[00:00:00] Speaker A: It. Now it's the time you've been waiting for. You're in the mix with film producer Jason Slack, aka the Talk of the town. Now, the 40 Vision films Man himself, the owner of the Jason Slack brand. The place to be is here on the Vision Live network. And now let's get it in. Welcome to the Slackest Talk podcast.
Welcome to the Slack and Talk podcast, aka the Talk of the town. Now I'm your host, film producer Jason Slack, and this is season number four. And on today's show, we got an episode you do not want to miss. So without a doubt, let's get it in.
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You're now live and in the mix with film producer Jason Slack.
[00:02:00] Speaker A: And welcome to another epic edition of the Slackest Talk podcast, aka the Talk of the town. Now it's your boy 40 V, aka Jason Slack, aka the man that wears a thousand hats.
And today is Thursday, February eigth 2024. And you already know what it is, man. You all could have been anywhere in the world, but you're right here with me. I appreciate that. I got another wonderful show for you all again this week.
As usual, I want to start things off by giving a shout out to my mother, Edith Johnson. Tomorrow, February 9, marks the 31st anniversary of her passing. She passed away when I was eleven years old. All my day one listeners, I talk about her all the time. I even did a couple of shows.
And this in eleven years, man, I just want to show appreciation, you know what I'm saying? She taught me so much in those eleven years, man, and it stuck with me. You know what I'm saying? It stuck with me. So I just wanted to shout her out. Ma, I love you. Today's episode is brought to you by the Sports Core network. Sports Core Network is the new number one in sports.
If you're looking for any kind of sports related information, check out the sports corps network. The network covers the NBA, the NFL, Major League Baseball, MMA, WWE, WNBA, and a host of other sports.
It even has a podcast show, which you heard me on a couple of times. So check out the sports corps network, man. We have a number of different hosts, a number of different analysts that all have different teams, and they share their opinions, and we basically do battle of who's best. So if you haven't already, man, check it out. That Sportscornetwork.com. That's Sportscornetwork.com. Check it out. The new number one in sports this month in history. HSF Sports was founded on February twelveth, and it was founded by me, my partner, Godstar, and also my partner, Celeste Howard.
HSF Sports is a sports management company. We aim to give our sports clients a brand on and off the court. Check that out. HSL Sports in this week's news, man, we got some good stuff for you, man. As you know, man, the Super bowl is in a couple of days. It's this Sunday. We got the Kansas City Chiefs playing the San Francisco 49 ers.
As you know, man, I'm a New York Jet fan. I don't have a dog in a fight. My season was over with about, I don't know, two or three months ago.
So how I am, basically, man, I ain't telling you nothing I don't already know.
I'm loyal, man. If the jets ain't in it, I ain't really interested. But it's the Super bowl, you know what I'm saying? It's one of the most fun times of the year, you know what I'm saying? You get to see great performances, the celebrities come out, all the commercials, the halftime entertainment. Everything is just on 100 on the dowsing, you know what I'm saying? So the entertainment aspect of it, I'll be checking it out, but I really don't have nothing against neither one of those teams, you know what I'm saying? Nothing personal, you know what I'm saying? So I guess I'll check it out. Hopefully just be a good game, as long as it's not decided by the refs, man. You know what I'm saying?
Whatever team go win, let them win. Whatever team go lose, let them lose. As long as it's not decided by the referees, you know what I mean? I'll check it out for entertainment. But we got, like, a sports thing going online, you know what I'm saying? So if you're a fan of one of those teams or you got a strong opinion who go win the game, definitely do share, you know what I'm saying? Hit me up. Slaggers talk on the Slaggers talk Facebook or Instagram, you know what I'm saying?
Fridays, we do sports related questions, you know what I'm saying, throughout the week. So, I mean, I know people going heavy. All the KC fans are going to come out, all the fake fans of San Francisco and everybody else go, come out. So, yeah, man, let's do battle, man. Let's talk. Let's talk Super bowl online. Let's do it. But overall, hopefully it's a good game, man. That's all I'm checking for.
And in the music world, man, this past week, they had the Grammys, man. My boy, Jay Z.
My boy Jay Z, man.
I don't know.
He must have had something on his mind, you know what I'm saying? To me, he kind of pulled the Kanye West a little bit, man. You know what I mean? That's not unlike Jay Z, you know what I'm saying? It's not like him, but nevertheless, in a lot of ways, he's right. You know what I'm saying?
