Deen is back like cooked crack.
On 2013’s My 1st Chemistry Set, Boldy James wed his nihilistic tone with an impressive eye for detail over an almost perfect collection of beats from The Alchemist. So that’s the standard this listener holds him to.
However, I’m a reasonable man – more often than not. Like Boldy, I realize that making rap catnip for European rap nerds and grown ass folks that are too busy paying off bills to attend concerts or keep track of new releases probably isn’t the path towards a steady career in the rap industry these days. Especially when you gotta deal with vaguely ominous sounding “typical Detroit bullshit” every so often, so I’ve always respected Boldy’s efforts to diversify his sound. Besides, the man may hail from Detroit but he was born in Atlanta, so I figured that gave him the right to try his hand at shit beyond well-marinated Queensbridge tribute albums.
Last month, Boldy dropped The Art of Rock Climbing EP’ and it seems he doesn’t have any plans to take another extended break because this ‘Maserati Rick’ single from another upcoming mixtape, House of Blues, sounds like the sorta shit that’ll ensure that he’s in enough demand to never have to take a break from the rap again. Over twinkly synths and bass lines as far away from Queensbridge as possible, Boldy pays energetic homage to a real life Detroit figure that inspired him at an earlier point in his life. In other words, Boldy’s talking that shit he’s best at: that drug shit. I’d argue that “Maserati Rick” is the most comfortable he’s sounded on production this busy, even if describing the minutiae and spoils of the drug trade have always come easy to him.
House of Blues lands on February 27th but we have first dibs on “Maserati Rick” here and if the rest of the mixtape sounds anything like this, then I won’t bitch about The Alchemist not being involved.There’s also the slight possibility that The Alchemist is involved because I refuse to stop dreaming even with all this golden orange rain drizzling on the mandem. Either way, welcome back Mr. James.
