BACK ISSUE
Remember K-Ci and Jojo's 'Ooh-Yeah?' (Feat. Cori Murray and Charli Penn of 'Yes, Girl')
Red Rover Red Rover, Bring 'Yes, Girl' Right Over
This week, Josh and Tracy host a very special crossover episode. First, they talk all things Essence. From its legacy as a record of black existence to the recent round of layoffs, we're celebrating the work of black creatives, and pouring one out for the Yes, Girl pod. Then, they chop it up with Cori Murray and Charli Penn of 'Yes, Girl', talking music and the greatest ad libs of all time (and yes, they *do* sing K-Ci and Jojo).
EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION
[0:00]
Josh Gwynn: So, Tracy.
Tracy Clayton: Yeah.
Josh Gwynn: Our producer, Alexis, gave us a present.
Tracy Clayton: [Gasps]I love presents. What is it, what is it?
Josh Gwynn: She put together a bunch of Essence magazine covers from our birthday years.
Tracy Clayton: I can't believe I never thought to look those up before! This is so exciting!
Josh Gwynn: I love magazine covers.
Tracy Clayton: I want to see.
Josh Gwynn: OK. Let's look at your year first.
Tracy Clayton: Okay.
[Music Begins]
Tracy Clayton: So the year, by the way, is 1982 and the first cover. Awwww. I love because-
Josh Gwynn: Iman!
Tracy Clayton: Yes. Who doesn't love Iman? Like, just like the cheekbones. Just like, eeh.
Josh Gwynn: Regal.
Tracy Clayton: So this next cover we have another model, well not just any model. This is the one and only Peggy Dillard. First of all, this Fashion Fair makeup is just my fav-or-ite thing, full stop. Also these braids. I wish I could braid or, have the patience for somebody else to braid my hair.
Josh Gwynn: That part.
Tracy Clayton: All right. Next cove,r next cover.
Both: Ooooh.
Tracy Clayton: She's got on one of those hats like the ones that, um. Queen Latifah used to wear. You know the one that she used to wear, [Mhmm] the one that she used to wear to cover up the scar on her forehead.
Josh Gwynn: U.N.I.T.Y.
Tracy Clayton: [Imitating horns] Bam, bam, bam, bam.
Josh Gwynn: Wait, Tracy, let's look at my year.
Tracy Clayton: OK. I'm going to be really excited about all these people because this is eighty...
Josh Gwynn: Eight. Nineteen eighty eight.
Tracy Clayton: How does that? Old enough.
[Both Gasp]
Josh Gwynn: Jody Watley.
Tracy Clayton: [Singing] I'm looking for a new love baby. [Josh joins] A new love.
Josh Gwynn: Also when she was in Shalamar.
Tracy Clayton: Uh-huh, uh-huh.
Josh Gwynn: Make This A Night to Remember is one of my top favorite 10 songs of all time. [Tracy: Really?] Of all time.
Tracy Clayton: That's a good one.
Josh Gwynn: Yes
Tracy Clayton: All right, next cover.
Josh Gwynn: Robin motherfucking Givens.
Tracy Clayton: Do you know I thought that was Rihanna for a full three seconds.
Josh Gwynn: Music of the Sun era Rihanna. Right?
Tracy Clayton: Yeah, she does, she does.
Josh Gwynn: Like she got the curly, wet hair.
Tracy Clayton: She got the wet and wavy straight back.
Josh Gwynn: Nah, Remember when she dated Brad Pitt?
Tracy Clayton: I do. I was like, can black girls do that?
Josh Gwynn: Okay? Remember when she was in the, um 'He wasn't man enough for me’ video?
Tracy Clayton: I do. Ugh, do you remember her talk show?
Josh Gwynn: Yes. Give it up to Robin Givens. She's been through a lot.
Tracy Clayton: She sure has, she deserves a lot more. Good job, girl. Good job.
Josh Gwynn: Who's next?
[Both Gasp]
Josh Gwynn: Jasmine Guy. Yo, my year, 1988 has all the flyest covers.
Tracy Clayton: It's right before the big boom of the 90s. So you got all the stars. We got Whitley. Dwayne. So Good.
Josh Gwynn: Who's next? Marla Gibbs?
