While scrolling social media, you may have stumbled upon the rapping dad known as “Dad Got Bars.”
He uses his platform to dismantle toxic masculinity and misogyny through raps he writes and produces, all while showcasing the adorable relationship he has with his own daughter.
Mamas Uncut talked with the man behind the raps, Emmy nominated actor, Bret Green.
The music, now affectionately known as “clap back dad raps” is inspired by the comments left by trolls who claim Green is much too feminine because he takes an interest in his daughter’s interests.
One of his most popular clap back dad raps is titled, “Pink Toes.” Green admits it’s “definitely” his favorite so far.
It’s a song that features his daughter, who enjoys painting his nails and he enjoys letting her do it.
The song effectively takes down the people who believe it’s wrong when dads bond with their daughters while doing activities deemed “feminine.”
“I made this video a long time ago,” Green explained. “I was barefoot and I just happened to have my nails painted pink because my daughter likes to paint my toenails and somebody commented something about how I shouldn’t let her do that and that makes me a bad dad.”
So instead of getting mad at the commenter in question, Green sought out to inform rather than directly attack.
“Nail polish, non toxic, can’t say the same for your strange comment,” he raps. “I should just block you, Rasheed Wallace. It’s giving insecure if I’m being honest.”
“Be a good dad? What do you mean by that?” the song continues. “I’m on the cover of the good dad starter pack. Me and my girl wear matching clothes. Preschool, we got her enrolled. I know all the words to ‘Let It Go.’ That little girl, my heart and soul.”
As he told Mamas Uncut, “It is disheartening to know that people like this still exist. So instead of attacking that particular person for the comment, I like to think I am attacking an entire ideology.”
“There’s nothing wrong with a man painting his nails, and there especially isn’t anything wrong with it if it’s done by a child. I like to bond with my daughter in anyway I can.”
Green tells Mamas Uncut that he’s always had a passion for hip-hop and has been producing hip-hop music for the last 15 years. And the juxtaposition, well that’s just a “total coincidence.”
“I do love the fact that I am trying to flip that on its head and deliver a positive message,” he says.
He admitted that prior to being inspired by his wife and daughter he’s “never felt like he’s truly made a good song.”
But eventually that all changed. “Being a dad has become my entire identity and so it’s only right that I shifted my focus towards all-age, appropriate, family-themed music,” he told Mamas Uncut.
And his love of music is something his daughter inherited. So including the 3-year-old was a seamless transition.
“My daughter has always shown interest in music,” he explained. “The first song I ever made that featured her voice was when she was not even two years old.”
Being obsessed with “The Lion King,” the father-daughter duo “made a song pretending like we were lions hunting for hyenas.”
Green admitted his daughter’s “voice was absolutely adorable on the microphone and people really loved it so I thought as long as she is into it, we should keep doing it.”
Not to mention, Green says his daughter’s ability to memorize songs after hearing it once or twice is “freakin adorable.”
For Green, being a girl dad felt like second nature to him. When Green and his wife first learned they would be welcoming a baby girl into the world, he “knew I had what it took.”
“I was primarily raised by my mom growing up, and I was very close with my sisters, so I had a lot of empathy for the female experience in this world,” he told Mamas Uncut.
“I know some men that just were not built to be a girl dad, but I always knew that wasn’t me. I never had a problem with my sisters dressing me up as a girl or putting make-up on me. I played with Barbies as a little kid. I’m not sure why, but I was always very secure in my sexuality and thankfully, I was not raised with rigid gender norms.”
Now he’s encouraging other parents to do the same through “Dad Got Bars.”
“I have so many friends who are amazing fathers, and are more hands-on than the generations before them,” Green explained, saying he wants to continue calling that out “because men traditionally” have been hesitant to let go of classic gender roles.
“I would like to think that my generation is helping change the narrative,” Green told Mamas Uncut.
“I only recently became passionate about deconstructing gender norms and attacking misogyny. I think being an ally for women is probably more important than trying to change men’s minds. I think it’s very important to support women because the female experience in America and the rest of the world really is not an easy one.”
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