Rap Dad

A Story of Family and the Subculture That Shaped a Generation

By: Juan Vidal

Narrated by: Juan Vidal

A timely reflection on identity in America, exploring the intersection of fatherhood, race, and hip-hop culture.

Just as his music career was taking off, Juan Vidal received life-changing news: He’d soon be a father. Throughout his life, neglectful men were the rule - his own dad struggled with drug addiction and infidelity - a cycle that, inevitably, wrought Vidal with insecurity. At age 26, with only a bare grip on life, what lessons could he possibly offer a kid? Determined to alter the course for his child, Vidal did what he’d always done when confronted with life’s challenges. He turned to the counterculture.

“The counterculture took the place of a father I could no longer touch. Since things like school and church couldn’t get through to me, I was being trained up outside of organized institutions. What I gravitated to were these movements that not only felt redeeming, but also freeing. They were almost everything I needed.”

In Rap Dad, the musician-turned-journalist takes a thoughtful and inventive approach to exploring identity and examining how we view fatherhood in a modern context. To root out the source of his fears around parenting, Vidal revisits the flash points of his juvenescence, a feat that transports him, a first-generation American born to Colombian parents, back to the drug-fueled streets of 1980s-'90s Miami. It’s during those pivotal years that he’s drawn to skateboarding, graffiti, and the music of rebellion: hip-hop. As he looks to the past for answers, he infuses his personal story with rap lyrics and interviews with some of pop culture’s most compelling voices - plenty of whom have proven to be some of society’s best, albeit nontraditional, dads. Along the way, Vidal confronts the unfair stereotypes that taint urban men - especially Black and Latino men - in today’s society.

An illuminating journey of discovery, Rap Dad is a striking portrait of modern fatherhood that is as much political as it is entertaining, personal as it is representative, and challenging as it is revealing.

©2018 Juan Vidal (P)2018 Simon & Schuster

This story is a gift.

Juan is one of the most gifted writers and storytellers I have ever known no matter the medium. Thoroughly enjoyed listening to Rap Dad this time around after reading it shortly after it’s release. Most enjoyable listen of a book since taking in Daniel Nayeri’s “Everything Sad is Untrue”. Look forward to more from this author.

Hell and back...to Heaven

Juan took us on a literary travel through the hoods of the world. You can say he is world renown. The history described so poetically had me. Feeling I was running. Right along side of him.

Really good read!!

As a father and a lover of hip hop, this book was right up my alley. I’m also a fan of the group Juan used to be a part of. He was always poetic, and it seems like he made the transition to from emcee to author seamlessly. I love this book and I ordered the physical book so I can read it. I love this book!

I could relate to almost everything in this book. I am a rap dad! Loved it

Great read, great story telling. I felt connected to a lot of the stories and feelings expressed in this book. Great work!!

fantastical!

I loved this book. The author's brother works with me and tipped me off to it. I was captivated. I come from the same generation, but grew up in the burbs of Kansas City listening to "oldies". this gave me a while new perspective on my generation.