It's crazy. How can somebody have 32 Grammys and never have the album of the year, you know what I'm saying? It's something to think about. You know what I'm saying? It's something to think about.
I actually liked it so much, and I thought that was interesting that I actually might do a show on that, man. Like, later on, you know what I'm saying? You know, it's black History Month right now, so I got an obligation to fulfill, you know what I'm saying? Right now in this month, you know what I'm saying? February, the greatest month of the year by far. That's why it's only 28 days, because it's special. But Jay Z made a lot of points there, man. A lot of points. And I think, don't be surprised if I touch on that again, man, if we chop it up and we do an episode, man. So shout out to Jay Z. Surprising he did that, but shout out to him, man. Shout out.
Now, I hope everybody enjoyed last week's show.
Last week was the first week of Black History Month. You know, all my day one listeners, my slackest talk community out there you know how I do it every February, I give respect to an iconic figure that contributed to our culture that became great and went through adversity, somebody that paved the way for us to be able to do what we do today. You know what I'm saying? It was always somebody before you.
Last week, I switched it up a little bit. You know what I'm saying? I didn't talk about any one person, but I talked about what we have to do as black people to improve our culture, our livelihood, and how we could take things to the next level.
And I'm going to do a part two of that later this month, you know what I'm saying? So I wanted to touch base with that because I know it was something different.
Normally, like I said, I give a shout out to, well, I pay homage and I pay respect to an individual.
So I incorporated something new last week, and it was positive reviews, you know what I'm saying? Positive. And I hope everybody enjoyed that.
Once again, it was something different, something new.
We're in our second month of season number four already, and I incorporated a lot of new stuff, and that was one of them. But on this show, I wanted to go back to tradition a little bit, you know what I'm saying? I wanted to go back to paying homage to an individual that's an icon.
Definitely, as always, before my time. So I didn't know him personally.
So I'm only going on my research.
The things that I've heard, his contemporaries, the people that was alive when he was out here doing his thing, the movie, the biopic that I saw, these are the things that I'm going off of. And from what I've seen of them on tv and stuff like that. So again, if anybody was there during that time or know anything different, or even if you felt like I left anything out, you know what I mean? Holly, me, man. Social media. My email is
[email protected], and I'm always open. But so far, I've been doing these things and nothing but positive feedback. I didn't miss yet, knock on wood. So you know what I'm saying? So there's that. But this guy is a legend. It's an icon.
I'm talking about, like, super talented, man.
When I choose a person, I look at the adversity, the trouble that they face while doing a thing, all the stuff that they had to go through.
I like stories that's just miraculous. And this dude, he checked all boxes for me. He checked every box for me. And I'm talking about none other than Ray Charles, man. You know what I'm saying? From Atlanta, Georgia, a soul singer from Atlanta, Georgia, a singer, a songwriter, played the piano.
Ray Charles Robinson was born on September 23, 1930, and he passed away on June 10, 2004.
He was known during his time as the pioneer of soul music, jazz, rhythm and blues, and even some gospel styles in there, man.
He was a recording artist for Leonard Records.
He contributed a lot to the integration. I don't know if I'm saying that word right, integration of country music.
Now, everybody that listens to me, listen to my show and stuff like that.
One of the things that I love, probably the thing that I love the most when I talk about a recording, you know, the way they sound, as far as, like, voice.
Ray Charles checks the box when you hear him.
If you're too young to know who he is, then you're too young. You need to go back into the history and check it out. But when you hear his voice, absolutely right away, you know it's him. You can't get him confused with anybody.
You know what I'm saying? Like certain people, there's only a handful of people like that, man.
I could say maybe about. Out of all the musicians that I know, there's probably maybe like 15 or 20.
And I'm reaching when I say that it might not even be that many. There's only about 15 or so that you could say, man, right away, you know it's him. And you can't get him confused with nobody. There's nobody else that sounds like him. Ray Charles checks that box like he's unique. You know, it's him.
That's the first thing. The second thing that I like, and this goes back, know you heard me say this about my boy Tupac.
I love it when an artist is not put in a box.
And what I mean by that is, say you come out, this is your first album. This is your first time on the radio. Let's say you talk about having money.
Usually what happens is you have a fan base where that's all they accept from you. So all your songs have to be, if not about money, it has to be something related to money or has to deal with money in some capacity.
