Episode 171

Y2K: The Bug That Shook the World and Saved the Future

Published on: 7th January, 2025

Step into the time capsule with DJ Sir Daniel and Jay Ray as Queue Points rewinds to the dawn of the millennium! From the global Y2K panic to the futuristic vibes that shaped music, fashion, and pop culture, this episode explores the fears, fun, and moments that defined the year 2000. Relive the hype of iconic hits, flashy music videos, and trendsetting TV shows like 106 & Park, and reflect on how Black culture embraced the sci-fi aesthetic of the new millennium. Packed with humor, sharp insights, and nostalgia, this episode is a celebration of resilience, creativity, and cultural evolution. Whether you lived through Y2K or are hearing about it for the first time, Queue Points is here to drop the needle on Black music history and keep the conversation spinning.

#Y2K #MillenniumBug #BlackMusicHistory #BlackPodcasters

Chapters

00:00 Intro Theme

00:16 Welcome to Queue Points Podcast

00:40 Reflecting on the Year 2000

01:44 Y2K: The Global Panic

03:25 Breaking Down the Y2K Bug

08:00 The Cultural Impact of Y2K

12:29 Hip Hop and the Millennium

23:35 The Legacy of 106 & Park

27:46 Fashion Trends of the 2000s

33:43 Conclusion and Farewell

34:58 Closing Theme

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Transcript
Speaker:

DJ Sir Daniel: Greetings and welcome to another episode of Queue Points Podcast.

Speaker:

I am DJ Sir Daniel,

Jay Ray:

and my name is Jay Ray, sometimes known by my government as Johnnie

Jay Ray:

Ray Kornegay, the third Sir Daniel.

Jay Ray:

This was a moment in time that you literally had to be alive.

Jay Ray:

You have to be

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: there.

Jay Ray:

You had to be there.

Jay Ray:

It is exactly.

Jay Ray:

We're now in 2025.

Jay Ray:

It is exactly 25 years from the year 2000 . We are, we we're

Jay Ray:

at, at the quarter mark, right?

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

25 years into the new millennium.

Jay Ray:

Mm-hmm . And likJay Rayay said, you had to be there.

Jay Ray:

There was just so much going on in 1999 leading up to, to this remarkable change.

Jay Ray:

As a matter of fact.

Jay Ray:

The year 2000 was such a big deal that A24 Films is releasing a disaster comedy

Jay Ray:

called Y2K and we are officially at the age where movies JRE are being made about

Jay Ray:

an era that we experienced firsthand.

Jay Ray:

Can you believe it?

Jay Ray:

You know what?

Jay Ray:

I am grateful that I am here and we are here to experience it.

Jay Ray:

So can I believe it?

Jay Ray:

Sure, because I'm here and this is great and we can have this fun conversation

Jay Ray:

to talk about this moment in time.

Jay Ray:

Now.

Jay Ray:

I'm curious for you, Sir Daniel.

Jay Ray:

So did this turn of the century, cause it was a big deal.

Jay Ray:

Were you excited or were you like anxious?

Jay Ray:

Like what was your, what was your mood?

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: I was a little bit of both more so because I was, um, in a, I was

Jay Ray:

in a, in a, in a state of transition.

Jay Ray:

Like, uh, how old was I?

Jay Ray:

99.

Jay Ray:

What was it?

Jay Ray:

I can't even remember.

Jay Ray:

Well, clearly I had to.

Jay Ray:

I was 22.

Jay Ray:

So you're probably like 24.

Jay Ray:

So 24, 25 actually.

Jay Ray:

Okay.

Jay Ray:

So I'm 25.

Jay Ray:

No, you're right.

Jay Ray:

24 going on 25.

Jay Ray:

And so I am trying to figure things out.

Jay Ray:

I think I'm about to graduate from Clark Atlanta.

Jay Ray:

Um, But I still don't, I'm trying to get into radio.

Jay Ray:

I'm trying to just trying to figure things out.

Jay Ray:

And there's a lot of stuff that is not happening the way that I thought

Jay Ray:

it would, which is, I believe a predicament that a lot of young people

Jay Ray:

in college or at that quarter mark of their life start to experience.

Jay Ray:

Yep.

Jay Ray:

So.

Jay Ray:

You're just trying, you're like, okay, it's, it's a sense of

Jay Ray:

what is, what is we going to do?

Jay Ray:

What am I about to do?

Jay Ray:

And then on top of that, the world is on high alert, right?

Jay Ray:

Because some, some people didn't plan for the numbers changes

Jay Ray:

from 99 to go to double zeros.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Jay Ray:

That just threw us into a whole form of turmoil.

