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Episode 202

Caribbean Kings: The Other British Invasion

Step into the pulse of the early ‘80s, as “Caribbean Kings: The Other British Invasion” peels back the breakthrough journey of Black British men whose Caribbean roots powered a musical movement that influenced the global music landscape. From reggae to pop and R&B, hosts DJ Sir Daniel and Jay Ray explore how artists descended from the Windrush generation reshaped the US soundscape, blending cultures and genres in unforgettable ways.

This episode dives into:

  • The pivotal influence of the Windrush generation and the Caribbean diaspora on British music
  • How Bob Marley opened the door for Black men to become international pop superstars
  • Musical Youth’s historic MTV debut, predating Michael Jackson, and rewriting what was possible for Black artists
  • Billy Ocean’s chart-topping anthems, from R&B gems to global pop ballads, and the story behind “European Queen?”
  • The legacy of Eddy Grant, Junior, Maxi Priest, and Shabba Ranks in changing the game for UK-to-US crossover hits

Hit play, share with fellow music lovers, and let Queue Points drop the needle on the untold stories behind the songs that changed history!

Chapter Markers

00:00 Intro Theme

00:16 Introduction and Host Greetings

01:16 The Windrush Generation and Caribbean Influence

02:37 Bob Marley: The Gateway to Caribbean Music

06:37 The Rise of Caribbean Kings in the 1980s

09:05 Billy Ocean and the Caribbean Pop Explosion

21:42 Maxi Priest, Shabba Ranks, and the 90s Caribbean Wave

29:43 Outro Theme

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Transcript
Sir Daniel:

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 as

Jay Ray:

Johnnie Ray Kornegay III and Sir Daniel in the early 1980s, you could not tell

Jay Ray:

me that it having a British accent as a Black man wasn't the coolest thing ever.

Jay Ray:

It was a whole mood.

Sir Daniel:

It certainly was.

Sir Daniel:

We are about to talk about the other British invasion, but not just the British

Sir Daniel:

invasion, a Caribbean, British invasion.

Sir Daniel:

Jay Ray, we talking about Caribbean Kings on this episode and um, oh, I

Sir Daniel:

just, I've left a great opportunity to start singing there on the table,

Sir Daniel:

but we're not gonna do that because I know we wanna get to the conversation.

Sir Daniel:

But Jay Ray, I think.

Sir Daniel:

What this generation is missing is the smooth tones of a

Sir Daniel:

Caribbean, um, born singer.

Sir Daniel:

So Jay Ray, You and I. Benefited from the fruits of the Windrush generation

Sir Daniel:

as kids growing up in the eighties.

Sir Daniel:

And if you're not familiar, we talked about the Windrush generation on this, um,

Sir Daniel:

podcast before, but they are a generation of Caribbean immigrants that landed in

Sir Daniel:

England, London, England starting in 1948.

Sir Daniel:

There was an influx of people from Jamaica, trinidad and Tobago, Barbados,

Sir Daniel:

Guyana, uh, Grenada all over that went over to England like most immigrants.

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel:

To go to this country, to, um, better their lives seeking

Sir Daniel:

employment, seeking, um, other freedoms, but mostly to make money and to become,

Sir Daniel:

you know, to gain employment and to send money back home, of course, to

Sir Daniel:

their families that couldn't make it.

Sir Daniel:

But Jay Ray.

Sir Daniel:

What we got from this Windrush generation was an amazing, amazing

Sir Daniel:

history of Black music that I don't think anybody really taps in or

Sir Daniel:

talks about in this music atmosphere.

Sir Daniel:

And Key Points is the only show doing it.

Sir Daniel:

So take that everybody.

Sir Daniel:

Um, and so we're gonna start, we can't.

Sir Daniel:

Not talk about the Caribbean Kings.

Sir Daniel:

And there's um, there's four in particular that we want to highlight, but we can't

Sir Daniel:

start without talking about Bob Marley who debuted in 1965, uh, with the Whalers

Sir Daniel:

as a, in a group, but then he became an international superstar and one of his

Sir Daniel:

stops, of course, was London, England.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

So, uh, I do think, uh, Bob Marley is kind of the gateway

Jay Ray:

to opening the door for, uh.

Jay Ray:

Popular culture.

