Boldy James & Nicholas Craven Announce Release Date For New Album

Boldy James and Nicholas Craven are kicking 2024 off with a bang with their new album, Penalty of Leadership. After many teases and a couple of singles, namely "Brand New Chanel Kicks" and "No Pun Intended," producer Craven announced that the project will come out on Friday, January 12. As such, many die-hards and hip-hop heads in general think that this will be among the first amazing albums this year. It sounds magnificent up to this point, if the singles are any solid indication, which is unsurprising to witness from this duo. All we can hope for is that the material they're saving for next week is even better than what they offered as appetizers.

Of course, a big reason behind this hype is the established collaborative chemistry between Boldy James and Nicholas Craven. Their 2022 full-length, Fair Exchange No Robbery, was one of the year's most acclaimed releases, and holds a special place in both artists' catalogs. In addition, they had previously linked up on the beatmaker's Craven N 3 record, and are building on how well they fit each other's styles. However, an important narrative part of Penalty of Leadership seems to be the Detroit MC's car crash in early 2023, which this album's recording, promotional artwork, and lyrical content seems to tackle.

Nicholas Craven Unveils Penalty Of Leadership Release Date With Boldy James

For example, Nicholas Craven had said on Twitter that "No Pun Intended" was the last song they recorded after Boldy James almost fully recovered from the accident, whereas "Brand New Chanel Kicks" was recorded shortly after the crash. The Montreal sonic wizard's output without him was still great in 2023, including the Ransom collab EP Deleted Scenes 2. On the other hand, the "Disco Fever" spitter kicked the year off– much like he will in 2024– with the album Indiana Jones with RichGains, plus other EPs, singles, and features throughout. As such, we know that they're by no means out of practice, and that they worked just as hard, if not harder, on Penalty of Leadership.

Meanwhile, we already know that this won't be Bo's only album this year. He just released the project 1LB (One Lucky Bastard) with Your Boy Posca, available exclusively via physical vinyl and cassette copies. Looks like it's going to be another fantastic year for all the concreatures out there. For more news and the latest updates on Boldy James and Nicholas Craven, stay up to date on HNHH.