A disappointing effort from the talented Detroit native.

Harold Stallworth wears his leather in the winter Bobby Shmurda wedging his stage surname into the hip-hop lexicon will ultimately have more impact, but Boldy James gets my vote for this year’s most valuable slang editorialist. The greatest slang is functional. It rolls off your tongue like a folk song and tastes good in your […]

Harold Stallworth nicknames everything. For the those keeping tabs, “Goose Egg,” a cut originally featured on DJ Frank White’s Bout That Life mixtape, is the first real Boldy James record to surface since his Alchemist-helmed LP dropped last fall. The modest buzz from My 1st Chemistry Set earned a cosign from Nas, a vague partnership […]

Jimmy Ness wants a PS4 for Arbor Day. This mix defines my winter tastes pretty well – grumpy old and new raps combined with soul and funk. While I’ve been listening to beats and rhymes since before the Willennium, booty-shaking riffs and smooth grooves are something I’ve only properly investigated in the past few years. […]

“Call my nine Nina and my glock E-40 and the Click.” Boldy James got last month’s Hip Hop quotable whether you were aware of it or not. The obvious reference point is Big L’s “Ebonics,” but I also endorse Rafael Casal’s Bay Area slang song. In 2013, there’s Moochie, nicknaming everything. I want Boldy to […]

This is written by the man branded MobbDeen, so you should already know. Here are a few universal truths: death, taxes and the Alchemist being responsible for one of my favorite rap releases of any given year. Since 2007, the Alchemist has been responsible for critical favorites such as Prodigy’s ‘Return of the Mac (aka, […]

“For the Birds” is the best song about a brick I’ve heard all year. It’s rough. It’s gutter. It’s catchy. Let’s start with the hook: “Birds of a feather flock together and you winging it / Man, this shit is for the birds and I need a brick / Quick, a twenty-eight by thirty-six / […]