Tracy Clayton: I thought that was Mavis Beacon, the typing lady.
Josh Gwynn: You know what? [Both laugh] Shout out to Marla Gibbs.
Tracy Clayton: It's the business suit!
Josh Gwynn: Yeah, Giving you. I'ma teach you how to type teas.
Tracy Clayton: Absolutely. And you know what? I bet Marla Gibbs would be an amazing typing teacher. I really do.
Josh Gwynn: Same.
Tracy Clayton: Aww. That was so fun. I wish I had kept all of the ones that my grandmamma kept in the, um, bathroom next to the commode.
Josh Gwynn: Not a commode.
Tracy Clayton: What do you call it? [laughs]
Josh Gwynn: Toilet.
Tracy Clayton: Oh, well I mean, interchangeable. Same difference.
Josh Gwynn: It's just such a country way to say toilet.
Tracy Clayton: Just an unexpected walk down memory lane. It was so, so fun. [Josh: Mhmm ] And there are not as many black print publications now as there used to be.
Josh Gwynn: Yeah, but you know what?
Tracy Clayton: What?
Josh Gwynn: In any black establishment, whether it's a beauty salon [Tracy:Mhmm] a nail salon,
Tracy Clayton: Well.
Josh Gwynn: A doctor's office,
Tracy Clayton: or a Black Grandmama's bathroom from back in the day.
Josh Gwynn: There's always gonna be an Essence.
Tracy Clayton: Always.
[3:38]
[Theme Music Begins]
[CLIP] Voice: Beyoncé ? You look like Luther Vandross.
[CLIP] Voice: Hoe, but make it fashion.
[CLIP] Voice: But you ain't heard that from me.
[CLIP] Voice: Fierce.
[CLIP] Voice: [Singing] Call him.'
[CLIP] Voice: Can't stop.
[CLIP] Voice: [Soft voices rising in background] You see, when you do clownery,
[CLIP] Voice: 'Cause we won't stop.
[CLIP] Voice: --the clown comes back to bite.
[CLIP] Voice: --Can't get no sleep cause ya'll--
[CLIP] Voice: --It's Britney, bitch.
[CLIP] Voice: Y'all not gonna get no sleep cause of me.
[CLIP] Voice: [Voices overlapping] We were rooting for you, Tiffany, we were all rooting for you... [Overlapping voices build into crescendo]
[CLIP] Single voice: Walls?
[CLIP] Single voice: Who said that?
Josh Gwynn: Welcome to Back Issue, a weekly podcast that revisits formative moments in pop culture that we still think about.
Tracy Clayton: This week, a very special episode, Cori Murray and Charli Penn from the Yes, Girl podcast and Essence magazine.
Josh Gwynn: Each week, we'll go back into the past and revisit unforgettable moments we all think we remember.
Tracy Clayton: And learn what they can teach us about where we are now. I'm Tracy Giselle Knowles Carter Clayton.
Josh Gwynn: And I'm Josh Blue Ivy Gwynn. [Both Laugh]
[Music Ends]
Tracy Clayton: So did you hear about what's happening at Essence magazine?
Josh Gwynn: [Sighs Deeply] Unfortunately, I did.
Tracy Clayton: No.
Josh Gwynn: I read this press release that Essence released on September 29th, where they basically explained that, due to the pandemic, they were really impacted. And so they say that they were forced to furlough their employees. And the furloughs could last as long as six whole ass months. And as a result, Yes Girl and the rest of the Essence podcasts - are on indefinite hiatus.
Tracy Clayton: [Sighs deeply] It makes me so sad. It really, really does. I know a little something about jobs being cut in media.
Josh Gwynn: Whew.
Tracy Clayton: Been there, got the T-shirt, don't want the T-shirt,
Josh Gwynn: Okay.
Tracy Clayton: Still trying to get rid of the T-shirt. [Josh:Mhmm] Working in media is hard all the time, especially when you're black. But to be working in media right now, like, it's volatile. And it's not just Essence's future that's up in the air, Right? Like, the economy shifts, and it causes so much fear.
Josh Gwynn: OKAY.
Tracy Clayton: And we're scared of situations just like this, because when there are, like, losses in most things is usually the black people that are hit the hardest. You know?
