Michael Harriot joins Panama Jackson for an entertaining game of “One Gotta Go.” The pair go back and forth about some of the most iconic songs in Black culture in front of a live audience at the National Association of Black Journalists Conference and Career Fair in Birmingham, Alabama. Artists like Whitney Houston, New Edition, and Lauryn Hill are all on the chopping block. Play along and join in because not everybody is making the cut.
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Panama Jackson [00:00:00] You are now listening to theGrio is Black Podcast Network. Black Culture Amplified. Welcome to Dear Culture, the podcast for by and about the culture here at theGrio Black Podcast Network. I’m your host, Panama Jackson and we recently took the podcast on the road and recorded an episode live in front of an audience in Birmingham, Alabama, at the National Association of Black Journalists Conference and Career Fair. It was a really, really good time. My friend and host of theGrio Daily, Michael Harriott, join me for a rambunctious, excitable, crowd participation heavy version of the internet meme and game that everybody keeps doing of “One Gotta Go.” You know what it is. You understand where people put like for things that we all love in one space and say one gotta go and you lose everything associated with that one. Yeah, that’s what we did and here’s where I got the idea for this. If you watched one of those earlier where the call interstitials, the commercials where Toure and Monique Judge were going back and forth about that famous one gotta go thing where it was Mary J. Blige, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, who’s the other person?
Michael Harriot [00:01:09] I don’t know, cause Toure was so wrong.
Panama Jackson [00:01:10] Oh, and Janet Jackson, I think, was on it. But so I did that online and I’m just gonna let y’all know because I might hate me after this. I said, Whitney Houston, gotta go. That was who I said I gotta go and. For whoever said uh uh,go somewhere. Listen. Don’t nobody care about her catalog that much. It’s fine. It’s fine. It’s fine. I love I love her, too. I’m just saying the catalog ain’t the catalog ain’t standing up against the rest of them, is all I’m saying. That’s all I’m saying. I ain’t loud and wrong, but I’m up here and so. I tried to pick ones that I haven’t seen online or anything like that. So this first one is about culturally iconic songs, and I think there’s a right answer. There’s the answer all y’all going to say. So one gotta go. Cameos, Candy. Maze’s featuring Frankie Beverl, Before I Let Go. Stevie Wonder’s, Happy Birthday. Or James Weldon Johnson’s, Lift Every Voice and Sing. One gotta go.
Michael Harriot [00:02:11] That’s hard, that’s hard.
Panama Jackson [00:02:12] See, I don’t think it’s that hard. But which which one’s gotta go? A lot of y’all gonna say Candy, and you’re all wrong.
Michael Harriot [00:02:23] So. So before I answer this, I gotta say, when we say gotta go, that means it doesn’t exist.
Panama Jackson [00:02:31] It doesn’t exist anymore.
Michael Harriot [00:02:33] It has existed.
Panama Jackson [00:02:34] It well, it just it just it it never. It just got it just gotta go.
Michael Harriot [00:02:42] I must say, okay, this is going to be sacrilegious, but I must say, Lift Every Voice and Sing and this is why. This is why? This is why. Because if Lift every Voice and sing didn’t exist, there would be another Lift Every Voice and sing. Right. Like Black people would have created a Black national anthem regardless. Right. It might not have been that one.
Panama Jackson [00:03:04] That’s the right answer. You got the right answer.
Michael Harriot [00:03:06] It might not have been.
Panama Jackson [00:03:07] Optimistic is a better song than Lift Every Voice and Sing. we could all see.
Michael Harriot [00:03:10] Yeah, I don’t agree with that.
Panama Jackson [00:03:12] Banked that. I said that out.
Michael Harriot [00:03:13] Loud, man, with that. But what I’m saying now would have been a Black national anthem. Whether it is right, back that ass up.
Panama Jackson [00:03:19] We just make another one or we. We’ll just make another one.