Jay Ray:

And when I'm saying popular culture, in this case, I do mean white folks

Jay Ray:

to be exposed to, um, in Bob Marley's case, reggae, but more expansively,

Jay Ray:

uh, music of the Caribbean because I feel like, um, reggae is just kind of

Jay Ray:

this, this box, but I feel like what Bob Marley and, and Bob Marley and the

Jay Ray:

Whalers were doing was a little bit of rock and roll, a little bit of soul.

Jay Ray:

With the reggae, uh, uh, uh, foundation.

Jay Ray:

But yeah, Bob Marley is, is kind of the gateway.

Jay Ray:

And so when Bob Marley goes solo, he becomes an international superstar.

Jay Ray:

And when I was growing up, so man.

Jay Ray:

There was, um, a moment, and I think I talked about this on our

Jay Ray:

Bob, uh, our Bob Marley show, where you would see a Bob Marley concert.

Jay Ray:

Like they would air it on tv 'cause I wasn't as familiar, I think, and I was

Jay Ray:

super young 'cause I think he, uh, he died in like 1981, but they showed this Bob

Jay Ray:

Marley concert and it was packed to the gills with people and he was performing

Jay Ray:

this music that I was at that point.

Jay Ray:

Unfamiliar with, but the size of the crowd was amazing.

Jay Ray:

But what I think Bob Marley did was it gave a way to the possibility

Jay Ray:

of Black men being pop superstars on the international stage.

Jay Ray:

And that's what I think, uh, Bob Marley was able to do for,

Jay Ray:

for this, for this group of men.

Jay Ray:

I think he really did open the door for that

Jay Ray:

possibility.

Sir Daniel:

He absolutely did and what he did, so if you remember, um, at their

Sir Daniel:

inception, so in 1965, we're still on.

Sir Daniel:

You know, as far as stylists concerned, we're still coming off the tail

Sir Daniel:

end of the fifties where a lot of musicians are, are suited and booted.

Sir Daniel:

They're, you know, in well tailored suits.

Sir Daniel:

Um, hairs cut.

Sir Daniel:

Everybody is coiffed and looks very mainstream and palatable for various

Sir Daniel:

audience, different, different audiences.

Sir Daniel:

So if, when you fast forward to the end of the sixties, um, they went

Sir Daniel:

from, they went from, um, that.

Sir Daniel:

Um, buttoned up style.

Sir Daniel:

Then they went to mod the mod style of dressing.

Sir Daniel:

Then we get into the hippie era.

Sir Daniel:

And so what you find though is that Bob Marley, um, delves into his,

Sir Daniel:

the, the Rastafari culture and grows out his hair, grows out the locks.

Sir Daniel:

Then the Rastafari, um, culture literally.

Sir Daniel:

Takes over London like a lot of those British kids, even the,

Sir Daniel:

the, the white kids that were into the, into hippie culture, and they

Sir Daniel:

gravitated to that, to that raaf um, culture, the way of dressing.

Sir Daniel:

And if, you know, and there is a line Jay Ray, and that's a, this is a whole nother

Sir Daniel:

topic, but there is a line between, um, Rastafarian Jamaican culture and um, sky.

Jay Ray:

Scott Punk.

Sir Daniel:

punk and also to the skinheads, which is really

Jay Ray:

is really wild, but you are right.

Sir Daniel:

There's a through line there.

Sir Daniel:

Yes.

Jay Ray:

There's a through line there.

Jay Ray:

And so that's so interesting that you do draw this line because I do think,

Jay Ray:

uh, for the, for the, uh, gentlemen that we're about to talk about, right?

Jay Ray:

So as we get into, uh, the mid to late 1970s, and I love that you

Jay Ray:

called it at the top, the, the other British invasion because.

Jay Ray:

What we find in kind of the, the, the, I think the first big breakout, uh, uh,

Jay Ray:

star of this group who actually become, takes over the 1980s as well, um, is.

Jay Ray:

Billy Ocean kind of starts on the r and b side of things.

Jay Ray:

You know, Knights Baby Funky r and b Knights is still just

Jay Ray:

like an amazingly funky track.

Jay Ray:

And, but then, you know, as the 1980s move, as the 1980s move

Jay Ray:

on, you know, pivots into like this pop superstardom, but.