Josh Gwynn: OKAY.
Tracy Clayton: And Essence, is such an important brand. There's not a whole lot of representation out there still. It hurts.
Josh Gwynn: Like physically.
Tracy Clayton: Yeah. Yes.
Josh Gwynn: There was a time where you could go to the grocery store in the checkout line and get Honey, or Vibe, or Jet, or Ebony,
Tracy Clayton: Just like a whole section
Josh Gwynn: Or Sista to Sista. Hype Hair.
Tracy Clayton: Yes. You better know all the magazines. You better know.
Josh Gwynn: Yeah my mom used to go to Barnes and Nobles a lot, and I used to just sit there and read the magazines while I was waiting for her to pick up books
Tracy Clayton: Aww.
Josh Gwynn: My mom owns every back issue of Essence back to like 1993.
Tracy Clayton: She still has them?
Josh Gwynn: All of them. [Tracy Gasps] All of them. And I love it because you get to be able to track black conversations and black thought over time, you get to be able to track what the black community considered beautiful and aspirational-
Tracy Clayton: And what they were wearing!
Josh Gwynn: - And what we were wearing and how we were wearing our hair and what we thought was trash.
Tracy Clayton: Mhmm.
Josh Gwynn: These records are really, really, really important. [Tracy:Mmmm] And if you think about what's happening in the world today, look outside your window, turn your tv on.
Tracy Clayton: No thanks. I don't want to.
Josh Gwynn: I mean, I didn't want to either. It's a mess. It is. Today's climate is a climate in which we especially need black voices.
Tracy Clayton: And in fact, we were gonna do an episode of the Yes Girl podcast, which is their flagship podcast hosted by Cori Murray and Charli Penn. And Bam, we get this news. And unfortunately, the magazine's podcast department was directly affected by these furloughs, and an all black woman team was cut. And I know personally how that feels, you know? [Josh:Yeah.] And it's not great. It's not great at all.
Josh Gwynn: It's also very rare to have an all black-
Tracy Clayton: Listen,
Josh Gwynn: -women team in audio, where the person who's making the decisions about content is black. The people that are making the cuts in the tape are black. The people who are booking the guests are black. The guests are black.
Tracy Clayton: Yes. Out of the goodness of their hearts, and also because they believe in the importance of black media, [Josh:Mmm] they allowed us to share the conversation with you here and now.
Josh Gwynn: Yeah. So this episode is going to sound super different from our normal ones. Think of it more of a like a very special episode. Like, A sitcom in the 90s except the content isn't triggering. It's fun. [Tracy laughs] Think of it as us pouring one out for the real ones. [
Tracy: Mmm] For black print media.
Tracy Clayton: Mmm. Ashe, Ashe.
[Music Begins]
Josh Gwynn: Before the furloughs happened, Cori Murray who is the Senior Entertainment Director at Essence Magazine, and Charli Penn who is the Essence Relationship and Wellness director, and together are the hosts of Essence's critically acclaimed Yes Girl podcast, sat down with me and Josh on a zoom call. Yes Girl was THAT girl - it had over 150 episodes, with folks like Michael B Jordan, Chadwick Boseman, Kelly Rowland, Angela Bassett, Regina King and so, so many more. So it’s really special that Josh and I got the chance to enter that black ass space and talk our shit! We talked about nostalgia, we talked about moments that made us feel good, and moments that really, really stick with us. Plus, we kind of had like an R&B riff off.
Tracy Clayton: I think I won.
Josh Gwynn: You always think you win.
Tracy Clayton: I know. That's, that's true. [Both Laugh]
Josh Gwynn: I hope you guys enjoy the conversation.
Both: [Singing] Oooh yeah.
Tracy Clayton: I knew it was coming!
[Music Fades, Changes]
[09:35]
Cori Murray: So Charli Penn, without further ado, let's bring in the hosts of Back Issue. Josh Gwynn and Tracy Clayton.
Charli Penn: Hey, bae's!
Tracy Clayton: Hi.
Josh Gwynn: What up?
Tracy: Hello, Hello, how are you?
Cori: We're so good to be talking to both of you. Y'all know the love is just, the adoration is both strong and long.
