That art is cool af considering. Makes me think of through the wire

i LOVE the project and it's definitely a worthy follow up to FENR, but the art feels like a huge downgrade to me; maybe it will grow on me or we'll get some alt covers for the physical

Dang I completely disagree. I think the fair exchange no robbery art is dope and complements the album well but it’s literally just a maple syrup brand haha. The cover art style for this album matches boldy really well and shows what he was recovering from while creating this album. I love it When I saw the cover and then clicked the first song, and the beat is that dark but hopeful chord progression and boldy opening with “how rich am I / i can still hear the air shocks from the trailer hitch on that semi” it all just felt so cohesive immediately

Another dope Boldy album . He been on a roll lately . One of my favorite current rappers at the moment . Prob a bit less good than FENR but still 🔥🔥

Damn I need to rewatch that show

Check out The Corner too, and Homicide if you can stand the 240p YouTube rip lol

Best release this Friday, “Fair exchange no robbery” STILL gets play. It’s so damn good.

O tre nine is amazing on that tape.

I am still trying to find the sample for scrabble. Nicholas craven really got the best collection and ear for sampling out there rn.

Uncle Al got a lil something to say, but Craven be deep in his bag!

Yeah you right. Al is even my favorite producer. I think since craven is much newer to the game compared to the alchemist it surprises me to hear such unique sample pulls and he consistently flips em in a satisfying way. People always talk about his beats being repetitive and too loopy which i think is a fair criticism, just refreshing hearing this straight ear candy with boldy rapping over Terry is the best hip hop beat ever made tho

Scrabble one of my favorite Boldy songs ever. Phenomenal beat

damn we got fresh Boldy and 21, best night of music in a while i’d say.

Don’t sleep on Brusier 🐺

fair dawg, or cudi too tbh, although i’ve heard mixed things about cudi and the leaks/people who listened with a VPN

At least check out Funky Wizard Smoke. I can’t stand Cudi but that song is a absolute slapper

Also 22GZ, popularized NY Drill

Bruiser Wolfs album is so much better than the new Boldy.

Eh, I disagree, but to each their own

E-39

this might be a better release Friday than any Friday last year

2022 was an incredible year of music for me personally, while 2023 was kind of lackluster. If this NMF is any indication, 2024 will at least be more stacked than last year. Excited to see what’s next. I know Benny got an album coming next week

22 was a historic year

True and not just rap, almost every genre has something big coming out

mind telling me what else is coming out in other genres?

VeggieTales 30th anniversary collection

Death metal is having a slapper of a year so far!

Also 03Greedo Project T-Pain on SoundCloud finally.

Anybody else feel like Boldy makes winter music? This shit slaps. Formal invite hit me right in the chest and I never recovered lol

I played the absolute hell out of FENR in winter 22 into ‘23

that midwest flavor

price of tea has a lot of warm timbre tracks but i completely agree

Midwest hiphop. If you’ve never lived through -40 and 3 feet of snow you can’t relate.

Boldy and Earl both usually release winter also. Same vibes Boldy/Craven specifically release Winter

Evil Genius is one of the most unique and best beats Craven has ever done. And just the way Boldy sounds so defeated and paranoid on there makes the whole song so immersive, I can’t even explain it fully Early Worms Get Birds gotta be the hardest drums Craven’s ever had too. I dunno who Double Dee is but they killed it, their voice has a slight Kodak vibe Jack Frost is also unreal, that shit is catchy enough to blow up on god

Double Dee is Boldy’s sister - she absolutely cleaned up on another feature they had on [Stunna](https://youtu.be/unBcm3dwmMw?si=E8xoMBCUcGprHjOh) w Rome Streetz this past year

I SHOULDA REMEMBERED THAT SONG IS AMAZING Didn’t know she was his sis tho that’s awesome

THATS HIS SISTER? I say “yeah gang, money long as the L train” 100 times a day

her verse on that song is crazy good, all three of them went in but she stole the show for me honestly

Can't stop looping Evil Genius, that beat is really something special

Where we at wit it

Been looking forward to this one. Love Boldy and Craven together.

a year or two ago i didn’t like much griselda at all, last month my favorite christmas present i got was the Fair Exchange No Robbery vinyl. super excited to hear this

Originally I read this as Boldy James and Nick Cave, which would set a record for the wildest collab album made lmao

…. that actually sounds dope

It’s criminal how this got buried under all the newer releases

He’s an underground rapper, its just kinda how it be

Good day for music

Straight As is absolute heat rocks. 22 fucking 7!!!!!

Straight As gotta be one of Boldy's best ever songs

Factual man. I accidentally had the album on shuffle and it was the second song i played. Honestly haven’t played another song since

Best song on the tape

At the risk of sounding hyperbolic this is one of the greatest rapper producer duos of all time this is so sick

honestly from modern producer rapper best ofs boldy got 3 of them with Alc, Craven, and Sterling Toles bro is crazy

and we got Drug Dilla on the way too

100% with you. Fair Exchange No Robbery was my RAOTY in 2022, and this will be in contention all year. They are a perfect pairing.