Jay Ray:

There's Black artists that come, came from the uk, ended up on the r

Jay Ray:

and b charts in the US and it just kind of became this phenomenon.

Jay Ray:

But it's a phenomenon that that oftentimes we just kind of overlook.

Jay Ray:

But it was really important to how Black artists in the US even

Jay Ray:

began to make music later on.

Jay Ray:

So these, these men are like really pivotal.

Sir Daniel:

They're very pivotal and important.

Sir Daniel:

Um, but I just wanted a little footnote.

Sir Daniel:

I don't want to forget musical youth because

Jay Ray:

Oh, can we talk about them please?

Sir Daniel:

Who, who like, uh, uh, literally a boy

Sir Daniel:

band out of London, England.

Sir Daniel:

Um, huge.

Sir Daniel:

I mean, and when I say boys, I literally mean

Jay Ray:

boys.

Jay Ray:

They were boys.

Jay Ray:

These are the children.

Sir Daniel:

These are children, um, who saw stardom at a very early age

Sir Daniel:

and what, like, became so huge to the point that it, um, you know, their,

Sir Daniel:

their careers, it affected them.

Sir Daniel:

You know, clearly.

Sir Daniel:

Um, but they are part of that, uh, what that imagination, what America could

Sir Daniel:

see as with Black men becoming the front men of these huge international

Sir Daniel:

bands and even solo artists.

Sir Daniel:

So they are part of that foundation because if you don't have Bob Marley and

Sir Daniel:

the Whalers, you don't have musical youth.

Sir Daniel:

And if you don't have musical, then you don't have.

Sir Daniel:

Your Billy Oceans and your junior Griscoms that were all, you know, that

Sir Daniel:

all came along and became huge pop stars in the mid eighties, the early eighties.

Jay Ray:

The early eighties.

Jay Ray:

So fun fact, I I I, I, we give Michael Jackson a lot of love for

Jay Ray:

how he kind of kicked to open the door on like the MTV side of things.

Jay Ray:

So I think there's just something that I wanna make sure we bring

Jay Ray:

into the conversation too.

Jay Ray:

Um, music video made it easy for this trans.

Jay Ray:

Made it easy for this transition to happen, right?

Jay Ray:

Because first of all, music video in Europe and in the UK in

Jay Ray:

particular was kind of a medium that folks were really familiar with.

Jay Ray:

Um, because bands, if we think back to Bohemian Rhapsody, like Queen did a

Jay Ray:

music video in like 19 74, 75, right?

Jay Ray:

So it was something that people were familiar with.

Jay Ray:

So it made it easy to kind of like have this visual to go musical youth.

Jay Ray:

Actually predated Michael Jackson on MTV.

Jay Ray:

So when we talk about Black artists being played on MTV, which was Rock and

Jay Ray:

Roll centered musical youth, predated Michael Jackson by several months.

Jay Ray:

Uh, they, so musical youth is actually the first Black artist that MTV played.

Jay Ray:

It wasn't, we give Michael Jackson a lot of, a lot of love 'cause it was huge.

Jay Ray:

But it was actually musical youth that cracked open

Jay Ray:

that door.

Sir Daniel:

And see, once again, nobody's talking about this, this

Sir Daniel:

British invasion, um, that happened.

Sir Daniel:

You know, Billy Ocean is, um, most of everybody knows everybody.

Sir Daniel:

Most of these groups are Jamaican from Jamaica.

Sir Daniel:

Billy Ocean is Trinidadian and, um, which is, which was huge at the time.

Sir Daniel:

And like you were saying, his, the music was super r and b.

Sir Daniel:

Like you see Knights is right behind me and stay the night.

Sir Daniel:

Those are like major r and b, big r and b records that you can play.

Sir Daniel:

In any cool eighties RB set to this day, I mentioned Junior

Sir Daniel:

Griscom Griscom, who I found out.

Sir Daniel:

So he's, he's British, born and raised, but of course he has Jamaican parents and

Sir Daniel:

we all know Junior from, um, mama used to say, which was a huge, huge record.

Jay Ray:

can hear it right now on classic r and b radio, somewhere in this country.

Sir Daniel:

absolutely it's, um, sampled, been sampled.

Sir Daniel:

In positive case.

Sir Daniel:

I got a man.

