Episode 198

Gimmicks, Ghouls & Genius: Unpacking Horrorcore Hip Hop

This episode of Queue Points dives into the controversial, creative, and deeply Black history of horrorcore hip hop. Join Jay Ray and Sir Daniel as they explore how horrorcore gave artists a space to rap beyond the confines of reality, blending storytelling with the macabre and using exaggerated, sometimes shocking imagery to talk about the real horrors faced by Black communities. From the pioneering Geto Boys and the psychological depths of “Mind Playing Tricks on Me,” to the extreme sounds of Brotha Lynch Hung and the genre’s roots in horror film culture, the hosts break down horrorcore’s origins, regional distinctions, and evolving influence.

They discuss how horrorcore became a tool for expressing taboo emotions—especially among young Black men—and how it’s both fun curiosity and serious commentary, crossing gimmickry and genius. The episode covers the genre’s evolution, its relentless controversies, and its impact on modern hip hop, all while celebrating how Black artists have always used horror as a path to creativity and as a reflection of lived experience.

Tune in for a lively conversation about fangs, folklore, fear, and the enduring legacy of horrorcore in hip hop—and don’t forget to check out their other Halloween-inspired episodes!

Chapter Markers

00:00 Intro

00:16 Welcome to the Show

00:57 Discussing Horrorcore: A Controversial Subgenre

04:16 Origins and Pioneers of Horrorcore

11:28 The Influence of Horror Movies on Horrorcore

17:17 Brotha Lynch Hung and the Extreme Side of Horrorcore

20:43 The Evolution of Horrorcore into Modern Music

26:47 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

27:56 Outro

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Transcript
Sir Daniel:

Greetings and welcome to another episode of Queue Points podcast.

Jay Ray:

That surprised me.

Jay Ray:

Hey y'all.

Jay Ray:

My name is Jay Ray, sometimes known by my government as Johnnie Ray Kornegay III.

Jay Ray:

And, if you can't tell, it's spooky season and you know how we do here at

Jay Ray:

Queue Points, we got stuff to talk about.

Sir Daniel:

You couldn't tell by the my, um, my intro.

Sir Daniel:

You know, like Jay Ray said, it's spooky season, so we

Sir Daniel:

gotta scare it up a little bit.

Sir Daniel:

Now my eye, my eye, you shot me in the eye.

Sir Daniel:

Why'd you shoot me in the eye?

Sir Daniel:

I would've shot you in the body, but you shot me in the eye.

Sir Daniel:

You know, Jay Ray, when I think back on the topic of Horrorcore.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Sir Daniel:

Because remember that that was a thing

Jay Ray:

It is a

Jay Ray:

thing.

Jay Ray:

It kind of still is, but yes, it was a thing.

Jay Ray:

And go ahead.

Sir Daniel:

I wondered, is this the most controversial subgenre of black music ever

Jay Ray:

Ooh,

Jay Ray:

that is a good question.

Jay Ray:

Um, I think, I don't think Horrorcore is the most controversial sub.

Jay Ray:

music because I, I do think that there are pieces of punk that really

Jay Ray:

do hold the mantle in terms of what, 'cause really what we're talking about

Jay Ray:

is what makes society uncomfortable.

Sir Daniel:

Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray:

What I do think Horrorcore did for hip hop is, um, kind of made some

Jay Ray:

of it more interesting because of the nature of the style of music, um, where

Jay Ray:

it gave, I think artists an opportunity to kind rap beyond the confines of reality.

Jay Ray:

You know what I'm saying?

Jay Ray:

And anytime that black folks get the opportunity to do that, I champion it.

Jay Ray:

But, um, I, I have over the years found Horrorcore to be, uh, a fun curiosity.

Jay Ray:

Not a everyday listen for me, not my thing, but absolutely a fun curiosity.

Jay Ray:

And I'm

Sir Daniel:

Fun.

Sir Daniel:

Curiosity belongs on the t-shirt.

Sir Daniel:

Fun curiosity is right up there with, I wish I liked this more and

Sir Daniel:

I'm just not the demographic for this, for this Um, yeah, Horrorcore

Sir Daniel:

never, I was never attracted to it.

Sir Daniel:

I, I didn't find anything outside of the, um.

