BOLDY JAMES SOUNDS FREE AS EVER ON ‘PRISONER OF CIRCUMSTANCE’

After taking a long break from the music industry owing to creative limitations and legal issues, Boldy James made a comeback in 2019 with Boldface, which, like its follow-up Bo Jackson in 2021, was produced by longtime friend and colleague The Alchemist. The couple double down on Super Tecmo Bo’s success in December 2021, moving James’ output even more toward the experimental.

He produced a ton of works in 2022, including Mr. Ten08, Killing Nothing, Fair Exchange No Robbery, and Be That As It May. He began 2023 with the electrifying Indiana Jones, which included RichGains’ jazz-influenced production, in an effort to surpass himself.

The 2010s club banger period in which James first gained notoriety didn’t suit the production sense, but the Griselda collective mentality proved to be his ideal match. James outlines his dark coming-of-age tale over a tumultuous medley of jazz percussion, indie guitar riffs, and rumbling bass. Nearly ten years after the release of his studio debut, My 1st Chemistry Set, it was yet another indication that James had not yet reached his artistic zenith.

However, it could not be too far off. James discovered his sweet spot by delivering his sophisticated poem about drug gains and the afterlife over dramatic, soul-fueled soundscapes. He was gifted with the cadence of a conscious rapper and the sensitivity of a street one. James collaborates with Canadian producer ChanHays on the EP Prisoner of Circumstance to further stretch his creative limits. The end result is an autobiographical work of high art that pays homage to the trap lifestyle and what happens when it ends.

Even a major vehicle accident earlier this year couldn’t stop James’ current streak. Additionally, Prisoner of Circumstance feels as though it were written by a man whose life had just suddenly vanished before his eyes. Beginning with the soul-infused “Shapeshifter,” James establishes himself as the next generation’s version of Motown giants J Dilla and Berry Gordie through production and lyrical substance. At one point, he acknowledges that it has hubris to some extent, saying, “Overconfident, Imma take the same shot as MJ/Greatest Story Ever Told/ We get them blocks Dikembe.”

Prisoner of Circumstance is based on a series of pop culture examples that speak to James’ experience. At times, James experiences vivid flashbacks to the times when he was hustling for a living, taking on cases, and weighing the life and death implications of his associations and activities. When he makes an ironic reference to “trapping through the wire” over a vintage chipmunk rhythm in a tribute to Kanye West (“The Love We Gave”), he is soberly in the present.

While certain Indiana Jones scenes were too oppressively gloomy, ChanHays’ love of gospel and soul riffs elevates James’ lyrical material and softens its sharpness. Additionally, DMX, Whitney Houston, and Mike Tyson samples—each at a particularly illuminating moment—serve as a guide for listeners to better understand James’ storyline.

Boldy James, a rapper from Detroit, achieves new heights as an artist and collaborator with Prisoner of Circumstance. The EP, which is unapologetically personal and ambitious in its production, is evidence that James’ path to fame, however crooked it may have been, put him in the ideal situation at the ideal moment. He has demonstrated his prophetic abilities in the past, and there is no reason to believe that would change now that he has access to all the necessary elements.