00:10:41

Oh, Nelson George.

Jay Ray: 00:10:42

Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray: 00:10:42

Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray: 00:10:44

Yeah.

Sir Daniel: 00:10:45

um, giving her the label of, what was it

Jay Ray: 00:10:46

"retro-nuevo".

Sir Daniel: 00:10:47

retro-nuevo.

Sir Daniel: 00:10:50

talk about the octaves that she

Sir Daniel: 00:10:54

seen because no one was singing in that Octa.

Jay Ray: 00:10:56

No.

Sir Daniel: 00:10:58

The radio and, and crossing over the pop.

Sir Daniel: 00:11:01

Please talk

Jay Ray: 00:11:01

Yes.

Jay Ray: 00:11:02

Oh my God, I'm so glad you mentioned that because I didn't even think about that.

Jay Ray: 00:11:05

That is such an interesting, so Anita Baker is, has a much deeper voice.

Jay Ray: 00:11:11

So if you just go to all of the women that we just talked about, right.

Jay Ray: 00:11:15

Um, Anita Baker.

Jay Ray: 00:11:17

Ooh.

Jay Ray: 00:11:18

And Sade in a lot of ways are down there, you know what I'm saying?

Jay Ray: 00:11:23

They're in the basement and, and, and using that emotion that's

Jay Ray: 00:11:28

there to kind of bring it up.

Jay Ray: 00:11:30

But I think the thing, so thank you for mentioning that Ser Daniel.

Jay Ray: 00:11:34

'cause I think that's important because on radio everything

Jay Ray: 00:11:37

was bright and kind of high.

Jay Ray: 00:11:40

Um, and Anita Baker was like, I am going to slow this down.

Jay Ray: 00:11:45

You bring me joy.

Jay Ray: 00:11:49

You know what I mean?

Sir Daniel: 00:11:51

And seduce the hell outta y'all.

Sir Daniel: 00:11:53

With this, um, tone, this intonation

Jay Ray: 00:11:55

Right.

Sir Daniel: 00:11:58

Am I, am I speaking, am I speaking lower now?

Sir Daniel: 00:12:00

Because we talking about Anita Baker,

Jay Ray: 00:12:02

Probably.

Sir Daniel: 00:12:02

is that what's happening?

Sir Daniel: 00:12:03

Because we're entering the quiet, the Quiet Storm.

Jay Ray: 00:12:07

And so that part I think is, is key too.

Jay Ray: 00:12:11

So in the 1980s, thanks to our good brother, uh, Melvin Lindsay,

Jay Ray: 00:12:16

the Quiet Storm format in Black radio, we live for the Quiet Storm.

Jay Ray: 00:12:23

Well, one, it's the end of our day.

Sir Daniel: 00:12:26

Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray: 00:12:26

Two, we are going to hear new stuff and old stuff, and Anita

Jay Ray: 00:12:33

Baker starts to slip like this record.

Jay Ray: 00:12:36

Almost every song except for Watch His Step, which is more of

Jay Ray: 00:12:39

an uptempo song, but every other song can fit into Quiet Storm.

Jay Ray: 00:12:44

But I think the song "Been So Long" really does like encapsulate, uh, what I feel

Jay Ray: 00:12:53

like Anita Baker's Quiet Storm Impact is.

Jay Ray: 00:12:57

one of the things I love is that in the eighties we would see this

Jay Ray: 00:13:03

a lot, um, where there might be a song that was like not an official

Jay Ray: 00:13:08

single, but it becomes like.

Jay Ray: 00:13:10

A Quiet Storm radio staple, and so "Been So Long" for me, when I hear that song,

Jay Ray: 00:13:17

one, it gives me the good feels because it puts me right back in 1986, but also it's

Jay Ray: 00:13:23

like the power of what good music can do.

Jay Ray: 00:13:26

So even though this is a album, cut, the radio still play that thing, that thing

Jay Ray: 00:13:30

is still popping on the Quiet Storm.

Sir Daniel: 00:13:33

And shout out to the power of terrestrial radio.