Sir Daniel:

The classic that my mind's playing tricks on me outside of that Horrorcore,

Sir Daniel:

never, never really appealed to me.

Sir Daniel:

Um, to me it just, it, it seemed very gimmicky.

Sir Daniel:

Um, I understand the desire to tell stories, and when you

Sir Daniel:

think about it Horrorcore.

Sir Daniel:

Has been around, well we couldn't even call it Horrorcore back then.

Sir Daniel:

It was storytelling.

Sir Daniel:

So you had Dana Dane with Nightmares, you had the Fat Boys.

Sir Daniel:

Um, talking about Freddy and Nightmare, will Smith had a

Sir Daniel:

nightmare on M Street record.

Sir Daniel:

You know, there's the freaks come out at night.

Sir Daniel:

I guess that's a scary record.

Sir Daniel:

We thriller by Michael Jackson, of course.

Sir Daniel:

Is is the.

Sir Daniel:

Um, the, I guess, Horrorcore pop r and b record then,

Sir Daniel:

would that be considered that?

Sir Daniel:

But it's fun.

Sir Daniel:

Horrorcore came around in the mid nineties and there was just nothing fun about it.

Sir Daniel:

There was no, nothing redeeming that it's not, we are not gonna get out on and

Sir Daniel:

bust a move to some Horrorcore records.

Sir Daniel:

The DJ was not dropping that in the middle of the dance

Jay Ray:

Yeah, so that is interesting.

Jay Ray:

You're absolutely right.

Jay Ray:

So when we look at, uh, the nature of Horrorcore and kind of,

Jay Ray:

its origins, it's interesting.

Jay Ray:

So as we were preparing for this show, I was like, okay, so I remembered.

Jay Ray:

Brotha Lynch Hung, which is really far to like the far end of Horrorcore.

Jay Ray:

We'll talk about him later.

Jay Ray:

Of course, the Geto Boys, of course, the Gravediggaz.

Jay Ray:

So we're gonna talk about like some of the, the high, the highlights, right?

Jay Ray:

But one of the things I, I discovered is it's two things.

Jay Ray:

So the term.

Jay Ray:

Horrorcore, as a word, was first used by a group called KMC in 1991.

Jay Ray:

So they had this record, it was called Three Men with the Power of 10.

Jay Ray:

And what's unique about this record?

Jay Ray:

So I went and I found the record, um, we'll make sure that we include

Jay Ray:

the link to the, the playlist in the description is the record is a hip hop

Jay Ray:

record of its time, but it does include.

Jay Ray:

Uh, spooky sounds is the best way I can describe it.

Jay Ray:

Um, and it includes, uh, exaggerated rhymes, you know what I'm saying?

Jay Ray:

Which become a, a, a hallmark of Horrorcore, where it's just like, you are

Jay Ray:

not just pew ping somebody, you're like, pew ping them and like, doing all this

Jay Ray:

other stuff in addition to the pew, pew.

Jay Ray:

You know what I mean?

Sir Daniel:

Dismemberment

Jay Ray:

Dismemberment, all types of stuff.

Jay Ray:

Um, so, but that term Horrorcore kind of showed up in that, that particular record.

Jay Ray:

But, you know, the, the true pioneers, although cool, Keith will say that

Jay Ray:

he is the originator and he's not completely wrong because of some of

Jay Ray:

the stuff he spit on, critical beat

Jay Ray:

the Geto Boys truly are.

Jay Ray:

Like true pioneers of this.

Jay Ray:

So they have, um, a song from their first record called It's disturbing.

Jay Ray:

Um, so disturbing in the sense of.

Jay Ray:

Willie Bill and Scarface always just kind of took the violence too far.

Jay Ray:

Right?

Jay Ray:

So Assassins is telling three different stories 'cause it's

Jay Ray:

three different and it's, and it, it starts off regular of course.

Jay Ray:

And then it devolves into like, wait, why are you, why

Jay Ray:

would you do that to somebody?

Jay Ray:

Because it gets ridiculous and.

Jay Ray:

I get why folks would consider this kind of like, this is really the

Jay Ray:

beginning of Horrorcore, right?

Jay Ray:

It is.

Jay Ray:

The, the, the, the, the, the scariness of it.