Josh: Aww likewise
Tracy: Ditto Ditto, thanks for having us
Josh: So happy to be here.
Cori: Thank you for the podcast right Cori? I mean, this is what we needed. This is for the people.
Cori: Y'all I was telling them this and I tweeted it. I put it on Instagram, in light of everything that's happening right now in a world and the attack of black people, listening to the back issue when they talked about when white people, I think the episode is called when white people, or as Josh says, white, white people.
Josh: White.
Cori: Um dip their toes into soul music. I-E yacht rock, which you know, I've been putting Charli on. We've been discussing it a little bit, but their guests was Ashley C. Ford, and she did an impersonation of Michael McDonald [Charli: Iconic] singing Erica Badu’s Tyrone, and everything that I have been feeling crying, sad about was gone.
Tracy: Awww.
Charli: All of it.
Tracy : That makes me so happy!
Josh: Me too.
Cori: I fell out in the kitchen. It was the most beautiful release that I didn't know I needed. So in the back issue blurb, you mentioned that nostalgia is more than just a feeling. We absolutely agree sometimes. Sorry. Sometimes fine thoughts of past memories, get us through tough moments or tough years if we're talking about 2020.
Cori: Hello.
Cori: I don't know about you all, but throwback music always does it for me. So what are your go-to mood uplifting songs?
Cori: Can't wait to hear it.
Tracy: Hmmmmm. I mean, when I need to just like move my body, which I need to do all of the time, um, there are 2 songs that are guaranteed to get me up out of my seat. Now like, I've got like a playlist of like twerkout music and you know, like when I'm really not feeling it, I will sit through Whitney Houston's I want to dance with somebody, even though it makes me want to dance.
Charli: Hello
Tracy: I'm just like, I just, I just can't. But those two songs: Back That Thang Up [Josh: Always], and the extended version of Get Me Bodied. The entire song.
Cori: Oh okay
Charli: Yes.Josh what about you?
Cori: That’s a good one.
Charli: Those are good.
Josh: For me, the entire homecoming album, with all the horns and the-
Cori: Yeah the horns really hit me.
Josh: And like the, like that gets me and gets my blood pumping. But also like I went to school in Atlanta for college during the peak of The snap movement and the crunk movement.
Tracy: You was shaking that laffy taffy?
Josh: Oh my god. [inaudible] the walk it out remix with Andre 3000 then I'm here, and present.
Charli: I was getting ready to say Cori. You know, we got to answer to, if we ask them, I too went to college in Atlanta, at Spellman, right. In that era with Luda, anything, and then pass the Troy and all of it.
Josh: Oh my God Pass the Troy!!! Yesss.
Cori: Yeah You know, and then I just, I have to dance, but for me it's always been Hey Ya!
Josh: Oh Yeah.
Tracy: Shake it like a polaroid picture.
Charli: I'm always trying to shake my polaroid picture. So that's it for me. And then spiritually it's songs of blackness, you know what I mean?
Tracy: Yess, Yes.
Charli: Optimistic
Josh: Oh I play, I play optimistic like once a week. Once A Week
Tracy: I feel like Josh suggested that we put that in an episode, you might suggested we put it in every episode.
Josh: You might you might, you might hear it soon.
Tracy: I don't think anybody would be mad at it.
Charli: It's just like a hug in a song. That’s instantly what I [inaudible]
Tracy: It is.
Josh: You can't feel bad after that song.
Charli: No, you can’t .
Cori: I know. I actually wanted to use The Blackness just as a title. And our copy person was like, I don't understand this. I said, it's this sounds blackness. If you just say the blackness and she was just like, Cori, you really can't just say that as a headline. And I was like [inaudible]... fine
Josh: Yes you can Cori.
Cori: -songs, are one is, one is -- they're both problematic, but it's, it's okay. They're my songs. But I do feel a bit of a way about Hot in Herre. You know, when the chorus comes on.
Tracy: Yesss. It’s hot in herre.
Charli: That's a good one.
Cori: And I know I'm wrong and I ask for forgiveness, but bitches ain't shit, but hoes and tricks, like don't let it come on. I know it's wrong.
