Dad Bod Rap Pod

Wu Tang Aint Nuthin' to Fuck It! Have a song ever had truer title!? 30 years after its release Wu Tang Clan's Enter The Wu Tang (36 Chambers) remains a musical achievement without parallel. The 9 man rap cartel ripped a hole in the fabric of Hip Hop space-time and delivered a masterpiece. Eschewing the polished rap sound for something more guttural and dangerous. In this episode Nate, Dave, DEM, a...

If you weren't outside then, it's difficult to comprehend how highly anticipated Snoop Dog's first album was. In the era before the internet, the buzz surrounding Doggystyle could have powered a major metropolitan area. The Dr. Dre industrial complex had already delivered The Chronic a year earlier, so there was a notion that with rookie of the year from Long Beach in tow, Doggystyle would be one...

Rather be co-dependent than co-defendants.... Armand Hammer's ascent to critical acclaim has neatly paralleled with the existence of this podcast. There is no causation of course but it has been fun to watch woods and E L U C I D's come up in real time. We have also had the privilege of talking to both artists during our 5+ year run. On this special mini-episode of DBRP the bros share their takes...

Don't front you know we got ya open! Hopefully yall have been enjoying or 1993 retro series thus far. This week we examine Black Moon's album Enta Da Stage. Buckshot Shorty, 5 FT, and Evil Dee combined to create a dark and gritty album that spawned a visual aesthetic (two strap backpacks) and a sound that is still relevant today (lo-fi beats that you can study to) Was this a timeless album or an a...

It starts as an Eastern European food guide and ends with a shocking prophecy! It's episode 2 of Talk Like Sex. The podcast where two forty-something Hip Hop heads ponder horny questions and dispense advice on intimate relations. In this edition of TLS, DEM, and Blockhead reflect on the institution of marriage, the fool's errand that is double dating, and where sex rap will go next. As a special b...

Freestyle Fellowship is not a rap group. They are a cohort of rap gods who descended from the mountains so that we might know the electric potential of rhyme. Inner City Griots, FF's second album, is a complex and challenging record that did not easily fit in any of the sub-genre boxes of its day. With 30 years of hindsight the bros take a look back Griots and ask the questions of all questions: I...

From 93 till, indeed. Extra P said "don't say the years" but in 1993 Souls of Mischief called their own shot and proclaimed their 1993 debut album to be forever and thirty years later they still aint wrong. In this installment of the Dad Bod Rap Pod '93 Retro the bros dissect the album '93 Till Infinity and pose the question of all questions-Is this a timeless record or a record of its time? If yo...

Return of The Boom Bap means just that.... By the time 1993 rolled around KRS One was already a Hip Hop elder statesman. On Return of The Boom Bap the Blastmaster looks back over his career, wages verbal war on police, and makes a case for still being #1. But how has this album aged? Is it a timeless classic or an album of its time? Nate and Demone debate all of the above on the newest installment...

Released 30 years ago this August, The Alkaholics 21 and Over LP is a testament to dope beats, clever bars, and drunken debauchery. After a stand out cameo on King-Tees “I Got it Bad” Rappers J-Ro and Tash and producer E-Swift combined like a good mix drink on this debut album which features the singles Make Room and Likwit. Tash joins the bros to talk about how this record came into being and how...

A cup of pie? With a side of pickles? We caught up with Open Mike Eagle as he bounces around the country on his tour with the band AJJ. He talked us about his new album Another Triumph of Ghetto Engineering, his favorite gas station foods, and where he ranks among the great Mike's in rap music history. Get the low down on this new masterpiece a day before it drops! During the intro segment Dem pla...

As I am sure you know Hip Hop mythical birthday was August 11th 2023 and we celebrated in grand style. San Jose Jazzfest is San Jose's premier music happening and in commmeration of Hip Hop's 50th B-Day the good folks at SJZ curated a HIP HOP 50 stage featuring breakdancing, popping/locking, turf dancing, and a headline performance by MURS! The south bay media darlings otherwise known as the Dad B...

Happy Born Day Hip Hop! How do we celebrate the culture that has given us so much over the past 50 years? By sharing two interview with true Hip Hop pioneers. Over our 250+ episode run we have had the privilege of talking with many Hip Hop legends none more important than Roxanne Shante and Easy AD (of the Cold Crush Brothers). Despite being a global cultural and economic phenomenon, Hip Hop is st...