Jay Ray:

The grotesqueness of the descriptions that make this thing work.

Jay Ray:

Of course, leading into, in the mainstream.

Jay Ray:

We, we had my mom's playing tricks on me, which of course did the

Jay Ray:

psychological, um, horror sort of thing.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

And, and the music video was disturbing

Sir Daniel:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

Um, and it took place on Halloween.

Jay Ray:

So the, the Geto Boys truly are like pioneers of what Horrorcore ultimately

Jay Ray:

became because they were not afraid.

Jay Ray:

To exaggerate the violence in, uh, this kind of really farfetched but

Jay Ray:

definitely folks should go back and check out assassins because it

Jay Ray:

really does describe, Horrorcore,

Sir Daniel:

Absolutely.

Sir Daniel:

And uh, one other point I'd like to make about, um, my mind's playing

Sir Daniel:

tricks on me specifically is that I think that song in particular,

Sir Daniel:

um, made its way into the often.

Sir Daniel:

Rigid souls of hip hop's main audience at that time, which is adolescent.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Sir Daniel:

specifically black boys, and, and this, and this is a time when

Sir Daniel:

nobody is checking on black men and black boys emotionally or checking in

Sir Daniel:

with them or trying to figure out why are they attracted to this and why are

Sir Daniel:

they, um, having such, uh, emotional outbreaks and, and just thinking

Sir Daniel:

that, oh, well this is just violent.

Sir Daniel:

They're just violent.

Sir Daniel:

By nature when, no, the actions are violent, but the act, the violent

Sir Daniel:

actions have something behind it.

Sir Daniel:

There's some hurt And so I think that the Geto Boys, and we're, and we're

Sir Daniel:

talking about it more today, that song tapped into that aspect and kind of

Sir Daniel:

gave voice, um, kind of gave language to young black men at that point

Sir Daniel:

as far as what they were feeling.

Sir Daniel:

Um, emotionally, but still unable to, to communicate it to other people.

Sir Daniel:

, Jay Ray: I love this point because I do think,

Sir Daniel:

one of the, the, the, things that Horrorcore.

Sir Daniel:

Was able to do is tap in and like IS like you, like we talked about, give

Sir Daniel:

um, an opportunity for rappers to kind of share these fanciful stories.

Sir Daniel:

'cause white folks get an opportunity to do this all the time.

Sir Daniel:

Right.

Sir Daniel:

You know what I'm saying?

Sir Daniel:

You,

Sir Daniel:

Clown Posse.

Jay Ray:

it's saying clown posse who, who.

Jay Ray:

It's crazy.

Jay Ray:

So as an aside, insane Clown Posse are kind of the most well known for

Jay Ray:

Horrorcore, but they literally took the ideas from Geto Boys three six

Jay Ray:

Mafia Brotha Lynch Hung and morphed it into this thing, and now they are kind

Jay Ray:

of the poster child for what this is.

Jay Ray:

But the origins.

Jay Ray:

Like so often is true, right?

Jay Ray:

Come from us, right?

Jay Ray:

But this type of, you know, white folks get the opportunity to to,

Jay Ray:

to kind of create these, these, these characters all the time.

Jay Ray:

If we think Alice Cooper, we think all of these things, right?

Jay Ray:

Kiss Ozzy Osborne.

Jay Ray:

Right?

Jay Ray:

And I do think that Horrorcore kind of to your point.

Jay Ray:

Help to tap into some of that.

Jay Ray:

And if you don't mind, sir Daniel, I do want to, I know we

Jay Ray:

gotta talk about the Gravediggaz.

Jay Ray:

I wanna do them last because I think they come last in this line.

Jay Ray:

'cause I wanna bring up something that's not in our, our run You know?

Jay Ray:

Who else is this?

Jay Ray:

Um, three six Mafia,

Sir Daniel:

So I I it is like you were picking up.

Sir Daniel:

So here's where I was gonna go.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

I think one of the aspects of Horrorcore that, um, we, people don't.

Sir Daniel:

pick up on is the love.

Sir Daniel:

That a lot of black people have for the horror

Jay Ray:

As

Sir Daniel:

genre of movies.

Sir Daniel:

Vincent Price is featured all over Thriller.

