He’s already put out seven albums this year – a work ethic inherited, he says, from selling drugs in Detroit. But will we ever hear his tracks with the late great J Dilla?
I
n the brief window between my conversation with Detroit rapper Boldy James and you reading this sentence, it is likely that the 42-year-old MC will have surprise-released at least one new album on to streaming platforms. This year alone, he has already released seven records. A planned eighth is due in July, but who knows what might pop up in between.
“My father always told me you’ve gotta work twice as hard because you can’t expect something for nothing in this life!” Boldy says of a work rate that can easily result in 20 new songs being completed in the studio over a 24-hour period. His combative verses, as cutting and direct as Don Corleone whispering instructions to a made man, have earned him critical adoration and elicited high-profile co-signs from hip-hop figureheads including Earl Sweatshirt, Nas, Westside Gunn, the late Mac Miller and producer the Alchemist, while fans are intrigued to know how he remains so prolific.
Boldy calls his release strategy “flooding the market” – tactics he learned from his days caught up selling drugs on Detroit’s West Side. “My homie worked the track – which was a long stretch filled with junkies – from 3am to 6am. He might make $5,000 [£3,700] per night. It might have taken my dad a few months to earn that same cash, so I ended up doing it too. I’ve never been no sleepyhead. I used to sell drugs all night and then go to my class to take an exam. No problem.”
