RAP DIDN’T FALL OFF… YOU DID

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Grown Man Bars: Remember the Rhyme, Respect the Era

with Chad and Big Absoloot - Gen X Talking Hip Hop

23 episodes

2 days ago

Grown Man Bars is where two Gen X MCs turned opinionated Uncs break down rap culture with no filter. Chad, your resident rap nerd, with Big Absoloot, your OG's OG dive into Golden Era storytelling, lyricism, GOAT debates, classic producers, and the moments that shaped hip hop. From Slick Rick to Scarface, Nas to J. Cole, DJ Premier to RZA. Old rap and new hip hop. If you came up on mixtapes, Tims, and bars that mattered, this is your spot for real hip hop talk. We'll bring you up-to-date on the new hip hop trends, the ones our gen cares about, and hit you with hip hop from the best era ever.

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RAP DIDN’T FALL OFF… YOU DID

Grown Man Bars: Remember the Rhyme, Respect the Era

52 minutes 41 seconds

1 month ago

RAP DIDN’T FALL OFF… YOU DID

Let’s stop pretending.
If you’re over 35, you’ve said it: “Rap fell off.”
But in this episode we’re putting the nostalgia goggles in the trash and grading hip hop before 2005 vs after 2005 with real criteria:

• Lyrics
• Production
• Cultural Reach

Chad and Big Absoloot break it down the only way grown hip hop heads can:

Rakim, Nas, Black Thought and 16-bar architecture vs Kendrick, Cole, Future, Wayne, Lupe, Killer Mike and the algorithm era.
Did lyricism die… or did we stop doing the work to find it?

Why post-2005 production might actually wash the golden era — even if we don’t want to admit it.
And how technology changed the way rappers create songs and the way we consume them.

Pre-2005: the Black American cultural earthquake.
Post-2005: the global takeover — from Wu-Tang in Asia to rap as protest music in Afghanistan.
Who really had more influence?

Chad breaks down one of the most surgically constructed verses of the 2000s to prove lyricism didn’t die — we just stopped listening as hard.

BA gives flowers to X Clan, Afrocentric hip hop, and the revolutionary energy that shaped a generation.

Trap, Illmatic, streaming, regional identity, and whether Gen-X can truly judge modern rap.

By the end of this episode, only one truth survives:
Either rap fell off… or we did.

If you’re a grown hip hop head who rewound cassettes with a pencil, hit follow and share this with somebody who still swears “rap died after 96.”

🔥 LYRICS: Golden Era Writers vs Modern Vibes🔥 PRODUCTION: Samples → Big Studio → Trap 808s🔥 CULTURAL IMPACT: Local Roots → Global Reach🎤 LYRICAL AUTOPSY — Kendrick Lamar (“Sing About Me”)✊ ABSOLOOT TROOTH — X CLAN🔥 BOOK IT OR COOK IT — Rapid-Fire Takes

00:00 Introduction: The Great Hip Hop Debate

00:50 Setting the Stage: Hip Hop Before and After 2005

02:56 The Lyrics: Golden Era vs. Modern Vibes

14:15 Production Evolution: From Samples to Trap

22:48 Lyrical Autopsy: Kendrick Lamar's Genius

25:50 Cultural Impact: Local Roots to Global Reach

27:53 Cultural Impact of Hip Hop: Pre and Post 2005

30:02 Snoop Dogg and Flavor Flav at the Olympics

31:04 The Evolution of Hip Hop and Its Global Influence

34:18 The Legacy of X Clan3

8:09 The Future of Hip Hop: Concerns and Predictions

42:38 The Role of Streaming and Playlists in Modern Hip Hop4

8:46 Book It or Cook It: Hip Hop Debates

51:49 Final Thoughts and Reflections