Well, the great artists are not like that. The great artists, the great artists, it doesn't matter what they talk about. They could talk about uplifting the community. On one song, they could talk about being a gangster. On another, they could talk about a relationship on this one. They could talk about the streets on a different one. They could talk about being a revolutionist on one. And no matter what they talk about, no matter how different the songs are, no matter how different the sound, how different the beat, low tempo, high tempo, fast, slow, it doesn't matter. You love that song, and you love that artist the same. When you hear that new song, all you know is, that was a good song. That was a great song. You don't hear well, that artist was trying to be something that he's not, or that artist was trying to be different that didn't sound like him. No, you don't hear that because he talks about everything. You know what I'm saying? He's an artist. He's an artist, period. He's not just a specific type of artist.
Ray Charles checks that box.
He had a song called the mess around, fast tempo, crazy fast. You know what I'm saying, about relationships. Like, I guess people messing around and stuff like that, all kind of stuff. And then, I don't know the exact years and the order, but then he came with Georgia on my mind.
That's the slowest of know soul songs that you can get. That's, like one of the slowest songs that they can ever be.
Both of them are great songs, but vastly different from each other. You know what I'm saying? They direct opposite of each other, but you love them both because Ray Charles was great like that. You see what I'm saying? That's the second thing.
And the third thing, know, you gotta have a personality. You gotta have a stage presence.
It's one thing to have a good song. It's one thing to be able to sing. It's another to be able to rap or whatever it is that you do, but you got to have the personality to go along with it.
People have to feel what you're saying.
Even though it's entertainment.
People want to think and want to believe that what you're saying is true.
You understand what I'm saying? Like, you have to put your heart in it. You got to have a presence about you. You got to be entertainment, entertainer. Like, your fans have to feel like they know you. Ray Charles, he checked that box.
The man was multi talented. He could not only sing, but he played instruments, man, he was a musician, he was a writer, he was an organizer. He knew each and every role inside of a band, just how to put on the show.
He had it all. He knew all the tricks of the trade. And during his prominence, during his run of just making hit after hit after hit and being on the top of the charts.
Sadly, this came at a time where your music didn't matter.
It didn't matter how talented you was. It didn't matter what you could do.
Skills didn't play any kind of part in it. It was all about the color of his skin. And during that time, of course, like all the other greats during that time, man, he faced racism.
He had a lot of trouble getting into venues.
He wasn't allowed to play at certain places. There were certain restrictions. There were certain barriers.
He had to go do all kind of stuff, man, because of the color of his skin.
And he didn't give up.
He didn't give up at all. As a matter of fact, he fought through it in a lot of ways. It made him stronger. And when we come back from commercial break, I'm going to share with you a very sad story in the music business that he had to go through. And also, on a side note, I want to share with you, in my opinion, what I think is, like the most courageous story that I've ever heard of in my life. I mean, it's mind blowing, man. It's mind blowing. Keep it locked. I'll be right back. It's a slackest talk podcast.
What's up, slackest talk community? We here with another slackest talk question of the week. So let's get started.
The question is, which event do you look forward to the most?
And this is a sports question.
You got the NBA Finals, you got the Super bowl, you got the World Series, and you got wrestlemania.
This is a good one, man. You know, I'm a sports fan. Let me start off by saying, man, I'm a fan of all four of them. I love the NBA Finals, Super Bowl, Tom, you know what I'm saying? You get all those great commercials, all the celebrities come out, man, the halftime performance, you know what I'm saying? All that good stuff, man. It's a day. Everybody celebrate, man. Everybody party. Some people turn on the grill. A little bit of everything, man. It's a spectacle. You got the World Series, you know what I'm saying? All season long, 162 game season, you've been watching baseball. And now that you get to the show, that's what they call it, the show, man, the World Series. And then you got Wrestlemania. You know what I'm saying? Wrestlemania. If you are a wrestling fan, wrestlemania is like the Super bowl of wrestling, you know what I'm saying? Same thing, man. It's a big event. All the celebrities come out. They got performances and stuff like that. You know what I'm saying all that good stuff for me, this is a tough one, you know what I'm saying? But I'm going to go with how I feel right now at the moment.
See, I like the Chicago Bulls. I'm a bulls fan in basketball. We're not going to the finals no time soon. I don't have nothing to look forward to. I'm a New York jet fan. In football, we haven't made it to the playoffs in 13 years, man. You know what I'm saying? Hopefully Aaron Rogers play, if he does, we got a chance. But until then, you know what I'm saying? I haven't made it to the playoffs in almost 13 to 14 years, man. The longest drought in sports history.