Josh: Ah. [Laughs]
Tracy: We're learning so much about Ms. Cori Murray in this episode.
Josh: Yes.
Tracy: I love it.
Cori: Don't let that come on. I know we have a question down here about what songs, you know word for word. And that's a, that’s a song I know word for word. So us talking about these songs and memories is making me remember the songs that I like to sing out loud. And the songs that I've been singing out loud lately. And I mean, belting out lyrics. It’s therapeutic. With a drink in hand, you know, I can't help, but crack up laughing at myself sometimes because I sound crazy to. Some of the lyrics I love are hilarious, but what are some song lyrics or even ad-libs and make you cry, laughing. When I was thinking about this question, I immediately, for whatever reason, the song Yah Mo be There came to mind. [Tracy:Uhhuh] I don't know if you guys know that one James Ingram and Michael McDonald. [Josh: Mhmm] Cause I was like, What was that? What was that? [Sings] But I loved it. I loved it. What about you all?
Tracy: Ooh. The Ad libs. The ad libs
Josh: This is something that me and Tracy talk about a lot.
Tracy: And I feel confident. I think in saying that the best ad-lib of all time, hands down, no competition do not at me. Don't wanna talk about it. Carl Thomas, [Josh: Yes] Emotional [Josh: Yes] where he goes, [singing] look at me...
[CLIP] Carl Thomas, Emotional : Look at me. I can't stop crying
Tracy: The emotion I believed him, he wasn't crying in the video. I'm just like, man. That’s a, like, I mean, it, it shouldn't be like part of a lyric, but I just feel like he just felt it. He was just I'm sad look at me and wanted you to see it. Look. Look at me.
Charli: Ooh, that's classic.
Cori: Mhmm.
Tracy: Might be the best ad lib of all time.
Josh: And the sweater.
Charli: And the sweater in the summer, that white sweater life.
Tracy: Always
Josh: White cable knit.
Charli: I'm sorry it was ivory let's be respectful.
Josh: Mother of Pearl. [All Laugh] So, my mom used to put me onto like Rachelle Forelle [Cori:ooh ]and she has this album called Individuality Can I Be? And there's this song,
Cori: Your mama has taste, okay?
Josh: She loves, she loves champagne brunch and like a smooth jazz radio station. And there's this song that she does on there called ‘Why You Wanna Mess It All Up?’ And when they say the voice is an instrument,
[CLIP] Rachelle Forelle, ‘Why You Wanna Mess It All Up?’ [Vocalizing]
She does all this crazy stuff with her voice in that song. She does it for literally two minutes where she's like modulating her voice. And it's crazy. Like, look that up. But, there's the two staple 90's ad-libs like, for example, like New Edition on, Can You Stand The Rain the nahoo (singing).
Tracy: Oh the ne-hoo.
[CLIP] New Edition, Can You Stand The Rain [Singing] Nahooo…
Josh: And there were so many songs that had that ad-lib and then there were so many songs that had this ad-lib, but my favorite one was Aaliyah's Hot, Like Fire where it was like, no, no, no, no, no.
[CLIP] Aaliyah, Hot, Like Fire
Aaliyah: No no no no no
Timbaland: I’ma make it hot like fire
Aaliyah: No no no no no
Josh: Like I love, the no ad-lib.
Tracy: Those are good ones. Those are good ones.
Josh: The one that Deborah Cox does, where she's no, no, no, no, no.
[CLIP] Deborah Cox, Nobody’s Supposed To Be Here.
Deborah Cox: No no no no no. no no no no no. No.
Chorus: How did you get here?
Josh: There was this TikTok trend, where teenagers were playing, "How Did You Get Here" in front of their moms. [Cori:ooooh] And it was like, see how long you could play it before your mom starts singing in. And every single one started singing.
Cori: That's super cute.
Charli: Oh My Gosh
Charli: Remember, it was Donell Jones. Ugh.
Josh: Sweededeededeee.
[All singing Donnell Jones]
Tracy: Mmm. That was my jam.
Charli: That was it. That was it. Cori you got one?
Tracy: Also, what a good song that more people [Clears throat] men, should listen to
Charli: Okay. Okay.
Tracy: You say you gon’ cheat let me know. It’s a beautiful song. And then go do what you gotta do.