Jay Ray:

So J Jay Ray, there's a whole Y2K theory, a whole Y2K disaster theory

Jay Ray:

that we all live through, but I want you to break it down for the people that

Jay Ray:

weren't there and also just, you know, jarred the people, their memory of the

Jay Ray:

people that were there to experience it.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Jay Ray:

So.

Jay Ray:

Cool.

Jay Ray:

It's interesting that we are about to have this conversation because I

Jay Ray:

think we're so far removed from it that it seems like a weird thing that

Jay Ray:

happened, but it really was real.

Jay Ray:

So I want to start with the number that I think is important.

Jay Ray:

This is according to computer world.

Jay Ray:

They did an article, um.

Jay Ray:

This was a feature story in 2000, okay?

Jay Ray:

The estimated worldwide cost of fixing the Y 2K bug, according to analysts,

Jay Ray:

Capgemini America said $858 billion.

Jay Ray:

Wow.

Jay Ray:

Garner Group said $600 billion.

Jay Ray:

International Data Group said $300 billion, so.

Jay Ray:

The Y2K issue cost us in 2000s money between 300 billion

Jay Ray:

and 858 billion to fix.

Jay Ray:

So let's explain what Y2K was really about and why everybody was so stressed.

Jay Ray:

So what happened was in, in the early days of computer coding, Everything was new.

Jay Ray:

It was like hip hop back in the day.

Jay Ray:

You know what I'm saying?

Jay Ray:

It was new.

Jay Ray:

People was like, we doing, we doing computer things in

Jay Ray:

the, in the, in the 1900s.

Jay Ray:

Right.

Jay Ray:

And 1960, 1967 is 67.

Jay Ray:

That's how we program 67.

Jay Ray:

That's what year it is.

Jay Ray:

You, we know, you know, I know that's 1967, right?

Jay Ray:

But here's the, here's the gag.

Jay Ray:

The gag is, Those people weren't thinking like, well, what happens

Jay Ray:

when it gets to the year 2000, right?

Jay Ray:

So what was the big problem?

Jay Ray:

One of the big problems was the numbering system that was built into the coding

Jay Ray:

of the time was using like two digit Uh, month, year, month, day, year.

Jay Ray:

The problem with that is, of course, when you hit 2000,

Jay Ray:

everything resets to zero, zero.

Jay Ray:

That's a mess.

Jay Ray:

Y'all right.

Jay Ray:

Done.

Jay Ray:

Done.

Jay Ray:

I wish I had that sound effect.

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: Right?

Jay Ray:

So the fear was.

Jay Ray:

Oh, crap.

Jay Ray:

When things reset to zero zero, we're talking banking problems.

Jay Ray:

We're talking everything that could possibly be a problem will be a problem

Jay Ray:

because the system will revert to zero.

Jay Ray:

Like the dates will revert back to zero.

Jay Ray:

So what had to happen and this is second nature to us now, you can look

Jay Ray:

at the clock on your on your computer and it will give you the four digit

Jay Ray:

year before all of these folks did all of this work around the Y2K bug fix.

Jay Ray:

That was not a thing.

Jay Ray:

And

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: so that that really that put us into a tizzy.

Jay Ray:

There were people on television.

Jay Ray:

Um, talking heads that were concerned about airplanes falling out of the sky.

Jay Ray:

And everything was going to, was going to be calamity on New Year's Eve.

Jay Ray:

December 31st, 1995 at midnight, I mean, there were literally guys, do you, I don't

Jay Ray:

know if y'all recall about the discussions about, you know, um, people were clearing

Jay Ray:

out water from the supermarkets and canned goods and, you know, make sure

Jay Ray:

you stock up your, you know, stock up your home with canned goods just in case,

Jay Ray:

you know, the, the, the, the banking systems go down because then you can't go.

Jay Ray:

grocery shopping, and then you can't, you know, and, and then you can't get gas.

Jay Ray:

So then there might be, you know, they wanted you to go fill up your tank.

Jay Ray:

And it was just so much fear mongering that sent really sent people into

Jay Ray:

a tizzy and You know, I think, I think a lot of us, Jay Ray, I'm

Jay Ray:

going to, and I'll count myself.

Jay Ray:

I'm going to use an I statement and I'll count myself in this.

Jay Ray:

A lot of us were thinking when we got to the year 2000, we were thinking, Oh, it's

Jay Ray:

going to be like the Jetsons up in here.

Jay Ray:

Literally like all of a sudden, like the cars are

Jay Ray:

just going to start levitating.

Jay Ray:

I'm not sure why they would do that.

Jay Ray:

That's what we thought.

Jay Ray:

But.

Jay Ray:

And I would say to that point, and Sir Daniel, I don't know if this is true for

Jay Ray:

you, but it was definitely true for me.

Jay Ray:

It was easy when midnight hit to immediately downplay all of the,

Jay Ray:

the stuff that happened, all of the, the fear mongering, right?