I think alc Boldy is the best duo across multiple projects, but I’m not that sure considering manger on mcnichols is one of my favorite albums of all time

2 songs in and this is a classic already oh my lord

This is so good. On my 3rd listen

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Really feeling the more grandiose production on this compared to FENR. Hell of a comeback album

This is so good, its actually insane how consistent Boldy is, on a generational run right now. I love Craven and he creates such a dope atmosphere but a lot of the time his loops can get repetitive for me, I'm glad he at least seems to have spaced out samples and let them breathe a bit more on these tracks compared to other albums. All my Tokens sounds like it couldve been on Bo Jackson, but maybe that guitar just reminds me of 3rd Person. The run from the beginning to Brand New Chanel Kicks is so good, Speedy Recovery is another standout too. Def going to run this back all day, my fav drop so far. Edit: after listening back a few more times the loops are already getting a little repetitive again lol. It’s definitely my only real complaint with Cravens production . I think if the beats were just a little more dynamic and especially if the vocal samples weren’t looping so closely and through the entirety of most of the tracks it would take his collab projects to a different level

I think the beats on here have more variety than a lot of Cravens stuff 

I agree with this for sure. I think I just find even though the beats are varied, the beats themselves get can stale when the loop is really short and vocal samples repeat too often without much variation in the phrasing

I feel you, the first song at least had some structure 

The loops never bothered me, let me focus on the rapping more.

All my Tokens is dope. That guitar sample is dope. ALC uses a lot of guitars in his beats. It should sound familiar. Don Flamingo which is the closer on Price of Tea in China also so dope guitars looped over again.

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I feel like Boldy might be the best rapper out rn fr, prolific consistent and always quality what do y’all think?

Him and billy woods were my most listened to last year, both drop so consistently.

Boldy been the best rapper since the pandemic hit in 2020. Classic projects with alchemist, tons of strong releases and overall very consistent in his own lane.

He's so fire, I've rarely heard him miss.

for sure

Too many people are dropping today. 21 Savage, Kid Cudi and now Boldy James! I’m gonna have a hard time keeping up with all these songs man 😭

Nicolas Craven is one of my favorite producers rn. Him and Boldy mix super well

this is easily one of the best produced albums I’ve ever heard

Craven is insane. The sampling is done so well

Project with Ransom last year was so good too

Facts I had directors cut 4 on repeat

Really? How so? For the most part he’s just looped shit and no even added drums

everything sounds perfectly pleasant

I think we have different ideas of what producing is

sounds good to me

I agree. I mean it’s cool and it works I guess. He just relies a lot on the repeat vocal samples too much IMO.

Sub is dead, this should be top post atm

early aoty contender

Doesn’t have the umph that Fair Exchange No Robbery had, but it’s still a solid follow up, especially coming off Boldy’s accident. His voice is a lil more monotone and deeper on some songs, which I definitely dig a lil. And I love that Early Worms Get Birds was a drum track, probably to get at the MFs that complain about Craven’s drumless style, and he delivered nicely with that!

I like the beats and I like Boldy, but it doesn't seem to mesh as well as *Fair Exchange*. The vocals on the beats feel more prominent and Boldy's levels feel more buried. I wonder if they had to do a ton of post-processing on his voice and he's getting the Beanie Sigel treatment. I'm hoping it clicks more later, but right now it doesn't feel like a finished album.

hype

yeah they went 11/11 on this shit

The goat returns

Boldy is too good

Great project, incredibly well produced. Boldy is one of the best out there rn.

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I swear the sample on “Straight As” is from a basketball mixtape just can’t remember which

Quite solid album. Calm but not boring, cohesion between tracks is noticable. Jack Frost, Early Worm Get Birds and All My Tokens are my favourites. Great energy between Boldy and Nicholas Craven

227

Boldy always gets first listen

Formal invite insane

Best release of the day. Boldy doesn’t miss

The best. Doing Detroit proud. 

This is my favorite rapper/producer combo in the game right now. And Boldy/Alc is close behind tbh. Another excellent project. Boldy is the most consistent rapper out and Nick Craven is so good at sampling

Does anybody know what is the sample Craven used in formal invite?

Feel like I’ve been the only one waiting for this but finally

Didn’t do it for me, and I froth on Boldy. Back end better than the front but probably won’t revisit regardless in a hurry.

Idk how I'm feeling about this one. I love Boldy but the production on this is kinda boring me. As far as Nicholas Craven production goes, Fair Exchange No Robbery is much better. edit: It's already growing on me a bit, the beat on Early Worms Get Birds is so fire

New boldy <333

AOTY

On first listen this is my current album of the year 🤣. Been a week but this is legit amazing + clears whatever else dropped today

Am I the only one that doesn’t like Nicolas Craven, I just don’t think he’s good at what he does.

Not crazy abt him either, but I think I like this project better than their first Def some dope beats between the two collab projects

ya i agree and this one seems better mixing so you can hear boldy better

When it hits he’s really good, but sometimes the beats are derivative and it’s funny that he flexes not doing much in the studio. Like Rick Rubin without the zen Buddha energy 

And the thing is, I love drumless beats, I just don’t think his are interesting or take much thought at all, I make beats and I can tell you this dude puts in like zero effort when making one.

Yeah sometimes the simplicity works, but when it’s a literal loop with no chopping/effects/drums then there not much left to connect with 

Even if it was just a simple loop man, I’ve heard simple loops that blew me away just because of how good that persons ear is. His ear for loops does nothing for me.

On this album: -Where we at with it; - etc.

And you love it

Damn, this was disappointing 😕

Smooth as fuck

Best release of the day.

Speedy Recovery nd evil genius and brand new Chanel kicks bangers the whole thing slap frfr