"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!

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

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. 

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.

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

This week, we break format for a very, very special spin-off episode. DEM ONE and Blockhead reprise their sex/relationship pod, Talk Like Sex. On this edition of Two 40+ dudes discuss the misogyny meter on Freddie Gibbs' new record, lifetime Tinder bans, the ethics of dirty mackin’, and the different approaches to partner fulfillment. Sex, love, and music are discussed with fly nuance. It’s Talk Like Sex!

Episode produced by DEM ONE

Theme song produced by DJ Cutso

Dad Bod Rap Pod is a proud member of the Stony Island Audio Network

"If you've never walked through the woods listening to Nobody Beats the Biz then you ain't never heard hip-hop."

The above quote is from one of multi-talented poet/rapper/actor Saul Williams' earliest released tracks, but it could just easily serve as a thesis statement for this podcast. This week DBRP hosts Demone Carter, David Ma and Nate LeBlanc are thrilled to present a thought provoking conversation with Williams. We touch on his recorded work, his training, his acting in movies like the recent phenomenon Sinners, and his general artistic outlook.

Saul is a deeply reverent hip-hop head who grew up in the genre but is also not afraid to experiment in an attempt to transcend its strictures. We found his responses to be enlightening, and we hope you feel the same.

As always, if you would like to hear an extended version of this episode with music clips for the tracks referenced, please consider joining our Patreon at www.patreon.com/dadbodrappod

DBRP is a proud member of the Stony Island Audio podcast network, run by another charismatic multi-hyphenate. Catch Open Mike Eagle on tour now in a city near you!

Episode 328 Sour Times with guest DJ Haram 

Show notes from the bleeding edge…

Far beyond the genteel pop music stylings that comprise our day-to-day listening environment, there exists a world of sound that refuses to be refined, restrained, or easily defined. This is the space that New York–based DJ Haram inhabits: her experimental style blends bass, Middle Eastern percussion, noise, and elements of indie rap. You can hear this in her collaborations with the boundary-breaking artists Armand Hammer and Moor Mother.

On this week’s episode of the Dad Bod Rap Pod, we talk with DJ Haram about her new album Beside Myself, out now on Hyperdub Ltd. She opens up about her musical evolution, personal politics, and reflections on mortality in an illuminating conversation.

The DJ Haram interview is framed by our intro and outro segments, where we highlight some of our favorite fringe and obscure records. Wade into the deep end with us.

Produced by Demone Carter, aka DEM ONE.

Theme song by Cutso, with lyrics by DEM ONE

Dad Bod Rap Pod is a proud member of the Stony Island Audio Network

Tracks mentioned in this episode:

Sometimes Care Looks Like Leave Me The Fuck Alone — Small Bill

Rounds — Four Tet

Murmations — Flock

Snaeha (Bang Bang) — Pan Pon

How Great Thou Art — Sensational Saints

Last Days of Being A Wanker — Lolina

Serious question: Where does the time go?

It feels like just yesterday I was nursing a New Year’s Eve hangover and wondering what 2025 would portend for rap releases. Now the year is three-fourths done, the holidays are around the corner, and there’s already a slew of music to talk about. On this week’s episode of Dad Bod Rap Pod, the three bad brothers you know so well share their favorite rap records of 2025 (thus far). Think of it as our mid-year retrospective, except we’re submitting it three months late, real high school vibes.

The big takeaway is this: rap music is alive and thriving in 2025, especially indie rap. Did your favorite new album make the DBRP top nine? Tune in to find out, fam.

Spoiler alert: the album of the year is still billy woods – Golliwog. But we also break down nine other releases from this year that are damn good, if not great.

Program note: We recorded this episode about three weeks ago, before excellent records like Evidence’s Unlearning Vol. 2 and Earl Sweatshirt’s Live, Laugh, Love dropped. So you won’t hear us talk about them here, but trust we’ve listened and will have plenty to say by year’s end. If you’re the type who likes to keep up week by week, I invite you to join our Patreon at Patreon.com/dadbodrappod. That’s where we post weekly bonus segments that are more topical.

In any event, I hope your year is going well, all things considered.

-DEM

This week’s episode was produced by Demone Carter (a.k.a. DEM ONE).

Theme song by DEM ONE and DJ Cutso. Dad Bod Rap Pod is a proud

member of the Stony Island Audio Network!

We've got a really big show for you this week. We have had the pleasure of interviewing Slug (and Ant, but never both together) of Atmosphere a few times. Atmosphere never quite got bigger than The Beatles (or breast implants) but there is no denying that over the last 30 years they have proven themselves to be one of the most consistent and prolific independent hip-hop groups of all time. Both gentlemen display a deep musical knowledge in their work, and on today's program we chat with Slug about his "easter egg" references, his connection with the storied concert venue Red Rocks, wellness on tour, and of course Atmosphere's next album, Jestures. Though the album will not drop for a few weeks, we preview its unique development process. Ant and Slug "gamified" their production on this record, making one song for each letter of the alphabet, one at a time, A-Z. Inspired by this approach, DBRP hosts Demone Carter, David Ma and Nate LeBlanc recorded their longest intro segment ever, riffing on 26 rappers and their careers, also in alphabet (aerobics) order. I think it's pretty safe to say that you have never heard a podcast episode quite like this. Huge thanks to Slug for joining us, it was a real pleasure to speak with someone so thoughtful and self-deprecating while also being pretty darn successful in this niche of hip-hop that we we care about. Please catch Atmosphere on the Dank Days of Summer Tour with Cypress Hill, Lupe Fiasco and the Pharcyde, coming soon to a town near you.

Dad Bod Rap Pod is bought to you by Stony Island Audio, the podcast network that values being "underground" for so long that the term loses all meaning.