Episode 334-It Was A Good Year wiht guest Theravada
"There are years that ask questions and years that answer."– Zora Neale Hurston
In indie rap, as in life, the fruit of one’s labor doesn’t always show up right away. You put in the work, you bet on yourself, and sometimes the payoff comes much later. Long Island-bred rapper and producer Theravada has been planting seeds for years, trusting that the grind would eventually bear fruit. This year, he’s finally reaping the benefits.
With five beat placements on Earl Sweatshirt’s album-of-the-year contender Live Laugh Love, Theravada has surged into underground rap’s collective consciousness in a way that can’t be ignored. On top of that, he dropped an excellent full-length project, The Years We Have Left, and teamed up with slow-flow legend Evidence on Unlearning Vol. 2.
Theravada took time to chop it up with us from his studio in Amityville. He talked about his breakout year, his influences, and why modern basketball just doesn’t hit the same.
D up and tap in!
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Episode 333-Expensive Words with guest Lil Fame of M.O.P.
In the annals of rap history, there are countless tracks that spark instant, ecstatic reactions. Whether it’s Kid ’N Play inviting you to revive the Charleston or House of Pain demanding that you jump in place, these songs live rent-free in our collective memory. Then there are the truly explosive anthems like M.O.P.’s Ante Up, a track that lets you channel the chaos and swagger of an armed jewel thief without leaving your living room.
The Brownsville duo’s biggest hit has enjoyed remarkable staying power for more than two decades, reaching far beyond hardcore hip hop circles. Sporting events and commercials have both used this teeth-gritting classic to get audiences fired up.
This week, we sit down with Lil’ Fame, one half of the iconic M.O.P., to talk about the enduring success of Ante Up, his creative process, and the lessons he learned from working with legends like Guru and DJ Premier. In the intro segment, Dave and Demone break down the rap songs that get them the most hyped.
DEM produced this episode
DJ Cutso produced the theme song
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Episode 332-World Ultimate Retrospective
Let’s fire up the wayback machine and head to 1995, a simpler time, no doubt. Back when commuting by bus, trying to meet girls, and rapping about rapping were all viable rap song topics. Hell, this was still an era when rap groups were still a thing.
Enter The Nonce (stop giggling, UK heads): the Project Blowed–affiliated duo of Yousef Afloat and Nouka Basetype, who dropped their underrated debut World Ultimate on Rick Rubin’s American Recordings in the year of our lord nineteen hundred and ninety-five. Their breakout track “Mixtapes” became an underground classic, while the laid-back single “Bus Stops” got some well-deserved shine in the final moments before hip-hop’s harder elements took over.
Arriving at the tail end of rap’s second (or maybe third) golden era, World Ultimate fused the jazzy, head-nodding vibes of the Native Tongues with the sharp, freestyle freneticism of the L.A.’s Project Blowed scene.
On this week’s episode, the bros take a deep dive into World Ultimate to see how it holds up three decades later. Tune in, turn up, and decide for yourself if their takes are on point.
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Episode 331- Soul Food Retrospective
It's hard to imagine an album more well-respected than Goodie Mob's debut, Soul Food. It gets well-deserved love from rap enthusiasts from all over the map: the south, backpackers, people who like a little bit of spirituality in the mix, beat heads, lyric lovers, pretty much everyone. Goodie Mob never quite got the shine that their close compatriots Outkast did, and maybe that's part of the reason why underground fans still hold this album dear 30 years after its release.
This week on the show DBRP hosts David Ma, Demone Carter and Nate LeBlanc are examining this classic record which still sounds fresh after severl decades. After some contextual table setting, we use our patented rubric to try and assign numerical scores to our feelings about this work of art. We have done this several times, most prominently on our Beastie Boys series over the summer, but we have never had a final score result quite like this one before. Tune in!
Dad Bod Rap Pod is brought to you by Stony Island Audio.
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Episode 330-Untamed Inspiration with guest Radamiz
his episode has a lot of moving parts. Imagine a Rube Goldberg Machine with interview snippets pinging around a maze of album reviews and blue balls jokes.
I (DEM) had the privilege of interviewing Radamiz right before his live set at the Midway SF. The audio is a little rough, rugged, and raw in spots, but the interview has the crackle of real-life human interaction. Interspersed between clips of the interview, me and the bros discuss the records that are in heavy rotation for us right now:
Jay Electronica's 4 Album Spasm
Live, Laugh, Love (Earl Sweatshirt)
The Years We Have Left (Theravada)
Sortilege (Preservation & Gabe Nandez)
Per usual thats me (DEM ONE) on the theme song alongside my birthday twin DJ Cutso. I produced this week's episode, and I'm not gonna lie, it kind of kicked my ass (in a good way).
If you're in a jeep and you dig what you're hearing, consider subscribing to our Patreon, where you can find 100s of hours of fly niche content. Patreon.com/DadBodRapPod
Hip-hop discussion podcast from rapper Demone Carter aka DEM ONE, music writer David Ma, and record collector Nate LeBlanc featuring interviews with well-respected figures from rap's past and present. A Stony Island Audio experience.
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