Jay Ray:

It was immediately, see, nothing happens, but Nothing happened because

Jay Ray:

between 300 billion and 800 billion was spent to fix the thing that

Jay Ray:

would have been disastrous for us.

Jay Ray:

So I think that's really important for people to understand is yeah.

Jay Ray:

We we downplayed it at the time because we was young and foolish but computer

Jay Ray:

people was like nah son They saved all of them programmers saved the world

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: They were in their laps clacking away On their

Jay Ray:

keyboards because the keyboards back then made a lot of noise.

Jay Ray:

So that's what i'm saying Here's my

Jay Ray:

keyboard.

Jay Ray:

It's a clackety clack

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: clack.

Jay Ray:

There you go And then and the rest of y'all know the rest of

Jay Ray:

y'all was at watch night service With your hands up in the air.

Jay Ray:

Oh lord jesus, you know praying that that lord.

Jay Ray:

Peace Keep the planes in the sky most heavenly father and if and if it is time

Jay Ray:

for us to go home Let us go home with you.

Jay Ray:

Amen but It was Hassan

Jay Ray:

clackety clack clacking on his keyboard somewhere over in India

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: Shout out to

Jay Ray:

Hassan shout out to Hassan

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: And Abibi and everybody that kept the lights From glitching

Jay Ray:

the the yellow red and green lights from glitching and we were able to

Jay Ray:

get home after Because Jay Ray i'm not gonna lie me and my friend angel.

Jay Ray:

We were at a reggae club And and there was a moment where we were kind of like

Jay Ray:

Standing still like, is everything okay?

Jay Ray:

I don't know what we thought was going to happen.

Jay Ray:

Like there was going to be, uh, um, uh, earthquake or something, or the

Jay Ray:

ground was going to open up, but I do know what people were doing.

Jay Ray:

Jay Ray.

Jay Ray:

A lot of people were getting it on as

Jay Ray:

they should have been.

Jay Ray:

Why not?

Jay Ray:

Because you know what babies had to be born at some point, the baby's got to come

Jay Ray:

here, you know, 1999 to two thousands.

Jay Ray:

They gave us some very important people.

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: Sure, a lot of these people are about to, a lot of these important

Jay Ray:

people are about to turn 25 this year.

Jay Ray:

And there, there's just, here, this is a short list of, um, of

Jay Ray:

entertainers, some rappers that were born in the year 2000, Jay Ray.

Jay Ray:

I Spice.

Jay Ray:

I don't remember ice spice.

Jay Ray:

That is shady.

Jay Ray:

Why are we doing it?

Jay Ray:

2025?

Jay Ray:

Why are we doing that to ice spice?

Jay Ray:

Because she's you know, she she's taking a hiatus.

Jay Ray:

I don't know where she's been but she famously well she in 2024 she

Jay Ray:

infamously dropped an album by the name

Jay Ray:

Y2K.

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: Because Cleo Trapper

Jay Ray:

took her out.

Jay Ray:

Cleo Trapper was like, nah, sis.

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: You know what?

Jay Ray:

I forgot about it.

Jay Ray:

That's what that was.

Jay Ray:

That was a really bad look.

Jay Ray:

That was a really bad look for Ice Spice, but a really good look for Cleo Trapper.

Jay Ray:

Yep.

Jay Ray:

She was born on January 1st, 2000.

Jay Ray:

She's one of those kids that was born on the first day of Y2K.

Jay Ray:

So.

Jay Ray:

Yes, Ice Spice is on that list, um, Flo Millie,

Jay Ray:

shout out to Flo Millie, Flo Millie who I,

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: I dig a lot, she's really cool, um, a young man by the name of 2C,

Jay Ray:

I have no idea who that is, yeah,

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: the young people know who that is, 2C, uh, we know who Halle

Jay Ray:

Bailey is, we do know who Halle Bailey is, whose name still

Jay Ray:

confuses me, I'm like, I don't, I get where your parents were doing,

Jay Ray:

but it's Bailey, not Barry, right?

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: It's Bailey, Bailey, Halle Bailey.

Jay Ray:

And one Willow Smith was born in the year 2000.

Jay Ray:

That's a gem right there.

Jay Ray:

That Willow Smith is the gift that keeps on giving because

Jay Ray:

her album in 2024 went off.

Jay Ray:

It

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: sure did.

Jay Ray:

And if in case for those of you who are under a rock and don't

Jay Ray:

know who her mom and dad are.

Jay Ray:

Her mother, of course, is Jada Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith,

Jay Ray:

Jada Pinkett Smith,

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: and her daddy is Mr.,

Jay Ray:

Mr., uh, Will, Willennium himself,

Jay Ray:

the

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: Willennium, remember that?