Sir Daniel: 00:13:41

man, we literally, we had it so good then when the, because the local

Sir Daniel: 00:13:48

programmer program director could insert.

Sir Daniel: 00:13:52

Those songs in rotation that were album cuts, not necessarily released this,

Sir Daniel: 00:13:57

um, singles from the album, but had the autonomy to place them in rotation

Sir Daniel: 00:14:02

to fit a format like a Quiet Storm.

Sir Daniel: 00:14:05

We had it so good back then, but I guarantee you, Jay Ray, after listening

Sir Daniel: 00:14:09

to that song again and hearing it and hearing the power of that song, I

Sir Daniel: 00:14:14

guarantee you somebody was conceived.

Jay Ray: 00:14:16

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel: 00:14:17

To that song.

Jay Ray: 00:14:18

Yeah.

Sir Daniel: 00:14:19

a what of 1986, so it's 40 years,

Jay Ray: 00:14:22

Yeah.

Sir Daniel: 00:14:23

That's math.

Sir Daniel: 00:14:24

Is it

Jay Ray: 00:14:24

That's 40 years.

Jay Ray: 00:14:25

Yeah.

Sir Daniel: 00:14:26

year, there's a 40-year-old right now.

Jay Ray: 00:14:29

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel: 00:14:30

young millennial that was conceived off of men so long,

Sir Daniel: 00:14:34

so you, ma. Thank you Mom and your dad, but also thank Anita Baker.

Jay Ray: 00:14:40

Sir Daniel, like, so Anita Baker arrives squarely in

Jay Ray: 00:14:46

the music video era of things.

Jay Ray: 00:14:49

Um, and so we got a chance to see her.

Jay Ray: 00:14:53

That's how we knew the Anita Baker, the Anita Baker Rock, I

Jay Ray: 00:14:56

call it the Anita Baker Rock.

Jay Ray: 00:14:58

Also, she was wearing a lot of flowy dresses.

Jay Ray: 00:15:01

Like the dresses.

Jay Ray: 00:15:02

So Anita had a dress with a belt.

Jay Ray: 00:15:05

Very praise and worship world.

Jay Ray: 00:15:08

Look.

Sir Daniel: 00:15:09

dancer?

Sir Daniel: 00:15:11

Uh, no.

Sir Daniel: 00:15:12

It was very Alvin Ailey

Jay Ray: 00:15:13

Yes.

Sir Daniel: 00:15:14

company with the flowing dresses.

Sir Daniel: 00:15:16

And at the time, as you mentioned Janet, we're talking about 86.

Sir Daniel: 00:15:19

All of these women dropping around the same time and creating,

Sir Daniel: 00:15:23

uh, an atmosphere of sound.

Sir Daniel: 00:15:25

A Black women, Black women sound, Black women music, we have balance.

Jay Ray: 00:15:30

Mm.

Sir Daniel: 00:15:31

you had Janet in a crop top and some Black jeans and

Sir Daniel: 00:15:34

a mushroom cut, you know, dancing, dancing her ass off or in a warehouse.

Sir Daniel: 00:15:39

But to balance that out, you have Anita Baker crooning flat footed

Sir Daniel: 00:15:44

in the center of the stage and just emoting for the, for her life.

Sir Daniel: 00:15:49

On this record and that gave Black women choices.

Sir Daniel: 00:15:53

And we all know that if you have choices, you feel empowered.

Sir Daniel: 00:15:57

And so if an empowered Black woman, um, can raise her children

Sir Daniel: 00:16:03

or without, let's be, you

Jay Ray: 00:16:04

Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray: 00:16:05

Let's keep it a buck.

Jay Ray: 00:16:06

Yeah.

Jay Ray: 00:16:07

Yeah.

Jay Ray: 00:16:07

This is the time, this is the middle of the crack era.

Sir Daniel: 00:16:11

A middle of a crack era.

Sir Daniel: 00:16:12

I'm a latchkey kid myself.

Sir Daniel: 00:16:14

So we, we talking about women, Black

Jay Ray: 00:16:16

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel: 00:16:17

families on their own and working and trying not to be a statistic.

