At long last, the men of DATSPOD have returned after a temporary spell away to individually recuperate. And best of all, the full gang is back together again for Season 8 as Nic returns to rejoin the fold. During the listens section, a tangent surrounding contemporary perceptions of “the debut album” comes to the fore. Inspired by Eden and Nic’s respective listens of Rema’s ‘Rave & Roses’ and Latto’s ‘777’, the boys discuss how we’re currently in an era where the expectations, pressure and significance historically levied onto an artist’s debut album is gradually becoming irrelevant and arbitrary. Due to the way streaming services have blurred the lines on the difference between an album, mixtape or EP in 2022

In the wake of Remy Ma’s polarising comments on Doja Cat’s eligibility as a rapper, kicking off the news agenda is an examination on what are the qualifiers for those who sing and rap to be seen as authentic rappers and ultimately what complicates these notions.

Closing out the episode is an open-ended exchange on the wave of success Central Cee is currently experiencing and what this means in the wider context of Drill becoming more mainstream. The boys dissect his mind-blowing streams, stats and YouTube views to consider why he’s now being put on a pedestal to fly the flag for UK drill in comparison to some of his contemporaries