Jay Ray:

The Willennium!

Jay Ray:

That was a whole album.

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: Yeah.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

It was Mr, um, it was Mr, uh, Will Smith himself, the Fresh Prince, who

Jay Ray:

the millennium is actually, uh, another indication of everybody's obsession with

Jay Ray:

the year 2000 and the new millennium.

Jay Ray:

Everything was about the millennium.

Jay Ray:

And when I tell you.

Jay Ray:

Hip hop specifically went gung ho about the new millennium and the Y2K aesthetic

Jay Ray:

because a lot of albums were based on it and the video aesthetics and treatments

Jay Ray:

were about being in the year 2000.

Jay Ray:

Yeah,

Jay Ray:

yeah, yeah.

Jay Ray:

Like, so what I will say was dope about that is we definitely went to the future.

Jay Ray:

Immediately.

Jay Ray:

So you think of, for example, TLC's fan mail, where you got, you

Jay Ray:

know, your first kind of, um, you got some AI happening in fan mail.

Jay Ray:

Right.

Jay Ray:

And shout out to left eye, of course, who really came up with that

Jay Ray:

concept, but they were in the future.

Jay Ray:

Um, of course, one.

Jay Ray:

Missy Elliott was always in the future.

Jay Ray:

It felt like, but she was really in the future.

Jay Ray:

Um, during the Y2K era, Busta Rhymes was in the future, right?

Jay Ray:

So hip hop was like, listen, let's lean into this.

Jay Ray:

We're going to go sci fi.

Jay Ray:

We're going to go to the future and we're going to take our folks with us.

Jay Ray:

And that's what we did, sir.

Jay Ray:

Daniel, we started, uh, doing all of our futuristic millennium stuff.

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: And apparently in the future, there's a lot of.

Jay Ray:

Glitching in in the music videos.

Jay Ray:

There was a lot of You know, a lot of glitching as Usher calls it, that's

Jay Ray:

his dance now is that he calls it the glitching, but you know what the, we

Jay Ray:

have to pay respect to somebody who, who really may had a lot of input on those,

Jay Ray:

um, the visual aspect of a lot of those artists that you just mentioned, because

Jay Ray:

Hype Williams was a very, very important figure in In what our imagination of what

Jay Ray:

the year 2000 and beyond would look like.

Jay Ray:

And here we are 25 years later, and there's some, you know, um, virtual

Jay Ray:

meetings, you and I doing the show just like this, um, virtually is part of that.

Jay Ray:

Um, it was part of that aesthetic, but I think.

Jay Ray:

If we want to talk about how Williams and his magnum opus, we cannot

Jay Ray:

talk about 1999 going into the year 2000 and not talk about belly.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Jay Ray:

And, and, and specifically the classic opening of belly, I think is just.

Jay Ray:

Because honestly, I haven't watched Belly since the early 2000s.

Jay Ray:

It's probably worse than I remember.

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: You're not off.

Jay Ray:

You're not far off.

Jay Ray:

It's not, it's not one of those.

Jay Ray:

You're not going to Belly for like dialogue and really good dramatic acting.

Jay Ray:

That's not what you're there for.

Jay Ray:

But that vision of.

Jay Ray:

The blue and walking down the hall and you got a crew and black folks look, you know,

Jay Ray:

the black men looking blue at midnight, like moonlight, you don't have to say

Jay Ray:

that's also beautiful to like being able to like imagine us in that way and like

Jay Ray:

glowing and being beautiful in our skin

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: and dimensions.

Jay Ray:

Let's not forget that.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Jay Ray:

The whole fish Island that

Jay Ray:

gave.

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: It's a different kind of texture to the way things looked.

Jay Ray:

Yeah, movies.

Jay Ray:

Yeah, man.

Jay Ray:

Um, so yeah, belly is that belly was definitely a moment and hype William.

Jay Ray:

So if y'all haven't seen belly, maybe we should do it.

Jay Ray:

Maybe we should do a watch party for belly.

Jay Ray:

We might y'all want y'all want us to do that.

Jay Ray:

Let us know.

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: Let us know, buy us a coffee, you see the little QR code

Jay Ray:

there in the corner, buy us a coffee and let us know why you're sipping

Jay Ray:

it, should we do a watch party for Belly, it's, it's really superior.

Jay Ray:

Beautiful to look at.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

I love it.

Jay Ray:

It's got some really funny scenes, but I think what the culmination of the

Jay Ray:

movie, it does happen on New Year's Eve.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

1999 going into the new millennium, which I, let me tell you something.

