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

Who really ran 90s hip hop?
Grown Man Bars breaks down the decade coast by coast — East Coast (1990–1994), West Coast (1994–1997), and the South (1998–2000) — to finally crown the true winner of the 1990s rap era.

We dive deep into the golden era of New York lyricism (Nas, Biggie, Wu-Tang, Rakim, Tribe, De La, Big L), the West Coast G-Funk takeover (Dre, Snoop, Tupac, DJ Quik, Ice Cube, Death Row Records), and the rise of the South (OutKast, UGK, Scarface, Three 6 Mafia, Cash Money, No Limit, Dungeon Family).

From blueprint albums to regional dominance, culture-shifting movements, and the birth of trap, we lay out real criteria and real receipts to figure out once and for all:

Which coast owns the 90s?
Who set the tone, who ran the nation, and who built the dynasty?

This episode hits everything Gen-X hip hop heads love:
✔️ Lyrics
✔️ Production
✔️ Impact
✔️ Regional pride
✔️ Classic albums
✔️ Raw barbershop debate energy

Drop your top 5 albums from each era in the comments — only one coast walks away with the crown.

Grown Man Bars: No nostalgia goggles, no soft takes — just real hip hop.

00:00 Introduction: The Battle for the 90s Rap Crown

01:35 Setting the Stage: East Coast Dominance (1990-1994)

02:15 The Golden Era: New York's Reign

11:21 West Coast Takeover: G-Funk Era (1994-1997)

16:26 The Birth of the South: 1998-200018:08

The South's Rise in Hip Hop

19:52 The Evolution of Southern Hip Hop

22:20 The Trap Era and Its Impact

25:37 Debating Hip Hop's Golden Eras

30:36 Iconic Rap Records: Ice Cube's 'It Was a Good Day'

33:45 Book It or Cook It: Hip Hop Debates

36:45 Conclusion and Viewer Engagement

Grown Man Bars dives into 1996 in hip hop—a year stacked with all-timer albums and larger-than-life moments. We unpack how Tupac’s Death Row run turned him into a myth, why ’96 vs ’06 might be a draw if you only judge the pen, and how Lil’ Kim and Foxy Brown rewired mainstream expectations from Brooklyn.

In this episode

• Album wave: All Eyez on Me, The Score, Reasonable Doubt, It Was Written, ATLiens, Ridin’ Dirty, Beats, Rhymes and Life, Ironman, Hell on Earth, Muddy Waters, Hard Core, Ill Na Na, and more.

• Absolute Trooth: Kim vs Foxy—different lanes, same destination: power, respect, history.

• Era vs Era: 1996 lyricism vs 2006 (Dedication 2, King, Hell Hath No Fury, Food & Liquor, Fishscale, Donuts).

• Book It or Cook It: Is 1996 the GOAT year? Did Dre’s producer tree shape modern rap more than any other camp? Does ghostwriting matter if the record is a classic?

Notes & shout-outs

• Personal RIP to Reggie—love to the neighborhood crews.

• Remembering D’Angelo and his cultural impact.

Call to action
If you’re a cassette-with-a-pencil alum, follow the show, rate us 5 stars, and share your Top-5 from 1996. Hit us on YouTube for visuals and comment debates.

00:00 Introduction and Nostalgia

01:17 Remembering Reggie

02:10 1996: A Year in Hip Hop

06:09 Brooklyn's Finest: Lil' Kim and Foxy Brown

11:44 Era vs Era: Lyricism Showdown

14:41 Red Man and the 1996 Hip Hop Scene

15:17 The Evolution of Lyricism in Hip Hop

19:29 The Influence of Southern Hip Hop

21:27 Recent Rap News and Tributes

24:45 Book It or Cook It: Hip Hop Debates

29:16 Conclusion and Sign Off

Jay-Z said, “Nobody can stand on that stage with me.” Tonight we test it for real—Verzuz rules: 20 songs, 20 rounds. In classic barbershop fashion, Grown Man Bars lines up the catalog kings across eras and asks who actually has the ammo to beat Hov: LL Cool J, Nas, Ice Cube, Lil Wayne, Drake, Kendrick, Scarface, Rakim, Kane, KRS-One and more. We break down why 20-for-20 is a different sport than “best career,” how crowd, city, and sequencing decide close rounds, and why Wayne and Drake are Hov’s toughest modern matchups—while LL and Cube bring decades-deep problems.