Sir Daniel:

Vincent Vincent Price ends Thriller the record because of Michael Jackson's

Sir Daniel:

love for old Vincent Price movies.

Sir Daniel:

The Twilight Zone is mentioned a lot in these movies.

Sir Daniel:

Alfred Hitchcock, we've always had an affinity for.

Sir Daniel:

Horror movies.

Sir Daniel:

And then when you had in the sixties?

Sir Daniel:

No, the seventies when blaxploitation movies were the rage.

Sir Daniel:

And then we even got our own, um, horror blaxploitation movies with

Sir Daniel:

Bula and Bride of Bula Scream Bula, you Jive Turkey Black, you love,

Sir Daniel:

you know, we got all of that stuff.

Sir Daniel:

And so those things, you know, the, the kid, the people who

Sir Daniel:

grew up to be the Gravediggaz.

Sir Daniel:

that moment, they, they would go to those movie theaters and those

Sir Daniel:

were the movies that you could see.

Sir Daniel:

You could watch two and three movies at a time and they would watch those.

Sir Daniel:

And people loved, like the PDB straw movies, um, things like that really

Sir Daniel:

resonated with, um, with black audiences.

Sir Daniel:

And those themes popped up.

Sir Daniel:

Time and time again, especially commercially again, like I said,

Sir Daniel:

with Nightmare on M Street with, um, wilt with, uh, fresh Prince of,

Sir Daniel:

fresh Prince of Bella, jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince and the Fat Boys.

Sir Daniel:

Capitalizing and being a part of those, um, those soundtracks.

Sir Daniel:

You thought about Three Six Mafia.

Sir Daniel:

I thought about bone thugs in harmony.

Jay Ray:

Absolutely.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Sir Daniel:

That first album I, I'll never forget, this is, this is a true moment.

Sir Daniel:

I was over, um, at a friend's house and they were listening to the Bone

Sir Daniel:

Thugs and Harmony album, and they, they had it turned up so loud on

Sir Daniel:

that one song that, that murder song, I kid you not the chanting.

Sir Daniel:

Everything raised.

Sir Daniel:

There was a chill that went up my spine.

Sir Daniel:

I was like, you, I gotta

Jay Ray:

You like, I don't like these

Jay Ray:

spirit, these spirits, this?

Sir Daniel:

I don't, I rebuke all of this that is coming out of that,

Sir Daniel:

that speaker right now, because this is, this is conjuring something.

Sir Daniel:

And, um, and three six Mafia, you know, there's been a whole lot of

Sir Daniel:

folklore around three six Mafia and alleged, um, delving into the, into,

Sir Daniel:

um.

Jay Ray:

the occult

Sir Daniel:

Cul and, and, and devil worship, and saying that the, you

Sir Daniel:

know, that their success came about because of, you know, making deals

Sir Daniel:

with, you know, which is a trope that has always followed black musicians

Sir Daniel:

and, um, yeah, so Horrorcore has.

Sir Daniel:

It's not just about people trying to take, you know, take advantage of and

Sir Daniel:

make, you know, overly dramatic music, but there is a through line of black

Sir Daniel:

people celebrating the macabre and celebrating, um, scary movies and, and

Sir Daniel:

thrilling each other with the music.

Sir Daniel:

And so we, we get more, I think like the, the.

Sir Daniel:

Some of the, the music that was popular for the Har in the moment for the

Sir Daniel:

Horrorcore Horrorcore genre kind of doesn't ha, wasn't substantial because

Sir Daniel:

you had other people who were able to incorporate like the visuals and whatnot,

Sir Daniel:

but they still learned to that, okay, this is music and people are gonna have

Sir Daniel:

to get into the music part somehow.

Sir Daniel:

So I'm gonna have to make it danceable or.

Sir Daniel:

Make the beats better or we gonna, we not going to be so elaborate with the rhymes.

Sir Daniel:

We're gonna kind of dumb it down and, and make chants and things like that.

Sir Daniel:

So, you know, we going to get a yeah ho on the end of every, of every rhyme.

Sir Daniel:

Um, but we're still going to get the visuals of the, the scary in the macab.

Jay Ray:

Yeah, so it's interesting, right?

Jay Ray:

Um.