Sir Daniel:

Um.

Sir Daniel:

So much to say about junior gifts and I don't think he gets a lot of love that,

Sir Daniel:

the love that he should, but again, he's someone that pushed that pop envelope so

Sir Daniel:

that you can get, so that room can be made for an Eddy Grant who is out of Guyana.

Sir Daniel:

Which is, I, I have to represent for Guyana.

Sir Daniel:

That's where my, um, my mother is from and our family and is from Guyana.

Sir Daniel:

And I didn't even know that until I became an adult that Eddy Grant was Guyanese.

Sir Daniel:

And that's such a huge deal because there aren't, there aren't any.

Sir Daniel:

Any other major, major pop stars from Guyana that you can

Sir Daniel:

pop, that you can point at?

Sir Daniel:

I mean, there's lots of different, um, bands and whatnot, and there

Sir Daniel:

are people of Guyanese descent.

Sir Daniel:

There's some MCs that are of Guyanese descent, but, uh, we're talking

Sir Daniel:

Eddy Grant, if you don't remember, rocked us down to Electric Avenue.

Sir Daniel:

That song is still to this day, is a monster.

Sir Daniel:

Is a monster jam.

Sir Daniel:

It marries rock.

Sir Daniel:

It is marries punk.

Sir Daniel:

It marries, ska.

Sir Daniel:

Um,

Jay Ray:

wave.

Jay Ray:

It's all in there.

Sir Daniel:

all in there and he continues that Rastafarian, um.

Sir Daniel:

He brought that Rastafarian culture with him as well because he was very, he

Sir Daniel:

represented in the music videos of funny.

Sir Daniel:

Jay Ray was telling me a very funny story about how that that video freaked him

Jay Ray:

freaked Electric Avenue.

Jay Ray:

So I was a MTV kid.

Jay Ray:

Um, and so I remember when Electric Avenue was playing on MTV, I was

Jay Ray:

fortunate in that we had cable early.

Jay Ray:

I. I remember when Electric Avenue was playing on MTV as like a new

Jay Ray:

song, and it was something about the colors, the, the, the, the

Jay Ray:

amalgamation of sounds and there was like a water theme that freaked me out.

Jay Ray:

'cause he like falls into the water and then ends up on the beach.

Jay Ray:

I don't know why that video scared me so much, but as a kid it really did.

Jay Ray:

But I wanna lift up something that.

Jay Ray:

You mentioned going back to that amalgamation of sounds.

Jay Ray:

First of all two things Eddy Grant produced, wrote, and produced that record.

Sir Daniel:

That whole

Jay Ray:

And Guyana like, so, like this is like squarely, I think in Guyana.

Jay Ray:

Don't quote me on that.

Jay Ray:

Y'all let me, let us know in the con in the, in the, the chat.

Jay Ray:

But I really do think he like went back to Guyana and like did this record.

Jay Ray:

So it's really kind of, uh, uh, a self, it's self produced.

Jay Ray:

Self written, which is great for Eddy.

Jay Ray:

Grant, you got a huge hit off that bro.

Jay Ray:

I want, I hope you're still collecting your checks, but it married.

Jay Ray:

All of these things that were kind of like catnip.

Jay Ray:

So those striking keyboards, the, the, the, the, the, the big guitar, the,

Sir Daniel:

Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray:

what I'm saying of for rock and roll, and then you get the

Jay Ray:

little, the little whispers of the, the reggae happening, um, as well.

Jay Ray:

So it's, it was literally catnip and that particular song became

Jay Ray:

just like it was everywhere.

Jay Ray:

Now he did have, um.

Jay Ray:

Which you, which you reminded me of, romancing the Stone, which was apparently

Jay Ray:

supposed to be closely associated with the film, ended up not happening.

Jay Ray:

So there's like a song Romancing The Stone by Eddy Grant that was

Jay Ray:

supposed to be attached to the film, romancing the Stone, but they

Jay Ray:

ended up somehow getting separated.

Jay Ray:

But Eddy Grant in the, the, the early 1980s in the US was one of those

Jay Ray:

artists that came out of this canon.

Jay Ray:

Who, uh, was groundbreaking?

