Podcast

Every once in a while we are lucky to enough to be able to speak to a true hip-hop legend, and today is one of those occasions. Dad Bod Rap Pod hosts David Ma, Demone Carter and Nate LeBlanc are thrilled to be talking to and about Lord Finesse on this week's episode.

Lord Finesse made three highly influential albums as an artist in the 90's and continues to impact the culture as a respected DJ and producer today. He is here to promote his latest album The SP1200 Files: Sounds & Frequencies In Technicolor. We caught up with Ness in his studio where he was busy working on remastering his classic debut The Funky Technician. As always, we also dive into his history, we think even a dedicated DITC head will learn something new from this interview.

An extended version of this episode, along with hundreds of hours of bonus commentary, playlists, mixes, and a thriving community of rap nerds is available on our patreon: www.patreon.com/dadbodrappod

DBRP is brought to you by Stony Island Audio.

Please note: A better, longer version of this episode with sound clips for every song mentioned is available on the Dad Bod Rap Pod Patreon. Go to www.patreon.com/dadbodrappod and use promo code BEASTIE to get your first month's access for only $1

From Pollywog Stew to Hot Sauce Part 2, we have officially covered the Beastie Boys' legendary career. We are wrapping up our miniseries this week with a special episode where DBRP hosts Nate LeBlanc, David Ma and Demone Carter draft their top 5 Beastie Boys songs. In between segments we have exclusive voicemails from friends, listeners, artists and indie hip-hop podcast royalty breaking down their favorite tracks as well. Though we had some pretty tough criticisms over the last few weeks, today's episode is a celebration of everything we love about the Beasties, an iconic American band that spanned genres, eras, and mediums in a unique and inspiring way.

As we close out this series, we want to thank everyone who helped us along the way, especially guest commentators Dante Ross, Sean Kantrowitz, Kenny Segal, and Open Mike Eagle. Huge thanks to Rory Simms for the art, Stephanie Barajas for the photos, Defcee for writing and recording our theme song, we appreciate your talents.

But most of all, we have to thank Cutso aka Producer Cutso aka P Monetary for joining us on this journey. Cutty is an amazing DJ, a great producer in the creative and technical senses of the word, and a great friend. Please give him a follow and listen to his music and mixes and consider getting DJ lessons from his new venture, First Wav Preservation Society.

We are going to take a quick break and then be back with our regularly scheduled programming of banter, puns, jokes, interviews with hip-hop creators and legends, and more very soon. Sincere thanks to everyone who tuned in, reached out, and participated in this project in any way. We give thanks to the Beastie Boys for all of their great music and for giving us so much to talk about. RIP MCA, an inspiring person.

3 Bad Brothers, A Beastie Boys Breakdown is a production of Dad Bod Rap Pod

Hosted By Demone Carter, David Ma, and Nate LeBlanc

Executive Produced by Nate LeBlanc

Produced by Demone Carter and Paolo “Cutso” Bello 

Edited by Demone Carter and Nate LeBlanc 

Engineering and Post-Production by Paolo “Cutso” Bello

Artwork by Rory Simms

Photography by Stephanie Barajas 

Youtube version produced by Paolo “Cutso” Bello

Theme song written and recorded by Defcee and Produced by Cutso

Dad Bod Rap Pod is distributed by Open Mike Eagle’s Stony Island Audio

It's summertime, the living is easy, and we figured why not play a doubleheader? Today on Dad Bod Rap Pod, hosts Demone Carter, David Ma and Nate LeBlanc with help from Producer Cutso break down the final albums in the Beastie Boys' Catalog.

First up is the Mix Up from 2007, the only official instrumental LP in their catalog, since In Sound From Way Out is a compilation. The Boys established a dress code and payed homage to their favorite wordless acts and we have thoughts about it. Is it "classic material" or "placid material?" There's only one way to find out.

Then we turn our attention to 2011's Hot Sauce Committe pt 2, the Beastie Boys' last album. In some ways it is a return to form, bringing back their signature processed vocals and combining eclectic musical styles in the way that only they can. We also spend some time discussing the elaborate record nerd mythology they attempted to establish in the liner notes.