Cori: This does remind me of Prince’s Adore.
[CLIP] Prince, Adore
Prince: When I do … [Ad Libbing]
Cori: Cause at the end, he starts riffing and going off. And, what I would hate, [Charli: Yes] sometimes the radio would play the whole thing, And I would hate when they would cut it off because I would literally wait-
Charli: For the ad libs.
Cori: -for the ad lib. And when they cut it off I felt so heated.
Josh: And they’d just fade it out
Cori: And I would just be like why did you even play it? Why did you play it, so.
Tracy: Right:
Josh: I Also-
Charli: And I’m sorry, we can’t wrap without talking about Jodeci, K-Ci’s ooh yeah.
[CLIP] Jodeci, Cry For You
Jodeci: Tonight….
K-Ci: oooh yeah.
Jodeci: Baby I’m begging, baby I’m begging begging.
Charli: That was like a note, an ad lib, a lyric
Tracy: It was everything.
Charli: It was whatever you needed it to be.
Tracy: The woo-yeah was actually a hidden member of the group, the woo-yeah just [inaudble] on the album art.
Cori: So let's talk about songs where you know half the words, but you thought you knew all the words. Just to tell y'all what I mean, you know the ones where, it comes back on later and you swore you knew everything. For me, it's usually, don't laugh, a DMX song. I'd be like uh uh uh, I didn’t really know it , but I just knew the, "uh" parts, that rhyme. So, what are some songs where you guys where you only know half the damn words?
Josh: I had an experience with DMX too, with the song that's from the, Romeo Must Die soundtrack with Aaliyah. I had only ever heard the clean version. So like, when I heard, like the version with all the bad words and stuff, I was like "what song is this?".
Charli: Oh My.
Josh: One of my favorites though is, again, snap music, crunk era. T-pain's Buy You a Drink. [Charli: ooh]. I'm going to start it and you have to finish the lyric, right?
Tracy: Okay.
Josh: So, he goes, "Imma buy you a drink"...
Charli: [Hesitant] ooh-yeah. Is that it?
Josh: So, everyone thinks he goes “ooh wee” , but he says "and then I'm going to take you home with me".
Chalri: How would that fit in there?
Tracy: No.
[CLIP] T Pain, Buy U A Drank.
T Pain: I’ma buy you a drank. Oh and then I’ma take you home with me.
Cori: Ohhhh
Josh: If you listen to it right now, he goes “And then, I’ma take you home with me”
Tracy: Awww
Charli: Ohhhh.
Charli: Life change.
Tracy: That warms my heart somehow.
Cori: See the Education. Education happening
Charli: Thank you. Thank You Josh.
Cori: What about you Tracy?
Charli: What about you Tracy?
Tracy: I'm trying to think. There's this Erykah Badu song,
Cori: Charli and I are superfans. So we know [inaudible]
Tracy: Okay Great. So this is, get money? Remember that song, where she sampled Get money? So it’s the part that she kind of starts sing-rapping. She’s like (singing) this loving’s chemical…
[CLIP] Erykah Badu, Can’t Turn Me Away
Erykah Badu: This, love is chemical
Electic particle
Down, to the minimal
Tickle tickle, ego stroke
Josh: Mmmm.
Tracy: And I was like "tickle, tickle, beeper stroll"?
Josh: [Laughs]
Cori: Oh, Right, Yes!
Tracy: And I was like I know, I know, I know Erykah’s on another plane, like, I-I understand. But sis. Like what? What, What is this? What is it?
Charli: What?? Thank God for lyric websites ya’ll.
Tracy: I could have [inaudible] this a long time ago, but I was just like ‘nah’.
Charli: Sometimes you just don't want to know. You just want to sing what you're singing.
I was telling Cori more recently, for me it's SZA songs. I don't know what she's saying, but I love it. Sometimes I'm like, ‘wait, that's not what I thought she was…’ Like, on Weekend, she was saying, "You like nine to five; I'm the weekend." [Tracy:Huh] I thought she was singing ‘you’re mine oh mine’-I don't know what I was hearing. [inaudible].
Josh: That also works though. It’s just a different song
Charli: Right. Then I used to sing, "in the kitchen, making chicken in a stir fry", and that's not the lyrics.