Sir Daniel:

So speaking of romancing the stone, shout out to Billy Ocean again,

Sir Daniel:

who also had a major hit with the go when the going gets tough for the, which

Sir Daniel:

appeared on the sequel of Romancing the Stone, which is jewel of the N. Correct.

Jay Ray:

Yep.

Jay Ray:

Yep.

Sir Daniel:

So, uh, that to have for both of these gentlemen to have songs

Sir Daniel:

associated with these major motion pictures, still huge moves, and, and

Sir Daniel:

pushing the pa, pushing the envelope.

Sir Daniel:

For more men of Caribbean descent to come on the scene and, you know, we can't

Sir Daniel:

get away from Billy Ocean's hits though.

Sir Daniel:

Like we talk about the pop standards.

Sir Daniel:

We, you talked about, we had the RB standards that he came

Sir Daniel:

out with that were super funky.

Sir Daniel:

Then he, he went into this pop direction that we could not escape from Caribbean

Sir Daniel:

Queen, first of all, on a, on a, on a musical side, Caribbean Queen.

Sir Daniel:

Um, blends in with, um, Michael Jackson's, Billie Jean Marvelously.

Sir Daniel:

So all you DJs out there, that's for you.

Sir Daniel:

You're welcome.

Sir Daniel:

Um, Caribbean Queen and Billie Jean, they rhyme and they sound good when you

Sir Daniel:

blend them together, but that song was on the charts forever, so we had that.

Sir Daniel:

But can we, we talk about the ballads.

Sir Daniel:

He had that Ballad rivals anything that Lion Lionel Richie had on the radio

Sir Daniel:

at the time suddenly was everywhere.

Jay Ray:

everywhere it, so I think the thing, and this is something that Quincy

Jay Ray:

Jones used to talk about a lot, um.

Jay Ray:

Is ear candy

Sir Daniel:

Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray:

Caribbean queen, and suddenly were like ear candy.

Jay Ray:

They had like these repeatable sing songy, uh, things that you just

Jay Ray:

couldn't get outta your head, like literally Caribbean queen to this day.

Jay Ray:

It plays in my head, it looks and sounds like summer of 1984.

Jay Ray:

Like it look like when I hear it, it's like I'm suddenly, uh, uh, seven.

Jay Ray:

I'm suddenly seven.

Jay Ray:

And um, oh, real quick, sir. Daniel, and this is a tangent, but I'm gonna go here.

Jay Ray:

I love how we say Caribbean and Caribbean.

Jay Ray:

I don't know what.

Sir Daniel:

Oh,

Jay Ray:

but no, I'm saying that it depends on where you, and that's

Jay Ray:

what I was, had to get in my head.

Jay Ray:

I'm like, oh, it depends on where you from.

Jay Ray:

It is how you say it.

Jay Ray:

But I always thought that was funny.

Jay Ray:

I'm like, I don't know which way to do it.

Jay Ray:

Right.

Jay Ray:

And I'm guess like they're both right.

Sir Daniel:

say both.

Sir Daniel:

Yeah, they're interchangeable.

Sir Daniel:

And this is somebody who is of Caribbean descent.

Sir Daniel:

Like I've heard it all, both, all my life.

Sir Daniel:

Caribbean and Caribbean.

Sir Daniel:

It just depends on who's saying it to you, but shout out to, um,

Sir Daniel:

Keith Vincent who produced that song also from Trinidad and Tobago.

Sir Daniel:

So this is, this whole thing was in-house.

Sir Daniel:

All of these hits were in-house, um, made.

Sir Daniel:

Um, there was something else I was going to make.

Sir Daniel:

Oh, speaking of Caribbean Queen, Jay Ray, we discovered and I

Sir Daniel:

actually saw the record myself.

Jay Ray:

this is hilarious.

Sir Daniel:

once.

Sir Daniel:

Did you all know that Caribbean queen was such a major hit that, Hmm?

Sir Daniel:

That the record labels insisted

Jay Ray:

Consistent.

Sir Daniel:

that Billy Ocean created, um, different versions for different

Sir Daniel:

countries or different, um, continents.

Sir Daniel:

So there is in fact a version called European

Jay Ray:

There is a European queen.

Sir Daniel:

Is so in this kind, in this climate that we're living in today

Sir Daniel:

is very telling and, and problematic.

