Detroit veteran Boldy James continuing his monthly streak by having Real Bad Man produce his 15th studio LP. Breaking out in the fall of 2013 off his Alchemist produced debut M.1.C.S. (My 1st Chemistry Set), the Detroit lyricist would later go on to land a contract with Nas’ independent label Mass Appeal Records for a little while before getting locked up. Once coming home, Uncle Al would help get his name back out there once getting out by dropping the Boldface EP around Christmas 2019 & then the sophomore album The Price of Tea in China at the beginning of last year. This was followed up with the Sterling Toles-produced Manger on McNichols which was as equally fantastic, but the Griselda Records-backed Versace Tape EP was a tad bit disappointing given how rushed it was. Bo Jackson though would become his most critically acclaimed work to date & Super Tecmo Bo was almost as great for an EP. Fair Exchange No Robbery produced by Nicholas Craven, Penalty of Leadership, Mr. Ten-08 produced by Futurewave, the Conductor Williams-produced Across the Tracks the Harry Fraud-produced The Bricktionary & the Carlo Anthony-produced Hidden in Plain Sight were all welcomed to warm reception. Token of Appreciation produced by Chuck Strangers was much better than both Murder During Drug Traffic & Permanent Ink, the Antt Beatz produced Hommage left people divided although I didn’t mind it & is coming of the V Don-produced Alphabet Highway for a Killing Nothing sequel.
“Class Clown” was a great drumless intro talking about putting a dunce cap on a sucka he had to lay out whereas “Tap the Breaks Twice” adds some drums into the equation so he can watching out for tiger sharks & great whites on the track during the late night. “ITT Tech” dabbles with trap working in some pianos & strings clarifying it’s all about the cheese for him while the quasi-jazzy “Fear of God” featuring Conway the Machine clarifies that all they do is trap.
dreamcastmoe’s hook on “Come Back Around” gives the song a soulful boom bap vibe talking about how people sometimes only get back up to eventually fall back down just before “Cutthroats” maintains a dusty flare getting in his hardcore bag lyrically. “Aspen” talks about there being more than 1 way to skin a cat & pull a hat trick keeping the boom bap flare in tact, but then “Triple Platinum” slows down a prominent vocal sample going ghetto gold in his city.
“Bag It Up” of course reflects on his time in the streets moving weight while “Burn in Hell” talks about needing to make it to heaven after all the Hell he’s been through. “It Factor” featuring El-P finds the 2 showing off their A1 abilities on the microphone over more sampling while “Say Less” takes it back to the basement instrumentally advising that’s all you really have to do around him & the title track finishes up Conversational Pieces dropping off much more personal topics.
The prominent gangsta rap themes that were prevalent during Killing Nothing & even Real Bad Boldy during the COVID-19 lockdowns at the mere end of 2020 make their way on the follow-up, except the boom bap elements in the production are being used to a lesser extent focusing more on drumless & jazz rap for secondary influences.
Score: 8/10