Jay Ray:

People were ready to party As we should have 31st 1999 And if y'all don't know

Jay Ray:

i've mentioned this before I was working at hmv record store Um during this time

Jay Ray:

i've been working working there for three years And I can honestly tell you that

Jay Ray:

Maybe towards the the second quarter of the year A lot of people we started to see

Jay Ray:

this boost of people coming in You Asking for Prince's 1999 album, whether it's CD,

Jay Ray:

whatever people were, do you have 1999?

Jay Ray:

And then as we got closer, like December.

Jay Ray:

Of 99, all the people were, they were like, we've got, I've got to

Jay Ray:

have it because I got to drop this in New Year's Eve, you know, 1999.

Jay Ray:

Yeah, man.

Jay Ray:

So it was like Prince, Prince was like, well, we know he was a genius, but was he

Jay Ray:

a genius with a, uh, what do they call it?

Jay Ray:

A crystal ball.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

Listen, he, he named, uh, the three, he had a three disc set.

Jay Ray:

Call crystal ball.

Jay Ray:

He

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: sure did.

Jay Ray:

He did.

Jay Ray:

Um, and 1999, let me take a step back.

Jay Ray:

There is a weird thing about putting a year in a song.

Jay Ray:

So if you go back and listen to a tribe called quest is midnight Marauders album.

Jay Ray:

Q tip does this whole bit, um, in the middle of, I can't

Jay Ray:

remember what song, but he says.

Jay Ray:

Extra P was large professor says, don't say the years right in the song,

Jay Ray:

so he couldn't say what year it was.

Jay Ray:

Right.

Jay Ray:

And that's kind of a sentiment, right?

Jay Ray:

You don't want to date the song.

Jay Ray:

However, Princess 1999 was made in like 1982.

Jay Ray:

So Prince was in the future.

Jay Ray:

And it was so crazy because that is a jam you'll hear 1999 played on the

Jay Ray:

radio probably tomorrow Just turn on your radio and classic r& b radio.

Jay Ray:

They're probably going to drop 1999 because it is probably the the most

Jay Ray:

Recognizable song with a year in its title Ever made I don't know another

Jay Ray:

song that has a year as a title that is as well known as that song

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: Maybe the summer of 69 Maybe

Jay Ray:

I love that.

Jay Ray:

Shout out to Brian Adams.

Jay Ray:

Love that song.

Jay Ray:

You're right.

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: It does not hold as much weight as 1999 by Prince.

Jay Ray:

And you know, one of the reasons, another reason why I think it holds

Jay Ray:

so much weight or mythology with.

Jay Ray:

A lot of us is that for as old as long as I can remember, Jay Ray, I don't know

Jay Ray:

if you grew up with this, if you grew up, if you grew up with any kind of religion,

Jay Ray:

some Jesus, you have some Jesus, if you had some Jesus in your life, you grew

Jay Ray:

up with any kind of religion, they were pounding the message of revelations.

Jay Ray:

Into our brains at a very early start because the world has been

Jay Ray:

coming to an end since it started

Jay Ray:

Like every 20 years some minister is making millions off

Jay Ray:

of the end of the year prophecy

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: exactly and you know prince Famously says in the, in the

Jay Ray:

lyrics, they, they say 2000 party over,

Jay Ray:

oops, out of time.

Jay Ray:

Honestly, it was, he was right.

Jay Ray:

Because if, if these people did, if, if Hassan and them didn't program it.

Jay Ray:

Hey, we would have been out of time.

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: That's it.

Jay Ray:

And so, yeah, I think really people really thought that's part of the, the

Jay Ray:

vision, you know, that's why people were, I'm pretty certain watch night

Jay Ray:

services was packed December 31st, 1999.

Jay Ray:

You probably, You could, you had to get reservations to

Jay Ray:

get up in church at that time.

Jay Ray:

Can you see the red, the uh, the velvet rope at church?

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: Yes.

Jay Ray:

. Oh, absolutely.

Jay Ray:

There's somebody with a clipboard.

Jay Ray:

Uhhuh . Uhhuh.

Jay Ray:

. Okay.

Jay Ray:

I've got two . This is not your regular usher.

Jay Ray:

I've got two front, but we will need a credit card to

Jay Ray:

hold those two seats for you.

Jay Ray:

Can you do that?

Jay Ray:

Right.

Jay Ray:

Just go ahead and, but

Jay Ray:

it,

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: but it was the

Jay Ray:

credit card with the,

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: yeah, because there was no swiping back then.

Jay Ray:

Right.

Jay Ray:

So it is like.

Jay Ray:

And here's your carbon, we'll keep this copy, here's your carbon copy,

Jay Ray:

and yes, now, if you're not here But if you're not here, but by, um, by

Jay Ray:

1130, your seats can be given away.