Sir Daniel:

Um, but we're not gonna, this is a fun show, we're not gonna delve into that,

Sir Daniel:

but there's a reason why they probably insisted that he make a Caribbean Queen

Jay Ray:

oh yeah.

Sir Daniel:

and I'm Sure

Jay Ray:

it.

Sir Daniel:

Go ahead.

Jay Ray:

No, no, no.

Jay Ray:

I'm like, oh, you know, they were sitting there like, okay, so Billy, but you

Jay Ray:

know this, so there's a, a, a European queen, and I didn't know this either

Jay Ray:

until I was getting ready for this show, but there's an African queen too, but

Jay Ray:

it's specifically for South Africa.

Jay Ray:

So South Africa needed their only their own version of Caribbean Queen.

Sir Daniel:

which South Africans, but go

Jay Ray:

know, you know exactly which South Africans that was for, 'cause we

Jay Ray:

were still in apartheid at that point.

Sir Daniel:

Hmm.

Jay Ray:

And yeah, so,

Sir Daniel:

But anyway,

Jay Ray:

right.

Jay Ray:

So that song, um, it was, it was set up to be an international crossover success.

Jay Ray:

So they set that song up and Billy Ocean.

Jay Ray:

So I have this up, sir Daniel, because.

Jay Ray:

I didn't know this.

Jay Ray:

Uh, this is according to the Wikipedia, but uh, Billy Ocean won the ASCAP Pop

Jay Ray:

Awards seven times between 1986 and 1989.

Jay Ray:

Seven Caribbean Queen Lover Boy suddenly.

Jay Ray:

There'll be sad songs to make you cry.

Jay Ray:

Listen, that is like a classic sixties, like, oh my God, when the

Jay Ray:

going gets tough, the tough get going.

Jay Ray:

Love is forever, and I think his last big pop hit.

Jay Ray:

Get Outta My Dreams.

Sir Daniel:

and get into my car,

Jay Ray:

that was a hilarious title.

Sir Daniel:

my dream.

Sir Daniel:

And of course, you know, that made that, made it to, um, wall Street and

Sir Daniel:

was in car commercials and everything.

Sir Daniel:

So y'all, we know Billy Ocean is that man like Billy OSHA pretty.

Sir Daniel:

If we gonna think about it, Billy Ocean gave all the brothers here in

Sir Daniel:

the eighties a run for their money.

Sir Daniel:

I'm telling you, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson,

Sir Daniel:

uh, Billy Ocean was giving them a run for the money big time.

Sir Daniel:

And Jay Ray, we don't if we, so like you said, um, what year was that?

Sir Daniel:

That, um, get out of my

Jay Ray:

Get

Jay Ray:

outta my dreams.

Jay Ray:

Get into my car.

Jay Ray:

Let me see when that was released.

Jay Ray:

That was released in 1988 and produced by Mutt Lang.

Jay Ray:

I'm sorry, written by Oh yeah.

Jay Ray:

Produced by Mutt Lang.

Jay Ray:

Written by Billy

Jay Ray:

Ocean and Mutt Lang.

Sir Daniel:

Hmm.

Sir Daniel:

So fast forward, so 88.

Sir Daniel:

So it took about a good four years before we had another.

Jay Ray:

Another British

Sir Daniel:

Another British invasion of Caribbean descent with Maxi Priest.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Sir Daniel:

and Maxi Priest literally came along and was like, when he

Sir Daniel:

came, when he came through with close to you, it, it felt so familiar.

Sir Daniel:

It was like, it, it literally, it, it felt like Billy Ocean

Sir Daniel:

was still singing on this.

Sir Daniel:

Like, we can hear Billy Ocean, we can hear, um.

Sir Daniel:

Uh, Bob Marley and those, and then the way Maxi Priest presented Rastafari Eye.

Sir Daniel:

Super long locks.

Sir Daniel:

But this song was so tender and so beautifully produced, um, that gave us

Sir Daniel:

that, that nice, um, I call it the Soul to soul groove, the Nelly Hooper kind

Sir Daniel:

of groove behind it, which made it very palatable to us here in the United States.

Jay Ray:

So close to you for me once again.

Jay Ray:

Um, much like, uh, uh, Caribbean Queen.

Jay Ray:

Smells and feels like 1990, like it's a summertime.