In baseball, I like the Mets, you know what I'm saying? We rebuild them right now, you know what I'm saying? I don't see it no time soon, you know what I mean? I don't see it no time soon. So that leaves last but not least. I got to say wrestlemania, man. I got to say wrestlemania. And the reason why I say wrestlemania, because it's not a team or two teams, it's like multiple wrestlers, you know what I'm saying? So all actuality, you could be a fan of a lot of different people, you know what I'm saying? It depends on the matches that you want to see, like the hype, you know what I'm saying? Surrounding it. Like Super bowl, they got halftime. I'm about to say halftime. They have performances going on, celebrity guests, you know what I'm saying? The whole walk, you know what I'm saying? It's a whole week long event, you know what I'm saying? And they get it in, you know what I mean?
I even travel, you know what I'm saying, to see wrestlemania. So, you know what I'm saying? So I've been a lifelong wrestling fan. I'm a fan of all four, but wrestlemania, ever since I was a kid, man, ever since Hogan slammed Andre the Giant, you know what I'm saying? So for me, man, I'm going to say wrestlemania because they got different people. It's more matches.
It's the longest event out of all four of them. It's every year, you know what I'm saying? There's something different and you know what I'm saying? It's just entertainment. It never fails, man. It always show out, man. It always do what it's supposed to do, you know what I'm saying? Whether I'm near or whether I'm watching it, you know? What I'm saying? I've never been let down so far, so I'm going to say Wrestlemania on that one.
And for this week's versus battle, man, you all kind of switched the game up on me a little bit, man.
Usually, you know what I'm saying? The question is like random, but in this one, y'all went with something that's going on right now. Y'all went with something that's current. The versions battle is none other than Nicki Minaj versus Megan thee stallion. And you know what? On that's a beef that's going on right now.
They know. Jabs disregards at each other, you know what I'm saying? They going pound for pound, you know what I'm saying? Two of the top females in the game going at it right now. It's entertaining.
So this question could be answered in a lot of different ways.
Are you asking me like, who had the better career, who won the beef, you know what I'm saying? Who had the best disregard? Or if you want to turn this into a man thing, who looks the best, you know what I mean? So it could go three different ways. So I'm going to answer all three as far as, like, know, hands down, you know what I'm saying? It's Nicki Minaj.
I was having a conversation with somebody the other day, and I haven't figured out how do you measure record sales versus digital downloads. Record sales was a lot more money, you know what I'm saying? Them albums cost like, them albums was like least ten, you know what I'm saying? Versus a download is what, a dollar or maybe even free, you know what I'm saying? So to me, it seemed like records is more impressive, man. I'm a records kind of guy. I'm old school with that.
People went to the store and bought your music, you know what I mean? That says a lot. It's easy to be at home and just click a button. Download, you know what I'm saying? For a dollar or something or whatever it is, you know what I mean? But to go to a store and pay $10 or $15, that says something, you know what I mean? That means something that carries a lot of weight.
Not only that, Nikki has lyrics. She was the top female for some years, hands down, with no competition.
And it's just like, overall, all love to Megan thee stallion. She's doing a thing too, you know what I mean? She got lyrics, she doing it. She's on top for a minute. She has some hit records. Ever since she's been on the scene. But like Nikki, man, for the longest time, she's been the only one going strong. And she's still doing it today, you know what I'm saying? Still out there. Now the dis track, I would get that to Nicki, too. Nikki was funny with it, you know what I'm saying? Both records are good, but I'll give the edge to Nicki on that one, you know what I'm saying? I just get an edge. And if this is a guy question and you going on who looks the best, I'm sorry, Megan. You know what? Think I'm. People go think I'm hating on her, but I'm not, you know what I'm saying? But there's no hate. And then I guess the third one, my third answer since my third answer was Nikki, I think y'all will probably believe, because the third one was Nikki. That's the reason why the other two is Nikki. But it's not much love to both of them. But Nicki Minaj win queen tweet. And that wraps up the slackest talk social media segment of the week.
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Welcome back to the Slackest Talk podcast. We're in the second week of black history month here on the talk of the town now. And we talking about my man Ray Charles. We giving him his flowers, we showing our appreciation, we giving them props, all that good stuff. And before, you know, for commercial break, I was talking about something very, you know, and it's crazy, man. You know what I mean? It's something that I could never imagine, you know what I'm saying?
