Boldy James & The Alchemist - Bo Jackson (Discussion Thread)

[Tribal Outkast]

man

 

[Ironman]

Photographic memories

 

[T.H.E. Goat]

It's definitely ironic because even though he goes drumless sometimes, a lot of the drums he does use either have really dope and unique patterns or just sound different. It was either @darealvelle or @TEKBEATZ or @SoulController (or all 3; they produce dope stuff) that talked about the Lulu EP with Conway having a lot of really unique drum sounds on it that Al hadn't used before, and a lot of 'em had a sound or swing almost like they sounded live. @subletteafterdark has definitely talked about it too.

I can definitely hear some drum sounds on this that I haven't heard before. One of my only complaints on this thing is I wish when the drum break opens up on the 1st beat of Hockey Sticks that we got to hear it for longer.

Lulu was definitely the album that had me like those drum kicks on there were crisp as fukk


I been in my rock and roll bag the past few months so my ears kinda enhanced right now and soon as I heard E.P.M.D. I knew those were live drums

To be honest though it’s only natural that Alc would be inspired to learn drums or incorporate live drums into his production seeing as though his source material is out of this world

 

[Ironman]

Nah timeout you can't put Cooks on the track and he not make some crack

 

[Ashtrey]

This is dope

Man im eating good with these mc/producer albums lately.

 

[8.TRES]

I been skeptical for a minute now but after this album I’m for sure Alchemist either has a drummer doing live instrumentation for him or he’s playing the drums himself


The drum kicks, snares, and cymbals on here are god tier quality

i didnt know if i was bugging but good to see its someone else that feels the same, the offset and swing he gets in his drum patterns is impossible to program in or hes real meticulous w his programming

Damn, Benny fukking sucks on here

i was fukking w his verse either, im not a fan of that flow but especially for benny

 

[savoutch]

What's not listed anywhere as a bonus? Drug Zone? It's only on Apple/Spotify/Tidal, and it won't be on the vinyl/CD/cassette tape. It's a digital exclusive. If you add the album to your library on those it should pop up for you.

Yeah, I was talking about "Drug Zone".

 

[T.H.E. Goat]

i didnt know if i was bugging but good to see its someone else that feels the same, the offset and swing he gets in his drum patterns is impossible to program in or hes real meticulous w his programming

The Alchemist is on his way to becoming his own genre at this point

 

[Thief's Theme]

Alc/Boldy and Nas/Hit-Boy have the two best albums of the year...

just like last year

 

[Jx2]

Nah timeout you can't put Cooks on the track and he not make some crack

When I realized we were only getting a hook from Stovey ...

Maybe my favorite verse of the Summer

 

[subletteafterdark]

Gonna go ahead and say Al does not fukking drum on a drum set. If anything, it’s having had run-ins on studio drummers from sessions with Tangerine Dream for GTA, and other sessions similar. Other than that, very dialed in on programming, and still will use sampled drums passed through his Avalon VT-737sp, or other hardware he’s got lying around - you’d never believe they were sampled..

And to clarify, highly unlikely he’s had any studio drummers record over his chopped sample sequences to actually do the drums for any of his beats. At most, he’s just got drum loops from session drummers that aren’t sampled from records at times.

As for EPMD, I wouldn’t be surprised if the drums were part of the original sample.

 

[SoulController]

Damn, Benny fukking sucks on here

no one will say it (yet) but Benny been on cruise mode for a bit

 

[kdslittlebro]

This mf boy Alc and Boldy can’t miss. Every track

 

[choc_cardigan]

Man....if Price of Tea was Pinata, this reminds me of Bandana. I liked Pinata more, but Bandana, and I think I'll probably like Tea China more than Bo Jackson, but I do understand that Bandana is likely better. Bandana felt more like MadGibbs was just flexing on people and showing more versatility and styles. And even the middle section of Turpentine reminds me of Crime Pays off Bandana.

There's stuff on here I've never heard from Boldy or Alc before.

I'm only on my 2nd listen right now, and I don't think it maybe sounds quite as cohesive as Price of Tea in China, but I think the highs are definitely a bit higher, and the production and rapping both sound like they're aspiring for higher levels. Speed Trap for example is wild. It's like they're moonwalking on people doing a victory lap after Boldface and Tea in China

I want to like Diamond Dallas more than I do. That's the main joint that didn't land with me on the 1st listen. My big complaint is my own fault. I listened to First 48 and Drug Zone so much the past 3 weeks...and since they're the final 2 songs...they ended to sounding like bonus joints to me on my first listen. Especially because 3rd Person reminds me of SE Gang off La Maquina which is an album loser. And I was hoping we'd get one more Trapchemist joint besides First 48 but it's all good.

This will definitely be up there for my AOTY discussion.

Whoa SE Gang is album loser?





















And I can't stop playing 3rd person

 

[head shots101]

Beats fire on this shyt