Sir Daniel: 00:16:22

So if you have all of those things, but this music and this imagery is

Sir Daniel: 00:16:26

empowering you, you are able to push forward and still raise a nation.

Sir Daniel: 00:16:32

Of people like Jay Ray and myself that could sit here before you and

Sir Daniel: 00:16:37

pay homage to these women well as preserve the history that they created.

Jay Ray: 00:16:43

Uh, sir Daniel, what is one of your favorite songs from Rapture?

Sir Daniel: 00:16:50

So, you know, I, y'all know me, I'm, I'm a uptempo guy.

Sir Daniel: 00:16:54

I'm a double clap kind of guy, and there's not a lot of that on this

Sir Daniel: 00:16:58

album, but there is a song on the album that I. First of all, the New Orleans

Sir Daniel: 00:17:07

bounce producers and DJs love this

Jay Ray: 00:17:10

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel: 00:17:12

throw, uh, they will throw that beat underneath

Sir Daniel: 00:17:15

the song in a heartbeat.

Sir Daniel: 00:17:16

But I also remember seeing the video, and it's very Detroit

Jay Ray: 00:17:21

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel: 00:17:21

Baker is rollerskating

Jay Ray: 00:17:23

Yes.

Sir Daniel: 00:17:23

video.

Sir Daniel: 00:17:24

She's, first of all, she's wearing jeans

Jay Ray: 00:17:25

Yes.

Jay Ray: 00:17:26

That's like the friend, like, oh, Anitas got like,

Sir Daniel: 00:17:30

He's got jeans on and a sweatshirt, so it's kind of toned

Sir Daniel: 00:17:33

down and she's rollerskating, which of course we know is rollerskating

Jay Ray: 00:17:38

hmm.

Sir Daniel: 00:17:38

as our friend Marcus Borders, um, brought to us and check that episode

Jay Ray: 00:17:41

Hm.

Jay Ray: 00:17:42

Yes.

Sir Daniel: 00:17:42

Borders is so important to the Black community and how we, um,

Sir Daniel: 00:17:47

build community and release stress.

Sir Daniel: 00:17:50

She's sing about this love that no matter 365 days of the year, got you.

Sir Daniel: 00:17:58

Got the

Jay Ray: 00:17:58

The "Same Ole Love".

Jay Ray: 00:18:00

Come on.

Sir Daniel: 00:18:00

old love.

Sir Daniel: 00:18:01

And it's so inspiring in the way it presents itself with the melody and the

Jay Ray: 00:18:08

I.

Sir Daniel: 00:18:08

the, and of course her singing so that friends.

Sir Daniel: 00:18:13

"Same Ole Love" is my favorite Anita Baker song from this album.

Sir Daniel: 00:18:18

And when I think back on the music video, um, also it's very

Sir Daniel: 00:18:24

apparent to me that yes, this song is about, could be about romantic

Jay Ray: 00:18:28

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel: 00:18:29

but this song is clearly also about, um, her love for Detroit.

Sir Daniel: 00:18:34

And if you, you all go back and watch the music video for "Same Ole

Sir Daniel: 00:18:39

Love", you'll see that Detroit is.

Sir Daniel: 00:18:43

Featured in this video in

Jay Ray: 00:18:44

It's a character.

Jay Ray: 00:18:46

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel: 00:18:46

and loving and sentimental way.

Sir Daniel: 00:18:50

because of course that was, uh, Detroit was one of the great Black cities.

Jay Ray: 00:18:55

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel: 00:18:56

Of our history here in this country called America,

Sir Daniel: 00:19:00

one of the booming Black cities.

Sir Daniel: 00:19:01

Unfortunately, that has kind of met a slow, I don't wanna say demise,

Sir Daniel: 00:19:07

but it's never completely recovered from what happened in the mid to

Sir Daniel: 00:19:13

late Well, seventies actually.

Jay Ray: 00:19:16

Yeah.

Sir Daniel: 00:19:17

but I, but just to say that, you know, Anita Baker.

Sir Daniel: 00:19:22

only put on for the, for the jazzy, you know, basement singers out there.