Whatever you do in life, man, if you become a basketball player, if you play any type of sport, if you're in the music business and you in a movie, you're in the films, almost like whatever you do, like any sort of entertainment or any sport or anything, when you become a public figure, right, the main thing that people want to know about you and the main thing that always sticks with you is where you're from.
You know what I'm saying? Like where you're from.
Me being a fan of NBA right? I'm a Duke Blue devil fan, and we lost to the tar heels, you know what I'm saying? I already know I'm going to hear that, but I'm a Duke fan, so I get great honor and be able to tell people, man, we got x and x amount of Duke players in the NBA. You know what?
Know, we got. We got mad rappers from New York. You know what it's like where you're from and what you represent is, like, synonymous with it. It comes with the territory. But anyway, I'm getting off track.
Ray Charles is from Georgia, right? That's his hometown.
He's from there. You know what I'm saying? Born and raised, right?
And as I mentioned before, we went on, know, during his prominence, during his time of being dominant in the music industry, he endured a lot of stuff, man. A lot of segregation, racism, being banned from different places and stuff like that.
And one of the things that happened was, and one of the stories that's most famous was he was on tour and he had just released, I think, georgia on my mind. I believe if I'm wrong, like I said, anybody, let me know.
He just released Georgia on my mind, which is, I think, maybe the biggest song of his career as far as, like, the charts and what sold the most. But he just released that, and he was on tour, and he was set to play in know, Augusta, Georgia.
And when he got to the venue, he learned that certain sections of the place were only for whites, and the know had to sit in the back or they had to sit up in the balcony. In other words, racism. You know what I'm saying? Everything wasn't fair.
Once he learned about this arrangement, him being the man that he is, him being the stand up type of guy that he is, he didn't perform that night. He left.
You know what I'm saying? He stood up for what he believed in. Now, I want to talk about something real quick.
I want to talk about something because it speaks to what I was telling you all about, maybe, like about two episodes ago, about standing up for what you believe in. I talked to you about, when you believe something, it doesn't matter. Everything else doesn't matter. There's no sacrifice to be had. There's no changing your mind. You know what I'm saying? It's a part of you. It's a part of your lifestyle right now. I want to make sure that we clear on this at the time where he's performing. Ray Charles is the man. You know what I'm saying? Georgia on my mind is number know. He's the man on a record label.
He got a number of hits already. He's big time torn all over the country. Everybody all over the world know Ray Charles. You know what I'm saying? He's getting paid, right?
This is the height of his. Know, the height, you know what I'm saying? It gets no people.
How many people do you have said that would have been in his position and would have said, you know what, man? The hell with this, man.
I'm here in my hometown.
That situation right there with the venue, that ain't really got nothing to do with me.
I'm just here to perform this venue. This promoter is giving me x and x amount of dollars. I'm number one on the charts. I'm Ray Charles. I ain't got nothing to worry about. I could buy anything I want. I could do anything I want, man. I don't care about what's going on, man. I'm going to perform this tonight, and then I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to go to the next city. How many people do you know would adult like that and actually did it? You know what I'm saying?
You know what I mean? How many people would actually just went ahead and ignored it and took the money and kept it moving? You. Let's be honest, man. A lot of people, a lot.
But when you stand on business, man, and you know something's not right, that would never cross your mind. You know what I'm saying? It would never cross your mind.
You never sell out. You never sell yourself short. You know what I'm saying? He left, and the promoter of the concert eventually sued him for not withholding the contract, right?
So you walked away from the money that you were going to get paid, and now you face with possibly losing money out of this lawsuit.
That's real.
That's real. That shows that you dedicated. You really believe in what you believe in. You know what I'm saying? That's real. Nobody could ever question that. Nobody could ever question that. You know what I'm saying? That's real. You can't do nothing but respect that. That's all you could do in that situation. That's all you could do right now. Don't quote me on this.
I know the promoter sued him, and I'm not 100% sure if he had to pay anything. I think he did. I think he had to pay a fine.
I'm not 100% sure on that, and I definitely don't know how much, but that's not the bad part. You know what I'm saying? That's like, nothing, right?
What ended up happening is he actually ended up getting banned from playing in the state of Georgia, his own hometown. Can you imagine? Like, that's crazy. That's unheard.
Know. Just think about it, right? As I mentioned, like, a couple of seconds ago, man. Just imagine, right?
You're a rapper. You're in the music industry. You are NBA player, you're an NFL player, and you make it out of your hood. You make it out of your hometown to people that's there. Like, you made it. Like you're a hero.