Michael Harriot [00:03:22] It’s like Amazing Grace. Like. Like, Yeah, like Lift Every Voice and Sing is is valuable to us because we made it valuable to us. First of all, ma’am, but at my previous job, literally on your first day, you had to sing lift. You had.
Panama Jackson [00:03:45] We did. So that is true. We did. That was kind of our internal hazing thing you have. But only. But that is. This is my other thing. Because people only know one verse. It could go. You’ll be fine.
Michael Harriot [00:03:53] Yeah, I know, I know.
Panama Jackson [00:03:55] All right, so we all agree to Lift Every Voice and Sing can go boom. All right.
Michael Harriot [00:03:58] I don’t even know the words to Candy though and. Like, I know owww.
Panama Jackson [00:04:02] But, you know, Candy comes on. Everybody got to stand up and start dancing.
Michael Harriot [00:04:04] I just know owwww.
Panama Jackson [00:04:06] All right.
Michael Harriot [00:04:08] That’s how I sing it. That’s. That’s the whole, that’s all the lyrics to Candy. Owww.
Panama Jackson [00:04:12] All right, so we got y’all we got. Well, well, it’s. It’s important. Those are important words. Okay, so we have. Okay, so we got all warmed up. So here’s another one. One of my favorite groups of all time is New Edition. I’m sure many people love New Edition. They got movies. Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky, my Ralph and Johnnie to this wonderful. But they all went solo kind of sort of BBd obviously will count as this because there’s nobody can actually seeing or rapping that group but there were a lot of fun. So. Ronnie Devoe can sing. Is he here? No. Oh, but you said Ronnie and I know Ricky. Ricky. Cool. Ricky. It’s not important. What’s important is one solo set of catalog. gotta go is a BBD. Is it Ralph? Is it Johnny or is it Bobby?
Michael Harriot [00:04:59] We got. I mean, Ralph. Easy. Ralph got sensitivity.
Panama Jackson [00:05:03] I think I’m getting rid of Johnny. I think I’ll get rid of Johnny Gill’s catalog.
Michael Harriot [00:05:09] Why? Right. First of all, my, my, my.
Panama Jackson [00:05:12] Because I’m not ready to get rid of sensitivity.
Michael Harriot [00:05:15] I say it because I.
Panama Jackson [00:05:17] Can’t get rid of, says Ralph.
Michael Harriot [00:05:18] Ralph doesn’t even have a catalog.
Panama Jackson [00:05:20] That’s not true. That’s a song. That first album was Wonder. He got a.
Michael Harriot [00:05:24] Single.
Panama Jackson [00:05:24] You got to do what I got to do. You would start over, gentlemen.
Michael Harriot [00:05:28] You wouldn’t even turn a cassette single bro.
Panama Jackson [00:05:30] Nobody’s getting rid of Bobby Brown catalog because Don’t Be Cruel is the greatest RB album of all time. Boom.
Michael Harriot [00:05:34] Yeah.
Panama Jackson [00:05:35] All right. See, we’re getting through this. This is fun. This is fun.
Michael Harriot [00:05:38] All right and plus. Plus, Johnny Gill used to catch the Holy Ghost in every song. Right. Like, you know who got the Holy Ghost to the R&B song? The way Johnny Gill is the only person who could get the Holy Ghost in R&B soul.
Panama Jackson [00:05:51] Well, Johnny, give them the one I can actually sing. But. But. But his catalogs would be talking about. So, you know, my, my, my. All right. So we’re going to talk covers. I want to talk I want to talk covers of songs and one gotta go. We all know what one one of these is going to be one Everybody knows, so. I’m going to count this as a cover, but this is in dispute. The Fugees Killing me Softly. Because, Lauryn, you know, Killing Me Softly. Before I let Go, by Beyonce. Sweet Thing, by Mary J. Blige. Or, I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston.
