Almost exactly one year ago, the great Detroit rapper Boldy James got into a terrible, life-threatening car accident. James had been on a tremendous, prolific run — Indiana Jones, a collaborative album made with producer RichGains, came out after the accident — but he’s been much less intent on cranking out new albums since he got hurt. But now Boldy James has another new album, and it reunites him with one of his most locked-in collaborators.

In 2022, Boldy James and the Montreal producer Nicholas Craven released their excellent collaborative album Fair Exchange No Robbery. It’s one of the best records from a stretch of many great records. In the past few months, Boldy James and Nicholas Craven released a couple of new tracks, “Brand New Chanel Kicks” and “No Pun Intended” — the latter released immediately after James was released from the hospital. Now, they’ve released their new collaborative LP Penalty Of Leadership.

Boldy James mentions his car accident a few times on Penalty Of Leadership, and the record’s cover art depicts its immediate aftermath. Mostly, though Penalty Of Leadership is Boldy James easing back into his comfort zone, murmuring steely, stoic, intricately worded street-life talk. Nicholas Craven’s loping, atmospheric production prettifies James’ cold memoirs while staying out of his way. Stream the album below.