You represent progress. You give people hope. Like, people look at you and see that you made it, that makes them believe that they could do it, you know what I'm saying?
Of course, you have your haters out there and stuff like that, man. But you're a hometown hero, man. Even if you get drafted, everybody don't go on to play for their home team or you don't tour this in your hometown. You go to other cities and stuff like that. But when you come home, you always get a standing ovation, man. You know what I'm saying? That's home.
That's your grounds, man. You show out there. You know what I'm saying? He was banned from playing in his own hometown in the height of his career, man. So imagine everybody in Georgia, like, just loving on him, man, loving his music and feeling, man. You know, your music does so much for the city. It gives us inspiration. You know what I'm saying? It gives us hope. Like, they love you. You're putting them on the map, and you can't perform there. That's unheard of, man. That's, like, one of the saddest stories, man, I ever heard, man.
It's crazy. You know what I'm saying? I can't imagine that. I can't imagine that. But when you believe in something, man, and you fight for the cause, you got to do what you got to do, you know what I'm saying? Like, when you believe in something, you don't give in, you know what I'm saying? You make sure that other side gives into you. You know what I'm saying? You make sure that other side, you make sure they come to their senses and they do right. You know what I'm saying?
And that's what they ended up doing eventually. It took a long time. It took a long time, but they came around and we go talk more about that, we go talk more about that, you know, what I'm saying in the next segment. But the most miraculous thing, I don't like to say this, man, because his music was great. I don't want to take away from the music, man. The music is music. Like good music is good music. You know what I'm saying? It shouldn't matter color or the situation. You make good music. You make good music. But I have to mention this, man, because it's like the most courageous thing that I ever heard of or seen, man.
For those that are younger and may not know or even heard of him, I know everybody that's older than me, I know you know who Ray Charles is. You know what I'm saying? I know that. But for the people that's younger and don't know Ray Charles, was he. During his childhood, he had glaucoma. He couldn't see.
So all this great music was being made by a man that couldn't see.
I just want you to think about this, like, fathom this for a second, really dive in and really think about this, man. And I guess that it really, truly depends on the person, their attitude, and you got to be strong minded. I know some people that can't see, and because they can't see, they feel like, you know, their life is, is over pretty much. They can't, you know, they feel like, you know, they can't do what others do and stuff like that. And then they just overall down about their situation, you know what I'm saying?
But this, like, it's a classic example. Man of strength and will, man.
You're talking about somebody that can't see, that knows how to play the piano.
So from what I understand about the piano, you have to remember there are certain keys that do certain things, and you have to remember order and stuff like that.
And when it comes to things like that, as far as, like, piano and drums and stuff like that, it requires being able to read.
I remember, for example, I remember the movie drumline. You know what? You know, my man Nick Cannon can read music, but he could play the drums. You know what saying?
Like, that's just man. Like, I can see and I can't play the piano. How many people that can see and they can't do stuff like that? This man played the piano. He was touring all over the world.
He was in charge of getting a band together. It didn't stop him in any kind of way from doing what he had to do. Like, the music was on point, how to be on key. There's a lot that goes into it.
You just can't be able to sing. It's how you do it. It's a way you do it, you know what I'm saying? It's some educational things that goes along with that, like some practice and all that kind of stuff.
Just to be able to live off a memory, like getting around by yourself and stuff like that. That is like, just.
I'm amazed, man.
Like, Stevie Wonder is another one, you know what I'm saying? I'm just amazed.
The strength, the will. You could have easily had got down on yourself and said that was it. But you went on and you fought and you became great at what you do. You know what I'm saying? That's an accomplishment within itself.
And he did all this while going through racism, not being allowed in certain venues. There were certain rules that you had to be abide by that you had to play along with and all, you know what I'm saying? This is like a hell of a story to me, man. Like a hell of a, you know, much respect to Ray Charles. You know what?
Know, I can only just imagine.
Think of all the people that took advantage of him. Like, tried to take advantage of him during this time because he couldn't see. Like, you could just imagine the stuff that he went through. But he fought and he fought. He fought and he won in the end. You know what I'm saying? He won. He made it. And I'm going to stop for a minute. I'm going to take another break, pay some bills. But when we come back, I want to show you and tell you how it didn't stop there.
Ray Charles actually did something.