Michael Harriot [00:06:27] So Beyonce song doesn’t do it. It’s that one’s easy. Beyonce can go. It didn’t even really need to exist like that. I don’t even know if, like, there are people, young people who never heard before. I Let Go before Beyonce put it out and then they heard Before I Let Go by Frankie Beverly and Maze and was like, oh, this is the better version. Like. Like. I don’t even know if that is even controversial.
Panama Jackson [00:06:55] So here’s the thing. I know a lot of people are going to say. Before I Let Go. I really enjoy her version. I feel you, but I’m actually getting rid of Killing Me Softly. I hate that song. Not the original. The Fugees version is so boring. I actually wrote an article, but I Googled myself and found out I wrote an article about how it was the most boring song like on that album. Now the problem is, if we get rid of that song, the Fugees don’t win all the all the Grammys and then we don’t get Lauryn Hill’s Miseducation album.
Michael Harriot [00:07:24] And that’s my that’s my go to karaoke song because I just stand in the back and go one time.
Panama Jackson [00:07:29] To say one time over and over again.
Michael Harriot [00:07:30] Two times.
Panama Jackson [00:07:31] So now did you know in some in some places when the music programmers did not want to play the hip hop version of that, they just played a version that didn’t have Wyclef saying one time and two times they actually did that just to have Lauryn Hill singing. All right. We’re going to do one more of these. We’re going to do one more now. I’m a big fan of of of R&B, SWV is my favorite group outside. Well, I love New Edition, but SWV. I threw a ’90s party in D.C., like a ten year long running party because of SWV. I love them. Like, I just I want to hear them jam out all the time. So I’m a big fan of light, but R&B artists and these usually women who who sing songs that are very personal make albums that are personal. So I figured we would pick one album that’s very personal, that’s important, that has to go. I think this is an obvious one, too, but we’ll see. Jasmine Sullivan’s Hotels, which arguably is the greatest album of the past ten years. I would argue that. Beyonce’s Lemonade, definitely not the greatest album of the past ten years. SZA, Ctrl. Or Janet Jackson’s Control. One gotta go. One gotta go.
Michael Harriot [00:08:47] I’m probably going to need security to lead me out of here. But I think it’s got to be Lemonade.
Panama Jackson [00:08:54] Oh, that’s fine.
Michael Harriot [00:08:55] Because I think Lemonade is iconic because people said it was iconic and everybody’s just kind of like, I really. So. I think people like people. SZA’s SZA’s CTRL was not like a creation, right? Like people was like, oh, this is an interesting album, right? Janet Jackson same with Janet Jackson.
Panama Jackson [00:09:23] Even though Obama loves Broken Clocks. He put it on one of the list that I don’t.
Michael Harriot [00:09:25] Even know I think she sings in italics are in cursive one. But you know Janet Jackson, Control. She don’t have a great voice. But that was an iconic album like.
Panama Jackson [00:09:37] It was.
Michael Harriot [00:09:38] Yeah. What was the other one?
Panama Jackson [00:09:40] It was Jasmine Sullivan’s, Hotels.
Michael Harriot [00:09:43] I don’t even think like nobody argues that. Like there’s no bad takes on that album.
Panama Jackson [00:09:48] Right.
Michael Harriot [00:09:49] So I think, though and I don’t I’m not saying that Lemonade is a bad album. I think. The reason it is revered as much is one because of Beyonce and two, it was.
Panama Jackson [00:10:05] The visuals.
Michael Harriot [00:10:06] Yeah.
Panama Jackson [00:10:06] It was a visual album. I sat to watch that.
Michael Harriot [00:10:09] But as an album. I like I don’t know if people just sit and listen to no music of Lemonade as much as.
Panama Jackson [00:10:20] How many all get rid of Beyonce’s Lemonade? Yeah, Yeah. Oh, that’s not most people. Who’s getting rid of SZA’s Ctrl? Okay. Not that many people. Who’s getting rid of Jasmine Sullivan’s Hotels? I was about to say you gotta go if that’s what we’re doing. All right. Who’s get rid of Janet Jackson’s Control? Why would you do that? Why would you? I don’t even know you. Why would you to do that? Why would you to get rid of Janet Jackson?