Josh: With the Migos? Is that migos?
Charli: Yes, Migos. [inaudible My husband was like, that's not it. [inaudible]
Tracy: Uh Uh. [Negative]
Charli: That’s not the lyrics.
Cori: Oh My God, I thought it was.
Josh: I always hate when the person says, "that's not the lyrics". Like, let me live.
Charli: It’s in the kitchen flipping something like it's stir fry. But, I would say in the kitchen making chicken, and it's stir fry.
Tracy: I mean still sound delicious.
Charli: Thank you girl.
Josh: That kills me though. I'm that person that goes to the lyric website. Let me figure out what all of these things mean, like, annotate it. Like, remember that song that Beyoncé had with Sean Paul?
Multiple People: Baby Boy.
Josh: I had no idea what she was saying when she-it was like, "baby boy, you be on my mind and, Baby boy, you are so damn fine. Baby boy, won't you be mine? Baby boy let’s (mumbles)".I had no idea. I had no idea.
Charli: I realized I just mumbled that part. What is it?
[CLIP] Beyoncé, Baby Boy
Josh: Let's conceive an angel.
Tracy: I don’t like that I don’t-
Charli: I didn’t know that. Until this moment today.
Tracy: I know. See. Learn together.
Cori: Yeah I realize, I didn't know that. Before we wrap, we want to ask you both this question. Think hard before you answer it. What is the most underrated or, underrated song of all time or underrated artist?
Tracy: Mmmmm.
Josh: Underrated.
Cori: Okay, I'll go, because now it's just now just hit me. Ledisi.
Tracy: Mmmm.
Josh: She can sang.
Tracy: She sho’ can.
Cori: I once saw Ledisi in the basement of some club in New York, in Midtown. Sing a song, about going to work, and the nuances, and micro aggressions of working. Just going into an office job. As she sang, she mimicked a typewriter. Beautiful song. And then, there was another time she performed for our first black women in Hollywood awards. She did Imagine. She added a lyric that says something like… Talk about ad-lib. She ad-libbed, like, my body, my, my body, my dress don't fit the same way it used to fit. When I tell you the room, everybody just- you know when you have that collective moment where everybody just puts their head down. There's a collective like, "mm". It’s like... Everyone in the room did that. And I think about Ledisi, because I don't know why Ledisi isn't opening the Grammy's. I don't know why Ledisi is not filling out stadiums.
Josh: Yeah.
Tracy: I agree.
Cori: Or I, all the things. Because people who know her music, immediately say she can sing, she can blow, she can outsing.
Charli: And perform! [inaudible].
Cori: And Perform. And she's got body, and she's got vibes. But, yeah
Tracy: I agree.
Charli: Yeah, Go ahead tracy.
Tracy: Piggybacking on that, was it Ledisi who was in...there was a cover of four women that was in some award show, and Ledisi sang the role of peaches at the time. “My Name is Peaches.
Cori: I have, you’re giving me chills.
[CLIP] Ledisi (Singing):
Chorus: What do they call me??
Ledisi: My Name is peaches. [Awards show clapping, fanfare]
Tracy: Um, I'm going to say a very underrated singer is Ms. Keke Wyatt.
Cori: Yeah.
Tracy: That woman has ten whole chirrens. And to have the strength or energy after having any children, honestly. I still think that her verse on, um, My First Love, (singing) as long as I live, there's an ad lib that she does at the end of that song. That makes me so excited. And I have to do it now. I'm so sorry. It's going to sound terrible. Mmm. I’m not gon try to hit the register but she goes (Singing) “long as I liiiiiive”.
[CLIP] Avant ft, Keke Wyatt, My First Love.
Keke Wyatt: Long as I live.
Avant: I like you baby. Sing to m.e My first love.
Tracy: I’m just like-?!?!
Josh: Ahh
Charli: With um, yes that’s my sh-I love that song. (singing) My first love. It was, it was with Avant right? Yeah, Avant and Keke because they used to do a lot of songs together, they were like magic.
Josh: Mhmm.
