How the '95 Source Awards Changed Hip-Hop and Atlanta Forever (Banjee Boombox Bonus Episode)

Sir Daniel: 00:00:04

You are listening to the Queue Points podcast, where

Sir Daniel: 00:00:06

hip hop lives breathes and booms.

Sir Daniel: 00:00:09

I'm DJ Sir Daniel.

Jay Ray: 00:00:12

And my name is Jay Ray, sometimes known by my governments

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as Johnnie Ray Kornegay III and Sir Daniel, one of the things that was

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really important, something really important happened in hip hop history

Jay Ray: 00:00:23

in 1995, which is also the year I graduated from high school, just saying,

Sir Daniel: 00:00:29

You just had to rub that in.

Sir Daniel: 00:00:31

It's okay.

Sir Daniel: 00:00:31

I graduated two years earlier, but still, let's take it back to August, 1995.

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Jay Ray at the Paramount Theater at Madison Square Garden.

Sir Daniel: 00:00:41

Jay Ray, we're talking about the 1995 source awards.

Sir Daniel: 00:00:46

Now, Jay Ray, the Source Awards is a major, major magazine

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for hip hop at this point.

Jay Ray: 00:00:51

yeah.

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So this is an interesting time.

Jay Ray: 00:00:54

Um, it, the source to your point is the Bible of hip hop.

Jay Ray: 00:01:00

It's helped us to discover so many artists, but this particular

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year was really pivotal.

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So this is the second year of the source

Sir Daniel: 00:01:09

Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray: 00:01:10

Hip hop is in.

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Hip hop is basically bicoastal, right?

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The way that people viewed hip hop is you viewed it from the perspective

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of New York and Los Angeles, right?

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That's kind of the lens that we were in.

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But this particular year for August, it was tensions were really,

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really high because by this point,

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a lot of things have happened.

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Tupac has been a shot.

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Tupac is at this moment in prison.

Sir Daniel: 00:01:40

Yep.

Jay Ray: 00:01:40

'cause he's been convicted for sexual assault.

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But there is this brewing tension, this East coast, west

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coast tension that's happening.

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And the source awards are the place where it kind of boils over.

Sir Daniel: 00:01:54

I mean, it comes to a raging boil and it, it's palpable.

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Um, you can hear it.

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You can see it, the tension, you can see it in people's faces the way,

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based on the way who they're sitting next to, who they're sitting behind,

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who they're sitting in front of it.

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It's kind of a cluster and, but it, it, I don't know.

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But it also is a moment where history is being changed specifically for a

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group that we are, that the world is very proud of and the world is, has

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celebrated time and time again, and they are about to become the choice.

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For new artists of the year.

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And so Jay, I think we just can't, I mean, we representing for Atlanta right now.

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We here at Banjee Boombox straight here in the Atlanta, in the A TL.

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And well, for the people that are listening right now, walking around and

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listening to us, let's briefly describe to them exactly what the new artists of the

Sir Daniel: 00:02:54

Year award consists of and who is actually being nominated this year in 1995.

Jay Ray: 00:03:00

Yeah.

Jay Ray: 00:03:01

So, um, there was a couple new artists awards for the source awards that year.

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This one was, the one that caused a lot of attention was the group award.

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So this is, so this particular award was for group, there were four

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nominees, which actually says a lot about where hip hop was in this moment.

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So nominated in this particular moment.

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Was Bone Thugs in Harmony out of Cleveland, but closely

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affiliated with California

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because of,

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Records and

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we go.

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So Outkast straight out of Atlanta.

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out, out of the a and really with no affiliation.

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'cause they're from the a they're, they're just there doing their thing.

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And next up we got ill and Al scratch and you real hip hop has, you know who

Jay Ray: 00:03:54

All right.

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You know who Ill and out scratch

Sir Daniel: 00:03:56

Where am I?

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Whole Me.

Jay Ray: 00:03:58

right.

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And last but not least of course, nominated in this category

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was Smith and Wesson Bootcamp.

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Click The Shining, one of my favorite albums from that whole run of albums

Sir Daniel: 00:04:12

You talking about New York,

Jay Ray: 00:04:14

You know what I mean?

Jay Ray: 00:04:15

So Sir Daniel, you know what I mean?

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Set up though.

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Who's so, there's, who's, who's like presenting this award

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and how this thing went down.

Jay Ray: 00:04:29

Okay.

Sir Daniel: 00:04:30

So, and it's so funny because.

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The, the winners of the award and the presenters of the award are actually

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about to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year.

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So, like Jay Ray said, let me set the scene.