Jay Ray:

As, uh, I was preparing for to have this conversation about this topic, I

Jay Ray:

went back like music videos and stuff.

Sir Daniel:

Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray:

What's interesting is I do think the era of like Giness and kind

Jay Ray:

of underground really did lend itself.

Jay Ray:

It was a easy, it was an easy way to pair it all together.

Jay Ray:

And we also culturally are in this moment, because we're talking about the, the

Jay Ray:

early to mid nineties, crack is still.

Jay Ray:

Happen.

Jay Ray:

I people are still dying from IV related complications.

Jay Ray:

There's a lot of darkness in.

Jay Ray:

Just in, in, in black culture.

Jay Ray:

Right.

Jay Ray:

And so I do think also it, it, this music kind of capitalized on, or not

Jay Ray:

capitalized, but was really kind of,

Jay Ray:

using the horror as a way to discuss the horrors of what was happening in because.

Jay Ray:

Up until this point, we have been talking about artists.

Jay Ray:

We haven't even gotten to New York yet, right?

Jay Ray:

Because, uh, uh, uh, Geto Boys are from Houston.

Jay Ray:

Um, three six Mafia from Memphis and brother Lynch, Hong, who we're about

Jay Ray:

to talk about, um, is from California.

Jay Ray:

I think Sacramento but.

Jay Ray:

So we ain't even got to New York.

Jay Ray:

So this is all happening, right?

Jay Ray:

And being kind of stirred outside of New York because there are artists

Jay Ray:

outside of the New York bubble that are kind of also creating their own thing.

Jay Ray:

Um, I wanna talk about Brotha Lynch Hung real quick.

Jay Ray:

This is not, season of the sickness is just not an easy listen.

Jay Ray:

Now, what's really cool, I will say this.

Jay Ray:

In preparing for this, I went back and I pulled the songs from Season Brotha Lynch

Jay Ray:

Hung has now gone in and basically created visuals for every song on this album.

Jay Ray:

So you now not only gets a chance to listen to the record, you get the

Jay Ray:

opportunity to just kind of see a visual.

Jay Ray:

Um, associated with it, but Brotha Lynch Hung, um, season of the sickness

Jay Ray:

comes out in 95, actually the same year.

Jay Ray:

So Horrorcore is really blowing up in 95 because, you know, of course

Jay Ray:

we got the, the, uh, three six Mafia and Brotha Lynch Hung happens.

Jay Ray:

Brother Lynch.

Jay Ray:

Hong is, Brotha Lynch Hung is doing this thing called Rip Gut is what he names it.

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray:

Um, and it is very, it is ex, it is extreme.

Jay Ray:

Now that production is real tight.

Jay Ray:

It's real West coast, early real west coast right?

Jay Ray:

He's clearly skilled as a rapper and a storyteller,

Jay Ray:

and he's also not afraid.

Jay Ray:

To delve into topics that are extreme and obscene.

Jay Ray:

Um, and he has a whole audience that absolutely loves what he does,

Jay Ray:

so he's still able to work today and do all the things that he does.

Jay Ray:

And this particular record season of the sickness, if, if you're, look,

Jay Ray:

if you're, in my mind, if I'm looking for two records that kind of explain.

Jay Ray:

That really codify Horrorcore.

Jay Ray:

It's gonna be the three six record.

Jay Ray:

Was it Mystic Music, I think is the debut and, um, season of the Sickness by

Jay Ray:

Brotha Lynch Hung, which wow, to listen.

Jay Ray:

I couldn't even get through some of this, so, so I'm like,

Jay Ray:

yeah, see, uh, uh, I'm good.

Sir Daniel:

I am gonna be honest until you mention him.

Sir Daniel:

I, I don't recall.

Sir Daniel:

I don't remember this brother.

Jay Ray:

He was too extreme, like he couldn't play, you couldn't play the

Jay Ray:

stuff on any type of platform because it was just that bleeding edge.

Jay Ray:

It's like right at the edge of what you can do.

Sir Daniel:

Well, here's the thing about being this niche of an artist is

Sir Daniel:

that although you're not, you are not made for mainstream and the mainstream

Sir Daniel:

isn't really picking up on this.

Sir Daniel:

You can develop an occult following.