Jay Ray:

It's a song that reminds me of a specific period of time.

Jay Ray:

I don't know if the memory that I'm about to share is true, but

Jay Ray:

it's the memory that I feel the most when I, when I hear that song.

Jay Ray:

So by then I am 12 or 13.

Jay Ray:

So the way I would go to sleep.

Jay Ray:

Is I would play the radio, so I always had like a, the radio next to

Jay Ray:

my bed and so I would play the radio and typically overnight on, uh, uh,

Jay Ray:

radio At the time it would be Soul Jams, miss pretty much, and relaxing

Jay Ray:

music all night long during the week.

Jay Ray:

And I remember on like the Quiet Storm, on Power 99, first hearing

Jay Ray:

this song and it was just like.

Jay Ray:

This, what is this?

Jay Ray:

This is beautiful.

Jay Ray:

It just felt so soothing in a time when hip hop was taking over everything.

Jay Ray:

You had this song kind of sneak in and had this beautiful melody and,

Jay Ray:

um, and, and still that hook to this day just kind of sends me to a place.

Jay Ray:

It is an absolute gorgeous song.

Sir Daniel:

It is.

Sir Daniel:

And again, because when you write a song like that, when you produce a song in

Sir Daniel:

that nature, that way it's timeless.

Sir Daniel:

That like I, I, I can play that song.

Sir Daniel:

It came out in 1990.

Sir Daniel:

I can play that song today in a new Jacks swing set.

Sir Daniel:

Uh, uh, a slow jam set and it goes off people still and it

Sir Daniel:

still resonates with people.

Sir Daniel:

It's beautiful.

Sir Daniel:

And so shout out to Maxi Priest, um, who I believe also did a duet with

Sir Daniel:

the last brother that we're gonna talk about, which is Shaa ranks,

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Sir Daniel:

I think she ranks might have been the last.

Sir Daniel:

Might have been the last Caribbean invasion.

Sir Daniel:

Caribbean super mega superstar.

Sir Daniel:

That we saw.

Sir Daniel:

I mean, we had, you know, you had your boogies and whatnot o over that, but I

Sir Daniel:

think Shaba ranks had an impact in the United States that was unlike anybody

Sir Daniel:

else, because in the, in nine, that period between 90 to 93, 94 sha ranks

Sir Daniel:

was on fire when tingling came out.

Sir Daniel:

There was people that had never been to Jamaica, had

Sir Daniel:

never even had a Jamaican beef.

Sir Daniel:

Patty were singing that song, tingling Like it was this.

Sir Daniel:

I mean, it was a fantastic song, but Shaba Ranks had also had mega

Sir Daniel:

crossover appeal with ballads.

Sir Daniel:

This, y'all need to, y'all gotta put some ballots out guys.

Sir Daniel:

The ballots are what will take you over and will give you longevity, but Mr.

Sir Daniel:

Lover Man.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

Was Shabba.

Sir Daniel:

I mean, it also made, it also gave us comedy gold because they lampoon

Sir Daniel:

that on, um, in living color.

Sir Daniel:

But yeah, so Shaba Ranks came around and lemme tell you something,

Sir Daniel:

when Shaba performs today crazy, the response is still just as

Sir Daniel:

crazy as it was in the nineties.

Jay Ray:

yeah.

Jay Ray:

You know?

Jay Ray:

I'm so glad we get a chance to just kind of lift up, uh, Shaaba ranks

Jay Ray:

because yeah, he um, he took all of this stuff that had come before and mixed

Jay Ray:

in the dance hall piece 'cause we were by now in that, that moment in time.

Jay Ray:

Um, so it still felt familiar, but it also felt like really new and.

Jay Ray:

Shopper ranks spawned the then, uh, uh, uh, American need to

Jay Ray:

have like a reggae rhyme on like every album in the early 1990s.

Jay Ray:

So you were either doing, you either had a reggae influenced song, or you

Jay Ray:

were doing a rap, or somebody was doing a rap that kind of reminded

Jay Ray:

you of what Shabba Ranks was doing.

Jay Ray:

Um, he had a huge, huge impact.

Jay Ray:

On the moment.

Sir Daniel:

Huge impact.