Plus: Absolute Truth on Def Poetry Jam as hip hop’s bridge to spoken word; Lyrical Lockdown dissects LL’s “Mama Said Knock You Out” (don’t call it a comeback); Rap News (Kendrick off the Top 40, RIP Young Bleed, Jeezy’s 101-piece orchestra record); and Book It or Cook It lightning takes (DMX’s impact, Redman today, 1988’s importance, Dungeon Family vs the field).

Pull up a chair, Gen-X—we’re scoring it round by round.

• 00:00 Cold Open: “Who Really Beats Hov?”

• 03:00 Jay-Z’s Claim & The 20-for-20 Rule

• 09:40 Jay’s Legacy by the Numbers

• 14:30 Golden Era: Nas, Scarface, LL, Rakim, Kane, KRS-One

• 28:10 Mixtape Era: Wayne, 50, T.I., Luda

• 38:45 Modern Era: Drake, Kendrick, Cole

• 47:50 Building the Case For Hov (Sequencing & Strategy)

• 55:00 Challengers Ranked & Venue Factor

• 1:03:00 Absolute Truth: Def Poetry Jam

• 1:10:20 Lyrical Lockdown: “Mama Said Knock You Out”

• 1:18:00 Rap News (Kendrick, Young Bleed, Jeezy)

• 1:25:00 Book It or Cook It (Lightning Round)

• 1:33:00 Final Verdict & Sign-off

Welcome back to Uncle Willie's Barbershop — where Gen-X hip hop heads still rewind with a pencil and argue like it’s ’96. Today, Chad (resident rap nerd) and Big Absoloot break down CeeLo Green — from Dungeon Family roots to Goodie Mob, solo “Soul Machine” brilliance, and global takeover with Gnarls Barkley. Why did his voice and versatility (yeah, take a shot every time we say it) make him one-of-one?

Then we get into the underrated battle rappers who never needed a record to be dangerous: AV (Shark City haymakers), Chilla Jones (the pen), DNA (longevity & adjustments), and the Bar God Danny Myers (do-it-all chameleon). Chad also nerds out with a Lyrical Lockdown on Tech N9ne’s “Worldwide Choppers” — triple cadence shifts, breath control, internal rhyme stacks — why that verse is controlled chaos done right. BA brings The Absoloot Truth on Queen Latifah: crown, U.N.I.T.Y., and a career that turned royalty into mogul. We close with Book It or Cook It: Neptunes vs Timbaland in the 2000s, Reasonable Doubt vs Ready to Die, producer-led debuts shaping eras, and whether post-2005 rap is “different but not better.”

Tap Follow, Save this episode to your library, and Share with the one friend who swears ’94 washes every year. Who you got?

Chapters
0:00 Welcome + Message to a friend
3:10 CeeLo Green — The Soul Machine (Dungeon Family → Gnarls)
17:45 CeeLo’s voice = a weapon (hooks, sermons, and switches)
28:30 Goodie Mob without CeeLo — why it felt one-note
36:20 Underrated Battle Rappers: AV, Chilla, DNA, Danny Myers
57:10 URL/KOTD eras, punchers, and pen talk
1:07:40 Lyrical Lockdown: Tech N9ne “Worldwide Choppers”
1:18:25 The Absoloot Truth: Queen Latifah’s reign
1:28:10 Book It or Cook It (Neptunes vs Timbaland, RD > RTD?)
1:41:50 Wrap-up + Call to Action

What’s CeeLo’s single most underrated moment — verse, hook, or performance?

Grown Man Bars (Chad & Big Absoloot) dive into the golden era of rap soundtracks—from Krush Groove and Wild Style to Above the Rim, Menace II Society, Belly, and the Straight Outta Compton score. We break down why 1988–1996 changed hip hop, how soundtracks launched careers, why labels (Def Jam, Death Row, Loud) used them as hit factories, and why the streaming era killed the format. Then: Book It or Cook It on producer legacies (Mannie Fresh, Organized Noize, Mike Dean, Pimp C, T-Pain, Lil Jon) vs DJ Premier & The Alchemist; Rakim’s impact on the 16-bar blueprint; Jay-Z’s 98–03 run; and whether The Source 5-Mic system did more damage than the Grammys. We salute Digable Planets (cool like that), react to Havoc’s “hip hop is a contact sport,” talk Nas and the Super Bowl, Bun B’s new project, the Rolling Stone x Vibe merger, and the Paid in Full Foundation honoring Kool G Rap & Grand Puba. It’s barbershop talk for Gen-X rap heads—no industry speak, just grown man truth.