Well, let me change that. He was actually one of the first people to do something that I've been teaching and telling y'all all along. Here on the Slackest talk podcast, keep it locked. It's the talk of the town. Now, if you are a musician, dj, podcaster, radio host, or you do anything dealing with an audio platform, check out a company called Sonar. They specialize in musical WordPress themes and services. If you are looking for a good mp3 audio player for your radio station or something to showcase selling your music online, Sonar is right for you. They have hundreds of professional templates for you to choose from and to give you the look you're looking for, visit Sonal IO. That's S-O-N-A-R IO, and set yourself apart from the competition.
This week's slack is talk classic films is a film called the Best man, starring Tate Diggs, Morris Chestnut, Sonal Lathon, Nia Long, Terrence Howard. I mean, you get the picture, man. This movie was just star studded.
This movie came out in about 99, 98, 99. So everybody I just mentioned like got, they start pretty much like in the early ninety s. So they all, they were all seasoned veterans.
The thing that I like most before I even get into the movie, man, when you got a bunch of stars like that, it says a lot about them that they willing to come together and do a movie because a lot of people be in their feelings, man.
They can't keep their egos in check. They want to be the star, you know what I mean? So they came together and realized, man, we all do something together, man. This be a classic, but movie is just a good story, man. My man.
I'm going to try not to say too much because the purpose of this, I want you to go see it if you haven't already. But somebody's getting married. And on the way to getting married, man, they find out that their wife actually slept with the best man, you know what I'm saying, before they got married, you know what I'm saying? Beforehand, you know what I'm saying? Before all that. And he actually wrote a book about it. So I mean, you could imagine what kind of story is that? What kind of story that is? Like, imagine you getting married and you find out your best man was with your lady, your soon to be wife, you know what I'm saying? And he wrote a book about it, you know what I'm saying? That's how you actually find out about it, you know what I'm saying? So you could just imagine the story, man.
But anyway, man, classic film.
Another note about, let me see, about 15 or so years ago, by the grace of God, they all still alive and they was able to do a part two, and now they even have a series going on about it, man. So, you know what I mean? This is like 20 something years later. That's how good the movie is. You know what I'm saying? But anyway, the best man classic movie. Go check it out, man. You heard it here first on the Slackest Talk podcast.
[00:48:34] Speaker B: Keep listening to the Slackest Talk podcast, new episodes you don't want to miss.
[00:48:42] Speaker A: And we back here on the Slackest Talk podcast once again. It's the month of February, the greatest month of the year, where we celebrate black history month on the Slackest talk podcast. And today we talking about my man Ray Charles. We talking about all the hit records that he made. We're talking about how he did it while being blind. We're talking about how he had to overcome racism and all the obstacles he had to face back then. We're talking about how he paved the way for others.
We're talking about how he set the standard. We're talking about his legacy. We're talking about how he contributed to the black culture.
And one of my favorite things about him, man, my favorite things. My favorite, favorite things, and when I first heard of Ray Charles, and I really heard about him, and I gotten to know who he was, of course, the first thing I recognized was the music, you know what I'm saying? All the great music.
Second was probably the fact that he couldn't see.
Third, it did help a lot that he was in one of my favorite movies called the Blues Brothers classic. Classic movie, man. Classic movie man. Funny, too, man.
In this classic, he was playing the piano in that movie. And also, there was a kid that came in the store that tried to steal, and Ray Charles knew about it, you know what I'm saying? Like, classic movie man. You got to see that, man.
I think I did that for classic films. If I'm not, if I didn't already be on the lookout for that.
That was probably the third thing in the movie. And what I'm about to tell you, I didn't really notice about him until I actually saw his movie Ray Charles.
That came out. Well, it was called Ray, and it came out in 2004.
I respected him and his career and everything that he'd done from the beginning, but my respect went up a thousand times greater when I found this out during his run, during his dominance, you know what I'm saying, of making hit after hit.
He started with Atlantic Records, and then it's a business.
Eventually, you sign a contract like everybody else for I don't know how many albums or how many years or whatever. It's usually albums. And like all business, you know what I'm saying? The contract comes to an end, it's time to renegotiate.
So Ray Charles became Ray Charles. He made all the hits he was writing. He made Atlanta records. What it is. Everybody knew about him, you know what I'm saying? So it's time to renegotiate. It's time for you to pay me what you owe me now. You know what I'm saying? The first contract was just to get me in the door. The first contract was this for me to show you who I am and what I can do now it's time for you to pay me what?
Well, you know, Atlantic Records wanted to keep him, and there was a number of different suitors that also wanted his services.