Sir Daniel:

Kick down the doors and then like you were saying, then you got, you open

Sir Daniel:

the door, then we can get a SuperCAT, we get a ou, we get a red rat.

Sir Daniel:

We get all these people that, like you said, show up on these remixes,

Sir Daniel:

especially a lot of hip hop remixes.

Sir Daniel:

Then you have everybody doing hybrids, mad Lion.

Jay Ray:

Yep.

Sir Daniel:

Um, and then you get re reggae remixes of hip hop songs, and then you

Sir Daniel:

get reggae remixes of, uh, r and b songs.

Sir Daniel:

So again, these brothers came in and changed the game in their own lanes.

Sir Daniel:

So as we wrap up, um, we don't wanna.

Sir Daniel:

I know you're probably thinking like, how can you not talk about loose ends?

Sir Daniel:

We can't.

Sir Daniel:

We haven't.

Sir Daniel:

We didn't forget about Carl McIntosh from Loose Ends.

Sir Daniel:

I couldn't con, I couldn't, um, confirm his descent, but I'm

Sir Daniel:

willing to bet dollars to donuts.

Sir Daniel:

There's some Caribbean connection in there.

Sir Daniel:

There's some Caribbean blood clanking around in those veins.

Sir Daniel:

But shout out to Carl McIntosh.

Sir Daniel:

And the, um, loose ends crew who is still doing his thing in the uk.

Sir Daniel:

Um, again, another impactful group on, uh, r and b and here in the United States.

Sir Daniel:

So, so that was your, um, lesson, kids on the British, the Caribbean,

Sir Daniel:

British invasion of the early eighties into the nineties.

Jay Ray:

yeah.

Jay Ray:

Go back and play these songs, y'all, all of them be bopping.

Jay Ray:

So, uh, in fact, we should put out a playlist so that y'all can, uh,

Jay Ray:

check out, uh, some of the joints.

Jay Ray:

Um, but

Sir Daniel:

the going gets tough.

Jay Ray:

duh, when is, listen, Billy OSHA was killing the game, so, um.

Jay Ray:

Make sure that you subscribe.

Jay Ray:

If you can see our faces or hear our voices wherever you

Jay Ray:

are, subscribe to the show.

Jay Ray:

Share the show with your friends, family, colleagues.

Jay Ray:

'cause if you love Queue Points, they will love Queue Points as well.

Jay Ray:

Visit our website@queuepoints.com.

Jay Ray:

You could do a whole bunch of stuff over there.

Jay Ray:

You can listen to our archive of shows, which are dope.

Jay Ray:

You can subscribe to our newsletter.

Jay Ray:

You could get over to our substack because we have a whole bunch of

Jay Ray:

stuff over on our Substack as well.

Jay Ray:

You can become a member.

Jay Ray:

If you wanna do, you can do all the things, do them.

Jay Ray:

All right.

Jay Ray:

Also, you could shop our store@store.queuepoints.com.

Jay Ray:

Excuse me.

Jay Ray:

We appreciate y'all.

Jay Ray:

We love y'all.

Jay Ray:

Thanks for

Jay Ray:

hanging out with us,

Sir Daniel:

We certainly do, and as 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 can let the record play.

Sir Daniel:

I'm DJ Sir Daniel.

Jay Ray:

and my name is Jay Ray.

Sir Daniel:

And this has been Queue Points podcast, dropping

Sir Daniel:

the needle on Black music history.

Sir Daniel:

We will see you on the next go round, Shaba.

Jay Ray:

Peace.

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About the Podcast

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Queue Points

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About your hosts

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DJ Sir Daniel

DJ Sir Daniel is a DJ/Selector and part of Atlanta's, all-vinyl crew, Wax Fundamentals. Co-host of the Queue Points podcast, he is an advocate for DJ culture and is passionate about creating atmospheres of inclusivity and jubilation from a Black perspective.

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Jay Ray

Johnnie Ray Kornegay III (Jay Ray) is a podcast consultant and co-host and producer of Queue Points, the Ambie Award-nominated podcast that drops the needle on Black music history. In addition to his duties at Queue Points, he is the Deputy Director of Strategy and Impact for CNP (Counter Narrative Project). A photographer, creative consultant and social commentator, Jay Ray's work is centered around a commitment to telling full and honest stories about communities often ignored.