While we have discussed, dissected, debated and ranked every Beasties album, we are not quite done yet. Tune in next week for the Beastie Boys song draft, a celebrations of a great rap group, featuring selections from our hosts and calls form friends of the program from around the world.

This week Dad Bod Rap Pod hosts Demone Carter, David Ma, and Nate LeBlanc alongside Producer Cutso, are breaking down the Beastie Boys' fifth album, To The 5 Boroughs. Where their previous few records had been eclectic mixes of jammy, loungey instrumental songs, punk egergy, and hard-hitting leftfield hip-hop, for this album the Boys decided to approach early 2000s America with an old-school hip-hop sensibility. As you will hear, we are not fans of this choice.

Since we didn't really care for this record, we devote a lot of this episode to talking about Grand Royal, the Beastie Boys' magazine and record label. The magazine is an important and now quite rare document of the Boys' hipster sensibilities that shined a light on a lot of creative people. It's probably one of the coolest things that a major band could have done for their listeners in a pre-internet age. The record label was a bit more hit and miss but also a worthwhile endeavor that shut down just as it was starting to get interesting by signing some fascinating underground MCs.

Thanks to everyone who has joined us on the album-by-album look into the Beasties' fascinating career. Please consider joining our patreon at patreon.com/dadbodrappod for more bonus content, banter episodes, curated music, and playlists. Use promo code BEASTIE to get your first month for just $1

3 Bad Brothers, A Beasties Boys Breakdown is a production of

Dad Bod Rap Pod

Hosted By Demone Carter, David Ma, and Nate LeBlanc

Executive Produced by Nate LeBlanc

Produced by Demone Carter and Paolo “Cutso” Bello 

Edited by Demone Carter and Nate LeBlanc 

Engineering and Post-Production by Paolo “Cutso” Bello

Artwork by Rory Simms

Photography by Stephanie Barajas 

Youtube version produced by Paolo “Cutso” Bello

Theme song written and recorded by Defcee and Produced by Cutso

Dad Bod Rap Pod is distributed by Open Mike Eagle’s Stony Island Audio

*Please note: This is an edited version of the episode, we have been forced to remove the interstitial music that is part of what makes the show unique*

In the pivotal fifth installment of our Beastie Boys miniseries, the Boys have moved back to New York and they are hopping around different studios demoing ideas that will eventually lead to their album Hello Nasty, a sprawling and eclectic work that fuses all of their previous modes into one sound that we call the "Beastie singularity." Rather than jamming and finding ideas in the edit, this time around they are fusing their record collections, old school hip-hop sensibility and guest vocalists into one well-produced mix which many BB fans and the band themselves hold as their best album.

Joining DBRP hosts Demone Carter, David Ma and Nate LeBlanc to break this all down is iconic rap artist, podcaster, and hip-hop commentator Open Mike Eagle. One of hip-hop's most astute observers, Mike details his longstanding relationship with Hello Nasty in his inimitable smart, funny way. Be sure to pre-order his new album Neighborhood Gods Unlimited ahead of its release on July 11th.

Big shouts to our main man Cutso for joining us on the mic for this album, he helps us understand the vital role that Mixmaster Mike played in re-energizing the Beastie Boys live experience right as their hair began to gray. All in all, this is a really fun episode about an album that we admire but have a few of our customary quibbles with, especially with its length and sequencing. Please share your feedback in the comments.

3 Bad Brothers, A Beasties Boys Breakdown is a production of Dad Bod Rap Pod

Hosted By Demone Carter, David Ma, and Nate LeBlanc

Executive Produced by Nate LeBlanc

Produced by Demone Carter and Paolo “Cutso” Bello 

Edited by Demone Carter and Nate LeBlanc 

Engineering and Post-Production by Paolo “Cutso” Bello

Artwork by Rory Simms

Photography by Stephanie Barajas 

Youtube version produced by Paolo “Cutso” Bello

Theme song written and recorded by Defcee and Produced by Cutso

Dad Bod Rap Pod is distributed by Open Mike Eagle’s Stony Island Audio

In the pivotal fifth installment of our Beastie Boys miniseries, the Boys have moved back to New York and they are hopping around different studios demoing ideas that will eventually lead to their album Hello Nasty, a sprawling and eclectic work that fuses all of their previous modes into one sound that we call the "Beastie singularity." Rather than jamming and finding ideas in the edit, this time around they are fusing their record collections, old school hip-hop sensibility and guest vocalists into one well-produced mix which many BB fans and the band themselves hold as their best album.