Sir Daniel:

And what we've seen with um, people like Brotha Lynch Hung is that

Sir Daniel:

although the mainstreaming you may not be making mainstream money,

Sir Daniel:

there are definitely venues available to people that are into this.

Sir Daniel:

I mean, and there are people that are really into, um, this brand.

Sir Daniel:

Of hip hop and are keeping it alive, like you said, in Insane Clown Posse is to this

Sir Daniel:

day, is still touring and, and nowadays you, everything is about packaging

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel:

and putting things in packages.

Sir Daniel:

So there is a way to continue making money, um, off of this particular genre.

Sir Daniel:

Or, um, leaf from the hip hop tree from the hip hop branch.

Sir Daniel:

I, now, what I will say is that although there is not Horrorcore isn't practiced

Sir Daniel:

blatantly like it is, but I will say some of the music that we have today that,

Sir Daniel:

that the music that came out in the 2010s.

Sir Daniel:

It may not have been labeled Horrorcore, but it was horrifying There was a, they,

Sir Daniel:

you know, I always talk about vibrations and, and things that made me feel uneasy.

Sir Daniel:

Music that made me feel uneasy.

Sir Daniel:

Some of that music's for sure made me feel uneasy, especially when we get to

Sir Daniel:

2015 when we, we get to see, um, the movement from Chicago, uh, especially

Sir Daniel:

with, um, what's that young man?

Sir Daniel:

Um.

Jay Ray:

who?

Jay Ray:

Pa who?

Jay Ray:

Who got shot?

Sir Daniel:

No, not that one.

Sir Daniel:

The one that's still alive.

Jay Ray:

that's still, oh, you're talking about Chief Keef?

Sir Daniel:

chief Keef there is, to me it's all about energy and the energy that

Sir Daniel:

and there is a darkness that his movement.

Sir Daniel:

Kind of, kind of took over, um, young people, and that's why we have the,

Sir Daniel:

that's why we use the terminology why ends now because they've taken on this

Sir Daniel:

posture and this appearance of boogiemen.

Sir Daniel:

People to be afraid And so, and you know, they're posturing.

Sir Daniel:

They all look the same.

Sir Daniel:

They, you know, the dressed in black wearing hoodies in the summertime, the,

Sir Daniel:

the, the ties of, of it all with the masks and, you know, you don't know.

Sir Daniel:

Whether or not they're coming to do you harm, they have taken on

Sir Daniel:

this posture of the boogeyman.

Sir Daniel:

And so I think what we're seeing now is a kind of, um, a revolution or

Sir Daniel:

evolution of Horrorcore into this.

Sir Daniel:

Um.

Sir Daniel:

Into what we refer to as trap music or you know, yin music or, you

Sir Daniel:

know, that's what it's evolved into.

Sir Daniel:

So it's not where I think there was an entertainment aspect of, at first, I think

Sir Daniel:

has now creeped into the subconscious and the actions and the, the vibrations that a

Sir Daniel:

lot of these young people are living and.

Sir Daniel:

Living their, living their lives and, and living through that.

Sir Daniel:

And they, and you could see in the lack of, um, reverence for life,

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Sir Daniel:

you know, not for nothing.

Sir Daniel:

The way some, some of these young people are able to just shoot and kill other.

Sir Daniel:

Is that a rutabaga?

Jay Ray:

was a rutabaga.

Jay Ray:

Hold on.

Jay Ray:

Recording.

Jay Ray:

Thank you.

Jay Ray:

Okay.

Jay Ray:

Uh, we're back.

Sir Daniel:

Rutabaga.

Sir Daniel:

But, um, the way that they're able to disrespect each other's

Sir Daniel:

life and, you know, the whole.

Sir Daniel:

Um, everybody is your OP, or I've got ops and I'm smoking on my ops.

Sir Daniel:

You like, you'll take their ashes and you roll 'em up and you'll smoke.

Sir Daniel:

All that stuff is, I think, is, um, a direct descendant of Horrorcore

Sir Daniel:

and which I don't feel has a value has a, a nurturing value to our

Jay Ray:

You know, it is interesting that you mention that because the other

Jay Ray:

group wanna talk about, we finally have made it to New York, y'all.