One was, I believe it was called, was it Paramount? I believe I might be saying the wrong name, but I think it was Paramount back then. I mean, back in those days, probably like even back then, probably a billion dollar company, they was doing music and movies, you know what I'm saying? Paramount is still around today, you know what I'm saying? They was doing both, there was prominent big names in both markets. I think, like I said, it was probably a billionaire company, a billion dollar company back then, you know what I'm saying? Just to give you an idea, and this is like in the.
They were interested, you know what I'm saying? So he had already built a relationship at eleven records. They liked him. They loved them. They loved each other. They knew how each other operates. They got used to the ways, most importantly, the records were selling, you know what I'm saying? People was loving everything. You know what? Sometimes, you know, you go with the saying, if it's not broke, don't fix it. But Paramount came and knocked at the door. Davis interested and Ray Charles told him straight, you know, in order for me to leave Atlantic, I'm going to need you to match or top what they giving me. And I want to own my own publishing and my masters, you know what I'm saying? And the masters. And at the time, this was unheard of.
It was almost like nobody even knew that that was possible, you know what I'm saying? I think he was like the first one ever. He might have been the first person ever. And I would like to know that there was somebody out there that know who the first person was. Reach out to me. I would like to know that fact, you know what I'm saying? If I'm wrong on that, you know what I'm saying? Please reach out. But he might have been the first person ever. Like the record label, the companies couldn't believe he asked for that. They probably couldn't even believe that he even knew about that. So that just gives you an idea of how this man was standing on business. This man understood the assignment, you know what I'm saying? He knew what market he was in. He knew his name was out there. He knew he was the man back then. You got to be the man to ask for something like that, you know what I'm saying? Like nothing less. You got to be the man to ask for something like that, for that to even be under consideration.
And without a doubt, my man was so big, so talented.
They gave it to him.
They gave it to him. You know what I'm saying? My man had complete control over all his music.
Let me give you just a rundown real quick. He had creative control.
He owned his publishing. He owned his masters. He was writing the songs. You're talking about somebody that's getting paid, man. That's business. That's what I've been teaching all along here on the slackest talk podcast, ownership. You know what I'm saying? Ownership.
Just don't be a talent. Be on the business side of it, too. Like, own it at the end.
Let it sit and let it build generational wealth so your kids and nay kids can live off of it. You know what I'm saying? Let's start a pipeline. That's how we even things out around here. That's how we get ahead. My man had that mindset back then. That was unheard of, man. And he got it.
Y'all already know how I feel about that, man. That was the highlight for me. The other highlight was the fact that he stood up to the state of Georgia. He stood up to Augusta. He never shied away from right or wrong and what he believed in. And that also paid off because the state, they uplifted the band. He was no longer banned from the state.
He's been inducted into every hall of fame that his music qualifies for.
Anything that you could think of, any type of music that you talk about, whether it be gospel, country, rap, r and b, whatever genre you talk about, when you talk about the grades, you can't talk about the greats without mentioning him.
Like, he's on that level. Like, regardless, his music lives on.
His music is sampled numerous times all over the years. His music would never die. We talk about timeless music. That's what makes somebody great.
You're not great in a certain era. Your music is still alive and still good.
20 and 30 years later after you passed away, it's still going.
That's a great artist.
And today, on the slackest tall podcast, I wanted to give him his due. I wanted to give him his flowers, man.
I want to honor him.
He did so much for our culture.
Your favorite artist was probably definitely influenced by him. You know what I'm saying? If they old enough, you understand what I'm saying?
He's still responsible for a lot of the music that you hear today.
You know what I'm saying? But besides the music, I want to show appreciation for him standing up for what he believe in and sticking with it and showing people that that will pay off. It might not be today, it might not be tomorrow, but it's going to pay off down the line, you know what I'm saying? Because he did that, that opened the door for other artists to be able to have a fair concert, to be whatever venue you go to, to be fair for everybody.
Anybody who came after him got the benefit of being able to enjoy that. That was because of him.
I want to thank him for having that.
Being a person that has a situation like not being able to see, but showing us that we can still do it, you know what I'm saying? And we could still do it at a high level, just overall being strong, being great.
And just like he had Georgia on his mind, this episode is what I had on my mind. This has been the Slack and salt podcast, aka the talk of the town. Now, I'm your host, film producer Jason Slack. And if you haven't already, go and listen to some of Ray Charles music, man. And I bet you you come away saying, man, I heard somebody sample that before, I promise you. But y'all be safe. Thanks for listening, and we'll talk again next week. Peace. Bye.