Jay Ray:

So just letting you know, no refunds, no refunds is going to be, and I know

Jay Ray:

that there's a church that I live down the street from not too far from that's

Jay Ray:

very popular here in the metro Atlanta area, um, for having those kinds of, um,

Jay Ray:

you know, um, celebrity, uh, celebrity esque rules and foolishness that goes

Jay Ray:

along with going up into that church.

Jay Ray:

But of course that was long, long, long ago.

Jay Ray:

Those things don't exist anymore.

Jay Ray:

But yes, I, you know, yes, kids, that's exactly why 1999 has such an effect.

Jay Ray:

Effect on us, I think, uh, you know, we had a lot of music wise, like

Jay Ray:

Jay Ray was saying earlier, you know, music was the music videos

Jay Ray:

were having this more futuristic look and we got to give it up to the

Jay Ray:

television shows that were being born.

Jay Ray:

And then new year because all these new music videos and different, um, visuals

Jay Ray:

Were like videos were a must Oh, yeah this time So there were some new platforms that

Jay Ray:

came about specifically In the year 2000.

Jay Ray:

Yeah, so and as we talk about these shows, I

Jay Ray:

think it's really important.

Jay Ray:

Um, the late 80s ushered in, um, sorry, the late 90s ushered in,

Jay Ray:

um, the new era of the pop star.

Jay Ray:

So this is when your, your boy bands are emerging.

Jay Ray:

You have your backstreet boys is your Samantha.

Jay Ray:

Shout out to Samantha Moomba.

Jay Ray:

You got a Samantha Moomba.

Jay Ray:

You got it right.

Jay Ray:

You have Britney Spears, et cetera, et cetera.

Jay Ray:

So you see these shows emerging, but specifically, um, in 2000, we have

Jay Ray:

one Oh six in park, which is BET.

Jay Ray:

Basically BET was like, we need a TRL over here.

Jay Ray:

One Oh six.

Jay Ray:

Tell me what

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: TRL stood for.

Jay Ray:

Total requests live.

Jay Ray:

And I don't know why they called the show that because it was a countdown

Jay Ray:

show for my, wasn't it a countdown show?

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: It was a countdown show, but they also had like a futuristic

Jay Ray:

aspect to it where you can hop online and you can go to the MTV website and

Jay Ray:

you can make your requests on live.

Jay Ray:

And if they, And they, you just see them pop up from time to time, like

Jay Ray:

such and such in Nebraska wants to see, you know, Old Town, uh, whatever

Jay Ray:

song they were popular for back then.

Jay Ray:

And, you know, so there was that, that aspect of the virtual, um, computerized

Jay Ray:

way of asking for songs instead of calling up to a radio station or

Jay Ray:

to a video show for your requests.

Jay Ray:

Now the computer and the internet is involved.

Jay Ray:

See, I had no, I, I didn't watch.

Jay Ray:

So I had grown, I was older, I was an adult, you know what I'm saying?

Jay Ray:

So I didn't watch TRL.

Jay Ray:

Unless it was somebody going to be on TRL that I really wanted to see but

Jay Ray:

we of course on BET got 106 and Park So shout out to AJ and free Legend

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: free.

Jay Ray:

Yes,

Jay Ray:

AJ and free were legends and everybody came through 106 and Park It

Jay Ray:

was kind of a it was kind of a moment in time and then um Lou Pearlman actually,

Jay Ray:

this is the first season of making the band It came in 2000, and the first

Jay Ray:

season of Making the Band was focused on Lou Perlman, who was responsible

Jay Ray:

for NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys.

Jay Ray:

And he went down in flames, he, rest in peace Lou Perlman, but he did a lot of

Jay Ray:

real icky stuff throughout the years.

Jay Ray:

He was making a band and I think he made Tel

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: Yeah, that was his band.

Jay Ray:

Yeah,

Jay Ray:

that was his band.

Jay Ray:

So yeah, that was, uh, the premiere of Making the band, which

Jay Ray:

eventually got taken over by Diddy.

Jay Ray:

Um, but I'm taken

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: over by MTV,

Jay Ray:

by MTV and then Diddy became kind of the face of it, but it was Lou

Jay Ray:

Pearlman and, but that premiered in 2000.

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: How ironic.

Jay Ray:

Lou Pearlman and Didier.

Jay Ray:

Ugh.

Jay Ray:

Wow.

Jay Ray:

Yikes.

Jay Ray:

But yeah, so those were, I and I.

Jay Ray:

That literally, those shows really changed the industry.

Jay Ray:

They did.

Jay Ray:

They literally changed the industry and we, we definitely

Jay Ray:

have to talk about reality shows based on making people pop stars.

Jay Ray:

We do have to get to that topic, yes.

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: Because Some of them were successful and some of them were

Jay Ray:

not so successful . So we did, we, so we definitely got that coming into the

Jay Ray:

year 2000 and shout out to BET May, um, 1 0 6 and Park was off of 14 years.