Tracy: Yes. Yes.. And like, I know that in my soul that was not planned. It was not rehearsed. Those are the kinds of vocal chords that she has and she just deserves so so so so much more. And I know that she's a good one for tributes too in black award shows.
Charli: Oh Yes.
Tracy: Shut it up.
Josh: If Only You Knew.
Tracy: Shut it up.
Josh: If Only You Knew, when she sings those runs at the end of ‘If Only You Knew’,It's like.
Tracy: That’s That's it.
Josh: Ugh. I mean, I already mentioned her Rachelle Forelle. [Tracy: Yeah. Cori: True] There's no reason. There's no reason thatRachelle Forelle isn't like global icon. She's able to do anything she wants with her voice it's incredible. But when I think of someone who I feel had all the, like, ingredients for being a global crossover, big pop star, right? [Cori:Mmmm] Talent, the material, beauty. I always come back to Tamia.
Charli: Yes.
Tracy: Mmmm.
Josh: Always. Like, from when we first heard her do that song on Quincy albums.
Charli: Yeah. Slow jams.
Josh: No...
Tracy: Which one?
Charli: Which one?
Josh: You Put A Move On My Heart.
[CLIP] Quincy Jones ft. Tamia, You Put A Move On My Heart.
Tamia:Knew from the start. You put a move on me. Ooh you went through to my heart.
Tracy: Oh my gosh.
Josh: Her first album with imagination and I'm So Into You.
Charli: Which is iconic.
Josh: Iconic, And to, like, New Day with Stranger On My House. I wore that album out.
Cori: So into You can put, I- you can put that on right now.
Josh: It sounds brand new.
Cori: That's another song, I would stop everything. Like Stranger In my house. If you listen to what she’s ... what [inaudible crosstalk]
Josh: Drama. Giving you cinematic.
Charli: We could talk about music all day with you all. Thank you guys. Congratulations for-
Tracy: Thank You.
Charli: -on he podcast on everything on back issue and just all of your success as a whole and for doing this for the culture. We appreciate you.
Tracy: Aww. Well, thank you for listening and thank you for having us it just makes everything better. So-
Josh:Aww. Thank You
Tracy: we appreciate it. Thanks for having us today too.
Josh: I really appreciate it.
Charli: Aww We love Y’all.
Josh: We Love y’all.
Tracy: Thank you all so much.
Cori: Bye.
[29:52]
[Outro Music Begins]
Josh Gwynn: Shout out to Tiffany Ashitey, Ashley Hobbs, Shantel Holder. Shout out to y'all for doing the work that y'all did for the culture.
Tracy Clayton: [clapping] Round of applause. You deserve it. Back Issue is a production of Pineapple Street Studios.
Josh Gwynn: This show was created and it's hosted by Tracy Clayton
Tracy Clayton: and Josh Gwynn. Our lead producers are Josh Gwynn and Emanuel Hapsis.
Josh Gwynn: Our managing producer is John Asante.
Tracy Clayton: Our senior editor is Leila Day. Special thanks to Gabrielle Yang.
Josh Gwynn: Our associate producer is Alexis Moore. Our executive producers are Jenna Weiss-Berman and Max Linsky.
Tracy Clayton: This show features music by Don Will. You can follow him on all the socials @DjDon Will. And you can follow me on the socials @BrookeyMcPoverty
Josh Gwynn: and you can follow me @regardingjosh. Subscribe to this podcast wherever free podcasts are sold. You can follow the show @Backissuepodcast and you can follow the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #backissuepodcast.
Tracy Clayton: That was so professional that was good.
Josh Gwynn: You know? I try. I try.
Tracy Clayton: You did, you did good today.
Josh Gwynn:Thanks.
Tracy Clayton: Not that you don't always do good. You do act up sometimes. Sometimes you, you do. [Josh laughs] Bye Y'all, see you next week.
Josh Gwynn: Bye.
[Outro Music ends]
Josh Gwynn: Ooooh yeah. oooh yeah.
Tracy Clayton: K-Ci Jo jo. Devonte.
Josh Gwynn: Look at me-uh.
Tracy Clayton: I can't stop crying.
Josh Gwynn: In my heart
Tracy Clayton: Inside my heart it's-
Both: Slowly Dying.
Tracy Clayton: Can we get him on the show somehow?