Alchemist & Boldy James Prove They are the Best Duo in Rap With ‘Bo Jackson’
Alchemist and Boldy James have dropped their new album Bo Jackson. The album features Earl Sweatshirt, Freddie Gibbs, and more.
Boldy knows raps. ALC knows beats.
Boldy James and The Alchemist have come together, again, to release Bo Jackson, their third full-length joint album together. (Last year the two released The Price of Tea in China, Okayplayer’s album of 2020.)
Named after the hall of fame baseball player, Bo Jackson features a number of reunions for Alchemist. Freddie Gibbs and Curren$y revive their Fetti formula on “Fake Flowers”. Earl Sweatshirt and Roc Marciano trade bars on “Photographic Memories.” Benny The Butcher rekindles the Al x Griselda magic on “Brickmile to Montana.” And Roc’s protege Stovegod Cook$ appears on an homage to a wrestling icon called “Diamond Dallas.”
The album was lead by the single “First 48 Freestyle” and the album bonus track “Drug Zone,” which was released to dispel Vince Staples’ accusation of the producer being “hella slow” in turning around a collaborative project with Earl and the “Burgundy” sideman.
Last year, we spoke with Boldy about his working relationship with AL. Boldy told us:
“I’m actually there with Al while he’s creating most of the time. Al cooks them beats up on spot, in front of me, right there. I actually see Al cooking up. His secret weapon is the Flux Capacitor. I can’t tell y’all how he’s always on the Flux Capacitor making the beats and shit. I write the rap on the spot, he cooks the beat up on the spot. That’s how we work.
I don’t know if he does that for everybody. But for his brothers, yes, he will cook up a beat in front of you. One minute he’s rolling some weed up, lighting the weed, next thing you know, you look up, it’s a fucking beat done and you’re like, “That’s what you was doing the whole time over here? What the fuck?” And then you hear the beat and you’re like, “Damn, that’s magic, yo.”
Listen to Bo Jackson below.