Jay Ray:

Jay Ray, that's a, that's a, that's nothing to shake a stick at.

Jay Ray:

That's, that's a long time.

Jay Ray:

Yeah.

Jay Ray:

And 1 0 6 and parks survived.

Jay Ray:

The abrupt departure of their big of their main hosts They literally survived that

Jay Ray:

like that was a big deal because for it for most other shows That would kill the

Jay Ray:

thing because aj and free were so closely attached to the format but Making I'm

Jay Ray:

sorry, uh, one oh six and park survived it and they were able to continue on we

Jay Ray:

got roxy and uh, Terrence jay and so yeah,

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: we got bow wow Jay Ray Bow wow to his credit.

Jay Ray:

He when he calls himself.

Jay Ray:

Mr.

Jay Ray:

106 in part.

Jay Ray:

He's not being um, What's the word?

Jay Ray:

Um He's not being, um, hyperbolic, hyperbolic.

Jay Ray:

That's exactly where I was looking.

Jay Ray:

I like that.

Jay Ray:

He's not, no, he's not, he's not capping young people.

Jay Ray:

He's, he's not capping.

Jay Ray:

He really was Mr.

Jay Ray:

106 in part.

Jay Ray:

Like he grew up on the show and then ended up being a host on the show.

Jay Ray:

So yes, um, you literally watched Bow Wow grow up.

Jay Ray:

Um, and one of the things that, You know, we saw 106 and Park and TRLJay

Jay Ray:

Ray was a lot of fashions Jesus Christ, I know that fashion Is cyclical?

Jay Ray:

And a lot of things come back, but i'm not looking forward to those.

Jay Ray:

Um, 2000s fashions Jesus Christ.

Jay Ray:

There was some choices that were made back then.

Jay Ray:

We might have the same one.

Jay Ray:

That's awful.

Jay Ray:

Those big ass white tees that like went down to your knees.

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: Yes, the extra the two tall to

Jay Ray:

the two tall tees and then And then I'm gonna give a

Jay Ray:

runner up when Nelly and them St.

Jay Ray:

Lunatic showed up with like the, the, the, the, the tape under their eyes

Jay Ray:

combined with those super huge jerseys.

Jay Ray:

I was over my life.

Jay Ray:

No, that's not cute.

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: I, you know, I'm so glad you mentioned Nelly because something

Jay Ray:

just came to me that a lot of you.

Jay Ray:

And I'm going to include myself in this was, um, was

Jay Ray:

guilty of this boys and girls.

Jay Ray:

I don't know if you can imagine it, but I had a lot of hair back

Jay Ray:

in the early two thousands so much so that I had straight backs.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Jay Ray:

And at the end of those straight backs were beads.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Jay Ray:

So every time I turn my head, you can hear cracking.

Jay Ray:

So that's, that's one offense.

Jay Ray:

That's one egregious offense that I committed back in the 2000s.

Jay Ray:

But then Jay Ray on top of that.

Jay Ray:

I was rocking multicolored do rags, of course, how could you, how could you not?

Jay Ray:

Because the do rag was a part of your ensemble, right?

Jay Ray:

Your do rag had to match your oversized, um, throwback Jersey and whatever.

Jay Ray:

Um, law, they weren't even shorts.

Jay Ray:

They were like short pants.

Jay Ray:

They were, they went down to your ankle.

Jay Ray:

And, um, not only did, and so not only was the durag, the durag wasn't

Jay Ray:

always tied up like it was meant to be.

Jay Ray:

The durag was flared out underneath a big ass cap to make it look like you had, if

Jay Ray:

you didn't have, um, braids or straight backs or, or locks, the durag was like.

Jay Ray:

Boy hair, because I saw a lot of people flipping back to do right.

Jay Ray:

Y'all did it.

Jay Ray:

I was there.

Jay Ray:

I saw it.

Jay Ray:

I saw y'all do it.

Jay Ray:

Don't try to act like you didn't do it.

Jay Ray:

But yes, that to me, that's one of the more egregious fashion, um, choices

Jay Ray:

that we made back in the, the two thousands along with, um, a lot of

Jay Ray:

business casual wear in the club.

Jay Ray:

And.

Jay Ray:

Yeah, I thought I thought so.

Jay Ray:

I literally was just um, I went down a rabbit hole about this this thing because

Jay Ray:

um, I Remember, you know, I was going to the club then you know what I'm saying?

Jay Ray:

Um, and One of the things that I have forgotten about are the dress codes

Jay Ray:

that they had the clubs didn't want the hippity hoppers coming into their club.

Jay Ray:

So you had to look like you had some good sense in order to go to the club

Jay Ray:

and it was like, Oh, that's why we was wearing business casual because

Jay Ray:

the clubs, we have to remember y'all hip hop wasn't the culture yet.