Joining DBRP hosts Demone Carter, David Ma and Nate LeBlanc to break this all down is iconic rap artist, podcaster, and hip-hop commentator Open Mike Eagle. One of hip-hop's most astute observers, Mike details his longstanding relationship with Hello Nasty in his inimitable smart, funny way. Be sure to pre-order his new album Neighborhood Gods Unlimited ahead of its release on July 11th.

Big shouts to our main man Cutso for joining us on the mic for this album, he helps us understand the vital role that Mixmaster Mike played in re-energizing the Beastie Boys live experience right as their hair began to gray. All in all, this is a really fun episode about an album that we admire but have a few of our customary quibbles with, especially with its length and sequencing. Please share your feedback in the comments.

3 Bad Brothers, A Beasties Boys Breakdown is a production of Dad Bod Rap Pod

Hosted By Demone Carter, David Ma, and Nate LeBlanc

Executive Produced by Nate LeBlanc

Produced by Demone Carter and Paolo “Cutso” Bello 

Edited by Demone Carter and Nate LeBlanc 

Engineering and Post-Production by Paolo “Cutso” Bello

Artwork by Rory Simms

Photography by Stephanie Barajas 

Youtube version produced by Paolo “Cutso” Bello

Theme song written and recorded by Defcee and Produced by Cutso

Dad Bod Rap Pod is distributed by Open Mike Eagle’s Stony Island Audio

This week we are breaking down Ill Communication as part of our miniseries entitled 3 Bad Brothers A Beastie Boys Breakdown. DBRP hosts Nate LeBlanc, David Ma and Demone Carter are joined by one of the very best producers in hip-hop, Kenny Segal, who knows a thing or two about blending disparate elements into a cohesive whole, as the Beasties did on one of their most successful records.

In the popular imagination, the Beasties' anthemic rock song Sabotage and its iconic video are probably the highlights from this record, but for us rap nerds, it also contains some of their very best alternative hip-hop songs. We get into some specifics about Sure Shot, Flute Loop and of course Get It Together, the mostly-freestyled jam they recorded with Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest.

At the end of the episode we rank the album on our 5-point rubric, talking about the best beats, rhymes and magic moments, as well as the album's lasting cultural impact and replay-ability. We'd love to hear from all of you, what do you think of this album? Leave a comment with any thoughts.

Please make sure to listen to the very end to hear a snippet of Kenny's one and only Beasties remix, which may in an alternative timeline have been released on Grand Royal and changed the course of his life.

3 Bad Brothers A Beastie Boys Breakdown is a production of Dad Bod Rap Pod

Hosted By Demone Carter, David Ma, and Nate LeBlanc

Executive Produced by Nate LeBlanc

Produced by Demone Carter and Paolo “Cutso” Bello 

Edited by Demone Carter and Nate LeBlanc 

Engineering and Post-Production by Paolo “Cutso” Bello

Artwork by Rory Simms

Photography by Stephanie Barajas 

Youtube version produced by Paolo “Cutso” Bello

Theme song written and recorded by Defcee and Produced by Cutso

Dad Bod Rap Pod is distributed by Open Mike Eagle’s Stony Island Audio

All summer long, Dad Bod Rap Pod is breaking down the Beastie Boys' legendary career in an album-per-episode miniseries. This week things start to get really interesting as the Boys build their own studio in LA so they can jam with Mario C at the boards and Money Mark on keys, crafting their pivotal album, the eclectic and electric Check Your Head.

DBRP hosts Nate LeBlanc, David Ma and Demone Carter are joined by hip-hop trivia king and fellow podcaster Sean Kantrowitz to discuss the Beasties picking their instruments back up, karaoke mics, the Boys' Jewish heritage, and much more. After lots of context is provided and we discuss what we like and are less enthused about on the album, we score the art on a numeric rubric. Disagree with our takes? Please let us know in the comments. Tell us what number you would assign to the Beats, Rhymes, Cultural Impact, Replay-ability and Magic Moments out of 10.