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Presenting the nominations and the award for best new artists of the year

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group is none other than salt, pepper, and spindarella and their homeboy.

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Uh,

Jay Ray: 00:04:59

Kid from.

Sir Daniel: 00:04:59

kid from kid and play.

Sir Daniel: 00:05:01

Exactly.

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And so, you know, salt and pepper, they, you know, at this point, salt and

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pepper are, are relishing in the fact that, you know, they're very necessary.

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You know, people are shooting and they, they've gone multi-platinum.

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They got some coins.

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They're about to, they've got this, this crazy new record deal.

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Well, we saw what happened with that, but, um, but they're, they're on top of

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the world and they're feeling themselves.

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So they're reading off the nominations.

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Bone Thugs in harmony, Outkast Ill and Al Scratch, Smith and Wesson.

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And then the pivotal point of the evening, they read off the

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name of the actual winners.

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And you think that, you know, Sope will just like fake it till they make it?

Sir Daniel: 00:05:44

Nah.

Sir Daniel: 00:05:46

They print, they gave the most lackluster and the winner is out.

Jay Ray: 00:05:52

Okay.

Jay Ray: 00:05:55

The looks.

Sir Daniel: 00:05:56

And they, they used the tiniest fingers to clap to, to, you

Sir Daniel: 00:06:01

know, I mean, just no way of shielding their disgust for like, who, who,

Sir Daniel: 00:06:08

who is these country bumpkins, you know, who, who are they, you know,

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bootcamp clickers from Brooklyn, Ellen.

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I scratches from New York.

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We represent New York.

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You know, and, and that's that, that, that shows how deep the RIF was.

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The regional rifts were between artists from different parts

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of the country in that moment.

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And so for Salt Npe who are pretty, are pretty well respected at this

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point, that was such a theme.

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That was a big deal for them to carry on in that manner.

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And Andre of course, has been observing what's happening.

Jay Ray: 00:06:45

the energy

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and the west coast, and it's like, you know what?

Sir Daniel: 00:06:48

In this moment he's happy to accept this award because they worked really

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hard and, but he, but he said something.

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It's a quotable to this day, this is the moment, 30 years ago,

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August, 1995, Andre 3000 proclaims.

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His best, uh, south side voice.

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The South got something to say.

Sir Daniel: 00:07:14

And Jay Ray, like, can you tell the people what the reactions were at that moment?

Jay Ray: 00:07:19

the reactions were, well, so here's the thing.

Jay Ray: 00:07:22

So to that point, right, the setup was people didn't know what to, I

Jay Ray: 00:07:28

don't think people really knew what to think at that moment, right?

Jay Ray: 00:07:32

Two out of the four nominees are not from New York, right?

Jay Ray: 00:07:36

New York has been lifted up as kind of the center of gravity

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as it relates to hip hop.

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And the fact that this group who was really new, right?

Jay Ray: 00:07:47

They didn't show up until a year before from this place called Atlanta.

Sir Daniel: 00:07:53

but Outkast, to your point, was rapping.

Sir Daniel: 00:07:55

Rapping.

Jay Ray: 00:07:56

They were rapping.

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Rapping and they, they were about bars and they were from Atlanta and they sounded

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like they were from Atlanta, and their sound was unique and from Atlanta, so.

Jay Ray: 00:08:08

The room, the reason why out, uh, uh, Andre says this thing is, of

Jay Ray: 00:08:13

course they can feel the tension.

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One, the people that were presenting them the award didn't even care that they won.

Jay Ray: 00:08:19

The people that were in the room didn't care that they won.

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And it was just like, yo, how did, he was really looking them in their

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face and like, yo, we are here.

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And the South got something to say and he couldn't have been more, right?

Jay Ray: 00:08:42

What's up y'all?

Jay Ray: 00:08:43

So this is not the end of this conversation.

Jay Ray: 00:08:47

Me and DJ Sir Daniel, we have so much more to talk about.

Sir Daniel: 00:08:51

the juiciest part of this conversation is on the other side.

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And what you're gonna have to do is you're gonna have to come back

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by the table and talk to your boys.

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You're gonna have to talk to us.

Sir Daniel: 00:09:02

You're gonna have to scan that QR code so you can hear the

Sir Daniel: 00:09:04

rest of this conversation, because the really iconic moment

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of the 1995 source awards.

Sir Daniel: 00:09:11

Oh, we gonna talk about that.

Sir Daniel: 00:09:12

You thought Outkast was it?

Sir Daniel: 00:09:14

Mm. Trust me, you don't wanna miss this.

Jay Ray: 00:09:18

See y'all over at the table, y'all.

Jay Ray: 00:09:19

Peace.