Michael Harriot [00:10:46] Well, first of all, yeah, I was going to say right, Like, well, Lemonade definitely doesn’t exist. Beyoncé doesn’t exist without Control, arguably.
Panama Jackson [00:10:53] Facts. Facts. Okay. All right. So we’re going to quickly do we actually we’re going to quickly do one last one, because I actually have a fun one that I don’t actually think I can make work, but. I want to talk about. We’re going to get rid of one song with an iconic intro, but I need to know, I guess, which one is the most the least iconic of these four iconic intro songs. All right. You’ll see what I mean when I start telling you the names of these songs. Mint condition, Pretty Brown Eyes.
Michael Harriot [00:11:20] Okay.
Panama Jackson [00:11:22] As soon as you say the name, you know what I’m talking about, right?
Mint [00:11:25] Pretty brown eyes. You know, I see you.
Panama Jackson [00:11:32] Digable Planets, Rebirth of Slick, the bass line, Right? That bassline comes in. Juvenile, Back That Ass Up. The one that we all know and love, the one guaranteed to get everybody to get up and move and lastly. New Editions, If It Isn’t Love. When that little and it comes in.
Michael Harriot [00:12:01] Yeah, that’s a hard one.
Panama Jackson [00:12:02] Okay, so one of those gotta go. Which one are you getting rid of?
Michael Harriot [00:12:07] What I’m going to say this is going to be controversial.
Panama Jackson [00:12:11] I just want everybody to know this person who called me loud and wrong early on just said. Pretty brown eyes gotta go and that is the most loud or wrong opinion. Listen, somebody’s got to check her idea. I don’t know who she worked for, but we got to check the I.D.. We got to check the I.D..
Michael Harriot [00:12:28] I think I think Rebirth Of Slick gotta go simply because that bassline is throughout the song. Like you could hear you could sample halfway through. Right. Like, you can fade into Rebirth Of Slick, but Juvenile, like you really don’t have to play the whole you can play like the intro to Back That Ass Up and fake them out and bring in another song. Everybody be on the floor.
Panama Jackson [00:12:54] Everybody be mad though.
Michael Harriot [00:12:55] Yeah.
Panama Jackson [00:12:56] You be real hot.
Michael Harriot [00:12:59] Pretty Brown Eyes, like it is.
Panama Jackson [00:13:03] Yeah. Listen, once that song comes on, I stop and I start singing cause it’s Pretty Brown Eyes.
Michael Harriot [00:13:08] It’s like that. That’s. You better get a voice ready because you got to sing.
Panama Jackson [00:13:12] All right, so this is what we do here at Dear Culture. We have fun conversations about Black stuff that probably don’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but it matters to me, and it matters to my heart and soul and I appreciate everybody who also cares enough about Black culture to sit through and argue, be loud and wrong, like this young lady up here who just keeps saying the wrong thing. I don’t know. They said, We got to get you on a podcast just so I can find out what’s wrong. Like what went wrong? What went wrong? So this is what we do with that, theGrio Black Podcast Network and we have a ton of podcasts that are amazing that allow us to delve into Black culture. Michael, theGrio Daily with Michael Harriot‘s podcast. Mine at Dear Culture. The Blackest Questions with Christina Greer. We have an amazing lineup, it’s really worth checking out and thank you to everybody for listening to Dear Culture, which is an original podcast of theGrio Black Podcast Network. It is produced by Sasha Armstrong, edited by Geoff Trudeau, and Regina Griffin is our director of podcasts. Make sure you subscribe and give us a like over there and everywhere you listen to your podcast, it really matters. We appreciate it. We appreciate you. Again, my name is Panama Jackson. Thank you for listening. Have a Black one.