Tune in next week as we examine the world-conquering Ill Communication with one of the very best producers of rap music in the world right now, Kenny Segal.

3 Bad Brothers, A Beastie Boys Breakdown is a production of Dad Bod Rap Pod

Hosted By Demone Carter, David Ma, and Nate LeBlanc

Executive Produced by Nate LeBlanc

Produced by Demone Carter and Paolo “Cutso” Bello 

Edited by Demone Carter and Nate LeBlanc 

Engineering and Post-Production by Paolo “Cutso” Bello

Artwork by Rory Simms

Photography by Stephanie Barajas 

Youtube version produced by Paolo “Cutso” Bello

Theme song written and recorded by Defcee and Produced by Cutso

Dad Bod Rap Pod is distributed by Open Mike Eagle’s Stony Island Audio

The finest in men's opinions, this is Paul's Boutique. In many ways, we created this entire miniseries so that we could talk about Paul's Boutique. For Dad Bod Rap Pod hosts Nate LeBlanc, David Ma, and Producer Cutso, this is a foundational document, one of the keys that unlocked our love of music and hip-hop in general. Host Demone Carter feels slightly differently, as you will hear.

The Beastie Boys' second album is many things: A pinnacle of the art of sampling, an experiment in song structures, a step away from their first album and many of its casual fans, a reflection of their first time on the west coast, a deepening of the bond between all three group members as displayed in their intertwining vocal arrangements.

We will break all of that down on this episode, the 2nd in our 8-part series tracking the development of one of the great American bands and a group that both set trends and broke precedents in the hip-hop world.

3 Bad Brothers, A Beasties Boys Breakdown is a production of Dad Bod Rap Pod

Hosted By Demone Carter, David Ma, and Nate LeBlanc

Executive Produced by Nate LeBlanc

Produced by Demone Carter and Paolo “Cutso” Bello 

Edited by Demone Carter and Nate LeBlanc 

Engineering and Post-Production by Paolo “Cutso” Bello

Artwork by Rory Simms

Photography by Stephanie Barajas 

Youtube version produced by Paolo “Cutso” Bello

Theme song written and recorded by Defcee and Produced by Cutso

Dad Bod Rap Pod is distributed by Open Mike Eagle’s Stony Island Audio

Welcome to 3 Bad Brothers, A Beastie Boys Breakdown. For the next 8 weeks, the Dad Bod Rap Pod crew and some special guests will be going album by album through the Beastie Boys' career.

This week we are focused on Ad Rock, MCA and Mike D's first album, the wildly successful Licensed To Ill with insight from Dante Ross, who ran in the same circles as the Boys at this formative time in their lives. We will track the band from punk shows to NYC nightclubs, to arena tours, examining their rhymes, beats, cultural impact and more through discussion, interviews, and then score each album on a system we affectionately call the Rick Rubric.

Licensed to Ill is thought of as one of rap music's early masterpieces, so we re-listen to the seminal album to see how it holds up nearly 40 years later as rap music, as the beginning of a vast and exploratory career, and as a product of early Def Jam Records, the so-called nerve center of the nascent hip-hop industry at the time.

Huge thanks to Dante Ross for joining us to provide cultural context and crack jokes. Please tune in next week when we step through the doors of the cult classic Paul's Boutique.

Credits: 

3 Bad Brothers, A Beasties Boys Breakdown is a production of Dad Bod Rap Pod

Hosted By Demone Carter, David Ma, and Nate LeBlanc

Executive Produced by Nate LeBlanc

Produced by Demone Carter and Paolo “Cutso” Bello 

Edited by Demone Carter and Nate LeBlanc 

Engineering and Post-Production by Paolo “Cutso” Bello

Artwork by Rory Simms

Photography by Stephanie Barajas 

Youtube version produced by Paolo “Cutso” Bello

Theme song written and recorded by Defcee and Produced by Cutso

Dad Bod Rap Pod is distributed by Open Mike Eagle’s Stony Island Audio