Jay Ray:

So, um, grave digs, um, so this is a super group, essentially,

Jay Ray:

so it's Prince Paul Rizza.

Jay Ray:

Qua.

Jay Ray:

Who was the other brother?

Jay Ray:

Two Poetic is the other brother.

Jay Ray:

So it's four of them.

Jay Ray:

Uh, Gravediggaz comes out.

Jay Ray:

Um, I think this is 94 and six feet deep is the album.

Jay Ray:

You know what I mean?

Jay Ray:

But now here's what's interesting, and I didn't know this until,

Jay Ray:

uh, preparing for this show.

Jay Ray:

So Qua was saying like.

Jay Ray:

Oh yeah, we did use the Horrorcore kind of.

Jay Ray:

He didn't say this part, they used the Horrorcore kind of idea,

Jay Ray:

but grave digs, uh, hold on.

Jay Ray:

I got the quote.

Jay Ray:

Grave digs.

Jay Ray:

It means.

Jay Ray:

This is so New York.

Jay Ray:

It means digging graves of the mentally dead, resurrecting the

Jay Ray:

mental, the mentally dead from their state of unawareness and ignorance.

Jay Ray:

So what I love about what you just described though, I know, I know, I know.

Jay Ray:

It's

Sir Daniel:

I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm pat in the back of my head because my eyes,

Sir Daniel:

I rolled my eyes so hard at that.

Sir Daniel:

But

Sir Daniel:

go ahead.

Jay Ray:

But, but in

Sir Daniel:

is Fruit Quon from Onic, by the way you all think about that.

Jay Ray:

What, what that, the contrast to what you described, right?

Jay Ray:

That darkness that does is in the, the kind of the, the, the, DNA of

Jay Ray:

this, this music that we were talking about in the, you know, 2010s.

Jay Ray:

Um.

Jay Ray:

Is the opposite of what grave Digs was trying to do.

Jay Ray:

So when I went back and I, uh, I kind of listened to the record

Jay Ray:

kind of from the vantage point of.

Jay Ray:

I didn't know this at the time, and now I'm like, oh, I

Jay Ray:

see how they were doing that.

Jay Ray:

They were kind of using this horror thing to have all of these other deep

Jay Ray:

conversations lyrically about culture, about blackness, about all of this.

Jay Ray:

It's just wrapped in this scary exterior, scary

Sir Daniel:

and everybody had fangs.

Jay Ray:

Everybody had fangs and um, I still think the, the grill fangs are dope.

Jay Ray:

So y'all kids out here thinking you doing something new with the grill fangs?

Jay Ray:

This was already happening 32 years ago.

Sir Daniel:

right?

Sir Daniel:

That was a Wu-Tang thing from a long time ago.

Sir Daniel:

So, yeah, I don't know.

Sir Daniel:

Great conversation as you know, as we into, as into spooky

Sir Daniel:

season, and you know, sp.

Jay Ray:

Yeah, y'all.

Jay Ray:

So go back and check out some of these records if you can see

Jay Ray:

our faces and hear our voices.

Jay Ray:

Subscribe.

Jay Ray:

Share the show with your friends, family, and colleagues.

Jay Ray:

We have other Halloween shows that are fun.

Jay Ray:

Um, we have a show where we talk about the fact that LL Cool J Live twice in

Jay Ray:

horror movies, which is a super fun show.

Jay Ray:

Y'all should check that out.

Jay Ray:

Um.

Jay Ray:

Visit, uh, our website, uh queuepoints.com.

Jay Ray:

Or you can check out all the archived, uh, episodes from the show.

Jay Ray:

Uh, visit our store at store.queuepoints.com or you can

Jay Ray:

check us out on Substack as well.

Jay Ray:

We appreciate y'all.

Jay Ray:

We love y'all.

Sir Daniel:

Absolutely.

Sir Daniel:

And it's like I always say in this life, you have a choice.

Sir Daniel:

You can either pick up the needle

Sir Daniel:

This is I am DJ Aniel,

Jay Ray:

My name is Jay Ray, y'all.

Sir Daniel:

and this is Queue Points podcast, dropping the

Sir Daniel:

needle on black music history.

Sir Daniel:

Oh.

Jay Ray:

Y'all.

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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.