Patrice Rushen Is In A Class All Her Own #WomensHistoryMonth (Show #90)
Patrice Rushen Is In A Class All Her Own #WomensHistoryMonth (Show #90)
Show #90 Notes - Patrice: Haven't You Heard? A Queue Points Conversation About Patrice Rushen
Queue Points celebrates #WomensHistoryMonth by honoring the career of Patrice Rushen on Show #90 - Patrice: Haven't You Heard? A Queue Points Conversation About Patrice Rushen
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Intro
There are few artists as prolific as Patrice Rushen. As a composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist, Rushen had many hits in the late 1970s and early 1980s. After that, she started to work for television and movies. For Women’s History Month, we decided to open the show with a tribute to the living legend.
Opening Segment Notes
Before they dive into the main topic, Jay Ray and DJ Sir Daniel caught up on the week's news. The two shouted out two members of the Queue Points Family, Marcus Emel and Mr. Al Pete. Both were caught rocking their “Stop Tweeting. Start Rapping.” hoodies.
Following that, the two discussed the passing of music legend, saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter. Jay Ray recalled his early memories of Mr. Shorter’s music, including his work with Miles Davis during the “Bitches Brew” era. Rest In Power Wayne Shorter.
The two get on their soap box about the importance of our music legends being treated with respect and dignity. Both were upset at the way the media decided to highlight Chaka Khan’s interview on The Original’s podcast.
These interview shows are popping up, and they're getting access to many of our legends and are prodding them and leading them into making these statements about their contemporaries or people that come up behind them. And then they, they chop it up and of course they get their clickbait and they get their headlines to help promote their show.
-DJ Sir Daniel
It's so crazy that the thing that the other media outlets are picking up on is crazy conversation about dissin’ Adele and dissin’ Mariah Carey. She literally said that the problem was racism in the music industry way before she even got to that part. So we're going to ignore that part? Which was a very important conversation to have. The headline should be, Chaka Khan speaks on racism in the music industry and how it has destroyed and damaged artists.
-Jay Ray
Jay Ray also reflects on Michael B. Jordan’s red carpet experience by talking about the time when he was bullied as a teen.
Main Segment Notes
For the main topic, the hosts skim the very very dense career of Patrice Rushen. They open the segment with Jay Ray giving a very brief history of Rushen from her upbringing in Los Angeles to her first album for Prestige Records - “Prelusion.”
The two reflect on the difficult transition from Jazz to R&B, and how the Jazz world labeled Rushen a sell-out. The two draw parallels with the early years of hip hop, where artists would often be labeled a sell out if their music was picked up by a Pop audience.
During the portion of Rushen’s recording career that she’s most remembered for, Rushen created a lot of hits. They discuss the impact of her music on hip hop through sampling - “Remind Me” being one of the duos favorites.
They give shout outs to Tragedy Khadafi and DJ K-Def who brought the excellent “Grand Groove,” which features a sample of the song, to the world while the hosts were teens.
Closing out the show there is a discussion about Rushen’s transition into television and film work, including with Robert Townsend. They discuss how rare it was to see a woman in a Musical Director’s role, and why Rushen’s image was so important to Black women of the time.
Other Queue Points News
DJ Sir Daniel and Jay Ray busted a move with our folks over at the White People Won’t Save You podcast. They joined the duo to discuss the film Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo, the 1984 film that came out mere months after the original. Let’s just say it didn’t do as well. Tune in for laughs and reminiscing.