Jay Ray:

Now hip hop is everything right?

Jay Ray:

So everybody is trying to look like a rapper back then you were trying to look

Jay Ray:

like you were a nice safe business person or a student who wouldn't wreck your club.

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: Picture it.

Jay Ray:

The page boy hat cut to the side the oversized frames.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Jay Ray:

Um, Jay Ray the vest the vest the vest the vest over the button

Jay Ray:

down shirt and down shirt with the collar open with the collar open.

Jay Ray:

But the best with the best was was buttoned up and your shirt

Jay Ray:

underneath was flared out on it.

Jay Ray:

Oh my God.

Jay Ray:

It was so terrible looking.

Jay Ray:

It was.

Jay Ray:

So I was going to the

Jay Ray:

club we was going,

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: we were going to the club and I'm

Jay Ray:

chunky shoes because they weren't sneakers and you couldn't

Jay Ray:

do Tim's at a lot of places.

Jay Ray:

So you had to find a shoe that was sneaker like,

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: yes, like those sketches of those, um, hammer

Jay Ray:

Steve, Steve, Steve Madden's.

Jay Ray:

Yes,

Jay Ray:

Steve Madden.

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: Steve Madden, my God.

Jay Ray:

I do not look back.

Jay Ray:

The way I look back fondly on 80s fashions, I do not look back

Jay Ray:

fondly on the year 2000 fashions.

Jay Ray:

I don't know how women were walking around because all the jeans

Jay Ray:

back then apparently, nothing, everything had to fit below your hip.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Jay Ray:

So everybody had like, Like jeans that went right above their crack.

Jay Ray:

And if you didn't have a flat stomach, you were just, Oh, here's what the girls did.

Jay Ray:

If you didn't have a flat stomach, what they would do is.

Jay Ray:

They would have like this, um, a tight camisole

Jay Ray:

Oh yeah.

Jay Ray:

That came down.

Jay Ray:

Yes.

Jay Ray:

That came down

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: to the, to, to their jeans to, to go over

Jay Ray:

their not so flat stomach uhhuh.

Jay Ray:

And then they would put on another tight shirt above over the camisole.

Jay Ray:

It was a mess.

Jay Ray:

It was a mess.

Jay Ray:

You guys.

Jay Ray:

Um, yeah.

Jay Ray:

Thank, thank God for deliverance.

Jay Ray:

Oh, an evolution in fashion and that you don't have to live through

Jay Ray:

that anymore, but you can experience it listening to Queue Points.

Jay Ray:

You can experience it listening to Queue Points and no

Jay Ray:

shade given what's going on in 2025.

Jay Ray:

We might be going back to that.

Jay Ray:

So y'all might be going back to business casual in the clubs.

Jay Ray:

Just saying, but listen, y'all thank you for tuning in as we refreshed

Jay Ray:

your memory for those who were there and informed you about what it was

Jay Ray:

for those who weren't about Y2K.

Jay Ray:

If you like Queue Points and you are seeing us and you are

Jay Ray:

listening to us, thank you so much.

Jay Ray:

We appreciate you.

Jay Ray:

We love you.

Jay Ray:

Hit the subscribe button wherever you are.

Jay Ray:

And if you could do us a solid and share the show with your friends.

Jay Ray:

You can check out more Queue Points by visiting our website at Queue Points.

Jay Ray:

com.

Jay Ray:

You can watch all of our old shows over there.

Jay Ray:

You can also sign up for our newsletter, which leads you to our blog where we

Jay Ray:

have a whole bunch of other content.

Jay Ray:

You can shop our store at store.

Jay Ray:

Queue Points.

Jay Ray:

com where you can get a lot of fresh gear.

Jay Ray:

And you know, just support your boys.

Jay Ray:

We love y'all.

Jay Ray:

We appreciate y'all.

Jay Ray:

DJ Sir Daniel: We absolutely do and as we always say at the end of the show

Jay Ray:

in this life, you have a choice You can either pick up the needle or you

Jay Ray:

can let the record play this because there are no numbers on the ends of

Jay Ray:

But I'm DJ so Daniel I'm Jay Ray y'all and this is Queue Points podcast dropping

Jay Ray:

the needle on black music history We will see you on the next go round.

Jay Ray:

Peace.

Jay Ray:

Peace y'all

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About the Podcast

Queue Points
Queue Points is the Black Podcasting Award and Ambie Award nominated music podcast that is dropping the needle on Black Music history and celebrating Black music through meaningful dialogue. The show is hosted by DJ Sir Daniel and Jay Ray. Visit https://queuepoints.com to learn more.
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About your hosts

DJ Sir Daniel

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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.

Jay Ray

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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.