Sir Daniel: 00:19:28

She put on for her city.

Jay Ray: 00:19:30

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel: 00:19:30

on for Detroit in a major way.

Sir Daniel: 00:19:32

So we got, we got amazing singing, we got amazing songs.

Sir Daniel: 00:19:38

Then we also got amazing visuals.

Sir Daniel: 00:19:40

They weren't calling visuals back there.

Sir Daniel: 00:19:42

They

Jay Ray: 00:19:42

Yeah.

Sir Daniel: 00:19:44

We had amazing videos from this woman, Jay Ray, to your

Sir Daniel: 00:19:48

point, at the beginning of this podcast, Anita Baker came out swinging

Jay Ray: 00:19:53

swinging.

Jay Ray: 00:19:54

Yeah.

Jay Ray: 00:19:55

So Rapture went on to win awards.

Jay Ray: 00:19:58

Rapture went on to just become a phenomenon.

Jay Ray: 00:20:01

I mean, she, uh, not only became a staple.

Jay Ray: 00:20:07

Uh, on Black radio.

Jay Ray: 00:20:09

Anita Baker crossed over and, you know, had pop fans and, and so yeah.

Jay Ray: 00:20:14

I'm glad we got the opportunity to spend some time reminiscing.

Jay Ray: 00:20:17

It's the 40th anniversary of Anita Baker's Rapture and, um, if you haven't

Jay Ray: 00:20:22

heard the record in a while, go back and play it because it's a no skips.

Jay Ray: 00:20:27

Record.

Jay Ray: 00:20:28

Oh my God.

Jay Ray: 00:20:28

It still holds up to this day.

Jay Ray: 00:20:31

And if you've never heard Rapture, this is the perfect time to go back and revisit

Jay Ray: 00:20:36

the album and just also revisit the, the career of Anita Baker, who, to your

Jay Ray: 00:20:41

point, uh uh, she came out swinging.

Jay Ray: 00:20:44

There was not there, there was no time to play when Anita Baker hit the scene.

Jay Ray: 00:20:48

And, um, there is also no time to play with Queue Points, y'all

Jay Ray: 00:20:53

so support us in what we do.

Jay Ray: 00:20:55

You know what I mean?

Jay Ray: 00:20:57

So if you could see our faces and hear our voices subscribe wherever you are.

Jay Ray: 00:21:02

Um, tell your friends, tell your family, tell your colleagues, because

Jay Ray: 00:21:05

if you enjoy Queue Points, chances are.

Jay Ray: 00:21:06

They will enjoy Queue Points as well.

Jay Ray: 00:21:09

Visit our website@queuepoints.com where you can become a member.

Jay Ray: 00:21:13

Membership has its privileges.

Jay Ray: 00:21:15

You can watch all of our art.

Jay Ray: 00:21:16

Our, um, episodes of Queue Points Live, which happens every Thursday

: 00:21:20

00 PM You can watch our QP Science 3000 where me and Sir Daniel

: 00:21:25

watch some, some music videos.

: 00:21:27

You can, um, and you can watch a whole bunch of other exclusive content

: 00:21:31

that is exclusively for members.

: 00:21:32

So, and it also helps to keep the lights on in Queue Points land.

: 00:21:35

Uh, check us out on Substack where we have some additional content and you

: 00:21:39

can shop our store@storequeuepoints.com.

: 00:21:42

We appreciate y'all, we love y'all.

Sir Daniel: 00:21:45

Absolutely, and like I say, at the end of every episode

Sir Daniel: 00:21:48

in this life, you have a choice.

Sir Daniel: 00:21:50

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

Sir Daniel: 00:21:54

I'm DJ Sir Daniel,

Jay Ray: 00:21:55

My name is Jay Ray, y'all?

Sir Daniel: 00:21:58

and this is Queue Points podcast, dropping the

Sir Daniel: 00:22:00

needle on Black music history.

Sir Daniel: 00:22:03

We will see you on the next go round, 365 days of the year.

Jay Ray: 00:22:08

Yes.

Jay Ray: 00:22:09

Peace y'all.