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!