What f*ck is this? Fair question. Remember Season 3 of Atlanta when they started throwing in these curveball episodes that were completely off-plot (but still within the universe of the show)? Yeah, it's kind of like that. As I am want to do, I was lurking Blockhead's twitter feed. Watching a master work. The man who had the stones to challenge the existence of blue balls on twitter was enthrallin...

According to legendary A&R Dante Ross there are two kinds of Hip Hop nerds, cool ones like us and....actually I forgot what he said after that I was too busy patting myself on the back. This was just one of the many gems dropped by Dante at his Son of The City book talk at Aemoba Records Berkeley on Saturday, July 8th. The former scrub/current author has been touring the country and chatting with...

It's been a long time! We back on our grind. This week we have a dope interview with the collaborative emcee/producer combo Video Dave and Controller 7. Folks who listen regularly know that Dave and C7 are among our favorite humans. That's why it was great to chat with them about their new album ArticulatedTextiles (out now on Fake Four).The record is a wonderful blend of heartfelt observations an...

Author, funk drummer, and respected hip-hop figure J-Zone joined back in 2019 to drop knowledge about the rap industry and promote his new Red Bull Music Academy series Give The Drummer Some, where he interviews and plays with legendary drummers. We are really happy with how this one turned out. If you like what you hear please like, rate, review, and subscribe on your platform of choice. If you r...

First the Fat Boys break up.... The Fat Boys are one of those rap groups from the 80's that sometimes get mistakenly branded as a novelty or gimmick act. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Fat Boys were among the first wave of stellar rap crews to barnstorm the nation and bring the street poetry of New York to middle America. Central to the Fat Boys success was rapper/producer Prince Mar...

What we're gonna do right here is go back....way back...back into time. By now you have probably noticed we took a few unannounced weeks of summer vacation. Shout out to everyone who reached out to inquire what in the actual fuck. We good, just taking a summer breather after releasing 50+ episodes a year for 5+ years (yes I'm flexin). No worries, we'll be back in July with mo hot shit. This week w...

Radio...suckas never play me. If you weren't born in the 70s/80s I think it's hard to understand the importance radio stations once held. In a world before the internet radio was the primary way we learned about and consumed new music. In that paradigm the radio DJ held a sacred place. The old school disc jockey was curator, taste maker, and gatekeeper all rolled into one. Luckily the the Dad Bods...

On this week's episode of Dad Bod Rap Pod your humble hosts talk to underground rap veteran Mr. Lif. This Boston bred emcee rose to prominence in the early 2000's and has worked with some of rap's most brilliant minds including El-P and Edan. In this wide ranging interview Lif talks about his rap origin story, getting encouragement from guru, almost leaving the rap game, and his newest business ve...

Return guest Kenny Segal, one of the most influential and prolific producers in underground hip-hop, joins Dave and Nate to break down his marvelous new album Maps, a collaboration with the best rapper in the world billy woods. Maps is the follow up to 2019's Hiding Places, an album we hold in the highest esteem, so it was great to be able to talk to Kenny about the differences between the two pro...

Who doesn't love a good listicle? The great Nate Le Blanc once said that arguing is the 6th element of Hip Hop and what generates more arguments than a Rolling Stone list of the top 100 West Coast rap songs. On this week's episode the three bad brothers you know so well audit the Rolling Stone list and break down the defining characteristics of West Coast rap. The guest for episode 267 is producer...

Naw, you aint trippin' We do have an abiding curiosity about all things Chicago rap. It is for these reasons we were geeked to have the multi-faceted Alexander Fruchter (like hookter) join us for a proper nerd out. Alexander has moved deftly between the roles of DJ, writer, and label head for many yes. His Closed Sessions imprint is the artistic home for several aritsts we dig (Defcee, Kipp Stone,...

It's like quibble jam but not quite.... This year is flying by! Can y'all believe we are already at the quarter poll of 2023. The pandemic is over (supposedly) but the rap virus continues to spread. There were so many releases no sane person could keep up with them all. But no worries, the dad bods are not regular. They listened to a ton of rap releases in the first months of the year and they gat...

Shingo2 is a Japanese born, American bred rapper, producer, and DJ. After moving from Yokohama, Japan to Northern Cali Shingo2 cut his teeth in the vibrant hip hop coalescing around UC Berkeley in 1993. Shingo2 was a member of the experimental Hip Hop group Terracotta Troupe and has collaborated with several prominent producers including Nujabes, Fat Jon, and Substantial. Shingo2's music has also...